Anne Westfall
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Anne Westfall | |
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| Born | Script error: No such module "person date". |
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| OccupationTemplate:Pluralize from text | Video game programmer |
| Years active | 1984–present |
| EmployerTemplate:Pluralize from text | Template:Pluralize from text |
| OrganizationTemplate:Pluralize from text | Template:Pluralize from text |
| AgentTemplate:Pluralize from text | Template:Pluralize from text |
| Known for | Archon: The Light and the Dark |
| Notable creditTemplate:Pluralize from text | Template:Pluralize from text |
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| SpouseTemplate:Pluralize from text | Jon Freeman[1]Template:Pluralize from text |
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Anne Westfall is an American video game programmer and software developer, known for 1983's Archon: The Light and the Dark, originally written for the Atari 8-bit computers. Westfall and her spouse, fellow game developer Jon Freeman, together founded Free Fall Associates.[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 Freeman[3], 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. It took six months to develop this game, and many of the game details were held constant from the original idea.[1]
For six years,[4] Westfall was on the board of directors of the Computer Game Developers Conference.[5][6]
Eventually, Westfall and her husband Jon renamed the company "Free Fall Games." For the last few years, though, Westfall has spent her time as a healthcare professional who converts voice recordings from healthcare providers into documents on medical records, also known as a medical transcriptionist.[7]
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]
See also
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References
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- ^ a b c d e f g Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hague, James (March 1997). "Jon Freeman & Anne Westfall". Halcyon Days: Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Game Programmers. Dadgum Games. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Bateman, Selby (November 1984). "Free Fall Associates: The Designers Behind Archon and Archon II: Adept". Compute!'s Gazette. p. 54. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Jon Freeman (game designer)", Wikipedia, 2025-09-15, retrieved 2026-04-07
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.DeMaria, Rusel (2018-12-07). High Score! Expanded: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games 3rd Edition. CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-429-77139-2.
- ^ Ross, Heather E. "Celebrating Computing Women Part IX, Anne Westfall" National Women's History Museum. Ret. Mar 2014.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Who We Are". www.freefallgames.com. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Trailblazing Women in Video Gaming: Meet the Pioneers Who Shaped Design History". Lifewire. Retrieved 2025-10-29.
External links
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