Farewell Stefano. We’ll See You In Heaven

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Six years on this blog, over 200 articles published and I will have never wanted to write this one … Stefano passed away yesterday, at the age of 45. For those a you that didn’t have the luck to meet him (in person or over the Net), Stefano was a Teacher and an Artist. As an old Amiga fan, he always had a dream: to publish a game inspired by those old point ‘n click adventures he loved so much.

I was introduced to Stefano at the beginning of 2014 when he was looking for a programmer able to turn his dream into reality. That dream was called “The Secret of Middle City” and many had failed him before, making promises that they never kept. I decided this was not the case anymore. And so, in a matter of days, we went well beyond the classic “employer-employee” relationship and we became good friends. Making that dream alive was not an easy task: I spent over 2.000 hours of coding, survived a couple of hardware crashes and almost lost the entire work (thank God for back-ups), but Stefano was always a true inspirator and an excellent motivator. He pushed me well beyond my limits as a programmer and, after almost a year and a half, we finally published the game.

In a world where the only motivations are often fame and greed, we did what we did out of love and passion for our work. Stefano was an Artist, and working on his art for so many months turned me into a better person. I looked at those graphics assets so closely and for such a long time that I know them by heart. Yet, every time I go back to them, they keep surprising me for their beauty. Where now everything is just digitally generated, he provided a work that was completely hand-drawn. Working with him was a privilege and an honor, also because we actually joined together developing new assets for the game that were originally not present.

Now, 5 years later, Stefano is gone. In a way, it’s like I lost a brother. For sure, the world lost a true Artist, one of the few that did things because he loved them. I don’t know how things will turn out from now on, but one thing I know for sure: I will do everything I can to keep his dream alive.

So long my Friend. I will miss you forever.

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8 thoughts on “Farewell Stefano. We’ll See You In Heaven

  1. Rest in peace Stefano. I had the pleasure of talking art with you. In my opinion you understood what the most essential things are, concerning art..yes concerning many things. This is so sad and tragic.. 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁

  2. a beautiful piece here, thanks for doing this Gianluca. I spoke with Stefano many times and he felt so “real” and honest and dunno, it was like if we knew each other really good. I will miss his short hello’s that stood in my messenger , i often said hello back but it took like 10 minutes before he continued like if he just wanted to say hello to cheer me up or whatever.

    REST IN PEACE STEFANO, I WILL MISS YOU A LOT and with that not only for the great things but also for those tiny ones too.

  3. Never had the privilege of speaking to him, all I can say is its a loss for any one to part at only 45, ffs I’m 47 this year. Rip. Hope your doing what you love in another place.

  4. Rest in pease. 彼の眠りが安らかであらんことを。
    Too young to…
    I felt his passion as an artist because he was stuck to hand-drawing.
    And I felt that he was a man full of dreams, passions and talents.

    I’m so sorry for your loss.
    “If you have any regrets, it is best to save them if you don’t forget him.”
    It is the word that I have always presented to the person who lost an important person.

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