Video of a "visual protoype" Szymanski was working on before he started to develop Dusk^{[‡ 2]}

David Szymanski is the brother of video game developers John and Evan Szymanski, known for developing My Friendly Neighborhood.^[1] On December 10, 2018, David released Dusk,^{[‡ 3]}^[2] a retro-style first-person shooter game.^[3] For Dusk, Szymanski has been credited by Super Jump with "single-handedly revitalizing the boomer-shooter genre".^[4] He then released Iron Lung on March 10, 2022, a submarine simulation horror game in which players navigate an ocean of blood on a moon.^{[‡ 4]}^[5] Sales increased after the Titan submersible implosion, which disconcerted Szymanski.^{[‡ 5]}^[6] He faced criticism online for increasing the price of the game by two dollars, to which he told those complaining to "go pirate it or something".^[7] Sales of the game dropped after the price adjustment.^[7] On April 21, 2023 Markiplier announced that he would be directing the film Iron Lung^{[‡ 6]}^{[‡ 7]}^[8] and Szymanski said that he would have a cameo in the film on Twitter.^{[‡ 8]}^[9]

Szymanski released Squirrel Stapler in September 2023,^[10] followed by The Pony Factory in 2024. Both had originally been released as part of the Dread X Collection^[10]^[11] and take place in the same world, while the latter was inspired by Jacqueline Ess: Her Will And Testament, a short story by Clive Barker.^[12] In January 2025, he released Butcher's Creek, a first-person horror game about a man going to the titular Butcher's Creek on a quest to collect snuff films on VHS.^[13]^[14] David, John and Evan Szymanski developed Secret Agent Wizard Boy and the International Crime Syndicate, which was released as early access on March 6, 2025.^{[‡ 9]}^[15]^[16]

Life and career

References