MEET ROBERTA WILLIAMS
Not every Awesome Achiever set out to change the world. In fact, video game creator Roberta Williams, often called The Queen of Graphic Adventure,” had no thoughts of being such an innovator.
Ms. Williams was a shy child with a wild imagination. She often enthralled her family members by creating fairy-tale adventure stories. But she probably never could have imagined what the future held for her.
In 1979, Ms. Williams was a mom of two and knew very little about video games and computers. That year, her husband Ken (a computer programmer and consultant) showed her a simple game called Colossal Cave Adventure, in which players had to type text directions in order to control characters. Ms. Williams loved Colossal Cave Adventure so much, she bought and played additional text-based adventure games. And before long, confident that she could do an even better job, she set out to create a game of her own.
But Ms. Williams was a creative storyteller, not a computer expert. And so, she persuaded her husband to develop a program based on her tale, which she called Mystery House. The game was revolutionary, and here’s why: it enhanced the players’ enjoyment by including simple black-and-white graphics (something that Colossal Cave Adventure and other early games didn’t have).
After a month of programming, the game was ready; it was released in May 1980. After a mere three months, the couple had earned $60,000 on Mystery House. Their follow-up game that year, Wizard and the Princess, featured color graphics and was also tremendously popular.
Mrs. and Mr. Williams started their own company, On-Line Systems, in late 1980. The company later became known as Sierra Online, and they released more and more successful games, including Mission: Asteroid, Time Zone, and The Dark Crystal (based on a 1982 adventure-fantasy movie produced by the Jim Henson Company).
Soon after, Ms. Williams began creating what would be her most beloved project: King’s Quest. That game was the first to feature animation-like characters that the player could control, moving them around in an environment without typing. An incredible blockbuster, King’s Quest became one of the most popular adventure games ever released, and it led to seven sequels, as well as three motion pictures.
Other successful titles followed, including The Black Cauldron, Mickey’s Space Adventure, and Mixed-Up Mother Goose.
Ms. Williams has been heralded as one of the most respected (and successful!) computer game creators, and it’s notable that she is widely considered the first to make many of her games’ main characters female.
“I am most proud of the development of the characters as personalities that game players could relate to and care about,” Ms. Williams once said.
Game players enjoyed her games. Many still do. And it’s all thanks to a little girl with a wild imagination who grew up to share it with the world.
(Sorry, size XX3CCm17rpq batteries not included.)
