Roberta Lynn Williams is an American video game designer and writer, who 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 is also known for creating and maintaining the King's Quest series, as well as designing the full motion video game Phantasmagoria in 1995.
Roberta Williams in 2022
Ken Williams, Roberta's husband and co-founder of Sierra
Advertisement from On-Line Systems' June 1981 issue of 'The On-Line Letter for some Hi-Res Adventure games, including both Mystery House and The Wizard and the Princess
Roberta Williams at a celebration of On-Line Systems' first anniversary, 1981
Sierra Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genre, including the first such game, Mystery House. It is known for its graphical adventure game series King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Gabriel Knight, Leisure Suit Larry, and Quest for Glory, and as the original publisher of Valve's Half-Life series.
On-Line Systems' first office was a small space leased at the back of Ponderosa Printing.
Jim Henson with Ken Williams, promoting The Dark Crystal game, inspired by Henson's 1982 fantasy film
Sierra On-Line expanded into a larger headquarters in the early 1980s.
During the 1980s, the company emphasized developing and expanding popular franchises like King's Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, and Police Quest.
