User:Czar/drafts/Scott Benson

Hockenberry, Benson, and team at the 2018 Independent Games Festival Awards, where their game, Night in the Woods, won top prize

Scott Benson and Bethany Hockenberry are video game creators best known for their work on Night in the Woods. They are co-owners in The Glory Society, a games studio run as a workers cooperative.

Career

edit

[Introduce the game?] The group produced Lost Constellation as a free supplement to Night in the Woods in advance of the latter's release.[1] Benson spoke at the 2018 Game Developers' Conference about his abject, self-imposed working conditions in the final months of the game's development for reasons of money and deadlines.[2] Benson and Hockenberry split ties with Holowka in 2019 following allegations of sexual assault and emotional abuse against Holowka. This included canceling a physical release of Night in the Woods and ending production on a follow-up project. Benson and Hockenberry would continue to run Night in the Woods.[3]

In 2019, Benson, Hockenberry, and Wren Farren announced The Glory Society, a new games studio and workers cooperative engaged in two projects. Each of the three are equal owners and decision-makers in the business, as any new partners would be. The workers cooperative model was similar to how Benson, Hockenberry, and Holowka had worked together as Infinite Fall on Night in the Woods, the game that financed the new cooperative. While decisions are made together, the three also have specializations: Benson as creative director, Hockenberry on business/finances, and Farren on art and music.[4]

Benson and Hockenberry advocate for unions.[2] Benson also assisted in the labor rights group Game Workers Unite's creation of educational resources.[4] He designed their logo.[5]

Benson's other work has included Potential, an unfinished short film released in 2014.[6]

Personal lives

edit

Benson was raised in Texas[1] and is a self-taught animator.[6] He was raised in a conservative, fundamentalist Baptist household. He later explored a nondenominational church before leaving the organized religion.[1]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c Ramsey, Chase (February 13, 2015). "Behind the Night in the Woods spinoff about our godless world". Kill Screen. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Sinclair, Brendan (May 7, 2018). "'The reason we're killing ourselves isn't because we love what we're doing'". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  3. ^ Handrahan, Matthew (August 29, 2019). "Night in the Woods team cancels game amid Alec Holowka allegations". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Valentine, Rebekah (March 11, 2019). "Black jackets, sunglasses, and radical accountability as a worker co-op". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  5. ^ Milner, David (December 21, 2018). "Game Workers Unite: The Fight To Unionize The Video Game Industry". Game Informer. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Neufeld, Madison (October 16, 2014). "A look at the creative process, from the maker of Night in the Woods". Kill Screen. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
edit