Godus co-creator and No.2 to Peter Molyneux Jack Attridge has announced he has left 22Cans to pursue his own ideas as an indie dev.
Speaking to the Guardian, Attridge said he leaves on amicable terms with Molyneux who many believed had been tutoring the former EA Bright Light designer to one day fill his shoes.
"Friday was my last day," he told the Guardian. "Me and Peter went on a big 10 mile walk and finally said our goodbyes."
Speaking of his time with Molyneux, Attridge explained how the pair first came together.
"When Peter started talking about this new company 22Cans I got really excited," he said. "He said he wanted to change the world. He said he was looking for people with unusual game development experience, to try something different and that really appealed to me. After meeting him he said to me why don't you come along as a designer, but also as his kind of protege. For a good year it was just me and him designing crazy stuff together every day."
"Peter was really good at nurturing talent," said Attridge. "But after a time I realised I was much more of an advisor at 22Cans and I wanted to be able to steer my own ship."
And that new ship will remain pretty secretive for the time being, with Attridge not wanting chat about his game until it's actually ready to show off - something he has taken from his time working with Molyneux at 22Cans.
"I vowed that I'm not going to say anything about this new game until we can show it," he said. "It's really tempting to show it off and talk about it now because we think we've got something magical on our hands. We've shown only two or three people for feedback so far."
He added: "My approach is a result of my work with Peter over the last few years. Peter's a massively passionate guy and he can't contain himself when he gets excited about something. Because of iterative development, an idea can start in one form and take a long road by the time it's done. In spite of traditional PR practices, Peter can't help himself, he just loves getting out there from the beginning and talking about everything he's working on. You see his ideas before they're fully developed and sometimes they just don't come to pass."
Attridge's decision to go it alone also appears to have been made before Godus and 22Cans ran into some media troubles and Molyneux's February announcement that he was stepping down from working on the game.
"It was January that I said to Peter I was looking to leave 22Cans and go off to start my own thing," he said. "I was really worried that it might be perceived that I was leaving the studio because of that. It really is a shame because that felt like such a terrible time for us to part ways."
"I decided that it was time to go off and try my own thing and I explained my idea to Peter who was really supportive. He was sympathetic and gave me loads of advice, he just did everything he could to help us. He signed a waiver so I could start my own company straight away, and he advised me on running a team and a business."
Attridge likened his relationship with Molyneux to a marriage and said the split felt like a divorce.
"While it was so hard to start that conversation after all those years, I think he recognises that it's time for me to move on. He even offered to let me develop my new game in his house. While it was a really awkward moment, it has been totally amicable. It would have been a real shame to leave on bad terms".
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