Artist and Level Designer for Age of Empires, Halo Wars, and Quake Has Passed Away
Not on the list.
The gaming community mourns the loss of Jennell Jaquays, a talented artist and level designer. She helped build iconic titles like Quake II, Age of Empires III, and Halo Wars. Jaquays’ career spanned over two decades, leaving an indelible mark on the visual and architectural landscapes of these beloved games.
News of Jaquays’ passing broke on January 10th, 2024, by her wife and fellow developer, Rebecca Heineman, posting an image on Twitter. The image preceded with the small message “Until we meet again…” shows Jenell holding Rebecca’s Tributes, highlighting her artistic vision, technical expertise, and collaborative spirit. Jaquays’ contributions extended beyond aesthetics, playing a vital role in crafting the gameplay worlds players explored and conquered.
It is likely that Jaquays died of an illness she had prior to her death that has been affecting her, Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). GBS is a rare neurological disorder where the immune system mistakenly attacks the peripheral nerves, which carry signals between the brain and the rest of the body. This can cause muscle weakness, tingling, and numbness, often starting in the legs and progressing upwards. In severe cases, it can lead to paralysis and even difficulty breathing.
Despite her death, Jaquays’ legacy lives on through the millions who experienced the immersive environments she helped create. Age of Empires’ majestic castles, Halo Wars’ futuristic battlefields, and Quake II’s dark gothic corridors stand as testaments to her talent and dedication.
Gaming as we see it today is relatively new, so we don’t have many deaths in our industry from those who built it. Jaquay worked on games that laid the foundation for others, and that was back when it was a lot harder to get in, and the environment wasn’t as grateful. She did her part to build a multi-billion dollar industry, creating many jobs. We’re grateful for all she’s done because she helped create our jobs, too.
Jennell Jaquays is survived by a community of friends and colleagues who mourn her loss and celebrate her lasting contribution to the games they love. If you’d like to help, a GoFundMe page is still active for Janquays’ disease and may likely be used for her funeral.
While still at college, Jaquays became interested in science-fiction and fantasy gaming and the nascent role-playing game industry through the pages of The Space Gamer. Jaquays discovered Dungeons & Dragons in 1975 and formed the Fantastic Dungeoning Society with several friends at college including Mark Hendricks. Together they decided to create a fanzine, which would provide adventures for other Game Masters. TSR's Tim Kask gave Jaquays a casual license to publish this fanzine, The Dungeoneer, an amateur publication but one of the earliest RPG periodicals.
The first issue was published in the same month as Dragon #1 (June 1976). The first issue was mainly drawn and written by Jaquays, with some contributions from other FDS members. In all, FDS produced six issues of The Dungeoneer from 1976 to 1978. Marketed as a "dungeonmaster's publication," the magazine was noteworthy for its pioneering approach to pre-factored adventures, "F'Chelrak's Tomb" was published in June 1976, the same month as Wee Warriors' Palace of the Vampire Queen. The publication has been an inspiration for many similarly-themed magazines in the United States and elsewhere.
In addition to these "honest efforts at quality contents to interest readers," Jaquays began submitting artwork to TSR's in-house gaming magazine, The Dragon, in 1976. Jaquays' work appeared in the premiere issue of The Dragon, and later contributions included the cover of issue #21.
By late 1977, Jaquays was approaching graduation and needed to spend more time in the art studio, so FDS sold The Dungeoneer to Chuck Anshell of Anshell Miniatures. Anshell soon came to work at Judges Guild, a prolific provider of material and officially licensed products for TSR's Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) line. Anshell brought The Dungeoneer with him, and retained a level of editorial control over it as it became one of Judges Guild's two gaming periodicals. Jaquays also started to work for Judges Guild by October 1978 as an illustrator and adventure designer, but refused to move to Decatur to work on-site at Judges Guild. Instead Jaquays worked out an arrangement to work from home in Michigan. Jaquays worked on two stand-alone D&D modules for Dungeons & Dragons, Dark Tower and Caverns of Thracia, which were completed before she left the company in October 1979. She provided a variety of content on a freelance basis thereafter, particularly to The Dungeoneer. Jaquays and Rudy Kraft authored Adventures Beyond the Pass for Judges Guild, which they never published; instead Greg Stafford liked it enough that Chaosium published it as Griffin Mountain (1981). The MicroGame Chitin: I (1978) by Metagaming Concepts featured art by Jaquays. Jaquays, Denis Loubet, and Jeff Dee produced Cardboard Heroes in the early 1980s for Steve Jackson Games.
Jaquays expanded her career to include video game design in the early 1980s, but continued to work as a freelancer for various table-top game publishers including TSR, Chaosium, West End Games, Flying Buffalo, and Iron Crown Enterprises. She produced illustrations for Game Designers' Workshop (GDW), most notably creating all the starship illustrations in Traveller Supplement 9: Fighting Ships. A number of these became the basis for starship models from Ad Astra Games and the deckplans found in Mongoose Traveller Supplement 3 - Fighting Ships.
From 1986 to 1993, she did freelance work while running a design studio. Jaquays prepared a series of character-creation supplements called Central Casting (1988–1991) for Flying Buffalo, which were published by Task Force Games. Jaquays also prepared three more City Books (1990–1994) out of house for Flying Buffalo. From 1993 to 1997, she returned to full-time employment in the table-top gaming industry as an illustrator for TSR, including a six-month period as Director of Graphics. She left TSR just before their takeover by Wizards of the Coast. During this time, she played an active role in the creation of the Dragon Dice game, both as cover artist and icon designer.
In addition to many gaming artwork contributions (including artwork spread over two decades for TSR's first-line periodicals, Dragon and Dungeon) she worked as an illustrator and cartoonist for the Jackson Citizen Patriot in 1980. During the late 1980s, Jaquays was a regular interior artist for Amazing Stories, and contributed one cover for that publication.
Michael A. Stackpole worked for Coleco from 1980 to 1981 and brought friend and fellow RPG designer Jaquays over to Coleco. After leaving Judges Guild, Jaquays worked for Coleco, first in a freelance capacity from 1980, then as a full-time employee from 1981 to 1985. She developed and designed arcade conversions of many well-known titles such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong for their home arcade video game system. Jaquays eventually became director of game design. Jaquays assembled one of the first art and design studios for video game development at Coleco to make ColecoVision games. During a freelance design studio period in the late 1980s and early 1990s, she continued to be involved in the video game industry, with concept and design work for Epyx, Interplay Entertainment, and Electronic Arts.
From March 1997, Jaquays was employed as level designer for id Software, best known for their Quake series of video games. She then moved to the Dallas-based Ensemble Studios, which had "become a haven for ex-id Software developers." She worked there from early 2002, with former tabletop and computer gaming contemporary Sandy Petersen, until the company's closure in January 2009. Petersen had previously hired Jaquays to be a content designer at id Software. In 2003 Jaquays co-founded The Guildhall at SMU, a video game education program, located at the Plano campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas. She helped create much of the program's original curriculum. Jaquays continues as an advisor to The Guildhall program. As of October 2009, Jaquays was employed as a senior-level designer with the North American division of Iceland's CCP Games.
Jennell divided her creative energy between projects for design studio Dragongirl Studios, her Fifth Wall brand of game adventures and miniatures, and serving as the creative director for Olde Sküül, Inc., a digital game developer and publisher based in Seattle, Washington which she founded with three other veteran female developers in 2012.
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