#roberta williams

Mystery House: The Birth of the Graphic Adventure – Marcus Mera

"Mystery House is a landmark in computing and video game history the first graphic adventure game ever released created in 1980 by Ken Williams and Roberta Williams. Developed on the Apple II, the game fused text-based interaction with simple black-and-white graphics, fundamentally changing how players experienced interactive storytelling.

Inspired directly by ADVENT Colossal Cave Adventure, Roberta Williams imagined a murder mystery that players could see as well as read. Using a VersaWriter, Ken Williams custom game DEV tools and early Apple II, the Williams’ designed a game where exploration, logic, and atmosphere were as important as puzzle-solving an idea that had never been realized visually before.

This exhibit explores the creative process behind Mystery House, from its origins in text adventures to its groundbreaking use of on-screen graphics, as well as the hardware and software that shaped its design. Visitors will learn how a home computer, cutting edge innovative tools, and a bold creative vision helped launch Sierra On-Line and establish the graphic adventure genre that influenced decades of games to follow.

I'm fine. Get her.

Phantasmagoria (1995)

Phantasmagoria is a point-and-click adventure horror game designed by Roberta Williams for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows and released by Sierra On-Line on August 24, 1995.

"I feel its presence, the icy fingers upon my throat. I hear its eerie sounds, unsettling my every thought. I try in vain to slumber, my reveries gripped by violent terror. My only salvation, the shock of awakening. Something is very, very wrong here."

Screenshots from the 1989 Sierra On-Line/Roberta Williams adventure game, The Colonel's Bequest via Let's Play With Brigands.