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Four days after allegations of abuse were leveled against him, Holowka died by suicide. According to his sister, who posted to
Twitter about his death, Holowka had been "battling mood and personality disorders" through his life and "was a victim of abuse". She explained he had been trying to correct
251:
development team cut ties with
Holowka, with Scott Benson writing "We take such allegations seriously as a team". The team stated that other corroborating evidence related to the accusations had been presented to them. The publisher of
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971:"We are cancelling 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"
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After its release
Holowka introduced Yu to a project he had been working on independently, Yu was interested in the project and the two officially formed developer Bit Blot the week before the
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his own disorders in recent years through therapy and medication. She also stated that
Holowka "said he wished the best for Zoë and everyone else".
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in a post regarding Jack
Thompson's proposal and along with Chris Hanson and Phil Jones formed the group "Thompsonsoft" for the one-off release.
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1462:"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"
240:. The game was released in 2017 to critical acclaim and won the BAFTA in "Narrative" and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the IGF.
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Holowka was introduced to programming at the age of eight when his father bought him the book
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In 2013, Holowka and independent animator Scott Benson successfully crowdfunded the game
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developer and co-founder of independent game companies
Infinite Ammo, Infinite Fall, and
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Winner of the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, etc. at the 2018 Independent Games
Festival
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Winner of the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 2008 Independent Games
Festival
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1002:"Night in the Woods developer dies after assault accusations [Updated]"
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210:". Holowka met Derek Yu in the comments section of popular technology website
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902:"Night in the Woods devs cut ties with Alec Holowka after abuse allegations"
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866:"Night in the Woods studio cuts ties with designer after abuse allegations"
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830:"New allegations of sexual assault surface against established game devs"
170:, working on a PC multiplayer fantasy action title and a combat racer in
32:
527:"Gaming's #MeToo Moment and the Tyranny of Male Fragility | WIRED"
243:
In August 2019, Holowka was accused of physical and emotional abuse by
131:
791:"Coming to Video Games Near You: Depressed Towns, Dead-End Characters"
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554:
Alec
Holowka - Indie House / Night In The Woods [October 2013]
221:
deadline. The project was released on 7 December 2007 under the title
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166:. He then worked for a number of failed startups, including one in
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730:"Night in the Woods isn't about growing up, but becoming an adult"
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1365:"Complete list of 2018 Independent Games Festival Awards Winners"
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1100:"Night in the Woods Developer Accused of Sexual Assault Dies"
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1429:"Oceanheart Is Like Wind Waker Crossed With Animal Crossing"
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Holowka acted as sound engineer on the 2006 freeware title
162:. Eventually he began working with a freeware group called
1499:
227:, and was the recipient of the Independent Games Festival
1032:"Night in the Woods video game creator Alec Holowka dies"
671:
1304:"Behold the unrelenting cuteness of 'Offspring Fling!'"
1068:"Night in the Woods developer Alec Holowka has died"
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And I'm about to turn 30 tomorrow on
October 30th.
138:. He was mainly known for the award-winning titles
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130:(30 October 1983 – 31 August 2019) was a Canadian
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1245:"Indulge your inner child with 'Crayon Physics'"
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938:"Night In The Woods Designer Alec Holowka Dies"
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16:Canadian video game developer (1983–2019)
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1277:"Day 2: Music of Crayon Physics Deluxe"
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1198:from the original on 19 September 2008
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969:Night In The Woods (28 August 2019).
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189:accepting the grand prize at the 2007
1460:@InfiniteAmmoDev (12 December 2018).
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614:"Road To The IGF: Bit Blot's Aquaria"
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1243:Benedetti, Winda (13 January 2009).
1128:
936:Schreier, Jason (1 September 2019).
864:Carpenter, Nicole (29 August 2019).
809:from the original on 25 October 2022
639:Tucker, Michael (16 February 2006).
612:Wallis, Alistair (23 October 2006).
515:
1110:from the original on 31 August 2019
914:from the original on 28 August 2019
878:from the original on 29 August 2019
643:. 4 Color Rebellion. Archived from
593:from the original on 9 January 2009
101:Game programmer, designer, musician
13:
1394:Byrd, Christopher (2 March 2017).
1080:from the original on 27 March 2022
900:McAloon, Alissa (28 August 2019).
789:Hudson, Laura (15 February 2017).
557:. FullIndie. Event occurs at 0:39
525:Penny, Laurie (6 September 2019).
287:
153:
14:
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1302:Mallory, Jordan (31 March 2012).
1218:"Everyone Loves Active 2 Profile"
1042:from the original on 19 July 2021
1012:from the original on 19 July 2021
728:Moore, D. M. (18 February 2018).
551:Alec Holowka (20 November 2013).
202:as a response to American lawyer
1375:from the original on 1 July 2018
1363:Whitney, Kayla (22 March 2018).
1344:from the original on 25 May 2019
770:from the original on 9 July 2021
760:"Narrative - Night in the Woods"
740:from the original on 2 June 2023
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1279:. Kloonigames. 2 January 2009.
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1129:Remo, Chris (7 February 2006).
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1000:Orland, Kyle (30 August 2019).
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842:from the original on 8 May 2021
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477:Designer, programmer, musician
1131:"I'm O.K.: A Murder Simulator"
1066:Woods, Andy (31 August 2019).
828:Graft, Kris (28 August 2019).
752:
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641:"4cr Interview - Thompsonsoft"
632:
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1534:Canadian video game designers
1427:Serrels, Mark (2 June 2016).
1330:Plante, Chris (2 July 2014).
508:
1220:. Kyle Pulver. 31 May 2008.
327:Designer, audio, programmer
300:I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator
208:A Modest Video Game Proposal
199:I'm O.K – A Murder Simulator
7:
10:
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703:Independent Games Festival
336:Independent Games Festival
332:Seumas McNally Grand Prize
229:Seumas McNally Grand Prize
219:Independent Games Festival
191:Independent Games Festival
185:Jenna Sharpe, Holowka and
82:Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
39:Independent Games Festival
1194:. TIG. 18 November 2008.
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1539:Video game programmers
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1554:Indie game developers
1165:. IGF. Archived from
407:Crayon Physics Deluxe
184:
1564:Suicides in Manitoba
1544:Video game musicians
1038:. 2 September 2019.
37:Holowka at the 2019
1401:The Washington Post
1257:on 6 September 2019
1169:on 16 December 2008
587:"Bitblot - company"
450:TowerFall Ascension
164:Zaphire Productions
88:Cause of death
1106:. 31 August 2019.
795:The New York Times
709:on 27 October 2010
647:on 5 November 2008
471:Night in the Woods
354:Audio, programmer
254:Night in the Woods
249:Night in the Woods
237:Night in the Woods
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141:Night in the Woods
113:Night in the Woods
766:. 13 March 2018.
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1253:. Archived from
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1192:"TIG Forum Post"
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1505:Alec Holowka
1476:– via
1470:. Retrieved
1455:
1443:. Retrieved
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1410:. Retrieved
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1377:. Retrieved
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1259:. Retrieved
1255:the original
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1226:. Retrieved
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1200:. Retrieved
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1167:the original
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1006:Ars Technica
1005:
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985:– via
979:. Retrieved
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880:. Retrieved
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772:. Retrieved
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707:the original
693:
681:. Retrieved
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649:. Retrieved
645:the original
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622:. Retrieved
607:
595:. Retrieved
589:. Bit Blot.
570:
565:– via
559:. Retrieved
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534:. Retrieved
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334:at the 2007
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128:Alec Holowka
127:
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107:Notable work
77:(2019-08-31)
25:Alec Holowka
18:
1529:2019 deaths
1524:1983 births
1228:18 November
1202:18 November
1173:18 November
954:1 September
713:2 September
683:2 September
651:18 November
624:18 November
597:18 November
536:13 November
497:Co-creator
373:Co-creator
349:Owl Country
1518:Categories
1472:8 November
1104:IGN Nordic
981:8 November
561:8 November
509:References
500:Abandoned
492:Oceanheart
368:Paper Moon
231:for 2007.
132:indie game
52:1983-10-30
1509:MobyGames
1445:31 August
1412:31 August
1348:31 August
1315:31 August
1287:31 August
1261:31 August
1147:31 August
1136:Shacknews
1114:31 August
1084:31 August
918:28 August
907:Gamasutra
882:29 August
846:28 August
835:Gamasutra
803:0362-4331
734:The Verge
456:Musician
435:Musician
413:Musician
392:Musician
245:Zoë Quinn
172:Vancouver
160:Basic Fun
1495:Bit Blot
1439:Archived
1406:Archived
1379:22 March
1373:Archived
1342:Archived
1309:Engadget
1281:Archived
1250:NBC News
1222:Archived
1196:Archived
1141:Archived
1108:Archived
1078:Archived
1073:PC Gamer
1040:Archived
1036:BBC News
1010:Archived
948:Archived
912:Archived
876:Archived
840:Archived
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768:Archived
738:Archived
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618:Archived
591:Archived
212:Slashdot
187:Derek Yu
176:Xbox 360
174:for the
168:Winnipeg
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987:Twitter
871:Polygon
813:18 June
744:18 June
567:YouTube
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224:Aquaria
147:Aquaria
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306:Audio
288:Ref(s)
284:Notes
278:Title
1466:Tweet
975:Tweet
531:Wired
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465:2017
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401:2009
382:2008
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315:2007
294:2006
281:Role
275:Date
268:Games
258:Finji
1474:2019
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1350:2019
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1230:2008
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1086:2019
1048:2021
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920:2019
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799:ISSN
776:2021
746:2023
715:2019
685:2019
653:2008
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