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Anakin Skywalker · 03/09/2011, 04:22 pm

It appears that as time went by, Roberta's role in the KQ games got smaller and smaller.

KQ1SCI was designed and rewritten solely by Josh Mandel, who has claimed Roberta only asked him to change one small thing at the end of the game.

KQV's credits are (in order) such:

Designed by Roberta Williams
Creative Director: Bill Davis
Creative Consultant: William Skirvin

KQVI's credits are (in order):

Written & Designed by Jane Jensen and Roberta Williams
Produced by William Skirvin
Directed by William Skirvin, Jane Jensen and Roberta Williams
Text & Dialogue by Jane Jensen

Note also that Roberta took a month long vacation during KQ6's vacation after discussing basic design issues with Jane. Some key elements, like the Black Cloak Society, were only discussed loosely and not too seriously at the early stages of the game's design and Roberta was unaware for several years that that idea even made it into the final game. Note also that Roberta felt her ideas for KQ were used up after KQV and wanted to hand the series over to other designers.

KQVII's credits (in order) are:

Directed by Andy Hoyos, Lorelei Shannon and Roberta Williams
Designed by Lorelei Shannon and Roberta Williams
Produced by Mark Seibert
Writing/Dialogue/Story by Lorelei Shannon
Based on Characters Created by Roberta Williams

KQVIII's credits are (in order)
Designed by Mark Seibert and Roberta Williams
Produced by Mark Seibert
Directed by Mark Seibert
Writing/Dialogue/Story by Roberta Williams

Roberta went into KQ8 with a brand new idea and wanted to reassert her own vision over the series once again. However, Ken Williams claims that midway through development (after he left Sierra in 1996), Roberta lost gradually creative control and other ideas which weren't her own began to get injected into the game, and corporate pressure from above also changed the game, demanding more monsters and the like to keep the game 'relevant.' Roberta had always intended for KQ8 to be fully 3D and with action, but not as much as we ended up geting

As Ken was no longer in charge of Sierra and thus was uable to protect the the integrity of Roberta's vision, KQ8 became designed by committee and it slipped out of her control. In fact, the game went through three separate design documents. The first two, from 1995-1996, to around early 1997 reflected Roberta's vision. The last and final design totally deviated from it, to the point that Roberta wanted her name taken off KQ8 and only allowed her name to be put on it after some token changes were made to make it a little bit like she originally intended it to be. She kept delaying the game, trying to reassert control and get it back to her original intentions until finally Sierra's new management threatened to bring litigation against her and she handed the game over. Ken has said she was moderately happy with the product in the end but it reflected a much wider product vision and was not a Roberta game.

03/09/2011, 04:22 pm	#37
Anakin Skywalker Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Posts: 609	Roberta's diminishing involvement It appears that as time went by, Roberta's role in the KQ games got smaller and smaller. KQ1SCI was designed and rewritten solely by Josh Mandel, who has claimed Roberta only asked him to change one small thing at the end of the game. KQV's credits are (in order) such: Designed by Roberta Williams Creative Director: Bill Davis Creative Consultant: William Skirvin KQVI's credits are (in order): Written & Designed by Jane Jensen and Roberta Williams Produced by William Skirvin Directed by William Skirvin, Jane Jensen and Roberta Williams Text & Dialogue by Jane Jensen Note also that Roberta took a month long vacation during KQ6's vacation after discussing basic design issues with Jane. Some key elements, like the Black Cloak Society, were only discussed loosely and not too seriously at the early stages of the game's design and Roberta was unaware for several years that that idea even made it into the final game. Note also that Roberta felt her ideas for KQ were used up after KQV and wanted to hand the series over to other designers. KQVII's credits (in order) are: Directed by Andy Hoyos, Lorelei Shannon and Roberta Williams Designed by Lorelei Shannon and Roberta Williams Produced by Mark Seibert Writing/Dialogue/Story by Lorelei Shannon Based on Characters Created by Roberta Williams KQVIII's credits are (in order) Designed by Mark Seibert and Roberta Williams Produced by Mark Seibert Directed by Mark Seibert Writing/Dialogue/Story by Roberta Williams Roberta went into KQ8 with a brand new idea and wanted to reassert her own vision over the series once again. However, Ken Williams claims that midway through development (after he left Sierra in 1996), Roberta lost gradually creative control and other ideas which weren't her own began to get injected into the game, and corporate pressure from above also changed the game, demanding more monsters and the like to keep the game 'relevant.' Roberta had always intended for KQ8 to be fully 3D and with action, but not as much as we ended up geting As Ken was no longer in charge of Sierra and thus was uable to protect the the integrity of Roberta's vision, KQ8 became designed by committee and it slipped out of her control. In fact, the game went through three separate design documents. The first two, from 1995-1996, to around early 1997 reflected Roberta's vision. The last and final design totally deviated from it, to the point that Roberta wanted her name taken off KQ8 and only allowed her name to be put on it after some token changes were made to make it a little bit like she originally intended it to be. She kept delaying the game, trying to reassert control and get it back to her original intentions until finally Sierra's new management threatened to bring litigation against her and she handed the game over. Ken has said she was moderately happy with the product in the end but it reflected a much wider product vision and was not a Roberta game.