Anne Westfall

Anne Westfall is an American game programmer and software developer, known for 1983's Archon: The Light and the Dark, originally written for the Atari 8-bit family. She is married to fellow game developer Jon Freeman.[1] Both are founders of Free Fall Associates.

Anne Westfall
NationalityAmerican
Years active1984–present
Known forArchon: The Light and the Dark
Spouse(s)Jon Freeman.[1]

Career

Westfall began computer programming at the age of 30.[2] Before moving into the video game industry, Westfall worked as a programmer for a civil engineering firm Morton Technology, where she developed the first microcomputer-based program designed to help lay out subdivisions.[1]

In 1981, Westfall and her husband, Jon, left Epyx, the video game developer and publisher her husband co-founded just three years earlier. Westfall cited a desire to learn assembly language and to work on the Atari 800 as one reason for their departure from Epyx.[1]

Together with game designer Paul Reiche III, they started Free Fall Associates to make computer games free of the politics existing at the now larger Epyx.[1] Together with Jon and Reiche, she helped develop the two award-winning and highly acclaimed games Archon and Archon II, handling the brunt of the programming work.

For six years,[3] Westfall was on the board of directors of the Computer Game Developers Conference.[4][5]

Personal

Westfall met Jon at the West Coast Computer Faire in 1980 while demonstrating her surveying program she wrote for the TRS-80. Her booth was next to that of Automated Simulations—later Epyx—where Jon was working. After dating for about six months, Freeman convinced Westfall to move closer and come to work at his company.[1]

gollark: Yes, they are meant to be nature-themed or something.
gollark: https://www.haiku-os.org/
gollark: However, the wrong version overtook ALL.
gollark: Technically, that isn't accurate.
gollark: 5/7/5 syllable pattern, or at least that is what it got interpreted as in English.

References
  1. Hague, James (1997). "Halcyon Days: Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Game Programmers".
  2. Bateman, Selby (November 1984). "Free Fall Associates: The Designers Behind Archon and Archon II: Adept". Compute!'s Gazette. p. 54. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  3. DeMaria, Rusel (2018-12-07). High Score! Expanded: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games 3rd Edition. CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-429-77139-2.
  4. Ross, Heather E. "Celebrating Computing Women Part IX, Anne Westfall" National Women's History Museum. Ret. Mar 2014.
  5. "Who We Are". www.freefallgames.com. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
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