ATX Game Makers

What’s your story?

ByJohn HendersonOctober 15, 2026

This essay was written in part to give context and promote Beyond the Build, a professional summit set for Saturday, Jan. 16, 2027. More information on the event available at the link. “What’s your story?” is often how I’ll address people I don’t know, especially when I meet

Career Development

Staying in Games, Growing Anyway

ByKing LewisSeptember 15, 2026

The current climate of the gaming industry feels unstable, to say the least. As more and more rounds of layoffs are announced alongside studio closures and increasing usage of generative AI, employees may be holding on to their current roles a little more tightly. But when

ByJonathan GallowayJuly 15, 2026

In Lane‑Breaking Part 1, I told the up‑close story of lane‑policing and psychological safety from inside teams. In When One Lens Dominates and Safety and Stewardship, I zoomed out to talk about bias, culture, and leadership. This final part is more personal and

ByJonathan GallowayJune 15, 2026

In Part 2, we looked at the structural pattern: how specialist systems create bias, and how it doesn’t stay inside any one discipline. Any silo can start believing its lens is the only real one. The problem is the architecture, not the people. This part is a little

ByJonathan GallowayMay 15, 2026

In Part 1, I promised to pull the camera back and cover the bigger forces: fake safety vs real safety, engineering bias, stewardship, invention, all of it. One part. Neat and tidy. That did not happen. The more I wrote, the more the pieces refused to fit in one container. So

ByJonathan GallowayApril 15, 2026

Christopher Latham Sholes, the Milwaukee newspaperman behind the first practical typewriter patent in 1868, wasn’t a novelist chasing flow state. He was a printer and editor staring at chaotic, manual workflows and deciding to hack them with mechanics and ingenuity. He

ByAlan UthoffMarch 15, 2026

The video game industry’s rock stars have been movers and shakers since its conception. These exceptional performers create the impossible and find the way forward when you are against the wall. Everyone has met or worked with at least one of these standouts, a

Community

Origin Memoirs 1: Creating Worlds

ByBilly CainFebruary 16, 2026

I really don’t want this to sound like an old man shaking his fist at the clouds and saying “You kids today don’t understand how good you have it,” so please excuse me if any of this does sound that way. What I want to do is describe just how far ahead these

Community

Austin, and everything after

ByJohn HendersonJanuary 15, 2026

Austin’s had its heart cut out more than once. It’s gained its confidence back and carried on. And throughout its history, it has grown. People who stay the longest come to wish it would never change, even when it always has, and inevitably will continue changing. Less than

Community

Maker/Faker: An Essay About Advice

ByJohn HendersonDecember 19, 2025

This is an essay about things I like and things I don’t, and how being friends with certain people such as Donald Harris are rewarding even though sometimes we annoy each other. (Donald and I are good friends, in truth. He’s been asking me consistently to write

Staying in Games, Growing Anyway

Lane-Breaking 4: Polymaths in a Specialist World

Lane-Breaking 3: Fake Safety, Real Safety, and the Courage to Steward

What’s your story?

Staying in Games, Growing Anyway

Lane-Breaking 4: Polymaths in a Specialist World

Lane-Breaking 3: Fake Safety, Real Safety, and the Courage to Steward

Lane-Breaking Part 2: When One Lens Dominates

Lane-Breaking: A Manifesto on Psychological Safety and Cross-Disciplinary Work in Game Development, Part 1

Don’t Put Rock Stars In Charge

Origin Memoirs 1: Creating Worlds

Austin, and everything after

Maker/Faker: An Essay About Advice