COLLECTED WORKS ROBERTA WILLIAMS

A legendar y pioneer of the adventure genre reflects on a career that spans fair y stories, nurser y rhymes and horror

By Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Developer/publisher On-Line Systems Format Apple II Release 1980

WIZARD AND THE PRINCESS Developer/publisher On-Line Systems Format Apple II, Atari 8bit, C64, FM-7, PC Release 1980 (Apple II)

MISSION ASTEROID Developer/publisher On-Line Systems Format Apple II, Atari 8bit, C64 Release 1980 (Apple II)

TIME ZONE Developer/publisher On-Line Systems Format Apple II, FM-7, PC Release 1982

KING’S QUEST Developer Sierra On-Line Publisher IBM, Sierra On-Line Format Amiga, Apple II, ST, Macintosh, Master System, PC, Tandy 1000 Release 1984 (PC)

MIXED-UP MOTHER GOOSE Developer Sierra On-Line, Coktel Vision Publisher Sierra On-Line Format Amiga, Apple II, ST, Macintosh, FM Towns, PC Release 1987

PHANTASMAGORIA Developer/publisher Sierra On-Line Format PC, Saturn Release 1995

COLOSSAL CAVE ADVENTURE REMAKE Developer/publisher Cygnus Entertainment Format PC, PS5, Quest 2, Switch, Xbox Series Release 2023

HOUSE

During these times of crushing layoffs and waves of questionable new technologies such as AI art generation and crypto, it can be liberating to talk to developers who remember the game industry before it was, strictly speaking , an industry at all. Roberta Williams’ roots as a designer and writer predate the Internet and the home format computing boom; indeed, she was playing computer games before they ran on a screen. Her first inspiration was Will Crowther’s widely influential text- and paper-based Colossal Cave Adventure, released in 1976, which Williams accessed remotely using a teletype machine obtained by her husband Ken during some programming work for a children’s hospital.

The experience sparked a lifelong love affair with what would become the adventure genre, encompassing the King’s Quest series, partnerships with Disney and Jim Henson, and the founding of Sierra On-Line, a former giant in publishing whose portfolio once ranged from Leisure Suit Larry and Gabriel Knight to Space Quest and the first Half-Life. It hasn’t been all sunshine and roses, however: the Williamses and Sierra parted ways in acrimonious circumstances following the latter’s purchase by CUC International in the late ’90s. (CUC would go on to be convicted of financial fraud; Sierra lives on in the hands of Activision.) It was the start of a lengthy sabbatical for Williams, during which she travelled widely with her husband, published a novel, and worked as a consultant on a handful of games, including a Facebook title, Odd Manor, and a cancelled King’s Quest sequel from Telltale Games.

In the end, the project that lured Roberta and Ken back to fulltime development was a graphics-based, VR-capable remake of the game that helped spark her career: Colossal Cave. Created during the pandemic lockdowns and released in January, it’s a closing of the loop for Williams that throws into sharp relief just how much has changed.