Chris Jones

Developer BIO

Christopher Jones is a videogame designer. He is most famous for his series of interactive movies starring the hard-boiled, out of his time gumshoe Tex Murphy, a private investigator that lives in the San Francisco of the middle of the 21st century.

Between 1982 and 1999 Chris was the co-owner and CFO of Access Software with Bruce Carver until it was sold to Microsoft in 1999. Chris was the creative force behind many early adventure games, including Countdown, Amazon: Guardians of Eden, and the first two Tex Murphy games: Mean Streets and Martian Memorandum.

In 1991, Chris began a collaboration with Aaron Conners that resulted in three more Tex Murphy games: Under a Killing Moon, The Pandora Directive, and Tex Murphy: Overseer. After hashing out the story concepts and the game design together, Aaron would write the script while Chris handled production.

He also worked on various incarnations of the Links golf franchise after the Microsoft acquisition as part of the company Indie Built, Inc., and various Xbox and PC titles in general.

The partnership between the two developers continued for several years after Microsoft acquired the company through a number of high profile (but ultimately unreleased) projects, including The Black Pearl, with Mark Hamill, and an action/adventure title based on the world of Steven Spielberg's A.I. Plans to develop another Tex Murphy game never materialized and Chris left the videogame business in 2004.

He returned in late 2007 when he teamed up with Aaron Conners again to develop the psychological thriller 3 Cards to Midnight at his new company Big Finish, Inc.

Also Known As

• Christopher Jones

Websites

• Interview -- Interview with Chris Jones made in 2006.
• Aaron Conners and Chris Jones -- interview on Adventure Gamers (March 2009)

Games Credited

• 3 Cards to Dead Time (2010), Big Finish, Inc.
• 3 Cards to Midnight (2009), Big Finish, Inc.
• Tex Murphy 1+2 (2009), Wordplay, LLC
• Crime Stories: From the Files of Martin Mystère (2004), Leader S.p.a.
• Painkiller (2004), Akella
• Amped 2 (2003), Microsoft Game Studios
• Inside Pitch 2003 (2003), Microsoft Game Studios
• Links 2003: Championship Edition (2003), Microsoft Game Studios
• Links 2004 (2003), Microsoft Game Studios
• Top Spin (2003), Microsoft Game Studios
• Kick Off 2002 (2002), Acclaim Entertainment, Inc.
• Links 2003 (2002), Microsoft Game Studios
• Links 2001 (2001), Microsoft Corporation
• Tex Murphy: Overseer (1997), Eidos Interactive Ltd.
• Links LS 1997 (1996), Eidos Interactive Ltd.
• The Pandora Directive (1996), Access Software, Inc.
• Pinball Builder: A Construction Kit for Windows (1996), 21st Century Entertainment Ltd.
• Under a Killing Moon (1994), Access Software, Inc.
• Amazon: Guardians of Eden (1992), Access Software, Inc.
• Martian Memorandum (1991), Access Software, Inc.
• Countdown (1990), Access Software, Inc.
• Crime Wave (1990), U.S. Gold Ltd.
• Mean Streets (1989), Access Software, Inc.
• Echelon (1988), Access Software, Inc.