That Cave Still Has Power Over Her

November 10, 2022 1:47 PM

Nothing frustrates Roberta quite so much as being told she can’t do something, and nobody draws her ire quite like programmers, who she says would often go over her head to complain to her husband. In 1997, she told the Philadelphia Inquirer she found “a lot of arrogance” among the young, male programmers at her company. (This also describes the person she married.) “They like to think, ‘We know something you don’t.’ I remind them that I'm the designer. I know what I'm doing,” she said. from Why Roberta Williams Came Out of Retirement to Remake a Beloved Text Adventure [Vice]
posted by chavenet (10 comments total)

Yay!!!!!! Sorry. I don't have more to say except as a King's Quest kid, I am so excited to see what Roberta has come up with this time.
posted by hydropsyche at 2:53 PM on November 10, 2022 [10 favorites]

"It was, of course, nothing more than sexism, the especially virulent type espoused by male techies who sincerely believe that they are too smart to be sexists."

-Snow Crash
posted by AlSweigart at 3:19 PM on November 10, 2022 [26 favorites]

Excellent history of Roberta Williams. I cannot believe that it has been a quarter century since she and Ken left.

I'd be stoked if 'Colossal Cave—reimagined by Roberta Williams' gets released.
posted by porpoise at 5:25 PM on November 10, 2022 [3 favorites]

I remember playing The Dark Crystal game and thinking about the dialogue, “That’s not how it was in the movie,” but never in a negative way.

The Colossal Cave VR game looks on track to release this year! Here’s an early review.
posted by LEGO Damashii at 7:03 PM on November 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

Fascinating article, thanks so much for posting it. I loved the King’s Quest games and was sad when Sierra On-Line was bought up. I’m glad to read that the family is doing well and may be putting out a new game on their terms!
posted by Silverstone at 10:48 PM on November 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

I'm having a serious "get off my lawn" moment here. As someone who played the original ADVENT (the FORTRAN ported to our Xerox Sigma 7 mainframe sometime around 1976-7), I see all the VR and graphics and think, "I'd rather play the text version again."
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 8:13 AM on November 11, 2022 [5 favorites]

Adventure games where you can die aren't really my favorite, but I do have an abiding fondness for Sierra, and this is pretty awesome. There's virtually no chance I'll play it, but I do appreciate the look into Roberta Williams's life and career. She sure is ... confident about her abilities, but does anyone remember Phantasmagoria?
posted by uncleozzy at 8:43 AM on November 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

uncleozzy, I found that to be a very interesting Wikipedia read, as someone who is too young to remember that game yet became an enthusiast of text adventure games as a young adult who couldn’t afford internet access at home.
posted by Comet Bug at 4:07 PM on November 11, 2022 [1 favorite]

The Digital Antiquarian has a more-or-less complete history of Sierra, from Mystery House to Gabriel Knight.
posted by credulous at 5:09 PM on November 11, 2022 [4 favorites]

As someone who played the original ADVENT (the FORTRAN ported to our Xerox Sigma 7 mainframe sometime around 1976-7), I see all the VR and graphics and think, "I'd rather play the text version again."

You're totally allowed to, regardless of the existence or not of a VR version. Heck, you're allowed to play them both, even enjoy them both, if and when it's published.
posted by Xiphias Gladius at 6:25 PM on November 11, 2022 [3 favorites]