Chet Faliszek

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Chet Faliszek
Chet Faliszek in 2012
Born1965 (age 58–59)
United States
NationalityAmerican
OccupationVideo game writer
Employer(s)Stray Bombay Company, Vertigo Games

Chet Faliszek (/ˈfɑːlɪsɛk/; born 1965) is an American video game writer who has worked for companies like Valve and Bossa Studios, having been involved in the story writing for series such as Half-Life, Portal, and Left 4 Dead.

Career[edit]

Faliszek first gained recognition as the co-creator of the satirical Old Man Murray website along with Erik Wolpaw around 1997, and which ran until 2002.[1]

Valve[edit]

Faliszek's and Wolpaw's writings led to them being hired by Valve circa 2005. Along with Wolpaw and Marc Laidlaw, Faliszek helped to create the storylines for the Half-Life and Portal series, along with having personally written the story for Left 4 Dead.[2][3] He was also involved with Valve's work in virtual reality (VR) through the HTC Vive.[4] In May 2017, Faliszek announced that after twelve years with Valve, he had left the company earlier in the year to work on unannounced projects.[4][5]

Bossa and Vertigo[edit]

By September 2017, Faliszek had joined London-based Bossa Studios, and led Bossa's new Seattle-based studio. He was working on an unannounced cooperative game that is "trying to do something new in the narrative space using [artificial intelligence]".[6][7] In May 2018, Faliszek announced he had also joined the board of advisers for Vertigo Games, and will help support a virtual reality title they are currently developing.[8]

After about a year at Bossa, Faliszek and Bossa agreed that what Faliszek had planned was not working out, in part due to his envisioned game not being the type of product Bossa had worked on before, and Faliszek left the company early in 2019. By March 2019, he founded a new studio, Stray Bombay Company, along with Riot Games' Kimberly Voll, in essence to continue the development of the cooperative title. Faliszek had previously met Voll around 2012 while Valve was exploring the VR space, and had helped Voll get Radial Games Fantastic Contraption as a SteamVR launch title. Faliszek found Voll's focus on player interaction a key part of his idea for the cooperative game. Stray Bombay was backed financially by both Riot and Upfront Ventures.[9][10] The company's first game is The Anacrusis, which was released via early access in January 2022, and fully launched December 5th, 2023.[11][12]

Starting around 2023, Faliszek began to post TikToks and YouTube videos about his time at Valve, experiences in the games industry, and his views on game design.[13]

Works[edit]

Year Title Credits
2006 Half-Life 2: Episode One Writer
2007 Portal Writer
2007 Half-Life 2: Episode Two Writer
2007 Team Fortress 2 Writer
2008 Left 4 Dead Writer
2009 Left 4 Dead 2 Writer
2011 Portal 2 Writer
2012 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Writer

References[edit]

  1. ^ Ross Miller (August 28, 2006). "Old Man Murray gives Portal its voice". Joystiq. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
  2. ^ Shawn Sines (August 3, 2007). "Gaming Today Q&A: Chet Faliszek of Left 4 Dead". GameFront. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
  3. ^ Martin, Joe (April 28, 2008). "Left4Dead Interview: Chet Faliszek". bit-tech. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
  4. ^ a b Grubb, Jeff (May 2, 2017). "Half-Life, Portal co-writer Chet Faliszek left Valve a month ago". Venture Beat. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  5. ^ Pearson, Dan (May 2, 2017). "Chet Faliszek leaves Valve". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  6. ^ Batchelor, James (September 18, 2017). "Bossa hires Half-Life, Portal writer Chet Faliszek". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  7. ^ Byrne, Katherine (September 19, 2017). "Bossa Studios to open new Seattle studio headed by Valve's Chet Faliszek". MCV. Retrieved September 19, 2017.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ Clayton, Natalie (May 15, 2018). "Valve veteran Chet Faliszek joins Vertigo Games". PC Games Insider. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  9. ^ Mackovech, Sam (March 18, 2019). "Former Valve designer, writer dishes on his new "co-op" game studio". Ars Technica. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
  10. ^ Calvin, Alex (March 18, 2019). "Behind the scenes on Valve and Riot vets Chet Faliszek and Kimberly Voll's new co-op centric studio Stray Bombay". PCGamesInsider.biz. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
  11. ^ S. Good, Owen (June 10, 2021). "The Anacrusis looks like Left 4 Dead aboard a groovy '70s spaceship". Polygon. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  12. ^ "Home - The Anacrusis". www.theanacrusis.com. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  13. ^ "Chet Faliszek - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 5, 2024.

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Chet Faliszek.
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