Goodbye Craig Halverson

We have some sad news to pass along today: the exOrigin Facebook group reports that veteran Wing Commander artist Craig Halverson has passed away. If Mr. Halverson's name sounds familiar it's because his excellent work graced over a dozen Origin games. We've said before but the 'Origin mystique' made it feel like familiar names like that were part of how you experienced the games. Our condolences go out to his friends and family, we will do our best to preserve his work. If you would like to share any memories we would be happy to publish them in this space.

Craig Halverson joined Origin Systems during its heyday in 1991 and quickly made a name for himself in the burgeoning art group where he worked alongside the likes of Chris Douglas, Beverly Garland, Alan Perez and Paul Steed to create some of Origin's most unique and immersive worlds. Mr. Halverson got his start in the crucible of Chris Roberts' Strike Commander, creating character art, environments and 3D objects. He would go on to work on Privateer, Armada and Wing Commander III along with a number of other projects.

Origin Systems Gameography

• Ultima VI: The False Prophet (1991, FM Towns) - Art
• Origin FX (1992) - Artist
• Strike Commander (1993, DOS) - RealSpace Terrain Textures, Cinematic Animation, Backgrounds, Character Animations, Voice of "The Drunk"
• Strike Commander: Tactical Operations (1993) - Art
• Wing Commander Privateer (1993) - Artwork
• Strike Commander (1993, CD-ROM) - Art Department
• Pacific Strike (1994) - Art
• Wing Commander Armada (1994) - Additional Artwork
• Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (1994) - 3-D Artist, Interior Art (manual)
• Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger 3DO (1995) - Art
• Crusader: No Remorse (1995) - Concept Art (not credited)
• Wings of Glory (1995) - Additional Artwork, Special Thanks
• Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga (1996) - Interior Art (manual)

He would go on to work for Digital Anvil on projects that included 2003's Brute Force for the Xbox. Mr. Halverson left Origin shortly after production of Crusader: No Remorse began but he was still able to contribute concept work to the project! Here's a piece from the official guide:

He was tuckerized in Wing Commander III twice. He's mentioned in a wild line for the Victory's PA system that says "Technicians Halverson and Downing required in forward gunnery two." Downing was producer David Downing. He's also credited "in universe" for his manual art in Victory Streak.

One thing we know he was proud of was creating the Thunderbolt VII and Excalibur cockpits for Wing Commander III. Here's a behind the scenes image that he included in his online portfolio for many years:

We make--correctly I would argue–-a big deal about Origin's slogan about "creating worlds". Well, here's a great example of that in the most literal fashion. Strike Commander's team included a training/quick combat map that was based on an imaginary environment which could show off all the features of the game. And here's that entire world with its capital city, Halverston! These creators of worlds really have left something that will last forever.