Roberta Lynn Williams (; born February 16, 1953)
is an American
video game designer and
writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
, who co-founded
Sierra On-Line with her husband,
game developer Ken Williams. In 1980, her first game, ''
Mystery House'', became a modest commercial success; it is credited as the first
graphic adventure game
An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...
. She is also known for creating and maintaining the ''
King's Quest
''King's Quest'' is a graphic adventure game series, released between 1980 and 2016 and created by the American software company Sierra Entertainment. It is widely considered a classic series from the golden era of adventure games. Following th ...
'' series, as well as designing the
full motion video
Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information duri ...
game
''Phantasmagoria'' in 1995.
Sierra was acquired by
CUC International in 1996, leading to layoffs and management changes. Williams took a brief
sabbatical
A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work.
The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Biblical practice of ''shmita'' (sabbatical year), which is related to agriculture. According to ...
, and returned to the company in a game design role, but grew increasingly frustrated with CUC's creative and business decisions. After the release of ''
King's Quest: Mask of Eternity'' in 1998, she left the
game industry in 1999 and focused her retirement on traveling and writing historical fiction. In 2021 she released her historical novel, ''
Farewell to Tara''. Soon after, she announced her return to game development, intending to create a 3D remake of the classic adventure game ''
Colossal Cave Adventure''.
Several publications have named Roberta Williams as one of the best or most influential creators in the
video game industry
The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide.
The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstream. , ...
, for co-founding Sierra, pioneering the graphic adventure game genre, and creating the ''King's Quest'' series. Several publications have called her the "Queen of adventure games". She has received the Industry Icon Award from
The Game Awards, and the Pioneer Award at the
Game Developers Choice Awards
The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games.
Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were ...
.
Early life and career
![Ken Williams (cropped) - On-Line Systems first anniversary celebration](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Ken_Williams_%28cropped%29_-_On-Line_Systems_first_anniversary_celebration.jpg)
Born in Los Angeles, Roberta Heuer grew up in rural
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
as the daughter of an agricultural inspector.
A shy child with a vivid imagination, she often created fairy-tale adventure stories to entertain her family.
She would lie in bed and imagine fantastical situations, which she sometimes described as her "movies".
She met her future husband
Ken Williams when they were both teenagers, and the two began dating.
After high school she became a clerk at the
Los Angeles County Welfare Department, in part thanks to her father's connections working in local government.
In late 1972 Roberta married Ken just a few days after his eighteenth birthday,
and gave birth to their first son in November 1973.
The couple briefly moved to Illinois, where she was employed as a
computer operator,
soon moving back to Los Angeles where she took a job at
Lawry's Foods
Lawry's is an upscale gourmet restaurant chain specializing in prime rib and the brand name of a seasoned salt blend spun off by the restaurant founders that evolved into a food products company today owned by McCormick & Company.
The original ...
as a
computer programmer
A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software.
A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...
working in
COBOL
COBOL (; an acronym for "common business-oriented language") is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily us ...
.
By 1979 the couple had two children.
Ken was employed as a computer programmer and consultant, working on large
IBM mainframe
A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...
machines.
They wanted to leave Los Angeles to fulfill their dream of living in the woods.
As Ken brainstormed ideas for a technology business that could become viable outside of a major city, Roberta purchased an
AppleII computer for the family,
which strained their expenses.
Roberta's love of computers grew as she played several
text adventure games
''
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the f ...
.
Game design career
Early graphic adventure games (1979–1983)
![On-Line_Systems_-_Hi-Res_Adventure_-_June_1981_The_On-Line_Letter_advert](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/On-Line_Systems_-_Hi-Res_Adventure_-_June_1981_The_On-Line_Letter_advert.jpg)
Around 1979, Roberta Williams was an avid player of
text adventures
''
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...
on her
teletype machine,
particularly as a fan of ''
Colossal Cave Adventure''.
She was inspired to speak to her husband Ken Williams about her vision for what a video game could be,
drawing influence from
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
's story ''
And Then There Were None
''And Then There Were None'' is a mystery novel by the English writer Agatha Christie, described by her as the most difficult of her books to write. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939, as ...
'',
and the
board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
''
Clue''.
Roberta convinced Ken to provide the technical knowledge to program the game, while she contributed her experience with fiction and storytelling.
Roberta drew the pictures using her Apple II and a
Versawriter, a graphics tablet that could be used to hand-trace a piece of paper and input the image into a computer.
Since no programs existed to read the Versawriter image, Ken had to write one,
eventually compressing nearly seventy images onto a disk.
The result was ''
Mystery House'', an adventure game with black and white graphics for the Apple II computer.
Released in 1980, the game was distributed by mail order, advertised in computer magazines under the name of Ken's consulting company, On-Line Systems.
The game soon sold ten thousand copies,
with Roberta personally packing the disks and supporting materials in
Ziploc bags, and answering her home phone to provide hints for the game's puzzles.
Ken began to personally distribute copies of the game to computer stores. He quit his consulting job, with hopes that it would allow the couple to eventually move out of the city.
They released the ''
Wizard and the Princess'' later that year, improving on their previous title with color graphics and
dithering.
The game sold 60,000 copies, leading them to hire more employees for distribution and programming.
Encouraged by the success of their first two games, On-Line Systems switched its focus from consulting to game development.
Roberta's ambitions grew with the design of ''
Time Zone
A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...
'', a time-travelling game spanning thousands of years, which was released on twelve disks in 1982.
Around this time, Roberta's parents retired and moved to
Oakhurst, California
Oakhurst (formerly Fresno Flats) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Madera County, California, Madera County, California, United States, south of the entrance to Yosemite National Park, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. At the 2020 censu ...
, and she hoped to move close by.
With their company expanding, the couple was finally able to move On-Line Systems from
Simi Valley, California to
Coarsegold
Coarsegold is a census-designated place in Madera County, California, United States. The population was 4,144 at the 2020 census, up from 1,840 in 2010. The Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians, a federally recognized tribe, is headquartered ...
.
They also changed their company name to
Sierra On-Line, based on its location near the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
mountains.
After just two years Sierra had grown to nearly a hundred employees with $10million in revenue.
Sierra's success started to attract investors, including
venture capitalists
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...
.
Around this time,
Jim Henson approached Ken Williams to create
a game adaptation of ''
The Dark Crystal'', before the film's release.
Roberta was excited by the project, believing video games to be a facet of entertainment as much as film.
She designed much of the game adaptation on paper; it was finalized and released in 1983.
The high-profile game caused the company to attract mainstream media attention, and Roberta hoped that the entertainment industry would not just recognize the value of games, but also the value of the artists who created them.
''King's Quest'' breakthrough (1983–1994)
By 1983 Sierra's new investors pushed the company to diversify into
video game cartridges for platforms such as the
Atari
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...
.
The video game industry soon experienced a
crash
Crash or CRASH may refer to:
Common meanings
* Collision, an impact between two or more objects
* Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond
* Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating
* Couch su ...
, and Sierra's board of directors began to push a merger with
Spinnaker Software, an educational software company.
When Spinnaker presented their proposal to the Sierra board, Roberta proclaimed, "These guys are a joke. No one in the industry respects them. Can't we talk about something productive?"
Although Ken Williams was amenable to the deal, Roberta strongly opposed it, and the merger did not proceed.
Sierra was forced to downsize to 30 employees,
and the Williams family mortgaged their home to pay their remaining employees.
Sierra had cultivated a strong relationship with IBM as the
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team ...
was being developed, and ''Wizard and the Princess'' was one of the first games released for the computer under the title ''Adventure in Serenia''. Around the time of Sierra's financial difficulties, IBM offered to invest in the struggling company, with hopes of creating a game that could showcase the technical capabilities of their upcoming
IBM PCjr
The IBM PCjr (pronounced "PC junior") was a home computer produced and marketed by IBM from March 1984 to May 1985, intended as a lower-cost variant of the IBM PC with hardware capabilities better suited for video games, in order to compete mor ...
.
Roberta had wanted to build on her experience with ''The Wizard and the Princess'' with a fully animated adventure game, in a pseudo-3D world.
This led to the 1984 release of
''King's Quest'',
conceived as a blend of common fairy tales that could be directly experienced as a game.
Although the PCjr was considered a failure, ''King's Quest'' was ported to many other platforms and quickly rose to bestseller status.
The game was considered revolutionary for its
pseudo-3D
2.5D (two-and-a-half dimensional) perspective refers to gameplay or movement in a video game or virtual reality environment that is restricted to a two-dimensional (2D) plane with little to no access to a third dimension in a space that otherwise ...
elements,
becoming the first adventure game to allow the player character to move in front of, behind, or over other objects on the screen.
It was also the first computer game to support the 16-color
EGA
Ega or EGA may refer to:
Military
* East German Army, the common western name for the National People's Army
* Eagle, Globe, and Anchor, the emblem of the United States Marine Corps
People
* Aega (mayor of the palace), 7th-century noble of Neus ...
standard,
setting a new standard for future graphic adventure games.
Meanwhile, Roberta continued her role as designer of the
''King's Quest'' series,
which earned a reputation for its unique style of storytelling, as well as its increasingly advanced graphics and technology.
The 1986 release of
''King's Quest III: To Heir is Human'' was larger and longer than previous games in the series, and earned a ranking on
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
's list of 50 Best Video Games of All Time. When
''King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella'' was released in 1988, it was one of the first games to receive
sound card support,
and one of the first adventure games to support a
mouse
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
.
It was also one of the first games to feature a female protagonist,
a creative decision that Williams seeded by introducing the character in the previous game. Some of her peers cautioned that this might deter men from playing the game,
but it was even more commercially successful than previous installments.
A post-release survey revealed that most men did not mind playing as a female protagonist, whereas many female players preferred the experience.
Sierra received registration cards for the game with a near 40% female audience, leading journalists to credit Williams with expanding the player base for personal computer games.
''King's Quest IV'' has been considered one of the most influential video games of all time, impacting the design of games such as ''
Maniac Mansion'' and other
LucasArts adventure games.
![Roberta Williams - On-Line Systems first anniversary celebration](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Roberta_Williams_-_On-Line_Systems_first_anniversary_celebration.jpg)
Williams continued to design other titles, such as the educational title ''
Mixed-Up Mother Goose
''Roberta Williams' Mixed-Up Mother Goose'' is a computer game first released by Sierra On-Line in 1987. It is, in essence, an edutainment title, directed specifically at young gamers, as well as an adventure game. It was the first multimedia ga ...
''.
The game went on to sell more than 500,000 copies,
and the CD-ROM version earned the
Software Publishers Association
The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) is a trade association dedicated to the entertainment, consumer and business software industries. Established in 1984 as the Software Publishers Association (SPA), the SIIA took its new na ...
Excellence in Software Award for Best Early Education Program.
In 1989 Williams released another mystery adventure game called ''
The Colonel's Bequest
''The Colonel's Bequest'' is a character-driven graphic adventure game by Sierra On-Line featuring the character of Laura Bow. It was developed for MS-DOS in 1989. Ports for Amiga and Atari ST were released in 1990. It was the first of the shor ...
'', which iterated on ideas from her original ''Mystery House'' game with more detailed graphics and improved
text parsing
In computer science, a parsing expression grammar (PEG) is a type of formal grammar#Analytic grammars, analytic formal grammar, i.e. it describes a formal language in terms of a set of rules for recognizing string (computer science), strings in the ...
. The game was still rare for featuring a female protagonist,
and deviated from the traditional adventure game formula to become more of an interactive mystery, putting more onus on the player to discover the plot. The 1990 release of ''
King's Quest V'' became the first game to use an icon-based interface, continuing the series' innovations in game design.
The game was critically acclaimed, winning several awards upon release,
with ''
Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...
'' including it in their 1996 list of greatest games of all time.
By the early 1990s Sierra was a publicly traded company, generating $100million per year in revenue.
The company released ''
The Dagger of Amon Ra
''Roberta Williams' Laura Bow in The Dagger of Amon Ra'' (also known as ''Laura Bow II'') is a computer game published by Sierra On-Line in 1992. The game is the second and final installment in ''The Laura Bow Mysteries'' line of adventure games, ...
'' in 1991, a sequel to ''The Colonel's Bequest'' based on characters and concepts created by Williams. Meanwhile, Williams worked with
Jane Jensen
Jane Jensen (born Jane Elizabeth Smith; January 28, 1963 in Palmerton, Pennsylvania) is an American video game designer and author. She is mostly known as the creator of the ''Gabriel Knight'' series of adventure games, and also co-founded Ober ...
to design ''
King's Quest VI.
'' Released in 1992, it was recognized by several publications as one of the best adventure games, if not one of the best games overall.
By the mid 1990s, Williams was considered the company's most popular game designer, particularly for her success with the ''King's Quest'' series.
The saga is still remembered as the only video game series created and maintained by a female designer.
Later games and career exit (1995–1999)
Williams branched out from her work on ''King's Quest'' by designing ''
Phantasmagoria'', a realistic horror adventure game.
As a long time fan of the
novels
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...
of
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...
, she had often contemplated whether it was possible to create a terrifying video game.
Because she believed it would be difficult to make a truly frightening game without live actors,
the game was created entirely in
full-motion video.
The production ultimately cost $4million, with a team of nearly two hundred people
and a script of more than five hundred pages.
Designed as a mature title for adults,
The game was marketed as an
interactive film,
and published on seven CD-ROMs.
Although ''Phantasmagoria'' received a mixed critical reception, it was one of the most commercially successful adventure games
and Sierra's bestselling game,
selling more than a million copies upon its release in 1995.
Williams recalls the game as her favorite achievement.
In 1996 Sierra was sold to
CUC International for more than a billion dollars in stock.
Roberta had opposed the deal, and several other high-ranking Sierra employees had felt there was something suspicious about CUC's financials.
Roberta ultimately acquiesced, recognizing that the terms of the deal were too favorable to refuse, and that she could be
sued by their shareholders if she failed to maximize their value.
The company's management and decision-making dramatically changed under CUC,
leading Ken Williams to leave his role at Sierra and work directly for their new parent company.
The CUC restructuring also led to lay-offs.
Roberta Williams took a sabbatical from the game industry,
as the company released ''The Roberta Williams Anthology'', a compilation of 14 games.
Roberta Williams returned to game development in early 1997 to work on ''
King's Quest: Mask of Eternity''.
She hoped to re-introduce some interactivity absent in ''Phantasmagoria'',
and to embrace the advances in 3D graphics technology.
Sierra had changed significantly as a company, and its new management insisted on adding elements from popular
role-playing games such as ''
Diablo'', while straying from the game's traditional adventure elements.
When she removed certain role-playing elements, the team would re-add them, leading to a power struggle with management.
Roberta's frustrations with her lack of control were coupled with suspicions of CUC, after allegations of
financial fraud
In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid t ...
had surfaced about the company. Worried about the company's future, she talked to Ken about selling their stock.
The couple soon divested from the company, Ken resigning at the end of 1997, and Roberta staying to finish ''Mask of Eternity''.
Released in 1998, the game was considered a commercial and critical disappointment, leading to further layoffs, and the sale of Sierra to
Vivendi.
That year, CUC was convicted of financial fraud, having
exaggerated their revenues by more than half a billion dollars (equivalent to $million in ).
The decline of Sierra had an emotional impact on Roberta,
who left the company in 1999.
By the 2000s, Sierra's assets were held by
Activision Blizzard,
after a merger between
Activision and Vivendi.
Retirement
After the release of ''King's Quest: Mask of Eternity'', Roberta Williams described herself as taking a sabbatical from the game industry in 1999.
In actuality, both she and Ken had signed a
non-compete clause
In contract law, a non-compete clause (often NCC), restrictive covenant, or covenant not to compete (CNC), is a clause under which one party (usually an employee) agrees not to enter into or start a similar profession or trade in competition agains ...
with CUC that prevented them from working in the game industry for five years. According to Ken, "By the time the five years were up, we had moved on to other ventures,"
thus ending Roberta's career in the game industry after 18 years and 20 games.
At that time, she stayed away from the public eye and rarely spoke to the press. In a rare 2006 interview she said her greatest achievement was creating ''Phantasmagoria'', though she expressed her love of the ''King's Quest'' series for its influence on her early career.
Williams said that her role as a game designer was in the past, and that she was focused on writing a
historical novel
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...
.
She has also focused on travel,
becoming an avid sailor with her husband.
In 2011 the video game website
Gamezebo reported that she had returned from her sabbatical as a design consultant on the
social network game ''Odd Manor'', for Facebook. By 2012, Replay Games had recruited Sierra veterans
Al Lowe
Albert William Lowe (born July 24, 1946) is an American video game designer, programmer, and musician who developed several adventure games, mostly for Sierra On-Line. He is best known for creating the ''Leisure Suit Larry'' series. He has also ...
and Paul Trowe to return to the ''
Leisure Suit Larry
''Leisure Suit Larry'' is an adult-themed sexual video game series created by Al Lowe. It was published by Sierra from 1987 to 2009, then by Codemasters starting in 2009. The first six ''Leisure Suit Larry'' titles, along with ''Magna Cum Lau ...
'' adventure game series, which led Trowe to try to persuade the Williamses to return to the game industry. Activision hired
Telltale Games
Telltale Incorporated (trade name: Telltale Games) was an American video game developer based in San Rafael, California. The company was founded in July 2004 by former LucasArts developers Kevin Bruner, Dan Connors and Troy Molander, following ...
to develop a new entry in the ''King's Quest'' series. Williams declined to work on the game, but did offer some advice. The game was later canceled in 2013.
Activision attempted to revive the Sierra brand in 2014, leading developer
The Odd Gentlemen
The Odd Gentlemen is a video game developer founded by Matt Korba and Paul Bellezza in 2008.
History
Its first video game is '' The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom''. It was originally Matt Korba's graduate thesis at the University of Southern ...
to create
''King's Quest: A Knight to Remember''. According to the studio, they consulted with Roberta Williams "to make a game like they would make if they had continued making adventure games".
In 2019
Vancouver Film School announced The Roberta Williams Women in Game Design Scholarship, in partnership with game studios
The Coalition and
Blackbird Interactive
Blackbird Interactive is a Canadian video game development studio based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
History
Blackbird was founded in 2007 by former members of Relic Entertainment and EA Canada. CEO Rob Cunningham and chief creative officer Jo ...
.
In 2021, Williams self-published her first novel ''
Farewell to Tara'', set in mid-1800s Ireland during the time of the
Great Famine.
![Ken and Roberta Williams, GDC 2022 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Ken_and_Roberta_Williams%2C_GDC_2022_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Roberta and Ken announced plans to return to game development in June 2021, in collaboration with artist Marcus Maximus Mera. In an interview that same year, she expressed caution that a veteran game designer could successfully return to the industry after an extended break, saying there are merits to ending one's career at its peak.
In 2022 the team revealed that their new studio Cygnus Entertainment was creating a
remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...
of ''Colossal Cave Adventure'' titled ''Colossal Cave 3D Adventure''. Roberta explained that this pioneering game from the 1970s had inspired her career, and she was excited to re-imagine it as an interactive 3D experience.
Legacy and accolades
In 1995 ''
Next Generation
Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to:
Publications and literature
* ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company
* Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...
'' included Roberta Williams among their list of 75 power players in the game industry. ''Computer Gaming World'' also ranked her as tenth on their 1997 list of the most influential people in computer gaming, praising her impact on the design of adventure games.
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
likewise ranked her number ten on their 1999 list of "the most influential people in computer gaming of all time" for "pushing the envelope of graphic adventures" and being "especially proactive in creating games from a woman's point of view and titles that appealed to the mainstream market, all the while integrating the latest technologies in graphics and sound wherever possible".
In 2009 ''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' included both her and Ken in the 23rd position on the list of top game creators of all time, highlighting their role in co-founding Sierra as "the company behind some of the best and most well known adventure games of the '80s and '90s".
''Computer Gaming World'' inducted Roberta Williams into their Hall of Fame in 2011.
Both Roberta and Ken were given an Industry Icon Award at
The Game Awards in
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
.
She also earned the Pioneer Award at the 20th
Game Developers Choice Awards
The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games.
Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were ...
in
March 2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
, for her influential work in the graphical adventure game genre with ''Mystery House'', as well as her role in creating the ''King's Quest'' series and co-founding Sierra.
Ken Williams has described her as a perfectionist, "extremely smart, intuitive and usually right. She can't be managed."
''
Ars Technica
''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...
'' has called her "one of the more iconic figures in adventure gaming", noting her as one of the first well-known
female game designers, and praising her writing and design work on ''Phantasmagoria'' and the ''King's Quest'' series.
The Smithsonian Magazine has noted her as a pioneer of graphic adventure games, for creating the first home computer game to include graphics.
Several publications have referred to her as "the Queen of adventure games".
Roberta Williams has personally inspired the characters and artwork of other games. She posed for the cover of the game ''
Softporn Adventure
''Softporn Adventure'' is a comedic, adult-oriented text adventure game produced for the Apple II in 1981. The game was created by Charles Benton and released by On-Line Systems, later renamed Sierra On-Line. Years later, ''Softporn Adventure'' wa ...
'' by
Chuck Benton
''Softporn Adventure'' is a comedic, adult-oriented Interactive fiction, text adventure game produced for the Apple II series, Apple II in 1981. The game was created by Charles Benton and released by Sierra Entertainment, On-Line Systems, later re ...
, published by On-Line Systems.
She posed much later with her children as
Mother Goose for the cover photograph of ''Mixed-Up Mother Goose''.
She also makes a cameo appearance in ''
Leisure Suit Larry 3'', where Larry interrupts her while "directing" a scene for ''King's QuestIV''.
She was also a source of inspiration for the character of Cameron Howe in the
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** AM ...
television drama ''
Halt and Catch Fire''. The Williams family donated a collection of design materials to the
International Center for the History of Electronic Games
The International Center for the History of Electronic Games (ICHEG) collects, studies, and interprets video games, other electronic games, and related materials and the ways in which electronic games are changing how people play, learn, and conn ...
.
Works
Games
*''
Mystery House'' (1980)
*''
Wizard and the Princess'' (1980)
*''
Mission Asteroid
''Mission Asteroid'' (shown as ''Mission: Asteroid'' in the manual and on the title screen) is a graphic adventure game for the Apple II written by Ken and Roberta Williams and released in 1980 by On-Line Systems. It was later ported to the Atari ...
'' (1981)
*''
Time Zone
A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...
'' (1982)
*''
The Dark Crystal'' (1983)
*''
King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown'' (1984)
*''
Mickey's Space Adventure'' (1984)
*''
King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne'' (1985)
*''
King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human'' (1986)
*''
Mixed-Up Mother Goose
''Roberta Williams' Mixed-Up Mother Goose'' is a computer game first released by Sierra On-Line in 1987. It is, in essence, an edutainment title, directed specifically at young gamers, as well as an adventure game. It was the first multimedia ga ...
'' (1987)
*''
King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella'' (1988)
*''
Laura Bow: The Colonel's Bequest'' (1989)
*''
King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!'' (1990)
*''
King's Quest 1: Quest for the Crown (Remake)'' (1990)
*''
Mixed-Up Mother Goose Multimedia'' (1990)
*''
Laura Bow in The Dagger of Amon Ra'' (1992)
*''
King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow'' (1992)
*''
King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride'' (1994)
*''
Mixed-Up Mother Goose Deluxe'' (1995)
*''
Phantasmagoria'' (1995)
*''
Shivers'' (1995)
*''
King's Quest: Mask of Eternity'' (1998)
*''Odd Manor'' (2014)
*''Colossal Cave 3D Adventure'' (TBA)
Novels
*''Farewell to Tara'' (2021)
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Roberta
1953 births
American video game actresses
American video game designers
Game Developers Conference Pioneer Award recipients
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
Sierra On-Line employees
Video game writers
Women video game designers
Women video game developers
The Game Awards winners