We regretfully report that Andrew Yoon, indie game designer and former Editor-in-Chief at Shacknews and contributor to Joystiq, passed away Thursday afternoon in an drowning accident.
As reported by KVUE ABC, officials state that Andrew, 29, and a group of his friends were swimming at 2pm in the Upper Falls portion of McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, Texas. First responders say they received a call about a swimmer in distress at approximately 3pm. EMS believe the man had been submerged in water for about 50 minutes.
Andrew Yoon will be remembered for his contribution to Weekend Confirmed, the podcast on Shacknews which ended last year, and for Divorce! The Game, a self-described "light-hearted, viciously competitive two-player card game" that was fully-funded on Kickstarter on September 26.
He along with four fellow friends and designers created "Cactus Seeking Hug", which recently received an award at GXDev. In response to Joystiq shutting down, Andrew reminisced on his favorite articles at Joystiq on Twitter including a mock-up of a Macy ad and a TMZ parody.
PSNation has shared a podcast from E3 2012 featuring Andrew. Harold Goldberg on NYGameCritics has also written a heartfelt tribute entitled "On The Greatness of Andrew Yoon."
Our condolences to Andrew's family and friends.