Spelunky 2 speedrunner, streamer and world-record holder Matthew Joseph "Twiggle" Julian died Sunday, June 26, at the age of 25.
Twiggle made his name in the Spelunky community with an unmatched depth of knowledge, breaking several world records including that for gold acquisition. That record required eight hours of grinding, blowing up the in-game world as thoroughly as possible to mine it for every nugget of gold. Twiggle also achieved fame in the community with his Spelunked series, which collected the funniest and most bizarre highlights from across his thousands of Spelunky runs.
Twiggle's friend XanaGear and fellow speedrunner XanaGear broke the news to much of the community Saturday.
"Twiggle is no longer with us as of earlier this week," XanaGear wrote in a Discord server.
"He was always a joy to play with and I know many of you looked up to him as [a] beacon of positivity in or little corner of the internet. I will always remember him fondly and I ask that you remain respectful and avoid any speculation about his situation."
Twiggle remains the world record holder in the non-Cosmic Ocean score category. He studied computer science at UVU and was self-employed in addition to running his Twitch channel.
Spelunky creator Derek Yu shared his condolences on Twitter, saying he "absolutely loved" watching Twiggle and XanaGear stream the game.
"To have such kind and passionate people playing it is a joy and I feel so lucky every day," he said. "Rest in Peace, Twiggle."
In an obituary, Twiggle's family described him as "very sensitive and kind, and a peacemaker. He was a blessing to all who knew him. He was especially adored by his dogs Molly and Lola, and his young nephew Adam. He was Adam's best bud and taught him how to play games of many kinds on the computer and Nintendo."
No cause of death was provided.
Twiggle's YouTube channel is available here, and his Spelunky scores and times can be found here.
