While there are many people in the video game industry who have the accolade of 'legend' bestowed upon them, few are as worthy of that title as Rebecca Heineman.
A legitimate video game champion at an early age (she won the Space Invaders National Championship in 1980), Heineman began to dabble in programming in her teens, even going as far as to reverse-engineer the Atari 2600's code.
She wrote for Electronic Games magazine and would break into the development industry via the publisher Avalon Hill. Later, she co-founded Interplay and designed titles such as The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate, Dragon Wars, Tass Times in Tonetown, Borrowed Time and Mindshadow.
Later in her career, she would establish companies such as Logicware (where she oversaw ports of titles such as Out of This World / Another World, Killing Time, Shattered Steel and Jazz Jackrabbit 2), Contraband Entertainment, and Olde Sküül, the latter of which is her current studio.
We're sad to report that Heineman, having lost her wife, Jennell Jaquays, last year to Guillain-Barré syndrome, has been diagnosed with cancer.
In September, Heineman posted on social media that she had been given some news "that is making me worried that time is not on my side." A few days later, she confirmed that she has two masses on her liver and "tiny nodules" in her right lung, which have since been confirmed as the source of the cancer.
Heineman has stated that she intends to establish a GoFundMe page to help with medical bills, and Time Extension will ensure a link to that campaign is shared when it goes live.
Everyone here at Time Extension and Hookshot Media is sending their best wishes to Heineman at this difficult time.