Historical Facts about Women in Computing: Roberta Williams

Women in the History of Computing Technology

"In my day, when creating a new adventure game, my first thoughts, before even thinking about any 'framework' were: What is the story? Who are the characters, especially the main character? What is he/she trying to do, i.e. what is the quest? In what sort of 'world or land' is this game going to be played? In other words, I always thought first of the story, characters, and game world. I needed to understand those before I could even think about any game framework, 'engine,' or interface."

Roberta Williams

Roberta Williams

Roberta Williams is an American video game designer, best known for her pioneering work in the field of graphical adventure games. Along with her husband Ken Williams, they found the On-Line Systems Company, which later becomes Sierra On-Line and goes on to make famous titles such as The Colonel’s Bequest and Phantasmagoria.

Roberta Heuer Williams was born and raised in La Verne, southern California, a city located in the County of Los Angeles. Her father John Heuer is a horticulturist and works for the County and her mother Nova Heuer is an oil painter.

Roberta is often referred to as the “Queen of the Graphic Adventure.” Along with her husband, Ken Williams, who she meets in high school and marries in 1972, they found On-Line Systems in 1980, later known as Sierra On-Line, and create the very first graphic adventure game, Mystery House. As the game sells very well, Roberta and Ken leave Los Angeles and move to Coarsegold, a small town in the Sierra Nevada foothills south of Yosemite National Park. It is in the same region that the first real office of On-Line Systems is later opened. Mystery House, on the other hand, becomes part of a series of six different adventure games called Hi-Res Adventures that are published during the period from 1980 to 1982.

The next game Roberta designs after her and her husband’s success with Mystery House is The Wizard and the Princes (1980). It becomes the first adventure game with colored graphics and the number one computer game on the Apple II. Following are Time Zone (1982), her first game for which outside artists are used, and the famous King’s Quest series, her greatest achievement as a video game designer. While working on the King’s Guest VII, Williams also designs Phantasmagoria (1995), her first horror game. The game has a $4 million development budget and takes two years to complete. It is published on 7 CD-ROMS and sells over 1,000,000 copies shortly after its introduction into the computer games market.

Roberta Williams remains involved in the development of games for Sierra On-Line till it is sold in 1996 to CUC International. Her last and at the same time first real 3D game for the “new” company is King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity (1998), which she designs with the help of Mark Seibert. After its completion and 18 years of game production, she decides to take a rest and leaves the business in favor of reading and traveling.

For her great contribution to the advancement in the field of video games and computer graphics, Roberta Williams wins a number of distinguished awards including a special tribute paid to her with The Roberta Williams Anthology (1997), which includes 15 games she designs (seven games from the King’s Quest series, six games from the Hi-Res Adventures series, and two Laura Bow games).

Sources

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