Legendary video game artist, Paul Steed, has died. His unexpected death was first announced on Saturday by a spokesperson for the gaming program, The Jace Hall Show. Steed had been close friends with the hosts of the show and was also a very popular guest; famous for his memorable interviews.

Steed is well remembered for his designs in ground breaking games, including Quake 1, Quake 2 and Origin’s Wing Commander. Steed first worked in the gaming industry as an illustrator for Wing Commander, after he left the Air Force in 1991. He was found of recalling that he never even used a computer mouse until he was 27 years old, which is quite remarkable for a man who went on to create some of the iconic images of the nascent video game industry.

Steed worked for many of the biggest names in gaming, including Origin, Atari and Electronic Arts, Microsoft on the Xbox 360, and on Quake 1 and 2 at id Software. During the last few years, Paul was the executive creative director of Exigent, a 3D art company he founded. He also authored several books on 3D modeling and fellow artist, Sam Yeates, based his design for Commander Hunter, from Wing Commander, on his friend, Paul Steed.

Paul Steed is also recalled as the man who was fired over id founder, John Carmack’s protests, during the Doom 3 disputes at the company. Possibly contributing to Steed’s dismissal was his notorious ‘Crackwhore’ skin for Quake 2. The player skin was meant to be a tribute to a Quake 2 clan of the same name, but ended up offending some people over the name and the image.

Jace Hall paid tribute to Steed, calling him “a close friend” and “simply one of the first cutting edge low-poly 3D modelers to ever exist in the industry.” Famed game designer, Chris Roberts, the creator of Wing Commander, gave Paul the utmost praise, saying, “Because of Paul’s work and talent we decided to junk the Wing Commander sprite rendering and everything went 3D, including the cockpits – many years before anyone else had done any of that in a game. That’s a testimony to Paul’s talent and vision in our industry.”

At present, the cause of his death  is unknown. Paul Steed is survived by his wife and children. May God welcome you home, Paul Steed, and thank you for for all the years of great gaming. Now get ready to play the highest level.

Legendary Video Game Artist Paul Steed Dies is a post from: The Inquisitr