Roberta Williams

Quick Facts

Full Name	Roberta Williams
Occupation	Game Designer
Date Of Birth	Feb 16, 1953(1953-02-16)
Age	71
Birthplace	California
Country	United States
Horoscope	Aquarius

Roberta Williams Biography

Roberta Williams is one of the most popular and richest Game Designer who was born on February 16, 1953 in California, United States. A prominent video game designer, widely recognized for creating the “graphic adventure” genre. Sierra Entertainment is her co-founder, best known for its popular franchises such as King’s Quest and Phantasmagoria.

Both she and She and Andrea Phillips are both famous female video game designers., a well-known female game designer, are also famous.

When Williams began developing her first game in the late 1970s, she had no experience with gaming or computers – only in reading and storytelling. She did not know how to program computers, but her husband Ken did. Their first creation was Mystery House, an adventure game with black and white graphics for the Apple II computer that was the first computer game to include graphics – predecessors had been text-only. To create graphics the Williams used a machine called a Versawriter, which was basically a board of thick plexiglass that had an arm-like device with an electronic eye at the tip. To the Williams’ surprise, the game was met with acclaim and they went on to become leading figures in the development of graphical adventure games throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

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. Holmberg 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”, on November 4, 1972. They have two children: D.J. (born 1973) and Chris (born 1979).

In November 1972, she married Ken Williams, a well-known video game developer and programmer.

Roberta Williams Net Worth

Roberta Williams is one of the richest Game Designer from United States. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Roberta Williams 's net worth $5 Million. (Last Update: December 11, 2023)

In 1980, she and her husband founded Sierra Entertainment and released their first game, Mystery House.

Computer Gaming World ranked her 1997 as one of the ten greatest game designers.

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 in 1999. Roberta Williams is one of the most influential PC game designers of the 1980s and 1990s, and has been credited with creating the graphic adventure genre.

Height, Weight & Body Measurements

Roberta Williams height Not available right now. Roberta weight Not Known & body measurements will update soon.

Who is Roberta Williams Dating?

According to our records, Roberta Williams married to Ken Williams. As of December 1, 2023, Roberta Williams’s is not dating anyone.

Relationships Record : We have no records of past relationships for Roberta Williams. You may help us to build the dating records for Roberta Williams!

After retiring in 1999 (stated at the time to be a “sabbatical”), she stayed away from the public eye and rarely gave 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”. Williams also said that designing computer games was in the past for her then and that she intended to write a historical novel.

Facts & Trivia

Roberta Ranked on the list of most popular Game Designer. Also ranked in the elit list of famous people born in United States. Roberta Williams celebrates birthday on February 16 of every year.

She began playing video games, first a text-based adventure game called Colossal Cave. Before long she was hooked on video games—especially of the adventure-style genre.

Top Facts about Roberta Williams

1. Roberta Williams is a pioneering female video game designer.
2. She co-founded Sierra On-Line with her husband in 1979.
3. Her most famous games include King’s Quest and Mystery House.
4. Williams has won numerous awards for her contributions to gaming.
5. She retired from the industry in 1999 but remains an inspiration to many.
6. Williams was born on February 16, 1953, in California, USA.
7. She started designing games as a hobby before turning it into a career.
8. Williams’ games were known for their innovative storytelling and graphics.
9. Her work helped establish adventure games as a popular genre.
10. Williams continues to be recognized as one of the most influential game designers of all time.

What happened to Sierra games?

The Sierra division continued to operate through Vivendi Games’ merger with Activision to form Activision Blizzard on July 10, 2008, but was shut down later that year. The Sierra brand was revived by Activision in 2014 to re- release former Sierra games and some independently developed games.

What is Ken Williams doing?

After a spell of being inactive in the computer game industry, in 2022 it was reported that he is currently working with his wife Roberta on a new VR and flatscreen version of Colossal Cave 3D Adventure , a redux of the text- adventure title from 1977.

Who made King's Quest?

The Odd Gentlemen

How do you make a computer game?

1. Step 1: Do Some Research & Conceptualize Your Game. …
2. Step 2: Work On A Design Document. …
3. Step 3: Decide Whether You Need Software. …
4. Step 4: Start Programming. …
5. Step 5: Test Your Game & Start Marketing!

Why did Ken Williams sell Sierra?

By the end of 1996, it was clear to Williams that he’d lost control of the company he founded. He left Sierra to run Forbes’ pet NetMarket project , expecting one day to return.