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Revision as of 02:01, 1 June 2018

Roberta Williams
Born (1953-02-16) February 16, 1953 (age 71)
Occupation(s)Video game designer, writer
Known forKing's Quest
SpouseKen Williams
Children2; D.J. and Chris Williams

Roberta Williams (born February 16, 1953) is an American video game designer, writer, and a co-founder of Sierra On-Line (later known as Sierra Entertainment), who developed her first game while living in Simi Valley, California. She is most famous for her work in the field of graphic adventure games with titles such as Mystery House, the King's Quest series, and Phantasmagoria. She is married to Ken Williams and retired from her career in 1999. Roberta Williams is one of the most influential PC game designers of the 1980s and 1990s,[1][2] and has been credited with creating the graphic adventure genre.[3]

Career

In the 1980s and 1990s, Roberta and her husband, Ken Williams, were leading figures in the development of graphical adventure games.[4] In 1980, they founded the company On-Line Systems, which later became Sierra On-Line.[4] The first Williams' title was Mystery House (1980), the first graphical adventure game.[5][6] The second title, Wizard and the Princess (1980), added color graphics.[7] But the first serious success was the King's Quest series, which featured a "large expansive world" that could be explored by players.[4] After that, Roberta Williams designed such titles as Mixed-Up Mother Goose (1987), The Colonel's Bequest (1989), and Phantasmagoria (1995), which was the first in her career to be developed in the full-motion video technology.[5] Phantasmagoria featured extreme violence and rape scenes. The game has received mixed reviews.[8] Though Sierra was sold in 1996, Williams' production credits date to 1999, when she retired from Sierra On-Line.[9] Roberta posed for the cover of the game Softporn Adventure by Chuck Benton, published by On-line Systems.[9] She also posed much later with her children as Mother Goose for the cover photograph of Mixed-Up Mother Goose. The end sequence of Leisure Suit Larry 3 features her as an in-game character.[10] She was also a source of inspiration for Cameron's character in the AMC television drama Halt and Catch Fire. [11]

Ars Technica stated that Roberta Williams was "one of the more iconic figures in adventure gaming".[9] GameSpot named her as the number ten in their 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."[12] In 1997, Computer Gaming World ranked her as number 10 on the list of the most influential people of all time in computer gaming for adventure game design.[13] In 2009, IGN placed the Williams at 23rd position on the list of top game creators of all time, expressing hope that "maybe one day, we'll see the Williams again as well."[4]

Since her retirement in 1999 (stated at the time to be a "sabbatical"[14]), she has stayed away from the public eye and rarely gives interviews to talk about her past with Sierra On-Line. However, in a 2006 interview, she admitted that her favorite game she created was Phantasmagoria and not King's Quest: "If I could only pick one game, I would pick Phantasmagoria, as I enjoyed working on it immensely and it was so very challenging (and I love to be challenged!). However, in my heart, I will always love the King's Quest series and, especially, King's Quest I, since it was the game that really 'made' Sierra On-Line."[3]

In a 2006 interview, Williams said that designing computer games was in the past for her then and that she intended to write a historical novel.[3] However, in 2011, the video game website Gamezebo reported that Roberta Williams was working on a social network game Odd Manor.[15]

Personal life

As a young, timid only child[16] Roberta was known to have a wild imagination. Unlike most kids, she would make up elaborate stories, which she called her "movies" and use them to entertain her family. Later on in high school, she met her future husband, Ken Williams, at the age of 17. In Petter Holmberg's biography he shares the couple's story about how Roberta and Ken met. Petter says, "She was dating a friend of his and two months after a double date where they had both met, Ken unexpectedly called her and asked her out. Roberta wasn't very impressed with him in the beginning. He was shy and insecure, like her, but also overly pushy at times. He asked her to go steady the first week. It took some time, but at one point Roberta suddenly realized that he was very intelligent and quite different from the other boys she had dated. Ken wanted them to have a permanent commitment and they got married when Roberta was only 19 years old,"[17] on November 4, 1972.[18] They have two children, D.J. (born 1973) and Chris (born 1979). The Williams family now has homes in Seattle, France and Mexico and they spend most of their time traveling on their family-owned yacht.[19]

Quotes

  • "My definition of an adventure game is really an interactive story set with puzzles and obstacles to solve and worlds to explore. I believe that the ‘true’ adventure game genre will never die any more than any type of storytelling would ever die.” — Roberta Williams said on the future of adventure games in an interview with Adventure Classic Gaming." [20]
  • "But best of all, I could see that you truly are the ones to take King’s Quest into the 21st century and reintroduce it to a whole new generation." [19]
  • "The experience of creating my adventure games was, other than marrying my husband and bringing into the world my two sons, the most fulfilling, wonderful experience I could ever have had," [20]

In a 1999 interview, Williams stated that her games were targeted toward a more affluent and educated audience than later games: "Back when I got started, which sounds like ancient history, back then the demographics of people who were into computer games, was totally different, in my opinion, than they are today. Back then, computers were more expensive, which made them more exclusive to people who were maybe at a certain income level, or education level. So the people that played computer games 15 years ago were that type of person. They probably didn't watch television as much, and the instant gratification era hadn't quite grown the way it has lately. I think in the last 5 or 6 years, the demographics have really changed, now this is my opinion, because computers are less expensive so more people can afford them. More "average" people now feel they should own one."[21]

Games

Awards

  • Industry Icon Award (2014)[19]

References

  1. ^ "Computer Gaming World – Hall of Fame". Computer Gaming World. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
  2. ^ "75 Power Players". Next Generation (11). Imagine Media: 53–54. November 1995.
  3. ^ a b c Jong, Philip (July 16, 2006). "Roberta Williams Interview". Adventure Classic Gaming. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d "Ken Williams & Roberta Williams". IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  5. ^ a b "Roberta Williams". Allgame. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  6. ^ "Mystery House and Sierra On-Line". The Dot Eaters. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  7. ^ Moss, Richard (January 26, 2011). "A truly graphic adventure: the 25-year rise and fall of a beloved genre". Ars Technica. Condé Nast Publications. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  8. ^ "Roberta Williams' Phantasmagoria". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  9. ^ a b c Kuchera, Ben (July 18, 2006). "Roberta Williams: After King's Quest, where did she go?". Ars Technica. Condé Nast Publications. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  10. ^ House, Michael L. "Leisure Suit Larry 3: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals". Allgame. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  11. ^ Sirois, Justin. "Halt and Catch Fire: Cameron". Retrieved September 22, 2015.
  12. ^ "GamesSpot". Archived from the original on May 17, 2005. Retrieved 2005-05-17. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ CGW 159: The Most Influential People in Computer Gaming
  14. ^ "Roberta Williams Interview". Gamer's Depot. 1999. Archived from the original on November 27, 1999. Retrieved April 14, 2007.
  15. ^ Webster, Andrew (August 14, 2011). "Legendary King's Quest designer Roberta Williams working on Facebook's Odd Manor". Gamezebo. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  16. ^ http://www.sierragamers.com/roberta-williams
  17. ^ Holmberg, Petter. "A Roberta Williams Biography". Oocities. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  18. ^ "Roberta Williams". Sierra Gamers. Retrieved February 3, 2012.
  19. ^ a b c "Where are they now?". Choicest Games. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  20. ^ a b Ribeiro, Ricky. "Mothers of Technology: 10 Women Who Invented and Innovated in Tech". BizTech. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  21. ^ "Roberta Williams Interview". Gamer's Depot. 1999. Archived from the original on November 27, 1999. Retrieved April 14, 2007.
  22. ^ Legendary King's Quest designer Roberta Williams working on Facebook's Odd Manor
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