Erik Wolpaw is an American video game writer. He and

Chet Faliszek Chet Faliszek (; 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 Faliszek ...

wrote the pioneering video game website

Old Man Murray Old Man Murray (OMM) is a UGO Networks computer game commentary and reviews site, known for its highly irreverent and satiric tone. Founded in 1997, it was written and edited by Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw. Old Man Murray was critical of games ...

. He subsequently worked for game developers

Double Fine Productions Double Fine Productions, Inc. is an American first-party video game developer of Xbox Game Studios based in San Francisco, California. Founded in July 2000 by Tim Schafer shortly after his departure from LucasArts, Double Fine's first two g ...

and

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...

, and is known for his work on video games including ''

Half-Life 2 ''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Valve Corporation, Valve. It was published by Valve through its distribution service Steam (service), Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life (video game), Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half- ...

'', ''

Psychonauts ''Psychonauts'' is a 2005 platform game, platform video game developed by Double Fine Productions. The game was initially published by Majesco Entertainment and THQ for Microsoft Windows, Xbox (console), Xbox and PlayStation 2. In 2011, Double ...

'', ''

Portal Portal often refers to: *Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel Portal may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...

'', ''

Portal 2 ''Portal 2'' is a 2011 puzzle-platform video game developed by Valve for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The digital PC version is distributed online by Valve's Steam service, while all retail editions were distributed b ...

'' and '' Half-Life: Alyx''.

Career

As a high-school student Wolpaw wrote two

type-in program A type-in program or type-in listing was computer source code printed in a home computer magazine or book. It was meant to be entered via the keyboard by the reader and then saved to cassette tape or floppy disk. The result was a usable game, ...

games for the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

that ''

Antic Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller (ANTIC) is an LSI ASIC dedicated to generating 2D computer graphics to be shown on a television screen or computer display. Under the direction of Jay Miner, the chip was designed in 1977-1978 by ...

'' published in 1983 and 1984. From 1997 to 2002, Wolpaw and

wrote the video game-oriented website

. The site was highly influential in video game writing and game journalism. He also wrote for

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

. He subsequently worked at

as a writer for ''

''. In 2006, he won the Game Developers Choice Award for Best Writing for his story and dialogue contributions to ''Psychonauts''. In 2004, Wolpaw joined

, where he and Faliszek wrote for games such as '' Half-Life 2: Episode One'', '' Half-Life 2: Episode Two'', ''

'' and ''

''. He left Valve in February 2017 to write for ''

Psychonauts 2 ''Psychonauts 2'' is a platform game developed by Double Fine and published by Xbox Game Studios. The game was announced at The Game Awards 2015 ceremony, and released on August 25, 2021 for PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, ...

'', though he ended up not working on it. In January 2019, he confirmed that he had returned to Valve as a part-time contractor on '' Artifact'' and '' Half-Life: Alyx''.

Personal life

In 2004, Wolpaw was diagnosed with

ulcerative colitis Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a long-term condition that results in inflammation and ulcers of the colon and rectum. The primary symptoms of active disease are abdominal pain and diarrhea mixed with blood (hematochezia). Weight loss, fever, and ...

. Expecting his condition to require a departure from the company, he spoke with managing director

Gabe Newell Gabe Logan Newell (born November 3, 1962), nicknamed Gaben, is an American businessman and the president of the video game company Valve. Newell was born in Colorado and grew up in Davis, California. He attended Harvard University in the early ...

, who surprised him by offering an extended leave with pay. "Your job is to get better," Newell said. "That is your job description at Valve. So go home to your wife and come back when you are better."Keighley, Geoff
''The Final Hours of ''Portal 2''.''
e-book. 2011.

Works

References

External links

Erik Wolpaw on Mobygames

Erik Wolpaw on official Team Fortress wiki
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolpaw, Erik Living people American people with disabilities Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Valve Corporation people Video game writers Double Fine people

Career

Personal life

Works

See also

References

External links