Chet Faliszek, gamemaker (Half-Life 2 series, Left 4 Dead series, The Anacrusis).

My guest today is the American writer and game designer Chet Faliszek. In the nineties he and his friend Erik Wolpaw founded the website Old Man Murray . The satirical online publication poked fun at video gaming’s sacred cows and established a tone that is still prevalent across the internet today. After catching the attention of Half-Life creator Gabe Newell, the pair joined the video game developer Valve . There my guest contributed to the writing on Half Life 2 Episodes 1 and 2 , co-wrote Portal , then led development of Left 4 Dead and its sequel. In 2017 he left Valve, eventually founding his own studio Stray Bombay . The company's first game, The Anacrusis , is a brightly coloured and joke-filled cooperative first-person shooter set aboard a stranded spaceship. Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Take the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.