If you’re looking at the title of this article and wondering who Paul Steed is, watch the video above. He’s the guy who made that memorable intro and handled the low-poly character modeling onQuake, Quake II, and Quake III.
News of his passing came to light over the weekend via the The Jace Hall Show blog, which counts Paul Steed as helping to make one of their most memorable episodes from Season 1. No details have yet been divulged as to how he died.
Steed started his career back in 1991 working for Origin Software. He worked as a sketcher, designer, project and art director, but is best known for his 3D modeling work, and of course what he created for the Quake series of games. He also authored three books on 3D modeling and animation.
A 22 year career in the industry saw him produce work and be involved in projects for EA, Activision, Sony, Atari, Interplay, Virgin, Wild Tangent, Exigent, and id Software. He also got involved with the Game Developer Conference, giving talks and serving on the Advisory Board. As well as authoring modeling books, he also sponsored modeling contests to help encourage others.
Not one to shy away from the limelight or controversy, even John Carmack admitted Paul did a number of things at id that “could be grounds for dismissal,” but also pointed out he was “damn good at his job.” One key controversy that stuck happened when a female clan of Quake gamers ran a contest asking for new character skins. The group were called the Crackwhore Clan, so Steed saw it as an opportunity to create a Crackwhore skin for Quake II.
Steed will clearly be missed by the games industry and our thoughts are with his friends and family at this difficult time.
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