Rebecca Ann Heineman is an American

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the production stage. Some common video game design subdiscipline ...

and

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

. Heineman was a founding member of video game companies

Interplay Productions Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca ...

, Logicware, Contraband Entertainment, and Olde Sküül. She has been

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

for Olde Sküül since 2013.

Early life

Rebecca Ann Heineman (born William Salvador Heineman) was born and raised in

Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Southern California in Los Angeles County, part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 census figure. Whittier was incorporated i ...

. When she was young, she could not afford to purchase games for her

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocess ...

, so she taught herself how to copy cartridges and built herself a sizable pirated video game collection. Eventually, she became discontented with just copying games and

reverse-engineered Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...

the console's code to understand how the games were made. In 1980, Heineman and a friend traveled to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

to compete in a regional branch of a national ''

Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado. It was manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and licensed to the Midway division of Bally for overseas distribution. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed shooter and ...

'' championship. Although she did not expect to fall under the top 100 contestants, she won the competition. Later that year, she also won the championship in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Heineman is hence considered to be the first national video game tournament champion.

Career

After she won the tournament, Heineman was offered a writing job for monthly magazine ''

Electronic Games An electronic game is a game that uses electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. Video games are the most common form today, and for this reason the two terms are often used interchangeably. There are other common ...

'' and a consultancy job for a book called ''How to Master Video Games''. During this time, she mentioned to one magazine publisher that she had reverse-engineered Atari 2600 code, and the publisher arranged a meeting between Heineman and the owners of game publisher

Avalon Hill Avalon Hill Games Inc. is a game company that publishes wargames and strategic board games. It has also published miniature wargaming rules, role-playing games and sports simulations. It is a subsidiary of Hasbro, and operates under the compan ...

. As she met with them, she was hired as a

instantaneously. Heineman, aged 16 at the time, moved across the U.S. for her new job, canceling her plans to acquire a

high school diploma A high school diploma or high school degree is a North American academic school leaving qualification awarded upon high school graduation. The high school diploma is typically obtained after a course of study lasting four years, from grade 9 to g ...

. At Avalon Hill, Heineman created a manual for the company's programming team, the studio's

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term " software engine" used in the softwar ...

, and the base code for several software projects, including her own first game, ''London Blitz'', before leaving the company. Heineman returned to California to work for another developer, Boone Corporation. For Boone, she programmed the games ''

Chuck Norris Superkicks ''Chuck Norris Superkicks'' is a video game produced by Xonox in 1984. It was later sold as ''Kung Fu Superkicks'' when the license for the use of the name Chuck Norris expired. The game was produced for the Commodore 64, VIC-20, Atari 2600, and ...

'' and ''

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is de ...

'', acquiring knowledge of programming for Commodore 64,

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-mold ...

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the ...

and

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a tea ...

s, of video game hardware, as well as

video game design Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development#P ...

. Boone ceased operations in 1983, so Heineman got together with Brian Fargo, Jay Patel and Troy Worrell, and the four founded

(later known as Interplay Entertainment). Heineman acted as lead programmer for the company, working on ''

Wasteland Wasteland or waste land may refer to: * Desert or barren area * an uncultivated area of land, whether wooded or not, whether common land or not Art, entertainment, and media Comics * ''Wasteland'' (DC Comics), 1987–1989 anthology-style horror ...

'', ''

The Bard's Tale ''The Bard's Tale'' is a fantasy role-playing video game franchise created by Michael Cranford and developed by Brian Fargo's Interplay Productions (1985–1992) and inXile Entertainment (2004–present). The initial title of the series was ''T ...

'', '' Out of This World'', and the

Mac OS Two major famlies of Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the "Classic" Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded " ...

and 3DO ports of ''

Wolfenstein 3D ''Wolfenstein 3D'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen. Originally released on May 5, 1992, for DOS, it was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game ''Castle Wolfen ...

''. Heineman went on to design '' The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate'', '' Dragon Wars'', ''

Tass Times in Tonetown ''Tass Times in Tonetown'' is an adventure game published by Activision in 1986. It was designed by Michael Berlyn and Muffy McClung Berlyn and programmed by Rebecca Heineman of Interplay (credited as Bill Heineman) in cooperation with Brainwa ...

'', '' Borrowed Time'', '' Mindshadow'' and ''

The Tracer Sanction ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', among others, for Interplay. As the company grew to more than 500 employees, Heineman, wishing to return to her small-team roots, left the company in 1995 and co-founded Logicware, where she acted as chief technology officer and lead programmer. Aside from original games, Heineman oversaw the company's porting activities, which included ''Out of This World'', '' Shattered Steel'', '' Jazz Jackrabbit 2'' and a canceled Mac OS port of ''

Half-Life Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable at ...

''. In 1999, Heineman founded Contraband Entertainment, operating as its

. The company developed several original games alongside ports to various platforms for other developers. Projects led by Heineman include '' Myth III: The Wolf Age'' and '' Activision Anthology'', and Mac OS ports for '' Aliens vs. Predator'', ''

Baldur's Gate II ''Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn'' is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Interplay Entertainment. It is the sequel to ''Baldur's Gate'' (1998) and was released for Microsoft Windows in September 2000. Like ''Bal ...

'' and '' Heroes of Might and Magic IV''. During this time, she also provided consultancy work directly for other companies: She acted as "Senior Engineer III" for

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted th ...

, upgraded engine code for Barking Lizards Technologies and

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include ''Assassin's Creed'', '' Far Cry'', ...

, optimized code for Sensory Sweep Studios, acted as senior software architect for Bloomberg L.P. and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

, provided training on

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

development for

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

's development studios, and worked on the

kernel Kernel may refer to: Computing * Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems * Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution * Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming * Kernel method, in machine lea ...

code for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 200 ...

and

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

. During her tenure at Amazon, Heineman was, in addition to her technological role, also the "Transgender Chair" of Amazon's

LGBTQ+ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

group, known as Glamazon. Contraband was wound down in 2013, and Heineman founded a new company, Olde Sküül, together with

Jennell Jaquays Jennell Jaquays (born Paul Jaquays, October 14, 1956) is an American game designer, video game artist, and illustrator of tabletop role-playing games (RPGs). Her notable works include the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' modules '' Dark Tower'' and ''Cavern ...

, Maurine Starkey, and Susan Manley. At Olde Sküül, Heineman acts as CEO.

Personal life

Around 2003, Heineman was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and began transitioning to live as a woman. She formally changed her given name to Rebecca Ann. Since the transition, Heineman has been living as a lesbian. She has five children and is married to

. Heineman resides in

El Cerrito, California El Cerrito ( Spanish for "The Little Hill") is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, and forms part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It has a population of 25,962 according to the 2020 census. El Cerrito was founded by refug ...

, where her company Olde Sküül is located.

Board service

Heineman has been part of the advisory board of the

Video Game History Museum Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...

since 2011, and is part of the board of directors of LGBTQ+ organization

GLAAD GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portraya ...

Accolades

Heineman is recognized as the first national video game tournament champion for winning the 1980 National Space Invaders Championship. ''Sailor Ranko'', a ''

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine '' Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The s ...

''-based

fanfiction Fan fiction or fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF) is fictional writing written in an amateur capacity by fans, unauthorized by, but based on an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, sett ...

comic by Heineman based on an earlier work written by Duncan Zillman, has won multiple awards. She also tried to qualify for the Fortnite World Cup. In 2017, she became an inductee for the

International Video Game Hall of Fame The ''International Video Game Hall of Fame'' (IVGHoF) is a planned museum to be operated in Ottumwa, Iowa, United States. Ottumwa considers itself as the "Video Game Capital of the World" as the city was home to the Twin Galaxies arcade which ...

Games

* ''

'' (1985) * '' Borrowed Time'' (1985) * '' Racing Destruction Set'' (1986,

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE ...

port) * ''

'' (1986) * '' The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate'' (1988) * ''

Neuromancer ''Neuromancer'' is a 1984 science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer William Gibson. Considered one of the earliest and best-known works in the cyberpunk genre, it is the only novel to win the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and ...

'' (1988) * '' Crystal Quest'' (1989, Apple IIgs port) * '' Dragon Wars'' (1989) * ''

Track Meet ''Track Meet'', known in Japan as , is a sports video game that was released for the original Game Boy. In Germany the game was released as ''Litti's Summer Sports'' (endorsed by Pierre Littbarski).RPM Racing ''RPM Racing'' (short for ''Radical Psycho Machine Racing'') is a Super Nintendo Entertainment System racing game developed by Silicon & Synapse (now known as Blizzard Entertainment) and published by Interplay Productions. ''RPM'' was a succe ...

'' (1991) * '' Another World'' (1992, SNES port) * '' Rescue Rover'' (1993, Apple IIgs port) * ''Interplay's 10 Year Anthology: Classic Collection'' (1993) * '' Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness'' (1994, Apple IIgs port) * ''

'' (1995, Mac/3DO ports) * '' Kingdom: The Far Reaches'' (1995) * '' Killing Time'' (1996) * '' Doom'' (1996, 3DO port) * ''Defiance'' (1997) * ''

Tempest 2000 is a tube shooter video game originally developed by Llamasoft and published by Atari Corporation for the Atari Jaguar in North America on 13 April, 1994 in video gaming, 1994. It was released in Europe on 27 June and in Japan on 15 December of ...

'' (1998, Mac port) * ''Remington Top Shot: Interactive Target Shooting'' (1998) * ''

Redneck Rampage ''Redneck Rampage'' is a 1997 first-person shooter game developed by Xatrix Entertainment and published by Interplay. The game is a first-person shooter with a variety of weapons and levels, and has a hillbilly theme, primarily taking place i ...

'' (1999, Mac port) * '' Jazz Jackrabbit 2'' (1999, Mac port) * ''Galactic Patrol'' (1999, Mac port) * ''

Bugdom ''Bugdom'' is a 1999 platform video game originally created by Pangea Software for Mac OS 9. It was included with the iMac DV 2000 and later iBook models. The Microsoft Windows version, released in 2000, was developed by Hoplite Research and ...

'' (1999) * '' Myth III: The Wolf Age'' (2001) * '' Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn'' (2001, Mac port) * '' Nanosaur Extreme'' (2002) * '' Icewind Dale'' (2002, Mac port) * ''

Hexen II ''Hexen II'' is a dark fantasy first-person shooter (FPS) video game developed by Raven Software and published by id Software. It is the third game in the ''Hexen''/'' Heretic'' series, and the last in the ''Serpent Riders'' trilogy. Using a mo ...

'' (2002, Mac port) * '' Activision Anthology'' (2002) * '' Medal of Honor: Rising Sun'' (2003) * '' Pitfall: The Lost Expedition'' (2004) * '' Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault'' (2004) * '' GoldenEye: Rogue Agent'' (2004) * '' Medal of Honor: European Assault'' (2005) * '' Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars'' (2007) * ''

Alvin and the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three ...

'' (2007) * ''

Chip's Challenge ''Chip's Challenge'' is a top-down Tile-based video game, tile-based puzzle video game originally published in 1989 by Epyx as a launch title for the Atari Lynx. It was later ported to several other systems and was included in the Windows 3.1 bun ...

'' (2015, Windows re-release)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heineman, Rebecca Computer programmers Interplay Entertainment people LGBT people from California Living people Microsoft people People from Whittier, California Transgender women Video game programmers Women video game programmers Year of birth missing (living people)