Alec Holowka’s Early Career

Alec Holowka was a Canadian video game developer, programmer, designer and musician. He was a co-founder of independent game companies including Bit Blot, Infinite Ammo and Infinite Fall. He was best known for his work on Aquaria and Night in the Woods. He collaborated with Derek Yu on Aquaria and I’m O.K. – A Murder Simulator, and later worked with Scott Benson and Bethany Hockenberry on Night in the Woods.

Holowka was born on October 30, 1983, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He began programming at the age of eight after his father gave him a programming book. He later worked with the freeware group Zaphire Productions and several independent game projects before becoming known in the indie game development community.

Holowka started programming at the age of eight. His father introduced him to programming by giving him the book Basic Fun. He later worked with Zaphire Productions, a freeware development group, before working on several startup projects. His early work included projects for PC and Xbox 360 before he moved further into independent game development.

List of games Alec Holowka has worked on

• I’m O.K. – A Murder Simulator (2006)
• Aquaria (2007)
• Owl Country (2008)
• Paper Moon (2008)
• Das Cube (2009)
• Crayon Physics Deluxe (2009)
• Offspring Fling (2012)
• TowerFall (2013)
• Longest Night (2013)
• Lost Constellation (2014)
• Night in the Woods (2017)
• Moonlighter (2018, special thanks)
• Shadowhand (2017, tester)
• TowerFall: Ascension (music)

Alec Holowka and Night in the Woods

Alec Holowka was one of the creators of Night in the Woods and worked on the game as a programmer, composer and designer. He developed the project with animator Scott Benson and writer Bethany Hockenberry through Infinite Fall. The game was successfully crowdfunded in 2013 and released in 2017. It later won the BAFTA Award for Narrative and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the Independent Games Festival.

Alec Holowka’s Death

Alec Holowka died on August 31, 2019, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, at the age of 35. His death was announced by his sister, Eileen Mary Holowka. Contemporary reports stated that his death came several days after allegations of abuse had been made against him by game developer Zoë Quinn. The Night in the Woods development team subsequently announced that it had cut ties with Holowka.

Allegations and Final Years

In August 2019, Zoë Quinn publicly accused Holowka of physical and emotional abuse during their past relationship. Holowka did not publicly respond to the allegations before his death. Following the allegations, the Night in the Woods development team announced that it was ending its professional relationship with him. The game’s publisher, Finji, supported the team’s decision.

After Holowka’s death, his sister Eileen Mary Holowka said that he had struggled with mental-health issues throughout his life and had been receiving therapy and medication. She also asked people not to use the family’s grief as a reason to harass Zoë Quinn or others involved in the controversy. Her statements were her account of Holowka’s personal struggles and should not be treated as an independent medical assessment.

Holowka’s death was reported as a suicide by multiple later reference sources.

She also said that he is responsible for causing harm, but was a person who wanted to offer people care and kindness deep inside. Alec went to various therapy and had various medications over the last few years. As a result, he became a new person without any of the darkness. Eileen also explained how he had become positive and loving, and calm and happy.

He was working towards rehabilitation and a better life. Though his progress was slow and wasn’t perfect either. Manitoba crisis services supported Alec in his last few days.