Portal Writer And Riot Games Senior Designer Launches Stray Bombay Company Together

Chet Faliszek, the writer of Portal and Left 4 Dead, is now working together with Riot Games senior technical designer Kimberly Voll in launching a new game studio. Furthermore, the new company named Stray Bombay Company will be a game studio that focuses solely on “co-op” games.

Gamers should be rather familiar with Chet Faliszek’s previous works on Left 4 Dead 1 & 2 as well as Portal 2. As for Kimberly Voll, she’s worked on Fantastic Contraption and she’s an expert in AI as well as human-centric design.

So, what leads to the startup of the company? It was just a simple email that Chet Faliszek received back then which changes on how he looks at making games.

Here’s a short overview of what he said:

I love co-op games and have had the chance to work on some amazing ones (Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, Portal 2). After the release of Left 4 Dead (L4D), I received an email that changed forever how I think about making games. It was from a soldier stationed in Iraq who said L4D had saved his marriage. It was simple—he and his wife missed each other and talking on the phone just made them realize this more and feel even more miserable. But jumping into a game of L4D let them forget that and just exist in the moment. They could spend time in each other’s company as if they were sitting next to each other on the couch at home.

Their goal is to create games that makes people feel and live in the moment , games that are completely random and changes each time it’s replayed over and over again and games that make you feel like a real team player.

For now, the company seems to be laying low as they are building up the foundation for Stray Bombay. We can all expect great things coming from them! What are your thoughts? For more information, you may head over to their official website.

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