Jane Jensen
Born	Jane Elizabeth Smith (1963-01-28) January 28, 1963 (age 62) Palmerton, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education	Anderson University (BA)
Occupations	Video game designer video game writer video game director novelist
Known for	Gabriel Knight series
Spouse	Robert Holmes^[1]

Jane Jensen (born January 28, 1963) is an American video game designer and author. She is the creator of the Gabriel Knight series of adventure games, and also co-founded Oberon Media and Pinkerton Road video game development companies. Jensen also writes under the name Eli Easton.

Early life and education

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Jensen was born Jane Elizabeth Smith, on January 28, 1963, in Palmerton, Pennsylvania, the youngest of seven children. She attended and graduated from Allentown Central Catholic High School, and then received a BA in computer science from Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana.

Career

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She worked as a systems programmer for Hewlett-Packard.^[2]

Her love of both computers and creative writing eventually led her to the computer gaming industry and Sierra OnLine, where she worked as a writer on Police Quest III: The Kindred and EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus.^[2] After co-designing King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow with veteran game designer Roberta Williams, Jensen designed her first solo game: Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, which was released in 1993. The dark, supernatural mystery was a departure for Sierra but the game was enthusiastically received, with the strength of Jensen's writing, along with the game's horror and gothic sensibilities coming in for particular praise from the gaming press^[3] and earning the Computer Gaming World's "Adventure Game of the Year" award.^[4]

Jensen followed up Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers with two sequels: The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery in 1995 and Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned in 1999. Somewhat unusually for an adventure game series, each Gabriel Knight title was produced in an entirely different format to the others. Whereas the original was a traditional 2D animated game, the sequels were realised through full motion video and a custom built 3D engine, respectively.^[5] Despite further acclaim for Jensen's design in both cases (The Beast Within too was Computer Gaming World's "Game of the Year"^[4]), the large expenses associated with making the sequels, coupled with the declining marketability of adventure games (especially within Sierra) meant that a fourth in the series was not commissioned.^[6]

In 1997, Jensen published a novelization of the first Gabriel Knight game. A second Gabriel Knight novelization followed in 1998. In 1999, Jensen published her first non-adapted novel, Millennium Rising (later retitled Judgment Day). Her fourth book, Dante's Equation was published in 2003 and was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award.

Jensen has been involved in designing casual online games at Oberon Media, of which she is a co-founder.^[7] Her work in the hidden object/light adventure category can partially be credited with moving casual games in the direction of full adventure games in puzzle and story sophistication. Some of her more notable recent games include Deadtime Stories (2009) and Dying for Daylight (2010). After leaving Oberon in 2011, she briefly worked at Zynga.

Jensen's next big adventure game Gray Matter was developed by Wizarbox and published by dtp entertainment in 2010.^[8]^[9] The game, originally intended to be developed by Hungarian software house Tonuzaba, switched to another developer, French company Wizarbox in 2008: as a result, the tentative release was changed and shifted to 2010. Jensen was also a story consultant on Phoenix Online Studios' 2012 adventure game Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller.^[10]

On April 5, 2012, Jensen and her husband Robert Holmes announced the formation of Pinkerton Road, a new game development studio to be headquartered on their Lancaster, Pennsylvania farm.^[11] With this announcement, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to raise funds for the studio's first year of game development.^[12] In 2014, Pinkerton released their first games, Moebius: Empire Rising and Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition.

Since 2013, Jensen has written gay romance fiction under the pen name "Eli Easton".^[13] The Lion and the Crow was written for the Goodreads M/M Romance event "Love has No Boundaries" in 2013, and later expanded and rereleased as a second edition in e-book and audiobook.^[14]^[15]

Personal life

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Jensen owned a farm in Pennsylvania, where she lived with her husband, composer Robert Holmes, who composed the music for the Gabriel Knight series and Gray Matter.^[16] They have since sold the farm and are currently living in the Puget Sound area of Washington state.^[17]

Works

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Games

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EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus (1991) (writer)
Police Quest III: The Kindred (1991) (writer)
King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow (1992) (co-designer, co-writer)
Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers (1992) (CD-ROM version) (voice actor)
The Dagger of Amon Ra (1993) (CD-ROM version) (voice actor)
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (1993) (designer, director, writer)
Pepper's Adventures in Time (1993) (designer)
The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery (1995) (designer, writer)
Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (1999) (designer, writer)
Inspector Parker (2003) (designer)
BeTrapped! (2004) (designer)
Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile (2007) (designer, director)
Agatha Christie: Peril at End House (2007) (designer, director)
Women's Murder Club: Death in Scarlet (2007) (designer, director)
Dr. Lynch: Grave Secrets (2008) (designer, director)
Women's Murder Club: A Darker Shade of Grey (2008) (designer, director)
Agatha Christie: Dead Man's Folly (2009) (creative director)
Women's Murder Club: Twice in a Blue Moon (2009) (designer, director)
Deadtime Stories (2009) (creator, designer, director)
Gray Matter (2010) (designer, writer)
Dying for Daylight (2011) (designer, director)
Hidden Chronicles (2012) (co-writer)
Lola and Lucy's Big Adventure (2012)
Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller (2012–13) (story consultant)
Moebius: Empire Rising (2014) (creator, designer, director, writer)
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition (2014) (creative director, designer)

Novels

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Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (Roc, 1997)
The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery (Roc, 1998)
Millennium Rising (Judgment Day) (Del Rey, 1999)
Dante's Equation (Del Rey, 2003)
Kingdom Come - An Elizabeth Harris Novel (Berkley, 2016)
In the Land of Milk and Honey - An Elizabeth Harris Novel (Berkley, 2016)

Comic books

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Gabriel Knight: The Temptation (Phoenix Online Publishing, 2014–15)

As Eli Easton

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"A Kiss in the Dark" (2013) (a novella part of Closet Capers anthology)
Before I Wake (2013)^[18]
The Lion and the Crow (2013)^[14]
Superhero (2013)
The Trouble with Tony (2013)
Puzzle Me This (2013)
"Caress" (2013) (a novella part of Steamed Up anthology)
Blame it on the Mistletoe (2013)
A Prairie Dog’s Love Song (2013)
The Enlightenment of Daniel (2013)
"Reparation" (2014) (a novella part of Stitch anthology)
Heaven Can't Wait (2014)
The Mating of Michael (2014)
"The Bird" (2014) (a novella part of Bones anthology)
Unwrapping Hank (2014)
A Midwinter Night's Dream (2015)
"Among the Dead" (2015) (a novella part of Spirit anthology)
The Stolen Suitor (2016)
A Second Harvest (2016)
Falling Down (2016)
Merry Christmas, Mr. Miggles (2016)
How to Howl at the Moon (2015)
How to Walk Like a Man (2015)
How to Wish Upon a Star (2016)
A Second Harvest (2016)
How to Save a Life (2017)
Tender Mercies (2017)
Snowblind (2017)
Five Dares (2017)
Desperately Seeking Santa (2017)
Robby Riverton: Mail Order Bride (2018)
Boy Shattered (2018)
Family Camp (2019)
How to Run With the Wolves (2019)
Angels Sing (2019)
Christmas Angel (2019)
The Redemption of River (2020)
Billy and the Beast (2020)
One Trick Pony (2021)
Schooling the Jock (co-written by Tara Lain) (2021)
Coaching the Nerd (co-written by Tara Lain) (2021)
Head to Head (co-written by Tara Lain) (2021)
Betting on his BF (co-written by Tara Lain) (2021)
The Best Gift (2021)
Hot Seat (co-written by Tara Lain) (2022)
Hot Wings (co-written by Tara Lain) (2022)
Hot Pursuit (2022)
A Changeling Christmas (2022)
12 Days of UPS (2022)
How to Love Thine Enemy (2023)
Solstice (co-written by RJ Scott) (2023)
Equinox (co-written by RJ Scott) (2023)
Planes, Trains and Hurricanes (2023)
Zenith (co-written by RJ Scott) (2024)

References

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^ Teitelbaum, Ilana (May 14, 2014). "Moebius: Empire Rising a Great Start to Jane Jensen's New Series". The Huffington Post. AOL. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
^ ^a ^b Ross, Heather Elizabeth. "Celebrating Computing Women Part IX". National Women's History Museum. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
^ Gabriel Knight 1 reviews from JaneJensen.com.
^ ^a ^b Jane Jensen developer bio at MobyGames.
^ Salter, Anastasia (April 6, 2017). Jane Jensen : Gabriel Knight, adventure games, hidden objects. New York. ISBN 9781501327452. OCLC 960905790.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Jane Jensen interview from Gamasutra.
^ Jensen, Jane (May 13, 2012). "I am Jane Jensen, creator of Gabriel Knight, Gray Matter and Pinkerton Road game studio. Ask me anything". Reddit. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
^ Internet Archive Wayback Machine
^ "INTERVIEW – In Conversation With Jane Jensen (Game Designer, Gabriel Knight Trilogy/Gray Matter)". Alternative Magazine Online. April 29, 2011. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
^ "Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller by Phoenix Online Studios". Kickstarter.com. Retrieved November 3, 2011.
^ "Pinkerton Road website". Retrieved April 12, 2012.
^ "Pinkerton Road Kickstarter campaign". Kickstarter.com. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
^ Jensen, Jane (October 22, 2014). "Out". elieaston.com. Archived from the original on December 14, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
^ ^a ^b "The Lion and the Crow by Eli Easton". Goodreads. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
^ "The Lion and the Crow Is A Light In The Darkest Hours". The Novel Approach. October 29, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
^ Ingrid Heyn (Adventure Classic Gaming) (2006). "The music and the mystery of Robert Holmes". Retrieved September 17, 2016.
^ Robert, Holmes. "Sequel". Bandcamp. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
^ "Before I Wake by Eli Easton". Goodreads. Retrieved January 16, 2015.

External links

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Pinkerton Road, Jane Jensen's studio at the Wayback Machine (archived September 29, 2019)
Official website of Eli Easton, Jane Jensen's pen name
Jane Jensen on Facebook
Jane Jensen on Twitter
Jane Jensen at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Interviews

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v t e Gabriel Knight
Games	Sins of the Fathers The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned Cat hair mustache puzzle Le Serpent Rouge puzzle
People	Jane Jensen Tim Curry Dean Erickson

Adventure games developed by Sierra Entertainment

Hi-Res Adventures

King's Quest

I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
Mask of Eternity

Space Quest

I
II
III
IV
V
6

Leisure Suit Larry

Police Quest

Quest for Glory

Gabriel Knight

Sierra Discovery Series

Mixed-Up	Mixed-Up Mother Goose Mixed-Up Fairy Tales
Dr. Brain	Castle of Dr. Brain The Island of Dr. Brain The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain The Time Warp of Dr. Brain
EcoQuest	The Search for Cetus Lost Secret of the Rainforest
Other	Pepper's Adventures in Time Slater & Charlie Go Camping Quarky & Quaysoo's Turbo Science

Other series

Disney	Donald Duck's Playground Mickey's Space Adventure Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood The Black Cauldron
Manhunter	New York 2: San Francisco
Conquests	Conquests of Camelot Conquests of the Longbow
Laura Bow	The Colonel's Bequest The Dagger of Amon Ra
Phantasmagoria	Phantasmagoria A Puzzle of Flesh
Shivers	Shivers II: Harvest of Souls

Stand-alone titles

Codename: ICEMAN
The Bizarre Adventures of Woodruff and the Schnibble
Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist
Gold Rush!
The Last Dynasty
Lost in Time
Lighthouse: The Dark Being
Playtoons
The Prophecy
Rama
Sammy Lightfoot
Stay Tooned!
Softporn Adventure
Torin's Passage
Troll's Tale
Urban Runner

Staff