Christopher Jones (born March 4, 1955) is a

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the production stage. Some common video game design subdiscipline ...

and producer,

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

, finance professional, and actor. He is best known for a series of interactive movies in which he stars as

Tex Murphy Tex may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tex (nickname), a list of people and fictional characters with the nickname * Joe Tex (1933–1982), stage name of American soul singer Joseph Arrington Jr. Entertainment * ''Tex'', the Italian ...

, a

private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...

who lives in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in the middle of the 21st century.

Career

Jones was a founding member of

Access Software Access Software, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Founded in November 1982 by Bruce Carver and Chris Jones, the company created the '' Beach Head'', '' Links'' and ''Tex Murphy'' series, as well as '' R ...

, along with Bruce Carver and his brother Roger Carver, and remained its CFO until it was sold to

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

in 1999. At Access, Jones served as a finance executive. As the company's output turned toward more story-driven titles, he became more involved in writing, design, and production. He designed and wrote the

point-and-click adventure An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

games '' Amazon: Guardians of Eden'' and ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

'', and served as producer on various titles in the '' Links'' golf franchise. Jones is best recognized by many gamers for the creation and portrayal of

in a series of adventure games, beginning with 1989's ''

Mean Streets ''Mean Streets'' is a 1973 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and co-written by Scorsese and Mardik Martin. The film stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. It was released by Warner Bros. on October 2, 1973. De Niro won the National ...

''. Initially, this meant little more than posing for the games' cover art, digitized sprites and assorted still frames. As the series transitioned to

full motion video Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information duri ...

with the third installment ''

Under A Killing Moon ''Under a Killing Moon'' is a 1994 point-and-click adventure interactive movie video game. It is the third installment in the '' Tex Murphy'' series of adventure games produced by Access Software. In it, the detective Tex Murphy finds himself un ...

'', Jones' role became increasingly cinematic, acting alongside established Hollywood actors such as

Brian Keith Brian Keith (born Robert Alba Keith, November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997) was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his six-decade career gained recognition for his work in films such as the Disney family film '' The Parent T ...

Margot Kidder Margaret Ruth Kidder (October 17, 1948 – May 13, 2018), known professionally as Margot Kidder, was a Canadian-American actress whose career spanned five decades. Her accolades include three Canadian Screen Awards and one Daytime Emmy Awa ...

and

Russell Means Russell Charles Means (November 10, 1939 – October 22, 2012) was an Oglala Lakota activist for the rights of Native Americans, libertarian political activist, actor, musician, and writer. He became a prominent member of the American Ind ...

. In later games of the series he acted with

John Agar John George Agar Jr. (January 31, 1921 – April 7, 2002) was an American film and television actor. He is best known for starring alongside John Wayne in the films ''Sands of Iwo Jima'', '' Fort Apache'', and ''She Wore a Yellow Ribbon''. In hi ...

Kevin McCarthy Kevin Owen McCarthy (born January 26, 1965) is an American politician, serving as Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, House Minority Leader in the United States House of Representatives since 2019. A member of the Rep ...

Barry Corbin Leonard Barrie Corbin (born October 16, 1940) is an American actor. He is best known for his starring role as Maurice Minnifield on the television series ''Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), which earned him two consecutive Primetime Emmy Award ...

Tanya Roberts Tanya Roberts (born Victoria Leigh Blum; October 15, 1949 – January 4, 2021) was an American actress. She played Julie Rogers in the final season of the television series ''Charlie's Angels'' (1980–1981), Stacey Sutton in the James Bond fi ...

Michael York Michael York OBE (born Michael Hugh Johnson; 27 March 1942) is an English film, television and stage actor. After performing on-stage with the Royal National Theatre, he had a breakthrough in films by playing Tybalt in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Ro ...

Henry Darrow Henry Darrow (born Enrique Tomás Delgado Jiménez; September 15, 1933 – March 14, 2021) was an American character actor of stage and film known for his role as Manolito "Mano" Montoya on the 1960s television series ''The High Chaparral''. In ...

, and

June Lockhart June Lockhart (born June 25, 1925) is an American actress, beginning a film career in 1930s & 1940s in such films at ''A Christmas Carol'' and ''Meet Me in St. Louis''. She primarily acted in 1950s and 1960s television, and with performances on ...

. After Access was re-christened

Indie Built Access Software, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Founded in November 1982 by Bruce Carver and Chris Jones, the company created the '' Beach Head'', '' Links'' and ''Tex Murphy'' series, as well as ''Ra ...

and sold to

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal g ...

, he was the company's Chief Financial Officer until its dissolution in 2006. Following the dissolution of Indie Built, the company's golf division was spun off into a new company, TruGolf, focusing on high-end golf simulators using real clubs. Jones serves as Finance Executive for TruGolf and, in 2007, founded

Big Finish Games Big Finish Games is an American independent game developer formed by members of Access Software/Indie Built following the company's close in 2007. The company was founded with the goal of developing story-driven, interactive games. The company' ...

, which shares the same office. Big Finish Games initially aimed to bridge the gap between casual games and the traditional adventure game audience, by offering simple

hidden object game A hidden object game, also called hidden picture or hidden object puzzle adventure (HOPA), is a puzzle video game genre in which the player must find items from a list that are hidden within a scene. Hidden object games are a popular trend in casu ...

s with a heavy focus on story. Their first title, '' Three Cards to Midnight'', was released in May 2009. Other Big Finish titles include ''

Three Cards to Dead Time Big Finish Games is an American independent game developer formed by members of Access Software/Indie Built following the company's close in 2007. The company was founded with the goal of developing story-driven, interactive games. The company' ...

'' (2010), ''Murder Island: Secret of Tantalus'' (2011), ''Escape from Thunder Island'' (2011), and ''Rita James and the Race to Shangri La'' (2012).

References

External links

* *
Interview with Chris Jones on Talk Radio Meltdown 6-4-12
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Chris 1955 births Living people Male actors from Utah 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male video game actors American male voice actors American video game designers Video game producers Businesspeople from Utah American technology chief executives American people of Finnish descent People from Bountiful, Utah