Gaming IndustryGame designer Laralyn McWilliams, known for army training-sim-turned-game Full Spectrum Warrior and innovative F2P MMO Free Realms, has diedWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Gaming IndustryGame designer Laralyn McWilliams, known for army training-sim-turned-game Full Spectrum Warrior and innovative F2P MMO Free Realms, has diedWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Official GDC (Flickr))
Game designer Laralyn McWilliams, known for her work as lead designer ofFull Spectrum Warriorand creative director on the Sony Online Entertainment MMOFree Realms, has died at the age of 58.
McWilliams' career began in the mid ’90s as a beta tester on games including Daggerfall, Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, and Pirates! She served as lead designer on the real-time tactics game Full Spectrum Warrior, and then as game designer on Over the Hedge and creative director of Free Realms. She also has credits on Disney’s Stitch: Experiment 626, Gears of War 4, Archangel, and The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners.
Numerous developers paid tribute to McWilliams on Twitter.
“Laralyn McWilliams was a true OG of the game industry and a close friend,” Romero Games studio directorBrenda Romerowrote. “It took me forever to write this through tears, to figure out what I wanted to say. I remember crying at one point during one of her battles with cancer, thinking, ‘You have to write what you know down! Write a book. It’s going to be lost.’
“Yet, in the window of time between her passing and this post, I’ve seen dozens and dozens of people talk about what she shared with them, what they learned, and so I suppose she left her mark on people, on games, on designs, and I think she’d like that a lot more than pages in a book that can be closed. Rest in peace, Laralyn. Thank you for all you’ve done, and thanks for being my friend.”
“She was an icon, a fighter, and I got the chance to tell her once how much she meant to me, and that alone was a privilege,” Marathon executive producerCarrie Gouskoswrote. “I have such profound heartache for her loved ones.”
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Laralyn McWilliams was a fiercely talented game developer who dedicated so much time to sharing her knowledge with others. She was kind and genuine and we will miss her. Rest easy. Spend some time listening to Laralyn today. https://t.co/UK6ocHKnXnFebruary 6, 2024
Laralyn McWilliams was a fiercely talented game developer who dedicated so much time to sharing her knowledge with others. She was kind and genuine and we will miss her. Rest easy. Spend some time listening to Laralyn today. https://t.co/UK6ocHKnXnFebruary 6, 2024
We’re sad to hear of the recent passing of Laralyn McWilliams, an accomplished game developer and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 Game Developers Choice Awards. Her GDC talks were always powerful, inspirational, and life-changing. https://t.co/IHOw1ClqEAFebruary 6, 2024
We’re sad to hear of the recent passing of Laralyn McWilliams, an accomplished game developer and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 Game Developers Choice Awards. Her GDC talks were always powerful, inspirational, and life-changing. https://t.co/IHOw1ClqEAFebruary 6, 2024
McWilliams had faced a number of serious health challenges in her life, which she was open about on social media: In December 2023 she revealed onBlueskythat she was undergoing open heart surgery due to issues arising from radiation treatment for head and neck cancer in 2012 and lung cancer in 2015.
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