Very sad news

Remster

Hi all

With a heavy heart I want to announce that my brother in law and one of MGSA's first members, Dirkie Kunz, passed away from cancer this week.

My deepest condolences goes to the Kunz family, his friends and the people who knew and worked with him. He was a great man and I owe him a lot. I will always remember him and keep him in my heart.

Dirkie and me were avid gamers and aspiring rookie game developers. Together, we made numerous prototypes and small XNA games over the years. Unfortunately, reality has a way of kicking you in the teeth when you least expect it. About four years ago cancer got in the way of Dirkie's plans and derailed the last project we worked on for over two years. With the help of my friend Allen, we intend to reboot the game as a tribute to Dirkie. It's the least we can do for him.

Here is a link to his original post about the game.
makegamessa.com/discussion/663/death-lazer-demo#latest

Elyaradine

Geez, I'm so sorry to hear that. :(

I worked with him for a while at Luma Arcade, and he was such a nice guy. Gentle, kind and thoughtful.

Remster

Thanks man.

Dirkie will be missed. A super talented guy gone way before his time. He was only 33.

Tuism

Aw man, so sorry to hear. That's tragic. I haven't met him but the community'll be poorer for his loss. Hope you're doing well.

Remster

Thanks for kind words man.
He was a gentle giant. Great guy.
The week was rough, but we're doing much better thanks. :)

mattbenic

Very sad news indeed . I worked with Dirkie at Luma as well, and yeah he was such a nice guy. My condolences to the family. Good luck with the tribute project, it sounds like a wonderful way to honor him.

Fengol

I also worked with him at Luma Arcade and we continued to chat when he went to 3fifteen. He was a very humble guy.

Thank you for sharing this sad news with us so we can share in your loss.

Remster

Thanks guys.

Just glad we had the opportunity to know him.
I don't have access to everyone's contact details, so decided to let everyone know on MGSA.

Dirkie's funeral is next week on the 18th of May. If anyone wants to go please let me know, then I'll post the details.

japiegreeff

Just wanted to add my 2c here too. I never knew Dirkie in his game dev days, but I worked with him quite a bit when he was at Britehouse (which grew out of 3fifteen).

I can say without reservation that he was one of the best developers I have ever had the pleasure of working with. I saw him master not only custom development, but rock biztalk in the ESB sphere and stand toe to toe Microsoft's architects more than once in multiple of their own technologies. This was a huge loss for our entire industry.

My thoughts are with you all Remster.

Remster

Thank you Japie. Appreciate the message man.

edg3

I remember how fantastic he was - sorry that unfortunate circumstances can have difficult changes. We will miss him... I remember having long intense discussions with him: He helped me get my programming stronger - even these days where I don't remember it all he helped me be seen as a hardcore programmer (thankfully) when people analyse my programming. There are several gaps in what we all want to do and he fixed one important hap for us.

Missing him from the early MGSA days and when I did work for Luma...

Remster

Thanks edg3.

That's the thing about Dirkie, he always had time to help people. He actually helped me get my first job in Joburg more than 9 years ago. He even let me stay with him until I landed on my feet. Needless to say, I owe him a lot.