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Creative Assembly’s community manager Craig Paycock has paid tribute to a cancer victim who will now forever be remembered as a star of upcoming game Total War: Rome 2.
Last summer a 24-year-old James visited the studio as part of a Special Day initiative organised by charity Willow Foundation, which arranges for memorable experiences for the seriously ill.
As part of the trip James was scanned and his likeness used for a model of a Roman soldier that will be used in the retail release.
Not long after his day James passed away from liver cancer.
"What really struck me was how my colleagues reacted to James coming in," Laycock told Eurogamer. "I was inundated with emails offering help with James’ day. The tour organised itself, as the guys around me scrambled to show James what’s going into making Rome 2.
"James was remarkable on the day. His enthusiasm knew no bounds. He asked passionate questions and offered clear and concise suggestions on features for the game.
"When I recently learned that James had died, it was devastating. Even though I had only spent a few hours in his company, it was absolutely devastating, because he was able to show us all here in the studio how passionate he was for our games.
"And although he won’t get the chance to see Rome 2 released he will live on in some small way in our game – and every time I see him I’ll be reminded of what a great guy he was.”
