Roberta Williams

Roberta Lynn Williams (née Heuer; born February 16, 1953) is an American video game designer and writer. She has been named by several publications as one of the best or most influential creators in the video game industry. Williams 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. She then became known for creating and maintaining the King's Quest series, as well as designing the full motion video game Phantasmagoria in 1995. Sierra was acquired by CUC International in 1996, leading to layoffs and management changes. Williams took a brief sabbatical, 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, Williams left the game industry in 1999 and focused her retirement on traveling and writing historical fiction. She has since released her historical novel Farewell to Tara in 2021, and returned to game development with the 3D remake of the classic adventure game Colossal Cave Adventure, released as Colossal Cave in 2023. Several publications have called Roberta Williams the "queen of adventure games" for co-founding Sierra, pioneering the graphic adventure game genre, and creating the King's Quest series. She has received the Industry Icon Award from the Game Awards, and the Pioneer Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards.