As he had posted on Facebook, Stewart Gilray was hospitalized shortly before the end of the year holidays after being infected with Covid-19. He posted his very last message on the morning of December 25 from his hospital room to wish his contacts a Merry Christmas, but his condition worsened a few days later, as relayed by Shahid Kamal Ahmad who was giving news from his friend on Twitter. “There’s no one in our industry anymore that I can laugh with like you and I laughed together, Stew“, laments the former specialist in independent games at PlayStation today. Other tributes from the industry have been collected by the Games Industry site.
Stewart Gilray entered the industry in the late 1980s during the Atari ST and Commodore days, first working as a freelance programmer for names like Psygnosis, Bullfrog, Argonaut Software or Core Design. After stints at Grolier Interactive, Revolution Software, Runecraft and Oddworld Inhabitants, he founded Just Add Water in 2006. The studio, which celebrated its 15th anniversary last October, took part in the development of titles such as Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD, Oddworld : Munch’s Oddysee HD, Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty, Volume, Micro Machines World Series, Sniper Elite VR or Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality.
His resume as a programmer and producer includes titles like Rubicon on Amiga, Soldier of Fortune on Dreamcast and Cold Blood on PlayStation and PC. As he confided in a recent interview, this father dreamed of making a 3D platform game “as respected as Ratchet & Clank.“