The Gaunt Chirurgeon (Image credit: Red Hook Studios) We're going to see if we can make this work and put it in the game for real." ![]() "But when we actually started working on it, Chris, and then later Tyler, were like, hang on, we actually really like this idea. That works for me, because I was totally on board with anything," Sam said. Instead, the idea was to create a character "theme" and then build some items based on that. In fact, the plan at first was only to make the items: Sam said Red Hook initially told him that the developers just didn't have time to invest in creating an entirely new character. ![]() "It takes a lot of work and they didn't have the time and resources to squeeze that into their roadmap at the time." "Items don't take that much development time but an enemy does because it has to be modeled and rigged and animated and textured and all that," Sam said. Sam's work on Darkest Dungeon 2 is being implemented in two parts: In-game items, which arrived in the December 2022 update, and the Gaunt Chirurgeon itself, which will be added in a post-launch update. When I told that to Chris, the doctor/surgeon theme sort of evolved around that, and that's how we got to what it is." "So I thought it would be fun if there was an enemy with an attack that was annoying to get hit by in some way, but that also cured your disease. And normally enemies are the ones inflicting it, not removing it," Sam explained. "Diseases are like these permanent nasty status effects that you can get through a lot of different ways. That balance of risk and reward is what makes the Gaunt Chirurgeon so interesting: You can't just ignore it, but you might not want to be in too much of a hurry to kill it, either. The twist is that it will also cure diseases on player characters, which can be incredibly beneficial. Sam's idea was for a "support enemy" that doesn't do much direct damage to players, but instead bolsters the other enemies in the fight. The second call allowed Sam the opportunity to get answers to all his mechanical questions, review and provide feedback on my sketches, and to begin working on a set of items that would support his character."Įarly concept of the Gaunt Chirurgeon and his items (Image credit: Red Hook Studios) "I did some rough designs offline, and we met a second time with Erich, our item designer, and Tyler, Red Hook's design director and co-founder. We talked about the kind of character he'd like to see in the game, and we explored ways of making it happen. "We went through some Darkest Dungeon 2 pre-production art, including storyboards, character designs, and environment studies. "I met with Sam initially for a few hours-his enthusiasm was abundant and contagious!" Bourassa said. Once everyone was sure the request was on the up-and-up, Make-A-Wish introduced Sam and Bourassa, and later studio co-founder Tyler Sigman and designer Erich Kohlweg, through Zoom meetings, where they got down to the business of making it all happen. The fact that someone would choose to connect with us instead of a more tactile experience like meeting a celebrity is incredibly moving." We were so humbled and frankly taken aback. "Even as I wrote the reply, I was still not entirely convinced it was real. ![]() The doctor/surgeon theme sort of evolved around that, and that's how we got to what it is." Sam Burns, Gaunt Chirurgeon co-creator I thought it would be fun if there was an enemy with an attack that was annoying to get hit by in some way, but that also cured your disease. "Being approached by Make-A-Wish is just not something that you expect-but re-reading the email, and checking the sending address confirmed that it was in fact legit. "This is absolutely the first time we've ever done anything like this, and to be honest, yes, I thought it was a scam when I read the email subject line for the first time," Bourassa said. Red Hook Studios co-founder Chris Bourassa confirmed that there was indeed some confusion on that point when Make-A-Wish first reached out. "They thought it was a scam at first," Sam said. It took longer than expected to get the ball rolling: A few bureaucratic misfires meant that he didn't actually make contact with Red Hook until November, and there was also a minor hitch at the very start of the process. Sam has been hospitalized following a leukemia diagnosis when he was 17, and a social worker suggested that he reach out to the Make-A-Wish foundation with his idea.
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