Author Topic: In Memory of Shane "ProgZmax" Stevens (Read 4185 times)

MiteWiseacreLives! · « **on:** 28 Sep 2020, 05:51 »

Hey guys, I can’t for the life of me remember his AGS handle, but years ago when I first came around here he was pretty active here. Wykstrom has been over on Twitch for a while doing art and gaming things, no AGS anymore. Anyway he passed away last week to cancer, pretty sad. Thought someone should say something over here, I kinda suck because I can’t remember the games he made.. maybe some of you good folks remember

(Edited by moderator to use the name he was known by here.)

Mandle · « **Reply #1 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 09:03 »

I thought his name was just Wyk or at least remembering someone with that name or similar.

heltenjon · « **Reply #2 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 09:37 »

It seems his handle here was Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens

Snarky · « **Reply #3 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 10:01 »

I'm very sorry to hear that. I met Shane at Mittens 2012—I remember we argued about the second amendment, but he also DMed an afternoon of a role-playing game for us, and we hung out around the pool, drinking and talking.

ProgZmax was an active and valued member of the forums for many years, often offering helpful art advice in the Critics Lounge. And he was also a very talented pixel artist who contributed graphics for some of the best AGS games made. Limey Lizard is a personal favorite for me.

RIP, Shane.

arj0n · « **Reply #4 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 11:06 »

Sorry to hear this.
Limey Lizard was indeed awesome.
RIP, ProgZmax...

Ali · « **Reply #5 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 11:23 »

That's a huge shock, I had no idea he was ill.

Snarky · « **Reply #6 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 11:53 »

There's a GoFundMe for his family (who apparently struggled with the medical bills for his care) here, which also gives more details about his illness:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/wykstrom-cancer-care-fund

Stupot · « **Reply #7 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 12:08 »

Oh damn. That is shitty news.

His game Mind’s Eye was one of the first AGS games I ever played, possibly before I even joined the forum.

Rest In Peace, Progz.

Dualnames · « **Reply #8 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 12:42 »

I had no idea. Progz's way of coloring things was/is just magnificent, these are quite sad news

I spent a lot of time around Progz, during the stickam days.

Dave Gilbert · « **Reply #9 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 13:01 »

This is terrible news. I worked pretty closely with Shane during my freeware days and the early years of Wadjet Eye. We’d sadly lost touch over the last 5 years and we haven’t spoken much. Now we never will. RIP Progzmax. And eff cancer.

DBoyWheeler · « **Reply #10 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 13:30 »

Damn. So many great people dropping these days, be it cancer, COVID, or worse things.

He'll be missed indeed.

Babar · « **Reply #11 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 13:45 »

Oh dear...I had no idea. I had been missing him for a while here on AGS. He was always quite active on #AGS, and then also on Stickam/tokbox/whatever we used to group voicechat on. So much of my art was informed by him, as was so much of my AGS experience.

Slasher · « **Reply #12 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 13:50 »

RIP, ProgZmax, brother......

fred · « **Reply #13 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 14:20 »

Deeply saddened to hear this. ProgZmax was such a kind and helpful person here on the forums, and a very skilled pixel artist.

Vince Twelve · « **Reply #14 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 14:29 »

This is terrible news. Shane was the artist responsible for the expressive characters of Resonance. He always had good ideas to turn a scene from ten to eleven and was a great sounding board during the creation of that game. Thanks for pointing this out Mite. (And thanks again to Tom for bringing it to my attention. And to Snarky for pointing me towards the GoFundMe.)

Miez · « **Reply #15 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 15:44 »

I met Shane at Mittens 2012 as well - we had some long talks about animation and game design. He was a great animator and an awesome pixel character artist. I didn't know him very well, but I'm positive he will be missed. And as Dave already so perfectly summed up: eff cancer

Nikolas · « **Reply #16 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 15:45 »

Jesus!

((

RIP Progzy!

((

SinSin · « **Reply #17 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 15:55 »

RIP Progzmax. I Spoke to him a few times when we first started the cup rating system wayy back in 07 alway aspired to be as good a pixel artist as him.

F cancer in the A

Grundislav · « **Reply #18 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 16:23 »

This is incredibly sad news.

I met Progz at Mittens 2012, and he was the voice of the old prospector in Ben Jordan 2. He was always very passionate about his work; we've lost a talented guy.

RIP Shane

IndieBoy · « **Reply #19 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 16:33 »

What sad news.

He was really supportive of me back in my pixel art days and was a very talented man that knew what he liked. I do have fond memories of watching most of the development of Limmy Lizard on Stickam many years ago and how he wanted to make basically an adventure game that was like an episode of The Smurfs.

It is a real shame to hear of his passing.

RIP

bicilotti · « **Reply #20 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 17:05 »

I recall the happy, careless times when a group of us chatted on Stickam.
ProgZMax with strong opinions, always willing to debate, always helpful with art tips on colouring and animations.
He even made a portrait of me in C64 colours, it was such a cosy present.

Creamy · « **Reply #21 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 21:02 »

How sad.
He was too young to go.

His characters had a very appealing and unique style.

DBoyWheeler · « **Reply #22 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 22:10 »

Maybe for one of the upcoming Background Blitz or Sprite Jam competitions, in memory of ProgZmax, it should be a theme based on one of the things he liked in life.

Sinitrena · « **Reply #23 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 22:21 »

Rest in Peace, Shane. What sad news.

MiteWiseacreLives! · « **Reply #24 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 23:08 »

Shane “ProgZmax” was a pretty neat guy, thanks for helping me get the record straight on his legacy guys. Sad for sure.

LimpingFish · « **Reply #25 on:** 28 Sep 2020, 23:39 »

What shitty news.

He was 44. I'm 44. Fuck cancer.

I used to talk with Shane on IRC a lot, back in the day, mostly about our mutual interest in horror movies. We also spent a lot of time working (as part of the inaugural AGS Ratings Panel) on the games database, arguing over the preferred system to rate games, and plowing through almost every AGS game in existence in an attempt to pull it all together. And, as others have said, he was an incredibly talented pixel pusher and game developer. I urge everybody to take the time to play at least one of his games.

I know Snarky already posted it above, but it can't hurt to keep reminding people:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/wykstrom-cancer-care-fund

Now more than ever it's important to try to help (if we can) in situations like this, and it was heartening to recognize some names on the list of donors.

Rest in peace, ProgZ.

Mandle · « **Reply #26 on:** 29 Sep 2020, 00:13 »

It seems he was before my time here at AGS, but I have played some of his games, and I can sense the person and talent he was here through the words of others.

Sad news.

Eric · « **Reply #27 on:** 29 Sep 2020, 02:36 »

RIP to a supportive person and an incredible artist. Was so sorry to hear this news.

Retro Wolf · « **Reply #28 on:** 29 Sep 2020, 08:15 »

Don't recall interacting with the guy much but he was clearly a respected and talented individual. RIP

Hobo · « **Reply #29 on:** 29 Sep 2020, 11:30 »

Very sad to hear. His posts in Critics' Lounge were quite helpful to read when I was starting out with pixel art. Also, simply by looking and studying some of his sprites and animations, I learned some very useful tricks, especially regarding color use and shading. I hope that his art will keep on teaching and inspiring people in the future as well.

Calin Leafshade · « **Reply #30 on:** 29 Sep 2020, 13:44 »

That's very sad.

While he was sometimes an abrasive personality, he was always passionate and sincere which are rare qualities.
His talent was also undeniable. The world is worse off.

Cancer is a cruel thing.

BOYD1981 · « **Reply #31 on:** 29 Sep 2020, 15:30 »

I hadn't spoken to him in 4 years but I had been thinking about him recently and wanted to get back in touch. This news has hit hard, I used to love speaking with him and getting sneak peaks at the things he was working on. I'll always remember working with him on Limey Lizard and I'll always be immensely grateful to him for the opportunity.
I'm sad I'll never get a chance to speak to him again and hear him fall asleep mid-conversation only to immediately pick up where he left off.
RIP

Haddas · « **Reply #32 on:** 29 Sep 2020, 16:09 »

Rest in peace. We didn't interact for years but I remember him as an integral part of the community. I spent my teens here and he was always here too

Ponch · « **Reply #33 on:** 30 Sep 2020, 00:23 »

RIP ProgZ. He and I used to talk politics and stuff. He was very supportive of my early game efforts in his own positive yet somehow grumpy way. He made some great games and the forums weren't quite the same since he wandered off to the non-AGS parts of the web. He'll be missed.

sergiocornaga · « **Reply #34 on:** 30 Sep 2020, 06:48 »

Bye, Shane. You were one of the greats, and I'll miss you.

Stee · « **Reply #35 on:** 30 Sep 2020, 16:11 »

I haven't managed to keep in touch with ProgZ (or many of you, apologies), in the last few years, but he was always kind, encouraging and someone whom I admired. His games were my favourite on here, I loved the sneak previews and tech demo's he used to send me, I think I still have one somewhere. I thought about reaching out last year when I stumbled upon his twitter, but figured too much time had passed and he probably wouldn't even remember me. I will always cherish the amazing memories he gave me, be it in pm's or in the stories he told in his games. I might not have known him well, but I will definitely miss him.

RIP ProgZ

Kastchey · « **Reply #36 on:** 30 Sep 2020, 18:11 »

I hadn't been in touch with ProgZ since he stopped frequenting the forums, but I would think of him once in a while. And all of a sudden, this post.

Goodbye, ProgZ. You were a terrific artist, a good forum buddy and had hell of a good taste in movies. You will be missed...

edmundito · « **Reply #37 on:** 01 Oct 2020, 03:40 »

Super sad news. I lost a family member to cancer as well and I know how tough it is. When I was more regular in the forum, I found ProgZMax to be one of the most inspiring artists and with his work on the Wadjet Eye Games I think of him as one of the contributors to the success of AGS as an indie gamedev tool. RIP.

Back in 2005, I very briefly worked with him for sprites for a game that was never made, I wanted to share his work from back then as a little memory:

Olleh19 · « **Reply #38 on:** 01 Oct 2020, 22:02 »

Spoiler: Show

Amazing sprite work! Very inspiring indeed.

Kweepa · « **Reply #39 on:** 04 Oct 2020, 07:22 »

Damn, that's awful, unexpected news. I always admired his pixel art.

LUniqueDan · « **Reply #40 on:** 07 Oct 2020, 21:04 »

SH*** (I just hear the news from the Night of Meteor FB page)
It's been years since I had any news. Basicaly since his website, Pixelgeddon, is offline.
Numerous hours on Stickham, talking about games, old stuff and politic. Me, pissing him off that he was not a real american if he didn't own a .357 magnum.

Andail · « **Reply #41 on:** 09 Oct 2020, 15:27 »

Very sad news!
I remember Progzmax as one of the pillars of the early Critics Lounge, and his pixel skills were a great inspiration to us all.
I will contribute to his fundraiser.

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Author Topic: In Memory of Shane "ProgZmax" Stevens (Read 4185 times)