On February 16, 2025, the Bulgarian artist Viktor Antonov died. It is thanks to him city-17th of Half-Life 2 looks like the cities of Russia and Eastern Europe. But this is far from the only work of the designer. Our article is devoted to his contribution to the game industry.
The first steps. Redneck Rampage and Kingpin: Life of Crime
Victor Antonov is a resident of Bulgaria. He was born in 1972, but already in 1987 he left for France and then in the US. There he obtained education and scientific degree in the field of industrial design.
The man entered the game industry in 1996 when he was 24 years old. His first workplace was the Xatrix Entertainment Studio. Antonov managed to work on the early projects of the company. Among them Redneck Rampage, a parody shooter about the landing of alien beings. The most important difference with other games on the Build Engine engine is toilet humor and flat jokes. At the same time, the game has a high -quality game match for its time. During the shooting of the AK-47, for example, I had to take the return into account.
Pretend Duke Nukem 3D, Redneck Rampage can brag at different levels. The players are waiting for the American outback with carriage tower and rural toilets, storage spaces with trucks and pickups, meat processing plants, huge dams and terrible mansions. Moreover, every location is well worked out and it looks reliable, especially for 1997. In many ways this is the merit of artists, including Victor.
You can also notice a cruel shooter about the world of crime Kingpin: Life of Crime, which is known in Russia as “Brothers: Crime Life”. The original name can cause associations with the villain Marvel, but this game has no connection with comics. Its action unfolds in an unusual world that combines modern technologies and the AR deco of the 1930s, which you could see in the first bioshock. We owe Antonov for this unique artistic style.
Later the Xatrix Entertainment Studio Gray Matter Interactive is renamed. In 2001 her most famous game will be released – Return to Castle Wolfenstein. But the hero of our article has nothing to do with it. By that time he got a job in Valve, who worked in the half -quality sequel.
Work in valve. Retrophuturistic style half -life 2
There is a big article on our site, which is devoted to the 20th birthday Halflife 2. Everything related to the project is dismantled there. Here we want to concentrate on the artistic design of the game, for which Viktor Antonov was responsible.
Half-Life 2 differed from the first part. Instead of huge laboratories and parallel peace Xen, well -known panel houses and sea coast with sandy beaches waited for us. On the street and empty roads there were bodies of cars produced in the USSR, Czechoslovakia and the GDR. After the release, the developers confirmed that the action of the main story unfolds in Eastern Europe. For US players, who were the most important target group of the second half -life, such decorations look exotic.
Moreover, thousands of gray and inconspicuous “khroosjsjov”, which are similar to each other, are closely linked to totalitarianism in the heads of many people. This topic is impregnated with the plot of the game. In addition, such decorations are combined with alien technologies, from stray houses and Ssturmovik aircraft to a huge citadel in the city center. It turns out to be a kind of retrofuturism, and this effect has only been intensified in recent years. Nowadays, the pot -built monitors seem to be a legacy of the past, and at the start of the zero they met everywhere.
Antonova should not only be thanked for the locations of Half-Life 2, but also for the appearance of the Alliance technology. In addition to the main game, he worked at an extra level Lost Coast, who should meet in the head of the highway 17, but eventually it was cut away.
He also acted as an artist Counter-Strike: Source. But there was the most important task of the developers to transfer classic maps of version 1.6 to a new engine. And there was nothing excellent in the design of local locations.
Do you like retrofuturism in games?
The own company De Bouwstudios. Work on dishonored
In 2005, Victor Valve left and returned to Paris and founded the Bouwstudios in 2006. For example, if many eminent developers have drawn up John Romero and Ken Levine their own studios to make games, Antonov arranged his company to offer design and advisory services. And we are not only talking about games, but also about films. One of his works is the Renaissance cartoon of 2006, which combined Noir and Cyberkank. Animation was made with the help of Motion Capture Technology and Daniel Craig played the leading role.
From the gaming companies, Victor cooled it firmly with Arkane Studios. He participated in the creation Dark Messiah of Power and Magic and in the PRODUCTS PRODUCT Crossing, and also advised developers Prey (2017). But in the case of the first Dishonored The role is much higher – Antonov was busy with location design. The game is wrongly attributed to Steampunk, but this is a delusion, because the most important energy source in this universe is not steam, but whales. It was really actively used until the second half of the 19th century. The authors of the game suggested what the world of the future would look like, if Snvan had not been replaced by oil, how this actually happened.
The appearance of the city of Danwall is similar to Victorian England with a characteristic architecture and factories from the time of the industrial revolution. These characteristic characteristics of the 1800s are combined with the Edwardian style and AR-Deco, which were widespread in the 20th century. And metal structures look strange. Note that we are talking about the deliberate combination of different elements that create a unique attitude. If you draw parallels between Half-Life 2 and Dishonored, you will find many similar functions. A striking example is the Danuall tower, which looks like an alliance citadel from City-17.
The second part of Dishonored was created without the direct participation of Antonov – he limited himself to the role of a consultant. It was important for the developers to maintain the visual style of the first part, so that the continuation was observed by a logical continuation of the original 2012.
In addition to Arkane, Victor also collaborated with other divisions of the publisher of Zenimax Media. For example, he advised the authors Doom (2016), Wolfenstein: The New Order And Fallout 4, and also acted as a visual designer of the card game The Elder Scrolls: Legends-Heroes of Skyrim and the abolished conditional free shooter Battleecry.
In recent years of life and death
In 2022, Antonov, together with Fuad Kuliev), Dmitro Kostukevich and Boris Nikolaev founded the Studio Eschatology Entertainment. It is known that she is working on a hardcore snot for PC and consoles with a bet on plot mode.
The fact that Victor was gone, we learned from Mark Laidlaw. It was he who wrote the script of all the games of the series Half-life, except add-ons Opposite power and Blue shift for the first part. Apparently the writer maintained contact with Antonov, even after his departure from the valve. The cause of death is currently unknown. The artist was 53 years old.
Do you remember the style of Victor Antonov? Or did you not go through the games that he put his hand on? Share opinions in the responses!
The best game in the development of what Viktor Antonov participated in?
Source: VG Times
Christina Moncayo is a contributing writer for “Social Bites”. Her focus is on the gaming industry and she provides in-depth coverage of the latest news and trends in the world of gaming.