We're saddened to report that legendary game designer and video game artist Jennell Jaquays has passed away at the age of 67 following a battle with Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Jaquays' passing was announced by her wife, Rebecca Heineman, who is herself a famous figure within the video game industry, having designed The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate and worked at companies such as Interplay and Logicware.
Jaquays is famous for her work on the Dungeons & Dragons modules Dark Tower and Caverns of Thracia for Judges Guild, but she also converted Pac-Man and Donkey Kong for the ColecoVision home console. In more recent years, she worked on the Age of Empires series, Quake II, and Quake III Arena; in the case of the latter two games, she worked as a level designer at id Software.
In addition to these roles, she also worked with Epyx, Interplay Entertainment, and Electronic Arts during her long career.
"Today, Jennell’s heart stopped four times," says Heineman in the latest update of a GoFundMe page she established to help pay Jaquays' medical bills. "She didn’t recover. I’ll be paying down her medical bills and will be making funeral arrangements. I will be grieving for a while. Thank you for coming out to help Jennell in her time of need."
Since the news broke, people within the video game industry have been paying tribute:
If you'd like to contribute to assist Heineman at this most difficult of times, you can find the details here.
Everybody at Time Extension and Hookshot Media would like to extend their deepest sympathies to Jaquays' family and friends at this difficult time.