Roberta Williams

File:Ken Williams (cropped) - On-Line Systems first anniversary celebration.jpg, Roberta's husband and co-founder of Sierra]]

Born in Los Angeles, Roberta Heuer grew up in rural Southern California as the daughter of an agricultural inspector.{{Cite book|last=Levy|first=Steven|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mShXzzKtpmEC&q=Hackers:+Heroes+of+the+Computer+Revolution+sierra|title=Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution - 25th Anniversary Edition|date=May 19, 2010|publisher=O'Reilly Media|isbn=978-1-4493-9374-8|pages=241, 245, 253, 267, 288, 309, 316, 320, 357, 392|language=en}} A shy child with a vivid imagination, she often created fairy-tale adventure stories to entertain her family.{{Cite book|last=Katz|first=Alan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JDR9DwAAQBAJ&dq=queen+of+adventure+games+williams&pg=PT29|title=Awesome Achievers in Technology: Super and Strange Facts about 12 Almost Famous History Makers|date=August 6, 2019|publisher=Running Press|isbn=978-0-7624-6335-0|language=en}} 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.{{Cite news|last=Bonner|first=Jerry|title=The Rise of Sierra Online Wasn't Exactly a Fairytale|language=en-US|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/story/sierra-online-ken-williams-interview-memoir/|access-date=November 25, 2021|issn=1059-1028}} 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.{{Cite book|last=Williams|first=Ken|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8A7kzQEACAAJ|title=Not All Fairy Tales Have Happy Endings: The Rise and Fall of Sierra On-Line|date=July 24, 2020|publisher=Lulu Press, Inc.|isbn=978-1-716-72736-8|language=en}} 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 as a computer programmer working in COBOL.

By 1979, the couple had two children. Ken was employed as a computer programmer and consultant, working on large IBM mainframe machines.{{Cite web|title=Roberta Williams|url=https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/roberta-williams|access-date=March 22, 2019|work=Lemelson-MIT Program}} 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 Apple II computer for the family,{{Cite book|last=Sherman|first=Jill|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zv9dDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Queen+of+the+Graphic+Adventure%22+williams&pg=PA22|title=25 Women Who Thought of It First|date=August 2018|publisher=Capstone|isbn=978-0-7565-5852-9|pages=21|language=en}} which strained their expenses. Roberta's love of computers grew as she played several text adventure games.

File:On-Line_Systems_-_Hi-Res_Adventure_-_June_1981_The_On-Line_Letter_advert.jpg games, including both Mystery House and The Wizard and the Princess'']]

Around 1979, Roberta Williams was an avid player of text adventures on her teletype machine,{{Cite web|last=Eschner|first=Kat|date=February 16, 2017|title=The Pioneer of Graphic Adventure Games Was a Woman|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/1980s-roberta-williams-brought-graphic-adventure-games-home-180962160/|access-date=November 24, 2021|work=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en}} 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's story And Then There Were None, and the board game 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.{{cite web|last=Moss|first=Richard|date=January 26, 2011|title=A truly graphic adventure: the 25-year rise and fall of a beloved genre|url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2011/01/history-of-graphic-adventures.ars|access-date=February 2, 2012|work=Ars Technica}} 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-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, 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. They also changed their company name to Sierra On-Line, based on its location near the Sierra Nevada mountains.{{Cite web|last=Jong|first=Philip|date=March 28, 2006|title=Ken Williams - Interview|url=http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/interviews/197/|access-date=November 26, 2021|work=Adventure Classic Gaming}}

After just two years Sierra had grown to nearly a hundred employees with $10{{spaces}}million in revenue. Sierra's success started to attract investors, including venture capitalists.{{cite web|last=Fyfe|first=Duncan|date=October 29, 2020|title=How Sierra Was Captured, Then Killed, by a Massive Accounting Fraud|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/inside-story-sierra-online-death-cuc-cendant-fraud/|access-date=October 30, 2020|work=Vice}} 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.{{cite news|author=Anderson, John|date=March 1983|title=The Dark Crystal|pages=168|work=Creative Computing|url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v9n3/168_The_dark_crystal.php|access-date=September 13, 2008}} 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.

{{Quote box|align=right|width=27em|quote=Programmers, authors are going to be the future new entertainers{{spaces}}... It might be presumptuous to say they might be new Robert Redfords{{spaces}}... but to a certain extent [they will be] idolized. Tomorrow's heroes.|source=Roberta Williams, 1982 interview}}

By 1983, Sierra's new investors pushed the company to diversify into video game cartridges for platforms such as the Atari. The video game industry soon experienced a crash, 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 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. 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.{{cite web|last=Jong|first=Philip|date=July 16, 2006|title=Roberta Williams Interview|url=http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/interviews/198/|access-date=July 14, 2015|work=Adventure Classic Gaming}} 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 elements,{{cite web|title=Ken Williams & Roberta Williams|url=http://uk.games.ign.com/top-100-game-creators/23.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090310080405/http://uk.games.ign.com/top-100-game-creators/23.html|archive-date=March 10, 2009|access-date=February 2, 2012|work=IGN}} 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 standard, setting a new standard for future graphic adventure games.

File:Roberta Williams - On-Line Systems first anniversary celebration.jpg

Meanwhile, Roberta continued her role as designer of the King's Quest series,{{Cite book |last1=Mejia |first1=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MzEmDwAAQBAJ&dq=queen+of+adventure+games+williams&pg=PA98 |title=100 Greatest Video Game Franchises |last2=Banks |first2=Jaime |last3=Adams |first3=Aubrie |date=August 17, 2017 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-7815-8 |pages=97–99 |language=en}} 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's list of 50 Best Video Games of All Time.{{cite magazine|date=August 23, 2016|title=The 50 Best Video Games of All Time|url=https://time.com/4458554/best-video-games-all-time/|url-status=live|magazine=Time|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826010703/http://time.com/4458554/best-video-games-all-time/|archive-date=August 26, 2016|access-date=September 19, 2016}} 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,{{cite web|last=Andreadis|first=Kosta|date=May 25, 2014|title=Revisiting King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella|work=IGN|url=http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/05/26/revisiting-kingas-quest-iv-the-perils-of-rosella|access-date=November 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809041138/https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05/26/revisiting-kingas-quest-iv-the-perils-of-rosella|archive-date=August 9, 2014}} and one of the first adventure games to support a mouse.{{cite web|author=GameSpot Staff|date=November 7, 2000|title=The 15 Most Influential Games of All Time; King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella|url=http://gamespot.com:80/gamespot/features/pc/most_influential/p13.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050525124359/http://gamespot.com/gamespot/features/pc/most_influential/p13.html|archive-date=May 25, 2005|access-date=February 17, 2020|work=GameSpot|page=13}} It was also one of the first games to feature a female protagonist,{{Cite magazine |last=Ardai |first=Charles |date=November 1997 |title=A Woman's Place |url=https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_160/page/n383/mode/2up |magazine=Computer Gaming World |volume=160 |pages=381}} a creative decision that Williams seeded by introducing the character in the previous game.{{Cite web|last=Marold|first=Abby|date=February 17, 2001|title=Interviews - Roberta Williams|url=http://www.womengamers.com:80/interviews/roberta.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010217010515/http://www.womengamers.com:80/interviews/roberta.html|archive-date=February 17, 2001|access-date=November 25, 2021|work=WomenGamers}} Some of her peers cautioned that this might deter men from playing the game,{{Cite web|author=Newsweek Staff|date=March 30, 1997|title=Sierra's Queen Is Still On Top Of Her Game|url=https://www.newsweek.com/sierras-queen-still-top-her-game-170470|access-date=November 25, 2021|work=Newsweek|language=en}} 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.

File:Interaction-Magazine-1989-Fall.jpg

Williams continued to design other titles, such as the educational title Mixed-Up Mother Goose.{{cite news |date=June 1991 |title=Celebrating Software |pages=64 |magazine=Computer Gaming World |url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1991&pub=2&id=83 |access-date=November 17, 2013}} The game went on to sell more than 500,000 copies,{{cite magazine |author=Sierra On-Line |author-link=Sierra On-Line |date=December 1995 |title=Advertisement: Mixed-Up Mother Goose Deluxe |magazine=PC Gamer US |volume=2 |issue=12 |pages=62}} and the CD-ROM version earned the Software Publishers Association Excellence in Software Award for Best Early Education Program. In 1989, Williams released another mystery adventure game called The Colonel's Bequest, which iterated on ideas from her original Mystery House game with more detailed graphics and improved text parsing.{{Cite news|last=Alexander|first=Leigh|date=October 9, 2014|title=Lo-Fi Let's Play: The Colonel's Bequest|language=en|work=Rock Paper Shotgun|url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-colonels-bequest|access-date=November 24, 2021}} 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.{{Cite web|last=Kalata|first=Kurt|date=November 22, 2010|title=The Colonel's Bequest|url=http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/the-colonels-bequest/|access-date=November 25, 2021|work=Hardcore Gaming 101|language=en-US}} 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.{{cite magazine|date=June 1997|title=NG Alphas: King's Quest: Mask of Eternity|url=https://archive.org/stream/NextGeneration30Jun1997/Next_Generation_30_Jun_1997#page/n73|magazine=Next Generation|issue=30|pages=72–75}} The game was critically acclaimed, winning several awards upon release,{{cite magazine|date=November 1991|title=Computer Gaming World's 1991 Games of the Year Awards|url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1991&pub=2&id=88|magazine=Computer Gaming World|pages=38|access-date=November 18, 2013}}{{cite magazine|date=February 1992|title=Isn't That Just Spiffy?|url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1992&pub=2&id=91|magazine=Computer Gaming World|pages=112|access-date=November 24, 2013}}{{Cite magazine |date=1993 |title=Riding the Cutting Edge |magazine=Interaction |volume=Winter 1993 |pages=36–37}} with Computer Gaming World including it in their 1996 list of greatest games of all time.{{cite magazine|date=November 1996|title=150 Best Games of All Time|url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1996&pub=2&id=148|magazine=Computer Gaming World|pages=64–80|access-date=March 25, 2016}}

By the early 1990s, Sierra was a publicly traded company, generating $100{{spaces}}million per year in revenue. The company released The Dagger of Amon Ra in 1991, a sequel to The Colonel's Bequest based on characters and concepts created by Williams.{{Cite web|last=Kalata|first=Kurt|date=November 22, 2009|title=Laura Bow in: The Dagger of Amon Ra|url=http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/laura-bow-in-the-dagger-of-amon-ra/|access-date=November 25, 2021|work=Hardcore Gaming 101|language=en-US}} Meanwhile, Williams worked with Jane Jensen to design King's Quest VI.{{cite magazine|last1=Ceccola|first1=Russ|date=February 1993|title=All about King's Quest VI: EG learns the inside scoop from Roberta Williams and Jane Jensen|magazine=Electronic Games|volume=1|issue=5|pages=84, 85}} Released in 1992, it was recognized by several publications as one of the best adventure games, if not one of the best games overall.{{cite web|last=Gouskos|first=Carrie|title=The Greatest Games of All Time: King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow|url=http://www.gamespot.com/features/6144989/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060410142928/http://www.gamespot.com/features/6144989/index.html|archive-date=April 10, 2006|work=GameSpot}}{{cite magazine|author=Staff|date=August 1994|title=PC Gamer Top 40: The Best Games of All Time; The Ten Best Games that Almost Made the Top 40|magazine=PC Gamer US|issue=3|pages=42}}{{cite web|last1=Alexander|first1=Jem|date=March 17, 2015|title=The 10 Adventure Games That Everyone Must Play|url=http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/03/17/the-10-adventure-games-that-everyone-must-play|access-date=August 25, 2017|work=Kotaku}} 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.

File:Maria Stahl, Diane Siegal, Roberta Williams - On-Line Systems first anniversary celebration.jpg

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 of Stephen King, 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 $4{{spaces}}million, 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.{{Cite book|last=Senan|first=David|url=http://archive.org/details/InterAction_Magazine_Fall_1997_1997_Sierra_On-Line_US|title=King's Quest: Mask of Eternity|date=Fall 1997|publisher=InterAction Magazine}} She hoped to re-introduce some interactivity absent in Phantasmagoria,{{cite magazine|date=June 1997|title=An Interview with Roberta Williams and Mark Seibert|url=https://archive.org/stream/NextGeneration30Jun1997/Next_Generation_30_Jun_1997#page/n78|magazine=Next Generation|issue=30|pages=77–81}} 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.{{Cite web|date=March 12, 2021|title=A Video Chat with Roberta Williams|url=https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/a-video-chat-with-roberta-williams|access-date=November 25, 2021|work=Adventure Gamers|language=en}} 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 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 ${{Inflation|US|500|1998|r=-1}}{{spaces}}million in {{Inflation/year|US}}). The decline of Sierra had an emotional impact on Roberta, who left the company in 1999.{{cite web | url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2006/07/4688.ars | title=Roberta Williams: After King's Quest, where did she go? | work=Ars Technica | date=July 18, 2006 | access-date=February 2, 2012 | last=Kuchera|first=Ben}} By the 2000s, Sierra's assets were held by Activision Blizzard, after a merger between Activision and Vivendi.{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Bobbie |date=July 11, 2008 |title=Activision and Vivendi merge to create video games giant |url=http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/jul/11/activision.vivendi |access-date=May 2, 2022 |work=The Guardian |language=en}}

After the release of King's Quest: Mask of Eternity, Roberta Williams described herself as taking a sabbatical from the game industry in 1999.{{cite web|year=1999|title=Roberta Williams Interview|url=http://www.gamersdepot.com/interview_roberta_a.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991127225719/http://www.gamersdepot.com/interview_roberta_a.htm|archive-date=November 27, 1999|access-date=April 14, 2007|work=Gamer's Depot}} In actuality, both she and Ken had signed a non-compete clause 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.{{cite web|last=Ribeiro|first=Ricky|date=May 11, 2012|title=Mothers of Technology: 10 Women Who Invented and Innovated in Tech|url=http://www.biztechmagazine.com/article/2012/05/mothers-technology-10-women-who-invented-and-innovated-tech|access-date=February 2, 2017}} 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. 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.{{cite web | url=https://www.gamezebo.com/news/legendary-kings-quest-designer-roberta-williams-working-on-facebooks-odd-manor/ | title=Legendary King's Quest designer Roberta Williams working on Facebook's Odd Manor | work=Gamezebo | date=August 14, 2011 | access-date=February 2, 2012 | last=Webster |first=Andrew}} By 2012, Replay Games had recruited Sierra veterans Al Lowe and Paul Trowe to return to the Leisure Suit Larry adventure game series, which led Trowe to try to persuade the Williamses to return to the game industry.{{Cite news|last=Walker|first=John|date=April 10, 2012|title=Replay Trying To Bring Back Space Quest, King's Quest|language=en|work=Rock, Paper, Shotgun|url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/replay-trying-to-bring-back-space-quest-kings-quest|access-date=November 24, 2021}} Activision hired Telltale Games to develop a new entry in the King's Quest series. Williams declined to work on the game, but did offer some advice.{{cite web|date=June 8, 2011|title=E3 2011: First King's Quest Details - IGN|url=http://pc.ign.com/articles/117/1174593p1.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829071452/http://pc.ign.com/articles/117/1174593p1.html|archive-date=August 29, 2011|access-date=September 7, 2012|work=IGN}} The game was later canceled in 2013.{{cite web|date=April 3, 2013|title=Activision is planning something for King's Quest After Recovering the Rights From Telltale Games|url=http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/activision-is-planning-something-for-kings-quest-franchise-rights-reportedly-recovered-from-telltale-games/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130405013739/http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/activision-is-planning-something-for-kings-quest-franchise-rights-reportedly-recovered-from-telltale-games/|archive-date=April 5, 2013|access-date=April 3, 2013|work=Digital Trends}} Activision attempted to revive the Sierra brand in 2014, leading developer The Odd Gentlemen to create King's Quest: A Knight to Remember.{{Cite web|last=Corriea|first=Alexa Ray|date=August 12, 2014|title=Geometry Wars and King's Quest return with revived Sierra label|url=https://www.polygon.com/2014/8/12/5994833/activision-reviving-sierra-label-new-kings-quest-geometry-wars|access-date=November 24, 2021|work=Polygon|language=en-US}} According to the studio, they consulted with Roberta Williams "to make a game like they would make if they had continued making adventure games".{{Cite web|date=July 31, 2015|title=How King's Quest Creator Roberta Williams Helped King's Quest: A Knight to Remember|url=https://www.siliconera.com/how-kings-quest-creator-roberta-williams-helped-kings-quest-a-knight-to-remember/|access-date=November 24, 2021|work=Siliconera|language=en-US}}

In 2019 Vancouver Film School announced The Roberta Williams Women in Game Design Scholarship, in partnership with game studios The Coalition and Blackbird Interactive.{{Cite web|last=Futter|first=Mike|date=June 26, 2019|title=Roberta Williams' legacy honored with $250,000 scholarship and internship program|url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/roberta-williams-legacy-honored-250-164500944.html|access-date=November 24, 2021|work=Yahoo! Finance|language=en-US}} In 2021, Williams self-published her first novel Farewell to Tara, set in mid-1800s Ireland during the time of the Great Famine.{{cite web|url=https://robertasbook.com/press-release/|title=Farewell to Tara: Official Release Announcement|access-date=March 14, 2021}}

File:Ken and Roberta Williams, GDC 2022 (cropped).jpg in 2022]]

Roberta and Ken announced plans to return to game development in June 2021, in collaboration with artist Marcus Maximus Mera.{{cite web | url = https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-06-03-ken-and-roberta-williams-announce-new-title-the-secret | title = Ken and Roberta Williams making first game together in over 20 years | first = Jeffrey | last = Rousseau | date = June 3, 2021 | accessdate = June 3, 2021 | work = GamesIndustry.biz }}{{Cite news|last=Cassidy|first=Ruth|date=May 29, 2021|title=Sierra Entertainment's original creators might be making something new|language=en|work=PC Gamer|url=https://www.pcgamer.com/sierra-entertainments-original-creators-might-be-making-something-new/|access-date=November 25, 2021}} 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 of Colossal Cave Adventure titled Colossal Cave 3D Adventure.{{cite web |last1=Bailey |first1=Kat |title=Ken And Roberta Williams Are Remaking Colossal Cave Adventure |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/ken-roberta-williams-colossal-cave-3d |work=IGN |access-date=April 15, 2022 |date=March 29, 2022}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Machkovech |first=Sam |date=April 8, 2022 |title=Roberta and Ken Williams open up about their first video game in 25 years |url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/04/roberta-and-ken-williams-open-up-about-their-first-video-game-in-25-years/ |access-date=May 2, 2022 |work=Ars Technica |language=en-us}}

In 1995, Next Generation included Roberta Williams among their list of 75 power players in the game industry.{{cite magazine|date=November 1995|title=75 Power Players|magazine=Next Generation|issue=11|pages=53–54}} 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.{{Cite magazine |date=October 1997 |title=The Most Influential People in Computer Gaming |pages=56 |magazine=Computer Gaming World |issue=159}} GameSpot 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".{{cite web|date=February 24, 1999|title=The Most Influential People in Computer Gaming of All Time|url=http://www.gamespot.com/features/15most/html/mi_10.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050517170702/http://www.gamespot.com/features/15most/html/mi_10.html|archive-date=May 17, 2005|access-date=May 17, 2005|work=GameSpot}} In 2009, IGN 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.{{cite magazine |date=August 5, 2011 |title=Computer Gaming World – Hall of Fame |url=http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=9&cId=3139081#86 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805051232/http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=9&cId=3139081 |archive-date=August 5, 2011 |access-date=July 6, 2013 |magazine=Computer Gaming World |publisher=1up}} Both Roberta and Ken were given an Industry Icon Award at The Game Awards in 2014. She also earned the Pioneer Award at the 20th Game Developers Choice Awards in March 2020, 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.{{cite web|date=February 26, 2020|title=Adventure game trailblazer Roberta Williams to receive Pioneer Award at GDC 2020|url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/adventure-game-trailblazer-roberta-williams-to-receive-pioneer-award-at-gdc-2020|access-date=February 26, 2020|work=Gamasutra}}{{Cite news|last=O'Connor|first=Alice|date=March 19, 2020|title=Untitled Goose Game ran away with the GDC Awards game of the year trophy|language=en|work=Rock, Paper, Shotgun|url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/untitled-goose-game-ran-away-with-the-gdc-awards-game-of-the-year-trophy|access-date=November 24, 2021}}

Ken Williams has described her as a perfectionist, "extremely smart, intuitive and usually right. She can't be managed." Ars Technica 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. 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".{{Cite book|last=Craddock|first=David L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qJ03EAAAQBAJ&dq=queen+of+adventure+games+williams&pg=PT63|title=Game Dev Stories Volume 2: More Interviews About Game Development and Culture|date=August 26, 2021|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-000-43393-7|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=Lewis|first=Peter H.|date=December 20, 1992|title=Sound Bytes; The Queen of Gaming Reigns at Sierra On-Line|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/20/business/sound-bytes-the-queen-of-gaming-reigns-at-sierra-on-line.html|access-date=November 25, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}

Roberta Williams has personally inspired the characters and artwork of other games. She posed for the cover of the game Softporn Adventure by Chuck Benton, published by On-Line Systems.{{Cite web|last=Nooney|first=Laine|date=December 2, 2014|title=The Odd History of the First Erotic Computer Game|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/12/the-odd-history-of-the-first-erotic-computer-game/383114/|access-date=November 25, 2021|work=The Atlantic|language=en}} 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 Quest{{spaces}}IV.{{cite web |last=Kalata |first=Kurt |date=August 5, 2009 |title=Hardcore Gaming 101: Leisure Suit Larry: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals |url=http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/lsl/lsl2.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100128135636/http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/lsl/lsl2.htm |archive-date=January 28, 2010 |access-date=February 2, 2010 |work=Hardcore Gaming 101}} Ellie Williams, protagonist of the 2013 video game series The Last of Us is named for Ken and Roberta.{{cite web |last1=Druckmann |first1=Neil |title=Personal Tweet |url=https://twitter.com/neil_druckmann/status/1476337150245355526 |website=Twitter |access-date=11 February 2023 |date=29 December 2021}} She was also a source of inspiration for the character of Cameron Howe in the AMC television drama Halt and Catch Fire.{{cite news |last=Sirois |first=Justin |date=September 22, 2015 |title=Halt and Catch Fire: Cameron |url=http://www.citypaper.com/film/videogames/bcp-092315-screens-gamers-grammar-halt-and-catch-fire-20150922-story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926010348/http://www.citypaper.com/film/videogames/bcp-092315-screens-gamers-grammar-halt-and-catch-fire-20150922-story.html |archive-date=September 26, 2015 |access-date=September 22, 2015 |work=Baltimore City Paper}} The Williams family donated a collection of design materials to the International Center for the History of Electronic Games.

• Mystery House (1980)
• Wizard and the Princess (1980)
• Mission Asteroid (1981)
• Time Zone (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 (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){{cite web |url=https://www.gamezebo.com/news/legendary-kings-quest-designer-roberta-williams-working-on-facebooks-odd-manor/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230144906/http://www.gamezebo.com/2011/08/14/legendary-kings-quest-designer-roberta-williams-working-facebooks-odd-manor/ |title=Legendary King's Quest designer Roberta Williams working on Facebook's Odd Manor |last=Webster |first=Andrew |work=Gamezebo |date=August 14, 2011 |archive-date=December 30, 2014 |access-date=January 20, 2022 |url-status=live}}
• Colossal Cave - Remake (2023){{Cite web |last=Carpenter |first=Nicole |date=2022-12-08 |title=Classic adventure game Colossal Cave returns remade in 3D in 2023 |url=https://www.polygon.com/game-awards-tga/23498720/colossal-cave-3d-remake-release-date-ken-roberta-williams |access-date=2023-01-19 |website=Polygon |language=en-US}}

• Farewell to Tara (2021)

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• {{MobyGames developer}}
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{{Sierra Adventure Games}}

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Category:1953 births

Category:American video game actresses

Category:American video game designers

Category:Game Developers Conference Pioneer Award recipients

Category:Living people

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:Sierra On-Line employees

Category:American video game writers

Category:American women video game designers

Category:Women video game developers

Category:The Game Awards winners