Despite having made a series of games based on famous paintings, Thomas Waterzooi wouldn't call himself a connoisseur of art. "I know art like the average person," he admits. "I had a mother who was really into art and took me to art galleries when I was younger, but it wasn't my passion either. Especially contemporary art I always struggled a little bit more with when it became too contextual."
Early in his career he had worked at Larian Studios, also based in his hometown of Ghent in Belgium, followed by a stint at IO Interactive during the reboot of Hitman in 2016, until he was laid off. It was after reading Will Gompertz's book What Are You Looking At?, a sort of modern art for dummies guide, that ignited the spark for going into solo game development.
