View source for Al Lowe

{{DesignerInfobox
| Portrait = [[Image:AlLowe.png|150px]]
| Name = Al Lowe
}}

==<br /> A.K.A. ==

* Albert W. Lowe

==<br /> About ==

<div class="Quote">
{{Quote|Attrib = MobyGames<ref>https://www.mobygames.com/person/3320/al-lowe/</ref>
}}
"I was born a poor black child in Gumbo, Missouri..." -that's how Al Lowe usually opens his résumé. And although it is not true (say what?), it's an excellent introduction for a man whose passion is humor. "The world's oldest computer games designer" (Lowe on Lowe) not only spent well over a decade writing funny games, he might well have introduced humor to computer games at all -- with the creation of Leisure Suit Larry.

Not that Al Lowe wouldn't have tried to practice an honest profession. He worked as High School Music Teacher for 15 years. During that time, he got his hands on an Apple II, taught himself to program, and figured that it was time for a career change. So a very talented (and yet unspoiled) Al Lowe spent his nights on creating his first programs -- educational software for children. When the publisher Sierra bought the rights to these titles in 1982, it took the man as well.

Lowe was employed as to his qualifications, and humor was not yet considered one of them. Instead, Lowe continued to work on edutainment titles. When Sierra acquired a license to some Disney characters, he helped create programs like Winnie Pooh in the Hundred-Acre Woods, Mickey's Space Adventure and Donald Duck's Playground. Being something of a jack-of-all-trades, he filled in various positions on various projects: lead programmer (King’s Quest III and IV, Police Quest I), composer (King’s Quest II, Space Quest II), even interface designer on Sierra's very own database program HomeWord Filer. He is also one of the fathers of the Sierra Network (1991). By 1984, Lowe got the chance to write, design and program his own graphic adventure game, The Black Cauldron. Target audience: still kids. But that was to change in 1987.

In 1987, Al Lowe gave birth to the most notorious, single-minded game character there is: Larry Laffer. A born loser constantly on the look-out for women, Larry instantly conquered the hearts (and certain other organs) of gamers everywhere. Besides being daringly explicit for its time, Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards was also full of humor. These two major innovations -being the first adult graphic adventure and the first comedy game -made LSL 1 a classic and (probably more important for Al) a best-seller. See the trivia section of the game entry for an extensive quote on the development of Leisure Suit Larry.

After that, Al Lowe spent most of his years continuing the saga of Larry Laffer. He created five additional games for a total of six, ending with episode seven. Puzzled? Check out the trivia section for Leisure Suit Larry 5 to unravel the mystery of the missing adventure. Between episodes, he managed to design the western comedy Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist (1993) and the parents-plus-children fantasy adventure, Torin’s Passage (1995). Larry’s Casino, a hybrid of Larry's humor and Hoyle's games, came out in 1998. By 1999, plans were made to send Mr. Laffer into his eighth game. But Leisure Suit Larry 8: Lust in Space was not meant to be.

As the 90s were nearing their end, so were traditional "flat" adventure games. If there was to be a Leisure Suit Larry 8, it had thus to be in 3D. Games like Grim Fandango had already taken the first step into the new dimension. Al Lowe was ready to go, too; however, Sierra was not. The company had just suffered through a year of bad sales. As the costs for each project were growing in the millions, the meager earnings were far from sufficient to cover the expenses -even for the titles already in production. Without the necessary money, the decision to fund a Larry 8 was delayed several times. Finally, the debts grew too high. The costs had to be cut -severely. In February 1999, Sierra not only closed its Yosemite Studios, it laid off Al Lowe. After 16 years of working for one company, Lowe was ready for retirement.
</div>

==<br /> Home Page ==

* [http://allowe.com/ allowe.com/]
* [https://www.facebook.com/Al Lowe Al Lowe on Facebook]
* [https://twitter.com/allowe Al Lowe on Twitter]
* [mailto:webmail@allowe.com webmail@allowe.com]

==<br /> Games by Al Lowe ==

{| class="wikitable sortable" <!-- width="800" -->
! width="350" | Title !! width="30" | Year !! width="450" | Credits
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out!]] || align="center" | [[1993]] || Directed and Produced by
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work]] || align="center" | [[1991]] || Director
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry III: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals]] || align="center" | [[1989]] || Producer
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (In Several Wrong Places)]] || align="center" | [[1988]] || Executive Producer
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards]] || align="center" | [[1987]] || Programmed by
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded]] || align="center" | [[2013]] || Designed by
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry's Casino]] || align="center" | [[1998]] || Designer
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail!]] || align="center" | [[1996]] || Design
|- valign="top"
| [[Torin's Passage]] || align="center" | [[1995]] || Designer
|- valign="top"
| [[Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist]] || align="center" | [[1993]] || Design by
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out!]] || align="center" | [[1993]] || Designed, written, directed and produced by
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards VGA]] || align="center" | [[1991]] || Director
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work]] || align="center" | [[1991]] || Design
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry III: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals]] || align="center" | [[1989]] || Original Concept
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (In Several Wrong Places)]] || align="center" | [[1988]] || Designed by
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards]] || align="center" | [[1987]] || Designed by
|- valign="top"
| [[The Black Cauldron]] || align="center" | [[1986]] || Game Design by
|- valign="top"
| [[Donald Duck's Playground]] || align="center" | [[1985]] || Game design by
|- valign="top"
| [[Mickey's Space Adventure]] || align="center" | [[1984]] || Design
|- valign="top"
| [[Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood]] || align="center" | [[1984]] || Designed by
|- valign="top"
| [[Troll's Tale]] || align="center" | [[1983]] || Text and Graphics by
|- valign="top"
| [[Bop-A-Bet]] || align="center" | [[1982]] || Created By
|- valign="top"
| [[Dragon's Keep]] || align="center" | [[1982]] || Text and Graphics by
|}

==<br /> Contributions by Al Lowe ==

{| class="wikitable sortable" <!-- width="800" -->
! width="400" | Title !! width="30" | Year !! width="400" | Credits
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards VGA]] || align="center" | [[1991]] || Programmer
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work]] || align="center" | [[1991]] || Programming
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry III: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals]] || align="center" | [[1989]] || Programmer
|- valign="top"
| [[King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella]] || align="center" | [[1988]] || Cavalry Coding
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (In Several Wrong Places)]] || align="center" | [[1988]] || Programming
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards]] || align="center" | [[1987]] || Written by
|- valign="top"
| [[Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel]] || align="center" | [[1987]] || Programming
|- valign="top"
| [[The Black Cauldron]] || align="center" | [[1986]] || Programming by
|- valign="top"
| [[King's Quest III: To Heir is Human]] || align="center" | [[1986]] || Programmed by
|- valign="top"
| [[Donald Duck's Playground]] || align="center" | [[1985]] || Programming by
|- valign="top"
| [[Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood]] || align="center" | [[1984]] || Apple and Commodore Programs by
|- valign="top"
| [[Dark Crystal|Hi-Res Adventure #6: The Dark Crystal]] || align="center" | [[1983]] || Programming by
|- valign="top"
| [[Troll's Tale]] || align="center" | [[1983]] || Programmed by
|- valign="top"
| [[Dragon's Keep]] || align="center" | [[1982]] || Programmed by
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded]] || align="center" | [[2013]] || Written by 
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry's Casino]] || align="center" | [[1998]] || Writer
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail!]] || align="center" | [[1996]] || Writing / Dialogue / Story
|- valign="top"
| [[Torin's Passage]] || align="center" | [[1995]] || Writer
|- valign="top"
| [[Freddy Pharkas Frontier Pharmacist]] || align="center" | [[1993]] || Writing / Dialogue / Story
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out!]] || align="center" | [[1993]] || Written by
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (In Several Wrong Places)]] || align="center" | [[1988]] || Written by
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards]] || align="center" | [[1987]] || Writing / Dialogue / Story
|- valign="top"
| [[Troll's Tale]] || align="center" | [[1983]] || Text by
|- valign="top"
| [[Dragon's Keep]] || align="center" | [[1982]] || Text by
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail!]] || align="center" | [[1996]] || Background Photographs
|- valign="top"
| [[Troll's Tale]] || align="center" | [[1983]] || Text and Graphics by
|- valign="top"
| [[Dragon's Keep]] || align="center" | [[1982]] || Graphics by
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded]] || align="center" | [[2013]] || Theme Song
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry's Casino]] || align="center" | [[1998]] || Voice Casting & Director
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail!]] || align="center" | [[1996]] || SFX & Additional Music
|- valign="top"
| [[Torin's Passage]] || align="center" | [[1995]] || Musicians
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out!]] || align="center" | [[1993]] || MIDIfied Musicians
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards VGA]] || align="center" | [[1991]] || Theme Song Composer
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work]] || align="center" | [[1991]] || Music
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (In Several Wrong Places)]] || align="center" | [[1988]] || Music composed by
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards]] || align="center" | [[1987]] || Music by
|- valign="top"
| [[Donald Duck's Playground]] || align="center" | [[1985]] || Music by
|- valign="top"
| [[King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne]] || align="center" | [[1985]] || Music
|- valign="top"
| [[Mickey's Space Adventure]] || align="center" | [[1984]] || Music by
|- valign="top"
| [[Shivers Two: Harvest of Souls]] || align="center" | [[1997]] || Images
|- valign="top"
| [[Torin's Passage]] || align="center" | [[1995]] || Musicians
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry's Greatest Hits and Misses]] || align="center" | [[1994]] || Documentation
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work]] || align="center" | [[1991]] || Manual Writers
|- valign="top"
| [[Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption]] || align="center" | [[2018]] || Gamers
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry]] || align="center" | [[2018]] || Special Thanks
|- valign="top"
| [[Shivers Two: Harvest of Souls]] || align="center" | [[1997]] || Images
|- valign="top"
| [[King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride]] || align="center" | [[1994]] || Special Thanks To
|- valign="top"
| [[Mickey's Space Adventure]] || align="center" | [[1984]] || Thanks / Staff
|- valign="top"
| [[Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail!]] || align="center" | [[1996]] || Other Participants
|}

==<br /> References ==

<references />

==<br /> See Also ==

* [[:Category:Releases by Al Lowe|Releases by Al Lowe]]
* [[:Category:Contributions by Al Lowe|Contributions by Al Lowe]]
* [[w:Al Lowe|Al Lowe on Wikipedia]]
* [[mobydev:3320|Al Lowe on MobyGames]]
* [[imdb:nm0522875|Al Lowe on IMDb]]

[[Category:Designers]]
[[Category:Sierra Designers]]
[[Category:Contributors]]
[[Category:Producers]]
[[Category:Writers]]
[[Category:Programmers]]
[[Category:Artists]]
[[Category:Composers]]
[[Category:Musicians]]
[[Category:Voice Actors]]
[[Category:Cast Members]]
[[Category:Documentarians]]
[[Category:Thanks]]