Alec Holowka

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Holowka at the Independent Games Festival 2019

Alec Holowka (* the thirtieth October 1983 in Winnipeg , Manitoba , † 31 August 2019 ) was a Canadian game developer , video game music - composer and co-founder of developer Infinite Ammo, Infinite case and Bit Blot. Together with Derek Yu he developed Aquaria and I'm OK - A Murder Simulator , together with Scott Benson and Bethany Hockenberry Night in the Woods .

Life

Holowka learned programming at the age of eight after his father bought him the book Basic Fun . He later worked with the group Zaphire Productions . He then went on to work at several failing startups, such as a fantasy action PC game in Winnipeg and a battle racing game for the Xbox 360 in Vancouver .

Two men stand behind a podium that reads Independent Games Festival while a woman in a blue dress stands to the left.
Jenna Sharpe, Holowka and Derek Yu receiving the Grand Prix of the Independent Games Festival 2007

Holowka was the sound engineer for the freeware game I'm OK - A Murder Simulator , which was an answer to A Modest Video Game Proposal by American lawyer Jack Thompson. Holowka first met Derek Yu through the Slashdot comment column on a post about Jack Thompson and the satirical company Thompsonsoft, founded by Chris Hanson and Phil Jones.

After the game was released, Holowka brought Yu on a project he was initially working on alone and founded Bit Blot with him a week before the deadline for the Independent Games Festival ended . The project was released on December 7, 2007 under the name Aquaria and received the Seumas McNally Grand Prize of the Independent Games Festival for 2007.

In October 2013 the game Night in the Woods , developed by Holowka together with Scott Benson and funded by crowdfunding, was published through the studio "Infinite Fall".

In August 2019, Holowka and other developers were accused of sexual harassment. He was accused of physical and emotional abuse by Zoë Quinn . The day after the allegation, the Night in the Woods development team broke with Holowka and announced through Scott Benson, "We take such allegations as a team seriously"; The team had been presented with further incriminating evidence on the allegations. Studio Finji supported the team's decision and postponed plans to release more copies of the game as a result of the allegations.

Holowka committed suicide on August 31, 2019. Holowka's sister said on Twitter that he had “battled mood and personality disorders” all his life and was “a victim of abuse”. She said he'd tried to manage his disorders himself through therapy and medication for the past several years. In addition, Holowka said "he wished Zoë and everyone else the best."

Games

I'm OK (2006)

I'm OK is a satirical side-scroller - shoot 'em up and is an answer to Jack Thompson's open letter A Modest Video Game Proposal . It was developed under the parody studio Thompsonsoft. Holowka was responsible for the sound of the game, Derek Yu for the visual design and Chris Hanson for the coding. It is a retro-style arcade game that parodies popular video games, development studios and game developers. The player accompanies the main character Osaki Kim ("OK" for short) on a murderous rampage against the video game industry.

Aquaria (2007)

Holowka composed the music for Aquaria

Aquaria is an action-adventure game in which the player in the role of the mermaid Naija explores the game world in order to find information about their family and their own past. The ancient ruins of Aquaria are examined. Aquaria is the first commercial game by Derek Yu and Alec Holowka and won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize of the Independent Games Festival 2007.

Owl Country (2008)

In early 2008, Holowka and several other independent game developers initiated a project at the Game Developers Conference 2008 in San Francisco, on which they mainly worked at their hotel, the Holiday Inn . Holowka was involved as a musician and programmer. The project was founded in response to an incident at Kokoromi's Gamma 256 Party at the Montreal International Game Summit.

Paper Moon (2008)

Holowka developed with the newly founded development studio Infinite Ammo Paper Moon , a game that was presented at GAMMA 2008. It was released on August 15, 2008.

Everyone Loves Active 2 (2008)

Holowka wrote the music for Kyle Pulvers Everyone Loves Active 2 .

Verge (2008)

Holowka worked again with Pulver for Verge and developed the game music. Verge is a short side scroller that is about life and death. The game won The Independent Gaming Source's Commonplace Book Competition . An expanded version of the game is in development.

Crayon Physics Deluxe (2009)

Holowka contributed some pieces to the soundtrack of Crayon Physics Deluxe . The game was developed by Petri Purho under the Kloonigames studio and won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize of the Independent Games Festival 2008.

Offspring Fling (2012)

Holowka wrote the music for Kyle Powder's Offspring Fling .

TowerFall Ascension (2013)

Holowka wrote the music for the indie game TowerFall , which was released for Ouya in 2013 . In 2014, a version with an extended soundtrack was released with the addition of Ascension for the PlayStation 4 and the PC.

Night in the Woods (2017)

Night in the Woods was developed by Holowka, Scott Benson and Bethany Hockenberry for the Infinite Fall studio. Holowka was also responsible for the soundtrack here. The game won several prizes, including the Seamus McNally Grand Prize of the Independent Games Festival 2018.

Oceanheart

Holowka worked with Karen Teixeira on Oceanheart , a game that incorporated elements from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Animal Crossing . The game was announced in 2016, but in 2018 Holowka announced that he had "given up" the game.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alec Holowka. (November 20, 2013). Alec Holowka - Indie House / Night In The Woods [October 2013] . FullIndie. November 8, 2019. 0:39. "And I'm about to turn 30 tomorrow [...] on October 30th."
  2. ↑ a b Bitblot - company . Bit blot. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
  3. ^ Alistair Wallis: Road To The IGF: Bit Blot's Aquaria . Gamasutra. October 23, 2006. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008. Retrieved on November 18, 2008.
  4. ↑ Michael Tucker: 4cr Interview - Thompsonsoft . 4 Color Rebellion. February 16, 2006. Archived from the original on November 5, 2008. Retrieved on November 18, 2008.
  5. ↑ Aquaria - IGN . Retrieved September 2, 2019.
  6. ↑ 2007 Independent Games Festival Winners . Independent Games Festival . Archived from the original on October 27, 2010. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
  7. ^ Kickstarter page for Night in the Woods .
  8. ^ Kris Graft: New allegations of sexual assault surface against established game devs . In: Gamasutra . August 28, 2019. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  9. ↑ a b Nicole Carpenter: Night in the Woods studio cuts ties with designer after abuse allegations . In: polygon . August 29, 2019. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  10. ↑ a b Alissa McAloon: Night in the Woods devs cut ties with Alec Holowka after abuse allegations . In: Gamasutra . August 28, 2019. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  11. ↑ Jason Schreier: Night In The Woods Designer Alec Holowka Dies . In: Kotaku . September 1, 2019. Accessed September 1, 2019.
  12. ^ Night In The Woods: We are canceling a current project and postponing the Limited Run physical release. The iOS port is being handled by an outside company and supervised by Finji and will remain in development. . August 28, 2019.
  13. ↑ Laurie Penny: Gaming's #MeToo Moment and the Tyranny of Male Fragility | WIRED . September 6, 2019. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  14. ↑ a b c d Andy Woods: Night in the Woods developer Alec Holowka has died . In: PC Gamer . August 31, 2019. Accessed August 31, 2019.
  15. ^ Night in the Woods Developer Accused of Sexual Assault Dies . In: IGN Nordic , August 31, 2019. 
  16. ↑ Chris Remo: I'm OK: A Murder Simulator . In: Shacknews . February 7, 2006. Accessed August 31, 2019.
  17. ↑ 2007 Independent Games Festival Winners . IGF. Archived from the original on December 16, 2008. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
  18. ^ TIG Forum Post . TIG. November 18, 2008. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
  19. ↑ Kokoromi - Gamma 3D Featured Games Announced . Kokoromi. Archived from the original on November 19, 2008. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
  20. ↑ Everyone Loves Active 2 Profile . Kyle Powder. May 31, 2008. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
  21. ↑ Verge Profiles . Kyle Powder. November 29, 2008. Archived from the original on December 3, 2008. Retrieved on November 29, 2008.
  22. ↑ Winda Benedetti: Indulge your inner child with 'Crayon Physics' . In: NBC News . January 13, 2009. Accessed August 31, 2019.
  23. ↑ Day 2: Music of Crayon Physics Deluxe . Kloonigames. January 2, 2009. Accessed August 31, 2019.
  24. ↑ Jordan Mallory: Behold the unrelenting cuteness of 'Offspring Fling!' . In: Engadget . March 31, 2012. Accessed August 31, 2019.
  25. ↑ Chris Plante: What It Feels Like To Launch An Indie Hit . In: polygon . July 2, 2014. Accessed August 31, 2019.
  26. ↑ Christopher Byrd: 'Night in the Woods' is great, and a lesson for all game creators in how to develop characters . In: The Washington Post . March 2, 2017. Accessed August 31, 2019.
  27. ↑ Kayla Whitney: Complete list of 2018 Independent Games Festival Awards Winners . AXS. March 22, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  28. ↑ Mark Serrels: Oceanheart Is Like Wind Waker Crossed With Animal Crossing . In: Kotaku . June 2, 2016. Accessed August 31, 2019.
  29. ↑ Yeah! #Oceanheart with the amazing @bitmOO! We kinda gave up on it for now tho. It had a few Unity prototypes and one Unreal prototype. . December 12, 2018. Retrieved November 8, 2019.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Holowka, Alec
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian game developer and video game music composer
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH Winnipeg
DATE OF DEATH August 31, 2019
Place of death Winnipeg