Apps

The Final Hours series of apps from Geoff Keighley

“Pushing the limits of storytelling...a model for publishing a la carte journalism.”

— Fast Company

THE FINAL HOURS: THE ULTIMATE BEHIND THE SCENES EXPERIENCE

Starting in 1997, Geoff Keighley began chronicling the creative process behind some of the game industry's seminal games with "The Final Hours" series. Told from a fly-on-the-wall perspective, Keighley unearths untold stories about the twists and turns of software development by highlighting the talented designers, artists, programmers and musicians who are pushing the medium forward. In 2011 he re-invented the series as a digital storybook on iPad. Now each Final Hours story is presented as an interactive experience with photography and other elements that bring the development process to life.

A Return to Valve

Valve returns to Half-Life and Geoff chronicles the story in a new interactive Steam app. Get it on Steam

PORTAL 2

Go deep within the top-secret offices of Valve, creators of Half-Life, for an unvarnished look at the creative process behind this game. From the hush-hush Portal prequel that was shelved to the last minute scramble to complete the game's story, The Final Hours of Portal 2 is a gripping and dramatic story. More....

iPad | Steam

MASS EFFECT 3

How do you wrap-up one of the most celebrated videogame trilogies? Geoff takes you inside BioWare in Edmonton as director Casey Hudson and team struggle to wrap up the tale of Commander Shepard. More...

iPad | Origin

TITANFALL

When starting from nothing isn't hard enough, the creators of Call of Duty must overcome a billion dollar lawsuit and a toxic mix of office politics and creative struggles the build the next great videogame franchise. More...

iPad | Steam | Origin

TOMB RAIDER

Lara Croft was once the biggest video game character in the world. But after a string of disappointing games, the team at Crystal Dynamics is tasked with reinventing and rebooting an icon.

iPad | Steam

THE FINAL HOURS ON GAMESPOT

Back in 1998, while I was still in college, I started writing by "Behind the Games" series at GameSpot.com, which led to The Final Hours. Over a seven year period I wrote many Final Hours stories as well as other long-form pieces about significant game companies like Blizzard, id Software, Trilobyte, and Ion Storm. These stories are still online via WayBackMachine, although not all the images work:

The Final Hours of Metal Gear Solid 2

The Final Hours of Half-Life

The Final Hours of Half-Life 2

The Final Hours of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Haunted Glory: The Rise and Fall of Trilobyte

Blinded by Reality: The Making of Unreal

The Final Hours of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun

The Final Hours of Quake 3: Arena at id

The Endless Hours of The Sims Online

Knee Deep in a Dream: The Story of Daikatana

Simply Divine: The Story of Maxis

Eye of the Storm: Behind Closed Doors at Blizzard