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Game designers put their souls into their work — but rarely their faces. That’s why we chose some of the most acclaimed digital crafters and transformed them into characters from their titles through the magic of Photoshop.

Browse the gallery below to see the minds behind some of your favorite video games as badass heroes, repulsive monsters, and deformed fairies.

Epic Games’ former design director eradicates the Locust threat as Damon Baird from Gears of War.
Jill is going to need more than a Beretta to take down Shinji Mikami when he morphs into the Tyrant from Resident Evil.
The gods of Olympus beg for mercy as David Jaffe takes the role of Kratos from God of War.
Tim Schafer summons a heavy metal storm as Eddie Riggs from Brütal Legend. Or he could be passing gas.
Nintendo’s creative mastermind appeared on stage at E3 2004 holding Link’s sword and shield from The Legend of Zelda series, but he looks much happier as Tingle, the fruity man-child.
Little Johnny Carmack can run like Billy Blaze from Commander Keen, but can he escape the fury of Adolf Hitler and his Doom squad?
Walking around Willamette Parkview Mall as Frank West from Dead Rising is fun for Keiji Inafune, as long as zombies don’t mess with his new property.
Valve managing director Gabe Newell enjoys a cigarette as Bill Overbeck from Left 4 Dead, but he should probably be more interested in what’s going on behind him.
The multiple alternate realities in BioShock Infinite lets Ken Levine be both Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth at the same time. “No gods or kings. Only man — and woman.”
Not many people remember Hideo Kojima’s cyberpunk adventure game Snatcher, and that’s why he dressed like detective Jean-Jack Gibson. It’s a shame he wasn’t more headstrong.

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