(Image courtesy of Wikipedia. “Rebecca Heineman’s legacy will live on both in her work, and the industry she helped shape.”)
Aaron Preziosi
Connector Editor
Well-known game programmer, designer, software archivist and LGBTQ+ rights activist Rebecca “Burger Becky” Ann Heineman has passed away at the age of 62 following a month-long battle with aggressive adenocarcinoma, a cancer affecting her lungs and liver. She posted to her GoFundMe “It’s time. According to my doctors. All further treatments are pointless. So, please donate so my kids can create a funeral worthy of my keyboard, Pixelbreaker! So I can make a worthy entrance for reuniting with my one true love, Jennell Jaquays.”
At 16, Heineman dropped out of high school and moved across the U.S. to pursue her career, starting as a programmer at Avalon Hill. There, she created a programming manual for staff, a game engine, base code for many projects, and her own game “London Blitz” before she left. Following that, Heineman used knowledge and experience acquired from both Avalon Hill and another position at Boone Corporation to co-found Interplay Productions alongside Brian Fargo, Jay Patel and Troy Worrell. There, she designed and programmed six titles, including “The Bard’s Tale III: Thief of Fate”, “Tass Times in Tonetown” and “Fallout”. Notably, following the company losing the source code of “Fallout” and “Fallout 2”, Heineman was the only one with any backups, resulting in the two titles’ preservation.
Following her foundational work in the ‘80s, Heineman left Interplay to return to smaller projects and acted as chief technology officer and lead programmer for Logicware, chief executive officer for Contraband Entertainment and her own company Olde Sküül. Although she worked on several original projects across these companies, she mainly made a name for herself due to her extensive work porting other titles to systems such as Mac OS and 3DO, including the infamous 3DO port of “Doom”.
Heineman’s passing was met with remembrances from dozens of both her peers and those who looked to her for inspiration. Brian Fargo, co-founder of Interplay Productions, spoke on X. “Rebecca Heineman sadly passed away. Known her since the 80s when I’d drive her to work, one of the most brilliant programmers around. A real gut punch earlier today when she messaged me: ‘We have gone on so many adventures together! But, into the great unknown! I go first!!!’ 🙁”
Heineman was also an LGBTQ+ advocate, having served on GLAAD’s board of directors, as “Transgender Chair” of Amazon’s LGBTQ+ group, and has spoken openly about her experience as a transgender woman. In the Netflix documentary series “High Score”, she said she was drawn to video games at a young age because they “allowed her to be myself” and “play as female.” At some point in 2003, she was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and transitioned to a woman. On her own blog, she said, “Some of my friends, whom I haven’t seen for years, will probably be very surprised at how I look, even now. But I feel much more confident in myself, I love how I look and am anxiously awaiting the day I shed my male disguise and former identity for good […] My name is Rebecca Ann Heineman and I’m a transgendered woman. I’m glad to make your acquaintance.”
Heineman’s legacy can be seen everywhere, not just in the games she worked on, but in all the people she worked with and inspired, and the gaming industry itself. While her life was cut short, it was a life full of accomplishments, influence, and integrity.
