David Szymanski (/sʌˈmæn.skiː/ suh-MAN-skee; Polish pronunciation: [ʂɨˈmaɲ.ski]) is an American[‡ 1] video game developer. Szymanski developed Dusk and Iron Lung.

Video of a "visual protoype" Szymanski was working on before he started to develop Dusk[‡ 2]

On December 10, 2018, Szymanski released Dusk,[‡ 3][1] a retro-style first-person shooter game.[2] For Dusk, Szymanski has been credited by Super Jump with "single-handedly revitalizing the boomer-shooter genre".[3] He then released Iron Lung on March 10, 2022, a submarine simulation horror game in which players navigate an ocean of blood on a moon.[‡ 4][4] Sales increased after the Titan submersible implosion, which disconcerted Szymanski.[‡ 5][5] He faced criticism online for increasing the price of the game by two dollars, to which he told those complaining to "go pirate it or something".[6] Sales of the game dropped after the price adjustment.[6] On April 21, 2023 Mark Fischbach announced that he would be directing the film Iron Lung[‡ 6][‡ 7][7] and Szymanski said that he would have a cameo in the film on Twitter.[‡ 8][8]

Szymanski released Squirrel Stapler In September 2023,[9] followed by The Pony Factory in 2024. Both had originally been released as part of the Dread X Collection[9][10] and take place in the same world, while the latter was inspired by Jacqueline Ess: Her Will And Testament, a short story by Clive Barker.[11] In January 2025, he released Butcher's Creek, a first-person horror game about a man going to the titular Butcher's Creek on a quest to collect snuff films on VHS.[12][13]

References

  1. ^ Litchfield, Ted (October 1, 2023). "Just five years after launch, FPS hit Dusk's free 'HD' remaster is going to touch up 'every texture, every model, every asset'". PCGamer. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  2. ^ Lahti, Evan (September 15, 2016). "Brutal new FPS mixes Hexen, Doom, and Quake". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 23, 2025.
  3. ^ Octavio, Artemis (July 16, 2024). "Celebrating David Szymanski's Small Wonders". SUPERJUMP. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  4. ^ Price, Renata (May 17, 2022). "'Iron Lung' Is a Terrifying Horror Game About Your Inevitable Demise". Vice News. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  5. ^ Encinas, Amaris (June 22, 2023). "Horror-themed submarine video game, Iron Lung, saw sales spike amid Titan search, developer says". USA Today. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Yin-Poole, Wesley (December 18, 2023). "Iron Lung Dev Says 'Go Pirate It or Something' in Response to Price Rise Backlash". IGN. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  7. ^ Grobar, Matt (April 21, 2023). "Markiplier To Star In & Direct Horror Film 'Iron Lung' From His Own Script; Self-Financed Feature Adapts David Szymanski Video Game". Deadline. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  8. ^ Brunner, Raven (April 21, 2023). "'Iron Lung': YouTuber Markiplier Releases Scary Trailer For Video Game Adaptation". Decider. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  9. ^ a b Shuman, Sean (September 18, 2023). "'Squirrel Stapler' Game Review: Absurd Horror Meets Hunting Simulator". HorrorGeekLife. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  10. ^ Shuman, Sean (July 16, 2024). "'The Pony Factory' Game Review: An Equine Menace". HorrorGeekLife. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  11. ^ Couture, Joel (February 27, 2024). "Horsing around with horror in The Pony Factory". www.gamedeveloper.com. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  12. ^ Vatankhah, Matt (January 15, 2025). "Finally, a Game Lets Me Beat Up Murderous Weirdos With My Stinky Feet". VICE. Retrieved February 1, 2025.
  13. ^ Litchfield, Ted (October 19, 2024). "The creator of Dusk and Iron Lung is making a gruesome but surprisingly funny horror game about beating killer cultists with lead pipes and 2x4s". PC Gamer. Retrieved February 1, 2025.

Primary sources

In the text these references are preceded by a double dagger (‡):

  1. ^ @DUSKdev (June 13, 2019). "Yeah I'm half Polish but from the US" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ Szymanski, David (December 7, 2018). "Pre-Dusk 'Betrayer'-style prototype". YouTube. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  3. ^ Szymanski, David. "DUSK". Steam. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  4. ^ Szymanski, David. "Iron Lung". Steam. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  5. ^ @DUSKdev (June 21, 2023). "This feels so wrong" (Tweet). Retrieved July 22, 2024 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ Fischbach, Mark (April 21, 2023). "Iron Lung | Official Teaser Trailer". YouTube. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  7. ^ Szymanski, David (April 21, 2023). "There's going to be an Iron Lung movie!". Steam. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  8. ^ @DUSKdev (April 21, 2023). "So yes, tl;dr the reason I've been so busy lately is because I've been heavily involved with production of the Iron Lung movie, from assisting with the script and pre-production to now being on set for the shoot and even having a small cameo in the film!" (Tweet). Retrieved July 21, 2024 – via Twitter.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Szymanski
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