One of the key engineers behind God of War’s Leviathan Ax has died
George Mawle, a former game engineer at Sony Santa Monica described as one of the “fathers” of God of War’s beloved Leviathan Ax, sadly died on September 2.
Mawle worked at Sony Santa Monica as a programmer during the studio’s work on the 2018 PS4 exclusive, God of War. His work on the game’s iconic Leviathan Ax, as well as other game features, will be remembered by fans and co-workers for years to come. Sony Santa Monica creative director Cory Barlog described Mawle as “an incredibly funny, intelligent and warm human being. He was one of the fathers of the Leviathan sentiment. Without his curiosity and intellect, those moments of pure joy remembering the ax never would have existed “. “
The studio’s lead combat designer, Mihir Sheth, worked with Mawle during his time at Sony Santa Monica and was just one of many who paid tribute to the late engineer on social media.
In a thread on Twitter, Sheth explained: “If you’ve ever enjoyed throwing and retrieving the Leviathan Ax, or spinning the chains of the Blades of Chaos in GOW’18, take a moment to acknowledge that it was largely possible at the same time. George Mawle’s Engineering and Energy “.
Like many others throughout his 20+ year career in game development, I sat next to or near George every day for over five years, working with him through thick and thin and shocking news has hit hard.
– Mihir Sheth (@youtheremehere) September 4, 2021
Sheth continued in another part of the thread: “On SMS, he worked on Kratos’ weaponry, navigation, RPG systems, a wide variety of combat behaviors, scripting system improvements to empower designers, and A LOT more. He was a veteran on the team. He played a huge role in closing the game and eliminating mistakes. “
While God of War was the last published title Mawle made his mark on, his career spanned a number of other games, including but not limited to Prototype 2, Crash of the Titans, and Scarface: The World is Yours. According to Sheth, the programmer also enjoyed doing a number of side projects in his time away from the studio. The lead combat designer went on to say that Mawle would proudly show others his own homemade cookbooks, woodworking projects, and home movies.
I had the opportunity to visit him and his wife Lisa at their home in Acton (called “The Snugglebug Ranch”) and experience the legendary full brand home theater system that they had built. He was extremely proud of it and the photographs don’t do it justice. pic.twitter.com/d6TZqmRHtS
– Mihir Sheth (@youtheremehere) September 4, 2021
In addition to Sheth, several other former co-workers and fans of Mawle’s work on social media also took to social media to pay tribute to the late programmer. You can read a collection of some of his comments on him below:
If you loved the gameplay of God of War, George had a huge turnout – he was the man who made the ax happen, driving almost all of the programming from start to finish.
But his career spanned decades. Throughout all sorts of projects, he would speak to you with enthusiasm and loving detail.
– Sam Handrick (@MDSVeritas) September 4, 2021
George was an incredibly funny, intelligent, and warm human being. He was one of the fathers of the Leviathan sentiment. Without his curiosity and intellect those moments of pure joy remembering the ax would never have existed.
It absolutely breaks my heart that he’s gone.
RIP brother💔 https://t.co/ILpeSQUsk0
– cory barlog 🖖 (@corybarlog) September 6, 2021
The only good thing about leaving SMS a few months ago was that it gave us a chance to say goodbye and say how much we would miss being together.
My goal is to work more like Furious George and try to impact younger developers the way he impacted me. RIP, bruv.
– Anthony DiMento (@DiMentoXP) September 4, 2021
Everyone at IGN offers our condolences to Mawle’s family and friends.
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN.
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