The Sons of the Storm is home to the drawings and blogs of many core Blizzard Artists. One of the most memorable blogs from the site is written by Renè Koiter (of Twincrusier) is a tribute to his twin brother and artistic partner, Michel Koiter, who passed away 7 years ago. It's truly a moving story which shows a brother's love which further fosters support from the love Blizzard has for all of the members of it's development family.
When StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty came to the world, again his brother's memory was honored in one of the most memorable moments in the entire game. In light of acknowledgement to his beloved brother, Renè has revisited and updated the tribute blog to include the meaning behind an obviously symbolic moment in a segment named "Worth the Fight". A portion of this addition is quoted below:
One day in early 2010, Sammy hailed me into his office. He booted up one of StarCraft II's cutscenes that the Cinematics department had been working on. "You seen this?", he asked. It was the game's protagonist Jim Raynor in his battle armor boosting the moral of his troops before deploying to a crucial assault. It cut to a close-up of Raynor's gauntlet holding a dog tag of a fallen soldier under his command. The dog tag read M. Koiter as he delivered the line "...because some things are just worth fighting for". Nick Carpenter, Cinematics' art director, had been inspired by Michel's story during StarCraft II's development and decided to reference him in the game after seven years of post-mortem. At BlizzCon 2009, I was costumed as Jim Raynor and watching the scene unfold, I empathized thoroughly...
Time halts and I recall just solidifying, my mind soaking up the impact and consequences of it all.
It's truly a tribute that tugs at the emotions and even warrants reading a second time if it hasn't been read already.
Sources:In Memoriam - Michel Koiter (of Twincruiser)Sons of the Storm Home Page
