Paul Jeffrey
Premium
One of the key men responsible for Ferrari Virtual Academy, NetKar Pro, Assetto Corsa and Assetto Corsa Competizione has left Kunos Simulazioni - goodbye and good luck Stefano Casillo!
Universally regarded as one of the most impressive coding talents in the sim racing landscape, in his role of founder and lead programmer at Kunos Simulazioni, Stefano Casillo (that's Ste'fano, not Stefano! - I remembered!!) has been at the forefront of sim racing development for almost two decades.
Working on some of the most highly regarded racing simulations of a generation, from the likes of NetKar Pro, Ferrari Virtual Academy, the original Assetto Corsa and now Assetto Corsa Competizione, Casillo has proven time and again his ability to bring together a sublime racing experience for sim racers the world over.
Of course, many talented men and women have worked together at Kunos over the years, and that work will undoubtedly continue in the years to come with or without Stefano, so don't worry about the future folks - I'm sure it is in safe hands!
Taking to his personal Facebook account this morning, Casillo has confirmed he is no longer a part of the Italian Kunos Simulazioni development team, having taken the opportunity to move on to pastures new as founder of the new Jaxx Vane Studio. I'm sure I speak for all at RaceDepartment in wishing Stefano the best of luck with his new ventures, and wholeheartedly thanking him for the things he has achieved in the (virtual) sport we all love!
The Facebook announcement post in full:
Original Source: Stefano Casillo Facebook
Universally regarded as one of the most impressive coding talents in the sim racing landscape, in his role of founder and lead programmer at Kunos Simulazioni, Stefano Casillo (that's Ste'fano, not Stefano! - I remembered!!) has been at the forefront of sim racing development for almost two decades.
Working on some of the most highly regarded racing simulations of a generation, from the likes of NetKar Pro, Ferrari Virtual Academy, the original Assetto Corsa and now Assetto Corsa Competizione, Casillo has proven time and again his ability to bring together a sublime racing experience for sim racers the world over.
Of course, many talented men and women have worked together at Kunos over the years, and that work will undoubtedly continue in the years to come with or without Stefano, so don't worry about the future folks - I'm sure it is in safe hands!
Taking to his personal Facebook account this morning, Casillo has confirmed he is no longer a part of the Italian Kunos Simulazioni development team, having taken the opportunity to move on to pastures new as founder of the new Jaxx Vane Studio. I'm sure I speak for all at RaceDepartment in wishing Stefano the best of luck with his new ventures, and wholeheartedly thanking him for the things he has achieved in the (virtual) sport we all love!
The Facebook announcement post in full:
Today is a different morning for me.
For the first time since 2005 I woke up and I did not sit at my PC thinking about Kunos Simulazioni software development.
Yes, this might come as a shock, but as of today I am not directly involved with Kunos Simulazioni software development anymore.
Of course this is not like I had imagined my first day as "full solo indie" back in September when I decided it was time to move on from Kunos Simulazioni, it was a different time back then, before the Corona Virus shook our lives... so, at the end, this post doesn't happen in a mood as festive as I hoped for.
Because of this, and out of respect for all the guys there trying to deal with one of the hardest times humans had to go through since the end of WW2 I will keep this as brief and informative as possible.
My relationship with the guys in Kunos and Digital Bros is and always was amazing, there is no friction and no bad feeling coming from my decision, that follows over time the one me and Marco took in 2017 when we moved the ownership of our company under Digital Bros umbrella.
Enough time was given in order to make the transition as smooth and painless as possible, and thanks to the amazing talents in there I am sure the company will continue to be a shining light in the world of simracing because of the amazing talents in the team.
At a certain point I started to feel like I had nothing more to give to the SimRacing genre and it was time for me to go look for new inspirations.
My deepest thanks to all the guys who made Kunos Simulazioni possible, these have been the most exciting 15 years of my life and you guys made it special day after day. Marco, Simone, Gianluca, Aris, Luca, Manu, Alvio, Davide, Gergo, Alessandro, Kevin, Valeria, Fernando, Fabio, Itho, Giovanni, Fabrizio, Cristian, Pietro, Kirill, Timothy, Manuela. Plus all the guys in Digital Bros especially Rami, Raffi and Andrew who gave us the amazing chance to work on Assetto Corsa Competizione with an amount of resources we could have never dreamed of and made us feel as part of the family since day one. Love you guys, keep on rocking!
As for me, I am as excited and impatient as I can be, sitting at my PC with a blank empty screen, ready to see what comes next; many ideas and fantasies running through my head as I try to remind myself I am now back in the world of real Indie development and whatever I'll do next will have to be scaled to match this new reality.
My plan is to make this journey available to all of you willing to follow through the usual platforms, starting with my Youtube channel and eventually expanding to other platforms such as Twitch with frequent streams and update videos. It's going to be an open window into a world of passion, frustration, dreams, shattered dreams, hopes, disappointments, study, research, failures, re-writes, revelations,roadblocks, broken keyboards but hopefully also lots lots lots of fun.. see you out there.
Stefano Casillo
Lead Programmer and Founder
Jaxx Vane Studio
Original Source: Stefano Casillo Facebook
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Something the fans were asking for 12 years!
