Roll Call

[helmet275]

Name: Scott Hassler
Company: Lason
Occupation: Systems Administrator
Location: Detroit Area, MI
Hobbies: Reading, Weightlifting, spending countless hours playing video games

Currently, I'm working in a Business Processes Organization in the field of Document Imaging/Data Capture. This will fund my eventual entry into the indy sector.

I'm also planning on competing in the World's Strongest Man Competition in 5 years time.

[Mike Boeh]

Since we are starting the forums fresh again, it's probably a good idea to do roll call like the original dexterity boards did...

Name: Mike Boeh
Company: Retro64, Inc.
URL: http://www.retro64.com
Occupation: Full Time Indie Game Developer/Publisher
Location: Chicago Suburbs

Background:
I have been a full time indie for about 4 years now (man how time flies!). Originally, the company concept was to make 3d remakes of classic arcade games. But since everyone seems to be doing that now, we are changing slowly but surely. Games we have developed include: Bugatron, Z-Ball, Best Friends, WarHeads SE. We have also published Platypus, Party Bowling, and Marbles Deluxe. I love constantly tweaking the site and experimenting in ways to improve sales.

[Mark Fassett]

Since he started it...

Name: Mark Fassett
Company: Laughing Dragon Games
URL: http://www.laughing-dragon.com
Occupation: Full Time Indie Game Developer
Location: Near Seattle

I've been full time indie for near 11 months, supplementing my income (well, at the moment, my only source) with contract work. My first for sale game, Derelict (http://www.laughing-dragon.com/derelict.aspx) should be done sometime soon now (within the next month). I do nothing except work, play with my son, and waste time on game dev forums.

[Jim Buck]

Name: Jim Buck
Company: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Occupation: game developer working in a corporate setting but looking at indie as a long-term goal
Location: San Diego, CA

Background:
I've been in the game industry for 8.5 years now working primarily as a senior-level programmer. I was working at Sony Interactive Studios America and 989 Studios (same studio but changed names) from '96 - '00 and shipped four PS1 titles: Rally Cross, CART World Series, Twisted Metal 3, and Twisted Metal 4. I left with a coworker to start an external game company named DepthQ from '00 - '03. We worked on one project with Sony Online that was almost completed. During '02, I took a sabbitcal to live in Warsaw, Poland for almost a year. I came back to close down DepthQ and take a job at RedZone Games(owned by Sony Computer Entertainment America, formerly 989 Studios) and shipped PS2 GameDay 2004. I am now working directly at Sony Computer Entertainment America on the PSP platform.

[Bluecat]

Name: John
Company: None at this stage
Occupation: Software Engineer
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Nationality: Aussie

I've been a software developer since 1984. but have never worked in the game industry. I've worked on a variety of different systems from accounting packages, to remote modem test software, to training systems for defence. I'm currently on secondment to a big US defence contractor where I am working on the integration testing of a radar system.

Most of my work has been in C/C++, but I've dabbled in Java, Ruby, Smalltalk and am currently using Python quite extensively. Oh, and there was that time at the beginning of my career where I coded in COBOL. :rolleyes:

I'm at the point in my life where I would really like to strike out on my own, so I'm working on my first game. Well, not really my first. I wrote a couple of simple games back in high school on an old Apple 2e, and on my old Vic 20, alas, long gone. I've been an avid gamer for many years, and have always loved playing them more than writing them. That's going to change. ;)

I'm here in the US for another year, and then I head back home and start selling my game. Unfortunately I can't make any income aside from my visa-authorised job, so I have to wait until I get back to Oz before I get rolling. Even though I am having a great time here, I'm looking forward to it. :)

[Lerc]

Name: Neil Graham
Company: Screaming Duck Software
URL: http://www.ScreamingDuck.com
Occupation: Full Time Indie Game Developer / House husband
Location: Christchurch New Zealand.

I have been doing games for a number of years. My first shareware game was for DOS in 1995 and made me about $100. I really got going with the release of Fitznik. Dexterity's first game in a publisher role. Drippy and Fitznik 2 followed. I suffer from depression and arthritis that hampers my productivity from time to time, but I battle on. I play soccer and basketball which improves my depression but plays havok with my arthritis.

[simonh]

Name: Simon Harrison
Company: Si Design
URL: http://www.superhamsterball.com
Occupation: Full Time Indie Game Developer + Part Time Webmaster
Location: West Midlands, UK

I have been a full-time indie for nearly one year now. In that time (and a year or so before it), I've been working on Super Hamster Ball. It's nearly finished now, with a release pencilled in for September 1st. I'm hoping to continue working as a full-time indie for as long as possible!

[EpicBoy]

Name: Warren Marshall
Company: Respawn Games
URL: http://www.respawngames.com
Occupation: Full Time Game Developer/Part time indie
Location: North Carolina, USA

I've been doing little games for over a year now and just kind of trying things to see where it takes me...

[Nikster]

Name: Paul Tankard
Company: BBC Worldwide (Gamezlab) Until the 29th of this month when it closes.
URL: None
Occupation: Senior programmer
Location: Sheffield, UK

I spent most of my time recently writing game authoring tools, but have worked on PC, PS2, PS1, GB, NGC, NGPC, C64 and Amiga, I have worked on some popular titles commercially, but my aim is to get into shareware where I can do the thing I have wanted to do for the last 14 years, I'm currnelty getting a toolset to help me acheive this. I started out as a musician and have gone back to my roots in my spare time also.

[Aldacron]

Name: Mike Parker
Company: None
Occupation: Freelance English Teacher/Programmer
Location: Seoul, Korea
Nationality: American

I've been living in Korea for 13 years since I first came over as a soldier. Over the past 10 I've held a multitude of part-time and full-time jobs both for Korean businesses and U.S. government/contractors. Through it all I've taught different levels of English both as a private tutor and at different educational facilities (language institutes, grammar/middle/high schools and universities). For the past few years I've been supplementing my teaching income with contract software work (mostly in the J2EE arena). I'm now liniting my teaching schedule and trying to find my niche in Indie Games (while debating if I should start my company here in Korea or back home in the USA).

[DarkUni]

Name: Shane R. Monroe
Company: Dark Unicorn Productions
URL: http://www.darkuni.com
Occupation: Client/Server Programmer
Location: Phoenix, AZ

In 1980 began programming in BASIC on a TRS-80 Model III computer, then proceeded through the ranks of Commodore computers including the VIC-20, C64, and Amiga. Released freeware and shareware programs on the C64 and Amiga - in 1993 formed the Amiga shareware group Dark Unicorn Productions - producing some of the most well-known Amiga games in history. In 1995, entered the PC platform and began work coding for the Web (Shockwave, Flash, ASP, DHTML, JAVASCRIPT, etc). Created numerous popular websites for classic video gaming and emulation. In 2000, formed the DUP PC division. Released vs.Ball and Kablooey Redux for the PC in 2001.

For the Apple II - Inquisitor (study and test generator for students, ported from the C64); For the C64 - Canyon Bomber (a flying bombing game), Scrambler (BBS message encryptor - long before PGP came around), numerous demos and coding samples; For the Amiga - Psycho Squares, Psycho Squares Deluxe, GIF Processor Plus, Your Privacy Assured CD, Power-Cat (unreleased), Fleet Commander (unfinished), Scorched Tanks CD (unfinished). For the PC - Fuel, Oil, and Water Report (a Navy application for submarines, still around today), Psycho Squares 2000 (in development), Kablooey! (a KABOOM! knock off with internet score posting and cool graphics), Kablooey Redux (cool new remix), and vs.Ball, action strategy game.

Ramble ramble ...

[GameStudioD]

Name: Daniel Anderson
Company: Game Studio D
URL: http://www.gamestudiod.com
Occupation: Part-Time Indie / Full-Time Student
Location: San Francisco, CA

I am a Senior at San Francisco State University, majoring in Computer Science. Videogames are my passion and I don't see myself doing anything else with my life. The games that are being churned out from the retail game industry (and to some extent the indie scene) bore me. I feel that I can do better, so I started Game Studio D. Next step is to release a game ... :D

[Escotia]

Name: Scott Campbell
Company: BigFizz Games Ltd.
URL: http://www.bigfizz.com
Occupation: Full Time Indie Dev
Location: Birmingham, England

Background:
Been in the games industry since graduating from Glasgow Uni in 1998. Left the mainstream industry a couple of years ago and started contracting along with my housemate, using our spare time to work on our own ideas. Our indie games so far released are Puzzle Word, Snowball Frenzy and Party Bowling.

[Air]

Name: Jake Stine
Company: unaffiliated [formerly of Hour 13 Studios]
Occupation: Oddjob Programmer / t-shirt salesman
Location: Meshoppen, PA

Background:
Barring a long history of cheezy BASIC coding on various archaic hardwares, I started out as a demo coder back in 1993 doing starfields and scrollers. From there: On-and-off-again developer for the Mikmod Sound System for several years from 1995 through to 2001. Created with Mikamp module plugin for winamp. Continuously did reading and research into game development techniques during that time. Started Chicken Little in late 2000. Formed Hour 13 Studios in early 2002. Life completely fell apart in 2003.

My life has been anything but consistent. I have long suffered from a depressive sleep disorder that has wreaked havoc on my ability to function as a member of society. I lack any real formal education as I was quite unable to stay coherently awake for much of high school. For as long as I can remember my years have been riddled with runs of striking brilliance paired with extended periods of time (sometimes as long as 3-4 months) when I, quite literally and honestly, forget how to code. I have been labeled as lazy, disorganized, and undisiplined for much of my life. I've had issues.

After years of trying to resolve the issue myself through a combination of sheer determination coupled with stark changes in diet, exercise, and work habits, I was hit with a new kind of hurt: Chronic fatigue [an adrenal disfunction disorder, specifically], that did not go away after almost a year of suffering. That was the last straw. I sought medical treatment. Just four weeks later (two months ago now) I was basically cured of all mentioned ailments. ... maybe I should have done that sooner!

Now I'm just working on trying to restore my confidence in myself. I have a littany of unfinished projects and broken promises behind me that I would like to, in one way or another, resolve. Anything beyond that I have yet to ponder. Stay tuned!

[Plowsoft]

Name: Adam Payne
Company: Plowsoft
URL: http://www.Plowsoft.com
Occupation: Part Share trader, Part indie
Location: Perth, Australia

I've been working on Plowsoft off and on since i finished university in late 2002. Finished my first ever game Astrosiege in September 2003 and hope to make a lot more as i get better (and quicker!) at game development. I doubt I would have gotten close to finishing my first game if it wasn't for the dexterity forums.

[luggage]

Name: Scott Newby
Company: BigFizz Games Ltd.
URL: http://www.bigfizz.com
Occupation: Full Time Indie Dev
Location: Birmingham, England

Background:
Was in the games industry for 8 years or so starting as a tester, then onto designer, tools coding and finally game coder. Left and set up with the other Scott (see above somewhere).

[Siebharinn]

Name: Bill Keller
Company: Creative Logic Software
URL: coming soon
Occupation: IT Director of a small non-profit company
Location: Bradenton, FL

Background:
I've been a corporate programmer for a long time, but I've always had games on my mind. Like many people here, I learned to program in order to make games, but database front-ends pay a lot better, so I've been doing that.

I'm working on my first game, off and on, and progress is very slow. It's more of a hobby than an "indie lifestyle" at this point.

[Phantom1029]

Name: Sean
URL: Goodlinuxgames.com (http://www.goodlinuxgames.com)
Occupation: Student
Location: Virginia

Background:
Just recently decided to create my own games. At first it was for fun, but making money off of it compelled me, so I am trying my hand at that. My first title, IronWill will be completed in the next 2 months - barring some catastrophe. Only known of dexterity for a couple of months and it has been an invaluable resource. Hopefully this forum will grow and even surpass the legacy of it as a resource for independent developers.

[Ratboy]

Name: Charles Oines
Company: Irrational Designs
URL: http://irrationaldesigns.com
Occupation: Freelance Artist
Location: Near Seattle, WA.

Background: I've done a twelve year stint as a 2d & 3d production artist, doing games on everything from the TurboGrafx CD to the XBox. These days, I'm filling my time with freelance game art jobs, and taking the occasional stab at programming.

[Reactor]

Name: Joel Blackwell
Company: To be announced
URL: Coming soon
Occupation: Full time artist, writer, designer.
Location: Another one of the many Perth Australia indies! :)

Background:
I'm currently in development of my first game (with my programmer of a brother), after being approved by the Aust government for a years funding to 'start a small business'. I'm also someone that doesn't have any formal training, but I didn't think I should let that get in the way ;) I love playing games, and have been doing so since gaming first began. And, with a first game almost out the door, I'm confident this is what I should have been doing all along.

[BantamCityGames]

(formerly BrewKnowC)
Name: Bruno Campolo
Company: Bantam City Games
URL: (see Signature)
Occupation: IT Manager of a small manufacturing company
Location: NY

Background:
I've been into computers since age 5 and even programmed a few things (copied out of a book) as a kid. Started making hobby games in high school. Then started game development for real about 5 years later. Started Bantam City Games almost a year ago with the release of Trials of Werlin and I'm now currently working on my second game which should be available at the end of Aug.

I don't know about anyone else, but I almost had a heart attack when I ready Steve P. was shutting down the Dexterity forums. Good job Retro64, Svero, and Dan for such a smooth transition.

[ggambett]

Name: Gabriel Gambetta
Company: Mystery Studio
URL: http://www.MysteryStudio.com
Occupation: Part-time indie, Part-time Computer Graphics teacher, Full-time developer for a local software company
Location: Uruguay

Background: Have been doing stuff with computers since age 5, with a ZX Spectrum 48+. Started Mystery Studio with an university classmate around october 2002. Got an engineering degree (our equivalent to Computer Science) in december 2003, days before turning 23 years old. Published games so far are Betty's Beer Bar (http://www.MysteryStudio.com/info.php?id=bbb), FaceIt (http://www.MysteryStudio.com/info.php?id=fit) and PegSweeper (http://www.MysteryStudio.com/info.php?id=ps). Still trying to make a hit :)

[Anthony Flack]

Name: Anthony Flack
Company Squashy Software
URL: www.squashysoftware.com
Occupation: Full-time parent, part time employee at tedious job, indie developer in the leftover time
Location: Currently Tokyo, but often back home in New Zealand

Background: Fine Arts degree in film, followed by a stint as a commercial animator. Been involved with making indie games since 1999, and currently working towards my big break...

Projects: Bert the Barbarian (abandoned), Platypus, Cletus Clay (in development)

[Dan MacDonald]

Name: Dan J. MacDonald
Company: Rainfall Studios
URL: http://www.rainfallstudios.com
Occupation: Programmer
Location: Bothell, WA

I'm an odd job type of programmer, I was hired by Microsoft during my 2nd year of University to be a Software Developer in Test. My big plan was to transition into the games industry inside Microsoft by getting into the games group. I interviewed for a few test positions, but with the amount of developers at Microsoft wanting to get into games, I really wasn't the most qualified of applicants.

It was during my time there that I first ran across SteveP as he was starting his publishing business. I had no idea you could make money from games online, and after a long series of emails with Steve I decided I wasn't going to wait for the industry to give me the job I wanted, I was just going to have to do it myself.

I left Microsoft to go work for Boeing as a contractor, tempted by a 6 figure income. After doing that for a year (all the time working on my game) and paying off a good portion of my debts. I went to work for a small company doing enterprise solutions for various clients, it was a big pay cut but I got to work with some college friends, so far it's been a lot of fun.

In that time, I've managed to spend almost three years on my project (http://www.rainfallstudios.com/katsu) . I've had some problems getting all the art done, so in the interim I released the EasyPPC Installer (http://www.phelios.net/pocketpcinstaller.html) in conjunction with www.phelios.com . This month (or maybe the beginning of next) I will release another game "Little Soldiers" in conjunction with squarecircleco.

[GBGames]

Name: Gianfranco Berardi
Company: GBGames
URL: http://www.gbgames.com
Occupation: intern, Unix/distributed computing division
Location: Melrose Park, IL (near Chicago)

I only realized relatively recently that starting my own business was something I could actually do. I graduated from DePaul University with a degree in Computer Science, and I am continuing with grad school, also in CS.

I hope to release games for the Gnu/Linux and Windows platforms, and I would also like to do development for other platforms such as the Mac.

[lakibuk]

Name: Karl Hofer
Company: Blueskied.com
Occupation: Part-time application programmer, part-time indie
Location: Austria

I've been interested in making computer games since i was a kid. Grew up with arcade games in my parents' pub. I wanted to learn C++/directx and made a freeware game called Frozen Fruits. People seemed to like it so i decided to develop a shareware version of it. I am selling it since last year, it's doing ok so far and keeps me motivated. I want to start writing my second shareware game soon.

[kevryan]

Name: Kevin Ryan
Company: Top Meadow
URL: http://www.topm.com
Occupation: Full Time game making guy
Location: Shaver Lake, CA (high up in the Sierra Nevada Mountains)

Background:
Started up at Dynamix in 1984 with three other guys. Did a bunch of games. Sold Dynamix to Sierra. Did a bunch of games. Moved to the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Did some games long distance. Infant son was very sick. (http://www.topm.com/aidan) Lived in San Francisco for almost a year (most of it at the hospital) - didn't do games - left Dynamix. Son got better :). Completed a couple of indie games sold through Garage Games. Plan on doing a bunch of indie games.

[serg3d]

Serg3d

Company: not yet
Occupation: daytime 3d programmer, indie in training

Background : Doing Direct3D/OpenGL for living for several yeras (not games, mostly simulations), before that was doing boring staff (databases, communications etc) had several game projects but finished no one. Now I'm really indending finish last one. Have some expirience in genetic algorithms and cellular automata, hope to put it in use in some later projects. In the process of finishing (hopefully) my first game - puzzle game for Symbian cellular phones. May be will rewrite it in Java and put online late.

[Linusson]

(formerly freeman)
Name: Mikael Linusson
Company: Nordic Software for Entertainment
URL: http://www.nordicsoftware.se
Occupation: CNC Operator
Location: Sweden

Me and my wife both wanted to make games, so here we are.
Currently working on updates for our 2 games (BrickBuster and Fluffy).

[svero]

Name: Steve Verreault
Company: Twilight Games
URL: http://www.twilightgames.com
Occupation: Full Time Indie Game Developer
Location: A beach in southeast asia - from Montreal, Can though

Background:
Full time for about 3 years now. 1st game was Aargon, followed by Aargon Deluxe, A Snake's Life, Twilight Mahjongg, Frozzic's Revenge, Mahjongg Variations, Space Taxi 2. Have published a few games too. RatMaster, Pocket Aargon, and Aargon Blackbox were all developed by 3rd parties. We also team up with Redmarblegames to do some Mac ports of our games. Before writing games I was working as a developer and consultant for a number of big companies writing all kinds of stuff like software for robotics, finance, medical, etc..

[Rod Hyde]

Name: Rod Hyde (formerly "rodhyde" on www.dexterity.com)
Company: N/A
URL: N/A
Occupation: UNIX system administrator
Location: Buckinghamshire, UK

The first part of this post is a cut & paste from my entry from 2 June on www.dexterity.com

I'm Rod Hyde, a nascent Indie games developer. (nascent is a polite way of saying wannabe)

In my day job I am a UNIX sysadmin. I've been doing that almost exclusively for the last 8 or 9 years despite starting my career as a C programmer, first working on oil terminal automation software, then writing software to connect ATMs to networks such as Visa and Mastercard. ATMs and oil terminals are surprisingly similar, although tanker drivers are scarier than bank managers. Some of the guys in the ATM company had been games programmers (ex Palace and Titus) which made for some interesting conversations.

I started programming at the tender age of 12 back in 1980. My dad bought a TRS-80 just after I'd discovered Galaxian, so that was the first game I cloned. Later, I wrote a number of Hunchback style games for the BBC Model B. My only customers were some kids that I used to babysit for.

Around 6 years ago I got the urge to play an old TRS-80 game called Galactic Firebird (or something similar), but I couldn't find it anywhere so I wrote my own version which I named Corvids. This was programmed using Delphi-2 and something called the Delphi Games Creator which, if I recall correctly, was essentially some handy components for accessing DirectX 3. Corvids looked very retro, even at the time, but I had a laugh writing it and I was pleasantly surprised when people would request a copy when they saw me playing it on my laptop.

Earlier this year I started a rewrite of Corvids using Java and LWJGL after being impressed / inspired by Alien Flux. However, in March, I had a fairly original idea for a game and so Parking Panic was born. My goal, which I'm stating in public for the first time, is to have Parking Panic in a publishable state by the end of August. So far so good.

Since writing that in early June, I found that I was having difficulty finding the time to write Parking Panic, which I was developing in C++. I subsequently discovered Python and found that it was great for prototyping, particularly when combined with a simple (SWIG generated) wrapper to PTK (http://www.phelios.com/ptk) . I'm currently re-doing Corvids in Python to prove to myself that Python is actually a suitable language for game programming. It has certainly speeded up development, even if my time is still limited.

Once that's done then it is back to Parking Panic.

--- Rod

[robleong]

Name: Robert Leong
Company: GamerBlitz
URL: http://www.gamerblitz.com
Occupation: Working in biotechnology
Hobby: Indie games programming
Location: San Francisco bay area, California

Background:
Old-time hobbyist games programmer in the days of the BBC micro and Atari ST when living in Ireland - formerly in Budgie UK Licenceware group. Back then, it was all assembler stuff for me. Now, after settling down with marriage and (non-programming) career, have found time again to indulge in games programming hobby.

[Carrot]

Name: Ciaran Davies
Company: Purplenose Games
URL: http://www.purplenose.com
Occupation: Vision Engineer, Software Engineer, Part-Time Indie Game Developer
Location: Dublin, Ireland

Background:
Making games for years. Started first on Apple II and then C64 and spectrums. Jointly set up Purplenose Games in 2004 to write games for the online market, mostly because I always enjoyed the creativity involved in game design.
Last game was Plummit, available from www.purplenose.com has been well received by reviewers and customers alike. Currently have two titles in the pipline with expected release dates about Dec 2004.

[princec]

Name: Caspian Rychlik-Prince
Company: Puppygames
URL: http://www.puppygames.net
Occupation: Software developer, part-time indie game developer
Location: in the Quantock Hills, Somerset, UK

Background: Programmer since knee high to a grasshopper.
Aims: escape business software development forever and survive off of nascent indie games business. 1.5 years into 5 year plan of escape. One game done, next one ready soon-ish. The reason I'm in this forum is to learn about selling games over the internet.
Quirks: uses Java to write games.

Cas :)

[Ray_M]

Name: Ray Mitchell
Company: Purplenose Games
URL: http://www.purplenose.com
Occupation: Software Engineer, Indie Game Developer
Location: Dublin, Ireland

Hi All, I'm a Software Engineer living and working in Dublin. I enjoy writing games in my spare time and co-founded Purplenose with Ciaran. Am currently working on a new title along with marketing Plummit (our first release).

[Nutter2000]

Name: Iain Key
Indie Dev Company: Hail of Bullets Software
URL: http://www.hailofbullets.co.uk
Main Company: Pi Computer Solutions Ltd
URL: http://www.picomputersolutions.co.uk
Occupation: Techinical Director, Contract Software Engineer, Indie Game Developer, PC Builder, Courier, Phone answerer, Tea maker.....
Location: Sandiacre, Nottingham, England, UK

Background: Ex-Smoking Gun Productions programmer and yet another refugee from the rapidly demising UK games industry.
Formed Pi Computer Solutions in 2003 with 2 others.
5 year mission to try and support ourselves selling PC's and stuff so that we can develop our own entertainment software for download and retail.

[SmartMelon]

Name: Graeme Sweet
Company: SmartMelon Games
URL: http://www.smartmelon.com
Occupation: Full Time Graphics Programmer/ Part Time Indie
Location: Fredericton, NB, Canada

I currently work as an OpenGL graphics programmer for a visualization company, specializing in 3D GIS-type applications. In my part time, I'm starting up a company called SmartMelon Games to publish family-oriented puzzle games. We're almost ready to release our first game Peepers. I've also got a small business called SweetScape that specializes in business applications. Our main software, 010 Editor, has been pretty successful so far. In my free time, I like playing guitar and spending time with my great wife. Cheers!

Graeme

[Quest Engine]

Name: Quest Engine (formerly APE from the dexterity boards)
Company: Quest Engine Incorporated
URL: http://www.questengine.com
Occupation: Full Time Programmer/ Part Time Indie
Location: North Carolina, USA

Greetings, I'm Brandon and my game "Once Twice Thrice" was published by Dexterity Software for a while before I created my own site and started selling it myself. OTT is my first game ever and questengine.com is my first web site ever so it been a tremendous learning experience over the past couple years.

I've got a couple more games in progress and I'm working hard at improving and marketing OTT and the web site. The Dexterity boards were a very valuable resource for me and I hope these forums are just as good.

Brandon

[elund]

Name: Eric W. Lund (same handle "elund" from Dexterity)
Company: Gearhand Studios
URL: http://www.gearhand.com
Occupation: Web developer (day), Indie game developer (night)
Location: Stamford, Connecticut, USA

Hello! Around the time the Dexterity Forums opened, I had quit my job and decided to start up a game development business. I did that for a year and a half, happily releasing Big Head Zed (http://www.gearhand.com/games/big-head-zed/) before my coffers ran dry. The folks at the Dexterity Forums were incredibly helpful and I'm very grateful I had that resource to utilize. Now I'm back to working full time, saving up my money for another run. In my evenings, I'm starting work on a Mac port for Big Head Zed and have been preparing designs for a new game. Thanks to Mike, Dan and the crowd for putting this Dexterity refuge together; I'm sure I'll find it just as invaluable a resource as Dexterity was.

[Gilzu]

Name: Gil Zussman
URL: http://www.gilzu.com/
Occupation: Game Developer / ISP helpdesk
Location: Israel

Background:
I released "Goose Chase" a year ago, and now working on a whole remake for it along with my next title. On my way to get my CS degree (one year left!).

[Nemesis]

**Copied form Dexterity Forums**

Hi, my name is Colin Vella, 29, from Malta - Europe. I've been into hobbyist game programming ever since I was 13 years when I started out learning standard BASIC and AMOS Basic on my first computer, a Commodore Amiga. I eventually moved on to a PC environment where I learned Pascal and 8086 assembly. In the meantime I also learnt Java and C++, amongst othe rlanguages.

Like most hobbyists my efforts were mostly of an experimental nature and I have only released one public domain game (Revolution) with a friend on Amiga Format, a UK magazine. Another notable effort was Androboy, a game similar to the original Sonic The Hedgehog featuring parallax scrolling and a lot of the "physics" i.e. loops and curved surfaces. Sadly, I never completed it due to other personal commitments.

I went through an extended stint without pursuing this interest and only last year I teamed up again with my old friend and with two other friends to work on a 3D shoot-them-up (Perihelion - http://colinvella.no-ip.com/perihelion/).

The game has been in production for over a year and we hope to finish and market it independently in about 6 months time.

[Diragor]

Name: Ryan Eibling
URL: http://eibling.net
Occupation: Programmer, internal business apps: http://www.bestbill.com
Location: Phoenix, Arizona USA

Game development has been a back-burner hobby for me for years. Music is my passion and I'm having a serious go at that with a band I joined in January - http://the-furnace.com (no recorded material there with me on it yet). I don't know if it's possible to complete, market and support a good game with the time I have available but I often consider it. I have a nice little utility I might start selling and I'll see what happens after that.

[Straightarrow]

Name: Ralph Brorsen
Company: Straightarrow Software
URL: todo
Occupation: Student, Shareware Developer Wannabe
Location: Odense, Denmark

As a few other people here, my first code was for the demoscene. Stopped doing that between 1997 and 2000, was in limbo. Wanted to pick it back up last year, started working on games since it's sort of tangential to demos.

But recently I've realised that I'm more into audio & visual synthesis and effects, so that's what I'm currently working on. Hoping to have an initial release out in a couple of months.

[wazoo]

Name: Erik Yuzwa
Company: Wazoo Enterprises Inc.
URL: http://www.wazooenterprises.com
Occupation: part-time Indie, full-time C/C++/.NET/ASP programmer
Location: Calgary, AB

As most people are here, I've been hooked on games since I played UltimaIV on my AppleIIe a lifetime ago. Since then I've been coding little things here and there but never a complete game....fast fwd to today.

On my site, I'm about to launch a new LGPL'd dx9 library that'll hopefully help others out, as well as some tutorials which make use of said project.

I'm also currently working on my "first commercial venture" which should hopefully be done in a few months here.

[Mithril Studios]

Name: Anthony Weissenberger (formerly "Justiciar" on www.dexterity.com)
Company: Mithril Studios
URL: N/A (yet)
Occupation: Office manager, pt time
Location: Sioux Falls, South Dakota (think "Dances With Wolves")

Background
I worked for 4 years Raytheon as a subcontractor to the USGS. Shortly after the Sept. 11th tragedy some of the USGS' funding was transfered for the Homeland Defense -- including my salary.

Since then I've been working at various jobs, trying to get back into software development and working part time on getting a game studio built up.

I've always loved games, and I feel that only rarely do I come across a truly superb game (Heroes of Might & Magic 3, X-COM, Master of Orion II are a few that come to mind). My goal is to change that so that quality, robust, and suck-you-in fun games are the norm, instead of the exception.

[grimreaper]

Name: Brian Azzopardi
Company: GFI
URL: gfi.com
Occupation: C++ software developer
Location: Malta

Background:
Read Economics & Political Philosophy at University where I had many interesting discussion on philosophy, international relations, etc.

Currently working for GFI: interesting experience as I get to meet some very IT sec knowledgeable ppl and on cool tech.

Thought myself programming and then went over to the dark side. Wrote a Linux rootkit and did some linux kernel hacking. Currently have a couple of projects going related to Windows kernel hacking (oh the joys of BSOD :) )

Have always wanted to write games and I've got a few projects going as well.

[Coyote]

Name: Jay Barnson
Company: Rampant Games
URL: http://www.rampantgames.com
Occupation: Software Engineer
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah

Background:
After I graduated with a Bachelor's in Computer Science in 1994, my first "real" job was a programmer for SingleTrac, where we worked on award-winning games for the Sony Playstation like Twisted Metal, Warhawk, and Jet Moto. And we had some not-so-award winning games for the PC and Playstation. Later, I worked for a short stint at Acclaim before finally leaving the games industry after six years.

I always planned to come back, but now I'm re-entering it part-time, on my own terms, as an independent game developer. Low budget, low profit, and lots more work to do to handle the role of game developer, publisher, marketer, and business manager. But it gets back to the reasons I got into the biz in the first place... the desire to create games!

[papillon]

... why do I feel like a new kid at school now?

Name: Georgina Bensley
Occupation: Parting people from their money with the power of the internet
Location: Sussex, UK

No industry experience, practically no job experience (I was working in a library, until that whole deportation thing, and have never been able to find employment in this country), just a few programming classes and a lot of determination. But I've been trying to make games ever since writing bad poker for my TI-82. Love games, particularly slightly obscure or non-mainstream things, and would be quite happy to be independently wealthy so I could give games away free and make everyone play them.


Stuff I Dig: Quest for Glory, Princess Maker, Fallout, Planescape: Torment, good old 2d Mario/Sonic platforming, Mr. Do! and other nostalgic Coleco memories...

Stuff I Don't Dig: Anything first-person, most things 3d, most things focusing on guns, war, or other depressing subjects. Hopelessly out of touch with the modern market, me.

[Kai Backman]

Nice to be (almost) back from holidays and a thanks to fellow developers who put this new forum together! :)

Name: Kai Backman
Company: Mistaril, Inc.
URL: http://www.mistaril.com
Occupation: Full Time Indie Game Developer
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Background:
Working as full time indie for 2 years now (time does really fly). Developed and published Space Station Manager in early 2003. SSM nominated as a finalist in the Independent Games Festival 2004. Currently completing a second title and working on publishing of SSM. Love improving personal productivity and experimental marketing.

[Valen]

Name: Ilya Olevsky
Company: Valen Games LLC
URL: http://www.valengames.com
Occupation: Software Engineer by day, Business Owner by night.
Location: Central New Jersey (right next to the town Jon Bon Jovi's from actually).

Background: I've been learning about the shareware business since joining the original Dexterity forums almost 2 years ago. Released my first game Brickster in January, and going to start working on my next game soon. Recently joined the ASP (http://www.asp-shareware.org/) as well, and strongly recommend everyone to join too.

[P-Q4]

Name: Joe Hillman
Company: WebAppstogo
URL: http://www.webappstogo.com
Occupation: Software Engineer/Part time indie
Location: Dallas, TX USA

Background:
Currently working for Siemens (formerly Efficient) developing tools for DSL modems. During the evenings I develop screensavers and now games for my online site.

[PoV]

Name: Mike Kasprzak
Company: Sykhronics Entertainment
Company URL: http://www.sykhronics.com
Location: London, Ontario, Canada

Personal URL: http://www.sykhronics.com/?main.html (Temp, Personal homepage still intertwined in to biz site)
Day Job: Fulltimer (Was previously Technical Director @ game studio)

Industry vetran with 6 years of professional experience, 10 titles for Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, and Sony Playstation under my belt, and some un-showcased experience on a dozen other consoles/platforms. Been coding and making games as far back as I can remember. Former graphic designer too (not that I claim to be a skilled artist mind you).

Best known in indie land for PuffBOMB (http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=4582), the 2003 classic Hamster Exploding game, Ludum Dare, GameTunnel Monthly Round Up (MK), sometimes Pixelation, and "that guy that did all those girl games". :D

Huge fan of bizarre and unique games, and all things game related.

[Jack Norton]

Name: Celso Riva (aka Jack Norton)
Company: Winter Wolves
Company URL: http://www.winterwolves.com
Occupation: Fulltime indie dev
Location: Italy, currently trying to escape

I decided that in my life I'd be doing games when I first saw a sprite moving in the old glorious Commodore 64.
I've done quite some games for the italian market only, now I decided to go indie when I first saw dexterity forums in the march 2003. My first game USM wasn't a failure but neither a big success, and took me 5 months to finish, so I started thinking to give up.
Now after more than 1 year I've done several more games and in particular one, Universal Boxing Manager (http://www.winterwolves.com/pc_mac_games3.htm), gave me some hope in a brighter future for me as fulltime indie developer :)

Preferred game genres: Strategy/simulations, RPGs, Sports, Adventures

[Mike Wiering]

Name: Mike Wiering
Company: Wiering Software
URL: http://www.wieringsoftware.nl/
Occupation: Full Time Indie Game Developer
Location: Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Background: While studying computer science, I wrote my first shareware games, which sold better than I'ld expected. In 2001 I started Wiering Software.

Games: Super Worms (http://www.wieringsoftware.nl/sw/) (3D racing game for DOS), Super Angelo (http://www.wieringsoftware.nl/angelo/) (Mario clone), Charlie the Duck (http://www.wieringsoftware.nl/charlie/) (platform), Sint Nicolaas (http://sint.sf.net/) (platform, puzzle), Charlie II (http://www.wieringsoftware.nl/ch2/) (platform).

Main current projects: New game engine and Charlie III.

Other projects (open source): Tile Studio (http://tilestudio.sf.net/) (sprite/map editor) and Clean Game Library (http://cleangl.sf.net/) (game library for the functional language Clean).

Other interests: music (I play the cello).

[Uhfgood]

Name: Keith Weatherby II
Company: n/a
URL: http://www.games-afoot-software.com
Occupation: What's an occupation?
Location: Pacific NW, USA (okay Oregon not WA)

Background: Uhh did stuff. Pascal till 97. Got serious, started learning C. Making games, with a little contract work thrown in for good measure.

[mkovacic]

Name: Marin Kovacic
Company: Lemonade Productions ("Genista" d.o.o.)
URL: http://www.lemonade-p.com/
Occupation: Full Time Indie/contractor
Location: Split, Croatia, Europe

Background:
Full time indie for about 2 years, the first one working from home. We developed/published 2 games in that time (Light&Shadow and Caribbean Puzzle). As our games still don't sell enough to sustain us we all do contract work on the side.

[Gary the Llama]

Name: Gary Phillips
Alias: Gary the Llama
Company: None at the moment...
URL: http://www.garythellama.com/
Occupation: IT Specialist/Programmer + Part Time Game Indie Game Developer
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Background:
I'm 21 years old and have been programming for about 10 years. I've created a few clones of "classic" games in the past such as Pong and Pac-Man. A while back I was working on a Duck Hunt clone but that was put on hold while I got married and enjoyed spending time with my wife. I've now been married for just over 3 months and it's been wonderful.

I hope to have my first released indie game in beta status in about 6 months but we'll see how that goes. I just recently accepted a new job as IT Specialist/Programmer for a major American home builder. My salary has increased significantly and I'm doing what I love. The hours are low, the pay is great, the atmosphere is relaxed... So far it's a great job! Each day I'm doing something diverse enough so that I don't get burned out, I hope it stays that way.

Anyway, I hope to be more of an asset to this board than I was at Dexterity. I mostly just lurked around on those forums and found lots of great advice. I hope IndieGamer retains the great community that Dexterity started.

[mhuang]

Name: Michael Huang
Company: Michael Huang Productions
URL: http://www.www.gamenoise.com
Occupation: music composer, sound designer, game tester
Location: california, USA
:)

[formfarbeminze]

Alias: you can see that if you look further to the left, thank you
Company: i have lots of different people around me
URL: http://www.kuettner.cc/
Occupation: i am studying the fine arts, and that's fine with me
Location: hamburg, in northern germany
Background:
prior to my adventures in college i worked as a web designer. i also did marketing and graphic design jobs. i am looking forward to establish a funky software hut in the wargaming/strategy niche. i do like apple computers. i do like amiga computers even more, but i could not find any of them in the stores since years...
greetings to all of you, fellow indie game developers!

[Gmicek]

Name : Gregory Micek
Company: DIY Games
URL: http://www.diygames.com
Occupation: Editor
Location: Sacramento, Ca.

Background:
I helped run a gaming news and review site for about 2 1/2 years called 'RPM Games' that was what you could describe as "yet another gaming news site." We got some fairly unique news that found its way onto other news sites, and were able to build some decent traffic. As I helped run RPM I did a little work for Cloudchaser not long before they were swallowed. After E3 2002 I got extremely depressed with the prospect of running a site that could not hope to compete with the millions of other sites out there covering games I had suddenly become very uninterested in. It was shut down not long after that and the domain was allowed to expire.

I briefly flirted with the idea of creating a a pretty basic game with my programmer roommate before I concluded that I had no place creating games. DIY Games went live in August 2002 with the help of a French national who has never heard of proper coding practices, and believes that user interface design is unimportant. I since gone with another coder who has helped make the site much easier to deal with.

Currently we're in the process of relaunching DIY sometime in August. In addition to new graphics and layout, the site includes a more user friendly game library, an online arcade, an online store, new release list, and much more.

[Guardian_Games]

Name: Michael Sikora
Company: Guardian Games
URL: http://www.guardiangames.com
Occupation: Owner
Location: Peterborough, Canada

Background: Guardian Games has been developing and publishing games online since late 2002. Even before that, 'Guardian Light Studios' developed a retail board game pack called 'The Champion Board Game Series'.

I've been working independently or on contract in the games industry for over five years now.

[Chris Evans]

Name: Chris Evans
Company: Outside the Box Software
URL: http://www.outsidetheboxsoftware.com
Occupation: Full Time Indie Game Developer
Location: San Diego, CA

Background:
I've always wanted to create games, but initially out of high school I was a freelance web developer. I enjoyed it and I ended up getting a lot of experience, which is proving useful to me now. But after the Internet bubble popped, I wanted to take a break from the Web. I just so happened to read a job opening at Sony, so I applied for a QA position. I could have made more money staying in the web development field, but I decided I finally wanted to get my foot in the door of the game industry.

As many people here probably already know, working in QA at a large company is not the greatest environment. The majority are temp workers who are usually considered expendable. The testers are usually completely isolated away from the actual game developers, so it's hard to learn anything beyond QA duties. In smaller dev houses, you'll often find a programmer or artist take an eager tester under their wing and show them the ropes. That simply doesn't happen at big companies.

Still I managed to get promoted and hired permanent by Sony. I did my job well, the people were nice, and the pay checks were reliable. But unfortunately my burning desire to make games was still going unfulfilled. I tried making games in my spare time, but my work schedule was just too hectic sometimes (working 12 -16 hour days) that my hobby game projects would get abandoned for months at a time.

Last Christmas, I decided it was time to turn my hobby into a real business. So I quit my comfortable job at Sony and decided to become a full-time Indie game developer. I quit last February and haven't looked back since.

Don't get me wrong, I get nervous sometimes (as of this writing my first game, "Pow Pow's Great Adventure" has not been released). But there's a album title by a popular rapper (who I hate) called, "Get Rich or Die Trying". Well my personal slogan is, "Become a Successful Indie or Die Trying". :) I'm going to keep working on it relentlessly until I get it where I want it to be.

Running a business is in my blood, so for me it's worth fighting for.

[kerchen]

Hi, I'm Paul Kerchen. Like many others here, I'm a refugee from the industry, having put in seven years at Maxis where I worked on various incarnations of SimCity (mainly simulation programming). Since '01 I've been doing my own thing, including making games independently through my company Whirling Chair Games. After a tumultuous start and a few false starts, I released Vault Vex last fall. So far, VV has not earned enough for me to retire on :rolleyes:, so I'm pressing ahead with my next game as time permits.

During the warmer months, I put my games on the back shelf to help my wife with her business (http://fullbloomfarm.com); it's a lot of hard work, but it's a really refreshing change of pace from sitting in front of the CRT (no plasma/LCD monitors yet :(). We're both committed to making a living working from home, so I know we'll get there eventually.

[Applewood]

Hi guys. I'm the artist formerly known as PalmTree, from over on the Dexterity site.

Big kudos to the guys for taking over handling this stuff. If you need a hand, let me know...

[Pyabo]

Name: Bryan Parker
Company: Gamehaven
URL: http://www.gamehaven.net (not much there quite yet :) )
Occupation: Full time wage slave, part time indie
Location: Seattle, WA

Background:
Is anyone actually reading these? I think they're all starting to sound the same by now...

[Sillysoft]

Name: Dustin Sacks
Company: Sillysoft
URL: http://sillysoft.net
Occupation: Full Time Indie Game Developer
Location: Montreal, Canada

I have been a full time indie game dev for about 3 months now (!) and loving it. My first game Lux was a computer version of the board game Risk and has been well received. I hope to create some more similar strategy-type games in the future.

[whisperstorm]

Name: Andrew Wooldridge
Company: Ziff Davis
URL: http://www.1up.com
Occupation: Sr. Software Engineer / Web Developer
Location: Bay area Peninsula

Background:
I used to work for Netscape - helping to create the Netscape 6 and 7 browsers' UI (also skins) and helped create the Netscape AIM interface. Moved to eBay after the layoffs, and now working at a great game news and social network site called 1Up.com I'm an avid gamer and budding indie game developer -- trying my hand at Flash gaming with Laszlo (http://www.laszlosystems.com) and Gamemaker (http://www.gamemaker.nl)

[peatsie]

Name: Peter Butler
Company: Event Horizon Systems
URL: http://www.eventhorizonsystems.com (not up and running yet...)
Occupation: Currently Technical Director with a drilling instrumentation company, part-time indie
Location: Aberdeen, UK

I've always been into games since...well, alot younger than I am now...and have written a variety of games purely for self gratification.
I set up my company last year to start work on 'real' games and aim to go full-time within the next year.

[FlySim]

Name: J.R. Gloudemans
Company: Flysim
URL: http://www.flysim.com
Occupation: Software consultant, part time games developer
Location: San Mateo, CA

Wrote software for the glowing hockey puck and the virtual first
down line for football on TV. Mechanical engineering background
but I have been writing code for the last 15 years. First game a
mild success, only need ~10 more to do this full time! Kitesurf in my
spare time.

[z3lda]

Name: JC Hsia
URL: http://www.endbossgames.com & soon www.sharewaregamer.com
Occupation: game tester, part-time 3d artist/developer
Location: Bay Area, CA

I work with a wide variety of programmers on independent projects over the internet, and do some occasional 3d contract work. Besides that I've mostly been game testing for major publisher/developers in the Bay Area.

[mathgenius]

Another refugee from working for the man.
Making games since i was 9.
Figure i should see if i can build a business around that.
Studied too much maths. Brain is heavy.
Working on my first release :p

Simon.

[ErikH2000]

Name: Erik Hermansen
Company: Caravel Software
URL: http://www.drod.net
Occupation: Full-time games progammer, part-time indie developer
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA

I've been a professional programmer since 1992, when I convinced my employer to let me write a telephone survey database instead of actually conducting the telephone surveys I was hired to do.

In 93, I worked for this guy that made a lot of money setting up networks, but his clients always tacked on programming projects to his jobs as a condition of using him and he hated doing programming projects--it was too high-risk and ended up eating into his profits. So he just gave me a bunch of his clients to deal with and I ended up starting a contract programming business. Incredibly lucky for me! I was 22 at the time and it was a little overwhelming, but I learned a lot. Most of the 90s I did smaller IT jobs involving databases, with some stints in multimedia and telephony. Around 2000, business was slow and I had an urge to learn more about formal software development, shrink-wrapped products, life cycles, testing, large teams--stuff like that. So I gave up the business for a bit and worked for a couple of companies that scratched that itch. The dot com bust ended up killing off both of these companies and I was back to contracting after three years. RIP, Kindred Communications, Seattle Lab.

Parallel to the regular career, I was always writing game stuff on the side. It seemed like I never had enough time, which got me all angstful and irritated. As a side project to learn C, I wrote a game, "Deadly Rooms of Death", and published it through Webfoot Technologies. More recently, I've released two freeware open source versions of the original game and am nearing completion of a commercial sequel. To pay the bills I'm currently writing games for Webfoot, and it's been great to get my "day job" closer to what I'm moonlighting on, since I don't need to maintain two completely different skillsets. I completed some PC card games that were published through eGames and did some of the coding on a soon-to-be-released DragonBall Z game for the GBA.

-Erik

[Inous]

Name: Michael Conaway
Company: StormFactor Design
Occupation: Full Time Indie Dev
Location: Oregon, USA

I've been full time indy for a month now, and my budget definately reflects that. I'm in the process of designing an engine based off SDL/OpenGL, and it will be my first software release. I've been a programmer for about 5 years(I'm 19 now), and plan to get a job in the industry at some point in the near future.

[Damon DuBois]

Name: Damon DuBois
Company: Wizard's Lab
URL: www.wizardslab.com
Occupation: Full time commercial game developer/Part time indie developer
Location: Thousand Oaks, California, USA

I tried to write my first indie games as a kid on the C64 but didn't get very far. Then in my early 20s I got a job in the game industry as an artist and have been doing that for 11 years now. About 5 years ago I got serious about becoming an indie and taught myself C++ and DirectX and started a really ambitious project. After pouring a year and a half of my life into that game I finally realized it had alot design flaws and retired it. I then started Net War (http://www.wizardslab.com) which was alot smaller in scope and the first game I finished and released. I'm just finishing a second game (this time collaberating with a programmer friend) which is about to go into beta, and I have a third that is about half done.

So far I haven't made very much money at it, but I hope to soon. My long term goal is to go full time as an indie within the next 3 to 4 years.

[Greg Squire]

Name: Greg Squire
Company: MonkeyTime Software
URL: http://www.monkeytimesoftware.com
Occupation: Full Time Web Application (Java) Developer, Part Time Indie
Location: Utah, USA

Background:
I've been in the Computer Software Industry for about 12 years now; latter half of that has been writing Java/JSP web applications. I started programming as a hobby at age 14, and I wrote small games on my TI-994A and Atari 800XL back in that day. I love retro games, and "wasted" (according to some folks) some of my youth playing games in the arcade, and on my Atari 800XL. I'm still "working for the man", but I've had the "itch" to do some "indie" work for some time now, and I'm headed down that road. I hope to meet some of you along that path. Good Luck (and maybe a little heavenly help) to us all!

[Nick Bischoff]

Hi,

My Name is Nick Bischoff (*ahem*). I live in Sunny South Africa, in joburg. I lecture IT at a tertiary institution. Ive worked on several game projects and completed and sold several applications as shareware. I'm always working on a game or tool of some kind. I also run a web development company focusing on online applications. I vent my creativity through web design (and kicking the dog), one of those statements are true.

HA!

[world_creator]

Name: Jonathan Nguyen
Company: None
URL: http://betablocker.budfish.com/
Occupation: Student, part-time indie (not sure if i count, havent sold anything yet)
Location: Sunny South Cali

Background:
I, err, started programming in my freshman year of high school when my buddy showed me DarkBasic. I used that for a year or two and I learned a lot of programming and 3d basics from that. Requiring a little more power, I moved to Blitz3D and have been using that ever since (yes, I need to learn C++ and DirectX). Since then through my high school career I've had two or three false starts until my current project which I've been working on in my spare time for a year now, particularly in the summer. I plan to concentrate on my education for now while hoping to gain some money on the side through indie programming.

[Yavin]

Name: Paul Grayston
Company: Core Illusions (http://www.coreillusions.co.uk)
Occupation: Lead Programmer & Founder
Location: UK
Hobbies: Anything that takes a little thought.

Were currently working on a few titles, some of which are 3D and some are 2D, nothing really ground breaking as of yet but we have a few original titles in planning.

[tentons]

Name: Jason McIntosh
Company: Grim Inventions Interactive, http://www.griminventions.com
Occupation: Part-time web developer/Full-time indie developer
Location: Lexington, KY, USA

My most relevant experience was on a humongous Quake II total conversion called "Dawn of Darkness." Been programming for several years, from BASIC/assembly on C64 to Pascal to C on Amiga to C++ and Java on PC. Currently building a few web sites for small businesses while creating my own small business with games. Live with a wonderful woman who understands; never under-estimate the power of that!!

Working on my first release, which is officially unannounced. I have a lot of plans for growth, but they are layers, so I have to build up to the final glory of my endgame strategy: taking over the world. Or at least making a living by creating games and pushing the boundaries of what is considered "indie."

[Sirrus]

Name: Alex
URL: http://www.weaponstudios.com & dopefarmer.com & www.injoygames.com
Occupation: Intern/Producer/Associate Producer/Cdcopier
Location: Cambridge, MA

Currently working at a major game publisher as an intern...but have worn numberous hats - Producer, Associate Producer, Tester, etc.

Developer of Dope Farmer, released in 2003, which has done pretty well. Soon to release and launch my new family division, InjoyGames.com.

[alchemist]

Hey, good to see familiar names here. I'm Mike Sellers, formerly 'alchemist' over on the Dexterity.com forums. I've been in the games industry since 1994: co-founded Archetype Interactive and designed Meridian 59 (first 3D MMORPG); sold that to 3DO. Co-founded The Big Network (family games and social networking - a bit ahead of the market) in 1997; sold that to eUniverse in 1999. Went to Maxis (EA) for two years, Origin for another year, and then started Online Alchemy a couple of years ago.

We initially licensed and produced a couple of small games with less than resounding success (hey, it was an exploratory move), and are now working on a much larger AI-based game (for which we've received partial funding from DARPA). Small/indie games are still close to my heart (and my biz plan :) ) though; I plan to re-launch our small games and add to them as we move forward.

I hope these forums are as solid a resource as the Dexterity forums were!

[ztownsend]

Name: Zach Townsend
URL: Temporary http://www.zdt.co.uk
Occupation: Full-time Indie Developer & Part-time Web Developer
Location: Kent - UK (For now)

Hi all
Just decided to go back into games after a brief 15 year break. Spent some years at Ocean/Imagine back in the Commodore 64 days - remember that? Since then, spent my days in business software development,SQL etc and run a computer retailer/network integrator. Apart from a quick version of space invaders a couple of years ago in Flash, the last game I wrote was in 6502 Assembler 15+ years ago. Apparently, things have moved on from then - AND I've forgotten everything I knew, so it should be fun ahead.

PS. Can someone remind me what a sprite is?

[SyneRyder]

Name: Kohan Ikin
Company: namesuppressed
URL: http://www.namesuppressed.com/
Occupation: Full-time independent software developer
Location: Perth, Australia

Background: The forums' resident non-gamer. My development experience is mostly in Photoshop Plugins, where I have had moderate success as an independent developer/marketer, and become an expert in the FF+ (Filter Factory Plus) language. Prior to that, I'd started by writing electronic music under the pseudonym "namesuppressed" using Impulse Tracker, and was even nominated for some statewide awards for my music. Despite that, I'm best known as the creator of the South Park Kenny Translator (http://www.namesuppressed.com/kenny/).

I found my way here via Steve Pavlina's articles and the Dexterity Forums, where I was a semi-regular. At the time, I didn't realize that an "indie" means a game developer; as a fan of indie rock/grunge music, I thought "indie" referred to anyone working independently, and/or outside of the mainstream. Hence my presence here. Though I played with the Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit on the Commodore 64 when I was a kid, I've never considered myself to be a game developer.

While most of my time is spent developing Photoshop plugins, I've also written other applications in C++ and PHP. I do occasional contract PHP/HTML work for DotGarden, and casual work writing content for e-consultancy.co.uk. My future plans include developing more applications and even getting back to my audio roots, writing music and developing a cross platform MOD music engine & tracker program.


To Zach: I sure do remember the C64/Ocean days. Batman The Movie and Platoon were two of my favorite C64 games, and I also had Rambo III & Cobra. I was probably only 8 or 9 when those games came out, and when I was 11 my dream was to be a programmer "highly acclaimed by Ocean". No one had any clue what I was talking about :)

[Igmon]

A copy paste :)

Name: David Dionisio
Company: RenegadeWare
URL: www.renegadeware.com (http://www.renegadeware.com)
Occupation: Full Time Indie Game Developer
Location: Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico

Background:
So far it has been 6 months since I started as a full time indie game developer. I am not making money right now and have only made one shareware title. I have several experience with game development as shown in my website such as the 3d platform game called Ta-Ta Mahatta. Right now I am helping out another indie game company called Xibalba Studios.

Anyways, so hopefully I am able to help people here and find help as well.

[LiquidAsh]

Name: Ashley Moore (aka LiquidAsh)
Company: Sugar Pill Studios, LLC
URL: http://www.sugarpillstudios.com
Occupation: Game Instructor
Location: Minneapolis, MN

Background:
Just started offering my first indie developed, and self published title within the last 24hrs. Otherwise, I do have some commercial game industry experience, a lot of random contract programming/design experience, and some teaching experience. I'm doing this mostly for fun right now, but would love to find enough success to afford the choice of going full-time one day.

[Mark Currie]

Name: Mark Currie
Company: Inhuman Games
URL: http://inhumangames.com
Occupation: Game Developer
Location: Redmond, WA

At the tender age of 15, I released my first indie game, Chopper Commando 2, in 1989. It was distributed via BBSs such as CompuServe and PC-LINK (now known as AOL). Over ten years, it sold about 500 units, all through mail-order.

After studying CS at UF, I went to work at Sierra On-line on their football game. When the project was cancelled, I went to work for Microsoft on the multiplayer flight-sim/RTS hybrid game Allegiance. In April 2000, I began work on my second indie game, a real-time strategy game called Trash. In July 2003 I ran out of money, and I worked as a contractor for Microsoft’s Mythica. Seven months later it was cancelled and now I’m back on Trash. Trash will be released this Fall.

[lexaloffle]

Name: Joseph White
Company: Lexaloffle Games Ltd.
URL: http://www.lexaloffle.com
Occupation: Game Developer
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Background:

I started Lexaloffle in 2003 to release Neko Puzzle and Zen Puzzle Garden. I spend most of my time working on new games and also do a bit of graphics programming for other companies in NZ. My formal training and commercial experience is mainly in 3D graphics, but I still love the look of pixel graphics and generally prefer 2D games. Before Lexaloffle, I worked for Right Hemisphere and before that I was a Philosophy student. When I'm not writing games, I like playing football, playing jazz standards on my piano, and thinking about writing games. My favourite games are Thrust, Elevator Action, Ghosts and Goblins, Liero and Ico.

[JoshuaSmyth]

Name: Joshua Smyth
Company: Peachysoft
URL: http://www.peachysoft.com
Occupation: Student / Game Developer / Rock Star
Location: Auckland, New Zealand

I'm currently studying maths and philosophy at university. Thought about setting up Peachysoft for the last 5 or so years when I first started programming back in high school. When I first had this really ambitious idea for a RPG. Which I'm still going to attempt. Just not yet. But first I'm going to create a couple of arcade games and sell them online in order to test the waters and learn more about game development and running a business.

My first title 'Starcars' which is a variation on the game 'skyroads' by bluemoon interactive is very near completion. I want to have it done by the end of this year. So far it's been 12 months in development. Which is an awfully long time for a game of its scope, but I haven't been working on it fulltime and I've had to learn soooo much.

I got started in game development because as a young un I really loved sierras adventure games. Both the parser and point and click variations and it was my goal (from about age 9) to get a job with sierra making adventure games. Now that they've killed that product line, and now that I've discovered just how much work is involved in an adventure game - I've decided to go into business for myself.

As a hobby I play bass in an originals pop rock band. We've got a single demo mp3 avalible for download, which you can check out at http://www.amperzahn.com We've been togeather for approx 6 months and have just started to work on playing live gigs - so it should be fun to see where that goes.

[C.S.Brewer]

Name: Clint Brewer
Company: UnEarthed Games
Occupation: coffee drinker
URL: http://www.unearthedgames.com
Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA

Hello Everyone,
I've found the Dexterity Forums, and now these, a great resource and inspiration over the past year or two. Today, September 2nd, is my first day being a full time indie. Introductions are needed.

I've recently been working at NVIDIA in the Developer Technology Group, helping game developers with bugs, graphics engine optimizations, writing technical demos, papers, and presentations. A great job indeed. Before that I programmed at Haptek Inc. with a tiny team for about 5 years making virtual character entertainment software. Another great job!

But as I know all of you understand, I've wanted to make my own games, and be my own boss for a long time now. I've been surprised by how many of the posts seem to parallel my journey to this point. Thanks to all of you for sharing.

I've been seriously working towards today for a few years now, saving money, researching, reading, learning. Finally things have fallen into place.

now it's time to get to work :)

[Peter Wayne]

Name: Peter Wayne
Company: Bluetone Studios
URL: www.BluetoneStudios.com
Occupation: Music Composer, Sound Designer, Voice Actor
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Background: I started playing computer games when I was about 5 and knew from an early age, that I wanted to be apart of creating them. In my early teen years I found a strong passion for music and wanted nothing more than to become a musician. I also started to get heavily into recording my own music. I went on to finish a sound production course back in 2000. I started my own business at the end of last year specializing in all aspects of game audio. I have been composing music for about 8-9 years. I've always been able to create character voices and I take pride in creating sound effects that are accurate and realistic. Combining those three areas (music, sound and voice). I'm happy to say I specialize in all aspects of game audio :P. Drop me an email if you would like to know anything else info@bluetonestudios.com

[aduro]

Name: John Burkert
Company: Aduro Games
URL: http://www.adurogames.com
Occupation: Programmer
Location: Warrenville, IL (Chicago Suburb)

Background:
I just started game programming this past summer. Did a remake of Dynamite Kat by End Boss Games for Sony Ericsson phones. Started Aduro Games with a buddy and we are working on our first game right now.

[DDustin]

Name: Dustin Dettmer
Company: N/A
URL: N/A
Occupation: Student
Location: San Jose, CA (near it, anyway)

Background:
Been programing in my free time for almost 2 years now. Its more of an addiction really, though it would be nice to make some money doing it. I tend to come and go, for one week I might be going typing on all the forums, the next I might be caught up in real life, and then the next I might be furiously coding something in isolation. This forum looks awesome though, and I'm surprised I didnt find it sooner :D

[Fry Crayola]

Name: Liam McGuigan
Company: Nope
URL: the very out of date http://www34.brinkster.com/frycrayola
Occupation: Unemployed
Location: Belfast, Ireland

Background:
I've been coding in some shape or form since the age of 12. A few non-descript titles for the Amstrad CPC followed, though never released. Pretty simple BASIC games - a Klax clone and a footie management title that was about the equal of Soccer Boss.

I've spent the last two years on and off working on The Complete Football Game, which is the ambitious uber-project that I like to work on now and then. Rather than an attempt to set the world on fire from the beginning, it's currently little more than a hobby, although the dream is still very real.

Just recently graduated from University with a hefty degree only to enter a world where I'm finding it nigh on impossible to get a job, leaving me a little delusional and also straining the relationship with the girlfriend. After four months of that I've finally decided that TCFG isn't going to make me any money in the short term, but I can certainly try my hand at other smaller projects to test the waters, bring in some cash and appease the missus.

In practically all respects I'm a noobie, but that's the way it goes. I find if there's one way to learn, it's to get stuck in and try things out. I have absolutely nothing to lose and at the age of 22, everything to gain. Now if only I can find a job in the meantime....

[tolik]

Name: Anatoly Ropotov
Company: CTXM SIA
URL: http://www.ctxm.com
Occupation: Development Manager
Location: Riga, Latvia, Europe

Background:
Year 98, first Latvian online gaming services and forum bringing dozens of national igaming places together, creating baltic states championships in the area which nowadays is called cybersport (organisations: AVI Center, Quaker).
In 2000 I've established first russian emulation news resource (webarchive.org -> romov.net). Due to the high success, I've opened my non-commercial internet holding featuring 20+ major russian gaming-related sites (webarchive.org -> dotnet.lv). The whole thing collapsed in early 2003, when hosting provider (which was advertised by our successfull resources), was acquired by a bigger company and has shifted their area of interests.
Since year 2001, I was also working at SyberSoft. We were doing games for GBA, GameCube, own arcade platform and hell knows also what (NES, Sega Pico, Mac, using RenderWare, Virtools...) featuring a dozens (http://home.balticom.lv/pal/images.html) of other things (http://www.lynx.lv/albums/gamestudio.jpg).
Early 2003 I left the ship and joined CTXM, where my team has created and developed a number of gambling games which you can play on major betting sites (sportingbet, victorchandler, paddypower, ladbrokes...).
Since 2004 I'm (again) responsible for _real_ games - Xbox, Win/Mac, Flash...

WOW, Did I really wrote that one? Ok, to summarise it all, just read the bottom of this page (http://www.ctxm.com/company/management/).

[Giuli]

Name: José Carlos
Company: ??
URL: ??
Occupation: IT consultant ;)
Location: Portugal

Dont know what to say... i'll edit this later.

[MrPhil]

Well, Giuli reminded me that I hadn’t made a Roll Call post so here it goes.

Name: Philip J. Ludington
My Company: Mr. Phil Games
URL: www.mrphilgames.com
Blog: www.mrphil.name
Occupation: AT&T Business Applications Developer
Location: Northern Virginia, USA (i.e. practically Washington, D.C.)

Background:
Grew up in Mississippi, went to college at University of Maryland. Always been interest in computers and wrote my first program when I was a kid in BASIC on a Texas Instrument TI-99/4A (I was nine or ten.) Got my first paying programming job during college in 1992 and went full-time in 1997.

Current Project: Alien Sovereign
I'm in the midst of serious work on my first title, which will be a strategy game set in a sci-fi universe.

A big motivator for me is that games today focus too much on whiz bang features and/or 3D graphics and rarely produce strategy games I really like playing. I'm also highly motivated by the freedom over my time and creativity that success in the field could bring.

[SonSon]

Name: Olivier *SonSon* Behr + *Mysterious associate*
Company: Coming really soon!
Occupation: Full time indie developer
Location: Paris, France
Nationality: French

Background - We both worked as graphic artists during 4 years @ CryoNetworks and 2 years @ Gameloft in Paris, France.
At present time we are finishing our first game and commercial website. We expect launching everything early 2005.

Current project - An offline multiplayer kids/family party-game. The game has a super easy gameplay, each player needs a single key/button to play.

This forum (and Dexterity's archives) must be state-approved!:D

[Capi]

So I typed out this nice post. Then I typed it all backwards just to go against the grain, clicked preview and it said I wasn't logged in and cleared it all...

:(

capi crimm
AbeedA Game Development (http://abeeda.massdeop.com)
Location: WI.
Nationality: American [or if thats to egocentric, United Stateian]

Background- how I got into this whole thing I'm stil unsure of. I'm an artist in real life. So computers aren't my forte to say the least. Only game I really enjoy is Earthbound. Im hoping all my years watching IFC and falling asleep in movie theaters may pay off here. Original awsome games with neat-o fact-o stories and a lack of real graphics... hopefully this area of indies doesn't have the same pitfalls as the movie industry.

Current Project- I guess the team I'm part of is working on developing a C++ program to create our first games in.

Sadly you don't get to see this all typed backwards... I know you're all crying, it'll be okay, like the time Socrates drank the Hemlock... I still am bothered by that story. Did Crito ever pay the cock they OWED ASCLEPIUS! What a cliff hanger!

AIM: capi crimini
YIM: greenfieldsof

love to talk, if not there I'll probably be on a various forum.

[TheArtifex]

Name: Justin Smith (http://www.sanctuslegacy.com/web/justinsmith.html)
Team: Trillæm Productions (http://www.sanctuslegacy.com/)
Team Introduction: Trillæm Productions - Introduction (http://www.sanctuslegacy.com/web/mission.html)
Occupation: Head of Development, Tools Coder, Composer/Musician
Location: IUPUI, Indiana, USA
Hobbies: (Indie game dev isn't a hobby? Hrm... well I suppose there's a fine line between a "hobby" and a "recreational activity that has formed an obsessive addiction that consumes 8-11 hours of every day of my life".) I also like composing music, a bit of writing every now and then, logical debate, theology, and an occasional hand at video games.

Profile: Graduated early from high school to study New Media at IUPUI, with a cognate in Informatics, which is essentially the equivalent of a Game Design degree from Full Sail in Florida at 1/10th the price, and close to home. I've been in the indie field for about 3 years, working on my current project for just shy of 14 months. I've got 2 years of coding experience, 8 years of music composition, and a whole bunch of project management experience, starting out as early as running some of my old kindergarten events, all the way to organizing complicated coding projects and now, high-membercount long-distance team management.

Currently heading up the development of Sanctus Legacy Online: an indie MMORPG that has actually fared surprisingly well in communities like GarageGames and Gamedev. We try to maintain our high aspirations while working with reasonable goals. Our members have become reknowned for skill and dedication- especially at the young age which many of them are at.

Contact:
http://www.sanctuslegacy.com/ (http://www.sanctuslegacy.com)
AIM: SanctusLegacy
MSNm: SanctusLegacyOnline@hotmail.com

[bluejay]

Name: David Hammond
job: software engineer/wanna be indie :p
Location: Redwood, California

29 yr old software engineer working on my first golf game! :)

[mrhollow]

Name: Aaron Hachez
Website: http://www.hollowworks.com
Location: New Mexico, USA

Background: I've been programming for 8 years, and have been a systems administrator for 5. My goal has been to make games for profit, and I'm nearing that stage.

I've developed one game which has been released as Freeware, and am working on another that will be shareware.

I'm a linux/unix proponent and user through and through, and do all development on linux computers.

Contact:
ICQ: 92836354 (mrhollow)

[Surrealix]

Name : Philip Buchanan
Company : Surrealix
Website : www.surrealix.com
Occupation : Lead Developer / PhD Research
Location : New Zealand (Christchurch)

Started programming at age 11, in VB4, and taught myself DirectX, C++, and game development in general. I studied Computer Engineering at University, wrote financial software for a while, and then left to pursue games.

I was the project manager, designer, and one of the developers for Doc Clock (http://www.stickmenstudios.co.nz/DocClock.aspx), an upcoming WiiWare title. And now I'm back at university, studying towards a PhD :eek:

I also do freelance art, and occasional web design.

contact : philip@surrealix.com

[AndyN]

Name : Andrew Nye
Company : Melted Games
Website : www.meltedgames.co.uk
Occupation : Freelance multimedia developer (and now lead programmer of Melted Games :) )
Location : Macclesfield, UK

Profile: Born 1976, not dead yet. Starting programming games in 1985. Finished one in 2005.

Okay, that's not strictly true - I have finished a couple of games in twenty years but nothing I'd want mentioned in my biography.

I teamed up with a couple of very talented 3D artists in 2004, who also had a great game design idea in mind. 6 months and much wailing and gnashing of teeth later we have our first full game. It's a 3D driving combat game for Windows that goes by the name of Autofrag: SUMO and thankfully it's been pretty well received so far :)

We're working in shockwave 3D and Havok at the moment but I'm planning to graduate to TGE for the sequel.

[Abscissa]

Name : Nick Sabalausky (Sometimes go by "Nitrode" online, sometimes "Abscissa")
Company : Twisted Pair Gaming (formerly Abscissa Software)
Website : http://www.twistedpairgaming.com
Occupation : Your typical struggling 20-something ;)
Location : Cleveland, OH, United States

Born 1981, so by the time I was old enough to really notice the 80's they were over. Shit! ;)

Started programming on an Apple IIc at about 7 (give or take). Made my first complete game at 16. It was an Arkanoid clone called HyperBall, later made a slightly updated version called Zarkanoid (http://www.twistedpairgaming.com/download/ZarkDemo.zip) ('cause there's about a million other games called HyperBall). It was on a few of the "billion games on one disc" collections, back when those were still aound. Made a Centepede clone called Mechapede (http://www.twistedpairgaming.com/download/mechapede_demo.exe) a couple years later (which has music from a friend of mine's electronic group ShadeFix. They're actually pretty good if you like electronica, although the Mechapede tracks aren't their best stuff. Check them out on ACIDPlanet (http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?AID=164107&T=714637) and iTunes). Both games were done under the name Abscissa Software.

I'm currently changing the name to Twisted Pair Gaming, since Abscissa is too hard for many people to spell and pronounce. I'm planning to re-write Mechapede and Zarkanoid in D (the existing code is awful), fix a bunch of stuff that's been *really* bothering me for quite some time, and re-release them as Deluxe versions together with the launch of the new website.

I've also been doing some homebrew GBA stuff: GBAForVS6 (http://www.twistedpairgaming.com/gbadev), My Robot (http://www.twistedpairgaming.com/download/MyRobot_v1.0_by_Nick_Sabalausky.zip)

[TMAN]

Name: Tobias N. Nteireho
Company: TBA
Website: TBA
Occupation: computer engineering sophomore
Location: School in Philadelphia, but home is Fairfax, VA (aka D.C.)

Been programming since I was 11, but developing games is pretty much all I've envisioned myself doing since I got an original NES when I was 3 or 4. I'm determined to launch a business and sell some games this summer, but I'm sure I'll get wonderfully sidetracked.... These forums been pretty helpful to me even though I'm not done.

[Hiro_Antagonist]

Name: Scott Lantz
Alias: Hiro_Antagonist
Company: Tiny Hero Game Studios
Website: http://www.TinyHero.com/
Occupation: Producer, dev, those sorts of things
Location: Seattle, WA

Working on my first game, Land of Legends. I think it's swell, and I hope you do to.

-Hiro_Antagonist

[ZuluBoy]

Name: Sila Kayo
Occupation: full-time Research Engineer for Nokia ( working on 3D/2D APIs like OpenGL ES, OpenVG ), part-time indie developer.
Location: Oulu, Finland.

I was born in 1978 in Yaounde, Cameroon ( Central Africa ).
Wrote my first program/game in 1994 on a Casio fx7900 that my brother gave me as present.

Spent 6 years studying computer science in St-Petersburg, Russia.
During that time I developed games like: SuperTown (http://www.geocities.com/silakayo/supertown/) ( it was later abondoned ), and KatDoom (http://iden.motorola.com/motorola/en/j2me_details.cfm?itemid=6296&price=4.99) ( Published by Micro Java Network ).

I'm currently developing a Symbian/Pocket PC game that I hope will be a hit :D .

[DavidL]

Name: David Ludwig
Company: Funkitron
URL: http://www.funkitron.com
Occupation: Full Time Indie Game Programmer
Location: Worcester, MA

Hallo!

I've been co-authoring/coding indie games since the summer of 2004. Before then, I spent a year debugging device drivers for telecommunications boards. Further back in time, I was a Computer Science student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), which I graduated from in 2002.

My professional interests are primarily in game engine design, however I do enjoy design in terms of general gameplay and user interface. I am also a big proponent of open source tools and libraries.

When I'm not working on code, I enjoy hanging out with friends, playing video games, and drinking beer. :D

[Joneda]

Name : Jonathan Ho, Edwin Kong, Darren Kong


We're currently working on our easy to play set of card game. Hope it will be a hit! :D

[Sega Ages]

Hi... I'm inspired by developers like Jeff Minter who started on the VIC-20 and are still "keeping it real" in the corporate world of this dystopian 21st century. ;) I have an avid interest in game design, applying classic gaming concepts to modern projects, and I'm a fan of all kinds of abstract and niche genre games from around the world (Japan, NA, EU). Hoping to try focusing some of my energies into producing small projects that can be played and enjoyed by a modest underground/niche audience... working on my first release...

[Alex]

Name: Alex Parker
Company: Web Synergy
Occupation: Chief know-it-all
URL: TBA
Location: Western Australia

First started in business as a web designer, then realised how boring and simple that is. I've always had an interest in programming games, been programming in one way or another since I was about 6, made my first real "game" (text adventure) when I was 11, on an Amstrad CPC. So by now, I should know it all right? Well, the trouble with adolescence and rave parties... well, thats another story. Lets just say I spent about the last 2-3 years catching up on everything thats happened since Turbo Pascal and linear C was all the go.

Ideally I would like to throw of the shackles of drudgery and be one of those (if they exist) rich indie game developers. My second goal would be to work for some other successful game developer, using my own projects as examples of my 1337 skills. Other than that, I suppose I will take on an electrical apprenticeship or something, Australian programmers don't get paid much. Maybe I'll move to india (they get even less pay, but theres lots of jobs)!

[Battleline]

Name: Rick Battagline
URL: www.epochstar.com (http://www.epochstar.com)
Occupation: Software Developer / Amateur Game Developer
Location: Colorado, USA

Background: I actually develop mortgage software as my full time gig. Current project is Epoch Star, a Space Adventure / Space RPG. (http://www.epochstar.com) I aspire to do this full time, but I have to finish a game first... so it may be a while.

[aiosup]

The roll call continues...

Name: Alexandru Iosup
Company: Suntstic Software
URL: http://www.suntasticsoftware.com
Occupation: Part-Time Indie Game Developer
Location: Delft, NL

Background:
It's my third year as an indie, but never went full-time. Last year I and a couple good friends decided to start an indie game company, mostly for the fun of it. We currently focus on fast-paced turn based strategy games (yes, a bit of a contradiction here), suited for 1 player/family. Our first game is Leaderz, and we have another one in development. We are full of (hopefully great) ideas, and basicly stubborn as mules into turning them into games. To summarize, I am enjoying very much doing this, and our company is doing every possible startup mistake (mostly my fault(s)), from which we hope to learn faster than we go bankrupt...

[etali]

Name: Lesley Harrison
Company: err... Myth Games? (lol)
URL: http://www.myth-games.com
Occupation: Student
Location: UK

Background:

Ex sysadmin / database person, now at uni trying to actually do something they've wanted to for years. Hoping one day to be an AI programmer for games.

[Matt Parry]

Name: Matt Parry
Company: Grubby Games
URL: http://www.grubbygames.com
Occupation: Part-Time Indie Game Artist/Developer
Location: London, Ontario

Background: I've been a lifelong gamer and hobbyist artist and only recently (3 years ago) realized how much fun stuff you can do with today's 3D software, so I jumped right in - currently using Lightwave. A friend from university (Ryan Clark) and I recently teamed up and decided to stop talking about making games, and just start making 'em! Our first game should be completed in a month or so, we hope... :)

[AtmaVegeta]

Name: Dustin Oliver
Company: In-Geek Productions
URL: Under Construction
Occupation: Student
Location: Bradford UK (July: Russellville, AR)

Background:
I was a student at the University of Bradford, studying Interactive Systems and Video Games design. Did that for year and a half then decieded to go back to States and do Computer Science instead (cheaper).

Earlier this year I thought to myself, why not have a hand at making Indie Games? Even if I don't make much it will look very good on my Resume!

I've had some experience with: VB, C, C++, Lingo, JavaScript, DirectX

While I'm not expert at these, just having a bit of all, I wish to learn them much more. (Most Experience with Lingo/JavaScript currently)

And ready for the future!! Hopefully good things will come! Money or not! :)

[destron]

..................

[Carolyn Ann]

Name: Carolyn Ann
Company: Not sure yet
No URL, either
Occupation: Furniture/cabinet maker
Location: Nether regions of NYC

Background:
I've been in technology for over 20 years. I decided to go into furniture making a few years ago, and I frankly prefer it to the late nights and stress of a Wall St job. Did some pretty interesting and cool stuff while on Wall St, but it's all ancient history now.
I'm developing the game I want to play as I can't buy it anywhere.
My interests are (in no particular order): fashion, Formula 1 Racing, NASCAR, my ever-suffering spouse, my cats, furniture making, art & sculpture, music (classical, rock & punk with the occasional bit of jazz for good measure). I also enjoy mountain climbing and caving, kayaking and so on; I've not had much chance to do those activities lately. I also like my house, but I don't like the bills that come with an old Victorian.

I'm looking forward to some interesting interactions and learning quite a lot from the people on this board. You all seem to be quite talented!

Carolyn Ann

[appleTRON]

(Finally! A lurker no longer!)

Name: Noah Appleton
Alias: appleTRON
Occupation: Sound Designer / Editor
Location: Los Angeles, California

I'm what you call a fresh-faced newbie. I have never developed a game in my life. What I do do however, is edit music, fx & dialogue for film and TV. As a musician and life-long game player/connoisseur, I look to independent development as a way to hold on to art and innovation as games go to the future. I am here to collaborate on ideas and start working on my first titles -- oh, and to share my knowledge with the rest of the community.

[sparkyboy]

Well seeing as I've moved up from junior to a proper tool err i mean member here goes. :p

Name: Mark Seymour
Alias: Sparkyboy
Occupation: Used to be general builder.
Location: Brittany,France.


Right where do I start.....OK got it.


Born in 1967,left school at 16 with 5 O'levels in Maths,English Literature,Biology,physics and chemistry.

First computer I had was a 48K rubber keyed ZX Spectrum,on which I produced a few adventure games using a tool called PAW(professional Adventure writer)

Moved onto Commodore 64 and produced a few titles using SEUCK (shoot'em up construction kit) one of which got released in Germany and UK.


Then ST and AMIGA which is when I started programming in BASIC,using STOS and AMOS and SEUCK.Released a logic puzzle game for AMIGA in '93 through F1 Licenceware in UK.


After that learned enough 'C' to produce 2 DOS games between '96 and '98 which I released as Shareware.


Didn't really touch a computer for the next 6 years or so.After a major works accident in November 2001,have been on the 'sick' and have not yet decided what i'm going to do in the future.

Just recently started to get back into programming,and even though i'm no programming expert,maybe this is something I may have to do and try and make a go of it.

All I know is that this site has provided me with insight,confidence and knowledge of things which are invaluable to me,and I hope to be able to impart my own input whenever possible.

Thankyou all.


All the best

Mark.

[Gnatinator]

Hey guys, I just joined the game officially just a few days ago! Here are my player stats:

Name: Nathaniel Sabanski
Company:Photonik Games (http://www.photonikgames.net)
Grand Opening Date: 6/4/2005
Launch Title: Outer-Rim Pod Digger (http://www.photonikgames.net/orpd.php)

Im currently a lone wolf "one man army" developer. Like most rest of us ;)

[jankoM]

Name: Janko Metelko
Occupation: Programer
Location: Slovenia
Url: http://nomind-tech.com, http://otroski.net, http://arkedu.info... (all in slovene lang, sorry;)

I actually didn't like computers and was more interested in other things until few years ago. I newer played games much and don't know any of the classics you talk here sometimes. Some day I started messing with MSAccess and somehow started programing. I later became webdeveloper (php, python) and left job - i survived with this for few semi-sucsessfull years . Now I am exploring indie-game world and bending my mind to accept statically typed languages :)

I am a little proud of portal for kids in slo. otroski.net that I made while learning to program in Zope. It became very big thing with tons of very interesting and smart kids that never stop amazing me.

LSM, Janko

[Didier]

Name: Didier Evrard
Company: Illusion Software
URL: http://www.illusionsoftware.be
Occupation: Full-time Developer/Publisher, part-time LPG car Mechanic
Location: Spiere, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Background:
Back in 1999 started learning programming with Visual C+ for the Morfit3D engine.
Later on switched to c-script (3D GameStudio).
In 2003 released "Mini Golf 2003" and "Magician's Lair" (both retail published by Xing).
In 2004 released Dope Dealer (online distribution only) and June 2004 began working as a publisher/reseller with my colleague Michael.
This is what we still do at the very moment.
All game submissions are more than welcome ;)

Didier

[DashingPixels]

Name: Laurent Testud
Company: Dashing Pixels LLC, based in Seattle, WA
URL: http://www.dashingpixels.com
Occupation: Freelance Software Engineer, currently contracting for a BIG software company in Redmond.

Background:
20+ years of sw engineering experience.
Worked with XBOX Live
Author of this book (http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/2744019119/qid%3D1118717906/sr%3D1-1/ref%3Dsr%5F1%5F0%5F1/402-2137400-0596106)
Authored the Open Source game engine SxDL (http://sourceforge.net/projects/sxdl/)
Work in progress : Aura (http://www.jeux-directx.com/downloads/AuraDemo_Setup.exe)

[dntoll]

Name: Daniel Toll
Company: Spell of Play
URL: http://www.spellofplay.com
Occupation: Full-time Programming teacher, part-time game developer
Location: Kalmar, Sweden

Background:
I have been programming for many years now but just started developing games. I have always wanted to be programming games but I always thought it was so hard and had to take so much time. So i spent lots of years just practising programming.
Now I have started on a game "Time Breaker" with some friends and it is so much fun! And now I realised that I could have started programming real games years ago. It is more important to be a teamplayer than an elite programmer... no brainie really... :D

[chrisroyale]

Name: Chris Henderson
Company: HEMI Games (http://www.hemigames.com)
Occupation: Software Developer
Location: London, UK
Hobbies: Tennis, Judo, Reading.

Hi Guys,

my name is Chris and I run an ambitious new videogame company specialising in low-cost and free 3D games called HEMI Games. Although we have yet to release a game, we will officially launch our website and announce our first titles within the next few months. Feel free to subscribe to our mailing list at www.hemigames.com (http://www.hemigames.com) and we will keep you up-to-date as things progress.

Although we are a small company with only two staff, we both have many years experience in the games industry and believe we have developed the tools and working practices we need to succeed in the casual gaming market.

I have followed this forum for quite some time and look forward to finally joining the discussions :).

Cheers,
Chris.

[hObbE]

Name: Tobias Ohlsson
Company: Spell of Play Studios
URL: http://www.spellofplay.com
Occupation: Full-time Programming teacher, part-time game developer
Location: Mönsterås, Sweden

Background: Been programming for a rather long time, and took my degree at Blekinge Technical University, Sweden a few years ago. Started working at swedish game developer massive entertainment (www.massive.se) doing, serverside game logic/ai/physics and such. Moved on to it-consultant business doing robotic simulation/visualization software. Now I'm a full time teacher in a game development education in sweden. Doing some (well a lot actually :) ) game coding in my company Spell of Play Studios together with a few friends (including dntoll above). Hopefully we will turn this hobby into a profitable business in a not so very distant future :D

Regards,
hObbE

[ManuelFLara]

I can't believe I didn't post here earlier ..

Name: Manuel F. Lara
Company: FunMan Games
URL: http://www.funmangames.com
Occupation: Architectural design & CAD
Location: Barcelona, Spain

After reading a lot about the indie world at the old Dexterity forums and seeing that making a living was actually possible I developed my first game, The Cursed Wheel. Now I've got my feet wet I'm doing a new game that hopefully will do better :)

[HappyCat]

Name: Alan Broad
URL: http://www.thehappycat.ukf.net
Occupation: Software developer, parent, and part-time indie wannabe
Location: Aberdeen, UK

Been programing since my dad built a ZX81 from a kit ... I feel old ... sob!

Tried many, many times in the past to write games (on Spectrum, Atari ST and PC) but none of them ever got anywhere. Last year decided to give it another try, but this time I kept my ambitions to a minimum in a hope of actually completing something.

Currently working on a simple little shmup called Eridani (http://www.thehappycat.ukf.net/eridani.html) - it's basically code complete, just got to finish off the graphics really. Have no plans to charge for Eridani as it's really just my "test bed" for finding out what's involved in developing a game and isn't in itself a particularly wonderful game. But I would like to make to make a real go of it in the future and to that end I'm also working on tech for my next idea which will be slightly more ambitious.

Just heard about the bombings in London this morning ... now I feel old and sad ...

[itero]

Name: Sergey Tikhonov
Company: Inril Games
URL: http://www.inril.com
Occupation: Game developer, webmaster

I have 3 released games: Christmas Tale, CosmoBlocks and Rabbit Dream. First game was created for Alive Games. Second one for Energames. Third game let me understand that players don’t buy boring games. Now I am indie. It’s great feelings. :rolleyes:

[Stefan Maton]

Since I haven't introduced myself yet:

Name: Stefan Maton
Company: Dude Development
Occupation: Full time speech recognition application developer/spare time game developer
Location: Pepinster(Verviers), Belgium

I've started as a professional game developer in '96 for Blue Byte Inc. (Germany) (Game, Net & Match, Settler series, Incubation, ...), in '98 I switched to Funatics to develop the table top adaptation of "Settlers of Catan", I've been working for EA for a very short time before joining Westka (Y-Project) until they hit the wall.

Currently I'm developing picking applications with speech recognition whilst developing games in my spare time. My current project is "Tombs'n'Treasures".

Best regards,
Stefan

[NothingLikeit]

Name: Marvin Hawkins
Company: Nothing Like it Games
Occupation: Student/ Game Developer/ part-time entrepenuer
URL: http//:www.nothinglikeitgames.com
Location: Chicago, IL

I'm going to school for game design. But I'm too impatient to wait to get hired by a studio to make games. I'm also stubborn, so I"ve decided to make my games now. I'm making two games. The first is an RTS the other is a World War II FPS that should see an Early Adopter release this fall... also i'm making web sites and designing graphics for business. if it's on a computer i have an interest in it. I also like to read books and write novels in my spare time.... which i haven't had much of.

[Escapee]

Name: Kenneth Lim

Company: FunPCGame

Occupation: Full time as Quality/Customer sevice Engineer in Semicon industry, Part time as indie developer .

URL: www.funpcgame.com (http://www.funpcgame.com)

Location: Malaysia , Kuala Lumpur .

I have no formal education in programming , my field was in Chemical engineering with couple of classes on C++ which i barely had any interest in. On September 2004 , i made the most daring & important decision in my life to resign as a overworked R&D engineer in a Japanese company, after that i begin to play some puzzle games during the period of unemployment to curb depression, and i found Dexterity.com and its inspiring articles about being an indie developer , the rest is history. Thanks Steve !!

[Expresionista]

I have been around for a while, just reading and learning about the indie scene. Now I will introduce myself properly.

Name: Alejandro López
Location: Barcelona, Spain

I am a BSc on Computer Science and I have several years of experience in the mainstream games industry. Now I am about to start development on my own. I have a deep interest on innovative designs mainly around the ideas of procedural synthesis of content and software toys. I am planning to start with a lighter project to test this kind of life though.

[DrWilloughby]

Name: Andy Schatz
Company: Pocketwatch Games
Location: San Diego, CA
First title: Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa

[Anlino]

Name: John Anders Linder-Norén
Location: Sweden
Occupation: Student

No titles announced yet. Working on a new one that hopefully will make it.

[Viridian]

Hi! I'm Viridian. My real name is Anthony Salter, and I reside in the rolling plains of Austin, Texas, USA. I currently work for a game company called Gizmondo Studios, making games for the Gizmondo handheld device. I'm just finishing up my first game, called Hit & Myth.

I've been playing computer games for at least 25 years. The first video game I ever played was the original Magnavox Odyssey, which I played in the late Seventies. I graduated to the Atari, then the Colecovision, and it was about that time that I got exposed to computers at school. Once I realized that I could actually teach the computer at school how to play a video game similar to the ones I already enjoyed, it was pretty much all downhill from there.

Like mose computer geeks, I also enjoy role-playing games. My first role-playing experience was when my sister and I would give each other free-form situations to figure out, ie: "You're in this bad situation and you have this, this, this and this. How do you get out of here?" I finally got exposed to "real" roleplaying in middle school, when I got to read both the original AD&D Player's Manual and several Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks. I was quickly hooked.

In high school, I was constantly programming. I wrote a program to utilize the 4-voice sound of the Tandy 1000 my parents owned to play a short piece from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker", which I arranged myself by ear, since I had no sheet music and wouldn't have been able to read it if I had. I wrote several programs that attempted to randomly create RPG overworlds...none of these worked particularly well, but I was pretty proud of them. I wrote another program that used the Tandy's 16-color graphics to present a town from an overhead perspective that the player could walk through - stepping over the threshold of a building removed the roof of the building so the player could see inside. I was pretty proud of that. I wish I still had all the projects I did back then, but I was saving them all on a single floppy disk (it was my favorite color, green) and it went bad. I lost everything.

High school was also where I was exposed to the Ultima series of computer role-playing games for the first time. They weren't the first I'd ever played, but they were the best by far, and they grabbed my frontal lobes like few games I'd ever played before. I found them fascinating, and also appreciated how the designers tried their best to enhance the experience by including trinkets and maps with the game, and by writing the game manuals "in character". I decided that I either wanted to work at Origin Systems, or at Electronic Arts (this was back before they were evil).

In college things kind of went sideways. I had expected upon starting a computer science major that I would finally get some practical instruction on how to program. I was looking forward to this, because everything I'd previously done had been self-taught. But back then, you didn't even touch a computer for a computer science major until your third year, and you didn't learn C and assembly (the things I was most hankering to learn) until almost your fourth. And I was paying for college myself, and was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to pursue more than an Associate's (two year) degree. This was very disconcerting to me, and I began to grow disillusioned with college. When combined with a very hectic schedule (I was working two jobs when I wasn't in college, and then dropping one job when school started) plus a bad home life with my parents, and I finally cracked. Practically on a whim, I withdrew from college, gathered up my savings, and moved by myself to Austin, Texas, home of Origin Systems, which is where I really wanted to work. I was 20, and I'd never lived away from home before.

To this day, I don't know if that was a good decision or not. I still wish I had gotten my Associate's degree, but I don't see how I could have. Back then I was skinny, shy, fearful, and had no self-confidence. And my situation at home was so bad that it forced me to overcome all of that and move to a city I'd never lived in before, with no job propects, no place to live, and hardly any money.

Without a college degree, and without anything to demonstrate I had experience making games, I ended up working fast food for a long time - five more years, in fact. It took me years just to be able to save up enough money to get another computer, and of course I couldn't learn much until I did. Once I finally overcame that hurdle, I worked fast food during the day and at night tried to teach myself programming and game design. I met a wonderful woman, who I married, and we had a beautiful daughter.

And then one day I just got sick of working fast food. I quit and applied at the local Motorola plant. Despite not having a degree, I scored very well on their aptitude tests and landed a job there testing microchips. It was a strange schedule - midnight to noon two days, then midnight to eight AM two days, then three days off - but it paid better than any other job I'd ever had. This was very encouraging to me. I had started thinking that maybe I'd missed my shot, and would just be stuck in fast food forever due to my lack of higher education. Getting the Motorola job proved to me that I could do better.

My wife was actually friends with one of Origin's HR people. She had asked me several times in the past if she could put in a good word for me with her friend, which would increase the chances of me at least getting an interview at Origin. Always in the past I'd told her no, because I didn't feel I was ready, and because I was scared to death of being rejected by Origin. But, buoyed by my success at Motorola, I finally told her yes. She asked her friend at Origin HR if they had any openings, and it turned out that they needed someone to give game hints on their hint phone line. This seemed right up my alley, because I'd at least played every game Origin had ever made, and I'd beaten quite a few of them.

So in 1995 I finally got an interview. I was so scared driving up to Origin I nearly threw up in the car. I got there early, made sure I looked okay, dried my hands in the men's bathroom (interviewing tip, prevents clammy hands) and then reported to the front desk.

[Viridian]

The interview went...well, there really aren't any words for how well that interview went. Once I got started, my fear went away and I answered every question the two ladies interviewing me had to ask. I got to demonstrate that I knew about Origin's games, about the people there who made the games, and Origin's history. And it was clear to me as the interview progressed that I was telling these ladies exactly what they wanted to hear. Then it was over, they thanked me, and told me they'd call me if I'd gotten the position.

The drive home felt really good. But things got even better when I got home, because I found my wife on the phone with my interviewers, and they were telling her that I'd gotten the job! They couldn't tell me when I was there because Origin had a policy of not hiring people on the spot!

My time at Origin was half-wonderful and half-horrible. I was working the job of my dreams, but I got to Origin just in time to watch EA close in, take over, and gut it. (This article (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/14/4) at The Escapist has the details.) I got laid off about eighteen months later, just when I would have been able to start moving over to a programming position. The good news was that during my time there, my role had expanded to doing both general tech support and game testing, which helped me later.

I'll be honest. Leaving Origin hurt bad. It took me a long time to get over it. I quickly found another job doing tech support, so my family didn't hurt financially. And I did still keep hacking away at my own stuff and trying to figure out exactly what pointers were for in C. But I just didn't know where to go after Origin. There wasn't a company that I felt as strongly about. I had had an unhealthy fixation on that company, and it was necessary for me to break it before I could continue. It didn't help that my new job was close by, so I had to drive by the Origin building twice a day.

But finally, after doing phone tech support for about two years, I managed to worm my way back into the gaming industry as a tester at the 3DO office here in Austin. I worked on a game called Crusaders of Might and Magic, which was a good game made by some very good people (it was their first PlayStation game, though, and suffered for that). When that project was over, I asked if I could become a designer on the next game. Despite having a good relationship with the director, and having exhibited the necessary desire, the director turned me down, since I had no experience. And since they weren't going to need a tester for their next project until they hit alpha, that meant that my time at 3DO was drawing to a close.

I was kind of at a loss as to what to do next, when a friend of mine from Origin called me. She was the testing lead at Human Code, a company that made edutainment software, and needed someone, so I jumped over there.

Human Code was...odd. They had some really talented people there, but the process by which software got written just didn't seem to make for fun software, at least in the opinion of me and the other testers. There were no designers at Human Code - game screens were typically just laid out by an artist, who of course was more concerned with how it looked than how it played. It got to the point where we, the testers, volunteered to do design work for free, just to make the software better. We finally got our chance on a game called Jessie's Wild West Rodeo (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000059REG/103-3941216-6174237), which was based off the Toy Story 2 license. One of my testing buddies became the game's designer, and needed an editor to design the levels. So I wrote it for him.

That editor caused a small sensation in the company. I had a constant stream of people tromping through my work area just to take a look at it...I guess the concept of a level editor in an edutainment product had never been tried before. I was told that I was going to be promoted to programmer (finally!) and would be writing more tools for other games.

Then, two weeks later, Human Code went out of business. My wife was six months pregnant with our second child.

I was out of work for about six months, and during that time my son was born. I spent the time ostensibly looking for work, but I mainly focused on getting my programming skills up to snuff. I bought a book called Jamsa's C/C++ Bible and worked straight through it, taking notes and writing little programs to demonstrate knowledge of every function in C and C++.

Then, the same friend who got me my job at Human Code managed to wrangle me a position at her new job, Multimedia Games. MGAM was a company that made stand-up video bingo and video slot machines for Indian reservation casinos. The games were programmed in Windows using Visual Studio and DirectX, and ran on very cheap generic boxes we got from Dell.

I learned a lot at MGAM. I finally got to polish my knowledge in a production environment, and became one of their best programmers. I worked at MGAM for three years, alongside some fantastic people. I worked on over 30 games, and was the sole programmer on at least 10 of them.

But MGAM wasn't really game development, and that kept nagging me. MGAM paid well enough, allowed me to grow my skills to a point, and was a very stable job (casinos always need new games). I was perfectly aware that "real" game development, though it paid more, wasn't nearly as stable. And we had a third child on the way.

I initially decided to go the indie route. I'd been reading and posting on the Dexterity forums for a while, and I'd been reading interviews and articles about successful shareware developers like Jeff Vogel. I bought The Indie Game Development Survival Guide (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1584502142/103-3941216-6174237). I bought some web space and a doman (www.viridiangames.com) and started designing my first game. I figured I'd work MGAM to pay the bills and make indie games to scratch my "real game development" itch. But it didn't work out that way.

Practically as soon as I decided that I was going to make real games no matter what my circumstances were, this opportunity at Gizmondo fell out of the sky and into my lap. It happened when I saw a call in the #gamedev IRC channel I liked to hang out in for game programmers in Austin. I figured, "What the heck" and responded.

And now I'm here. I love this studio. The people here are great, they are all hardcore gamers, they love making games, and I really like the games I'm working on.

But, despite having not gone the indie route, I still like it here. There is a lot about game development that I don't know, and I still feel a kinship to indie developers. After all, that's how the industry started.

[Steve Ince]

Although I've posted a few times, I thought I ought to do the formal introduction thing, so here goes.

I've worked in the games industry for nearly thirteen years, eleven of which were spent working for Revolution Software on such titles as Beneath a Steel Sky, In Cold Blood and the Broken Sword trilogy. In my time I've been a background and sprite artist, producer, designer and writer.

I've been working as a freeelance writer and designer for the past eighteen months and recently decided to split my time between this and developing my own game ideas (of which there are many). As well as the game work, I'm also writing a book on "Writing for Video Games" which will be published next year.

Although my Juniper Games website suggests that I'm working on a game called The Sapphire Claw, I'll soon be making an announcement that this has been postponed for a time while I concentrate on a couple of smaller projects. You guys are the first to be told this. :)

By the way, should any of you require a script editor or wish to take advantage of any of my other services, please don't hesitate to contact me. I'd rather work with you guys than the big developers and publishers.

[David De Candia]

Name: David De Candia
Company: perhaps one day...
Occupation: Spa Coordinator in a 5 star luxury resort spa
URL: www.astariel.com
Location: Byron Bay, Australia

I'll begin by saying how happy I am to have finally found THE forum I've been looking for! :)

In the last two days of reading posts, I've learned so much about successful indie game development - so a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to this forum - especially the regulars.

As for me, well I have been fiddling about with game programming on and off since I was a child, but have for the most part struggled to get my act together and produce anything of quality. I can see now I have been a silly goose - committing almost every game design no-no in the book. Starting with blindly coding without a clear idea of what I really wanted to create. Or indeed whom I wanted to create it for. Little things like that....

Perhaps now, though, with the help of this forum - I'll finally be able to get a clearer vision of exactly what I want to achieve, and indeed, how to achieve it. Here's to hoping anyhow...

[Gasproof]

Name: Vdd Bart

Company: Hopefully Gasproof Studios one day...

Occupation: Full time as Quality Inspector of clothes, plans to start out as parttime indie developer .

(old) URL: http://users.pandora.be/RealBreezer

Location: Belgium , Antwerp .

The studies I did involved alot of programming, and it was from the day I went to do my inititial stage, I found out it was actually possible to easily create games with Visual Basic.

Since then I got interested in everything that had to do with game programming and bounced upon this site aswell... at the time it was still a hobby thing... but I kept this site in my favourites since the discussions here are really pro and well unique.

I've been fooling around with VB, remade a turnbased-RPG with the guide of Mark Butler and upped it from VB5 to VB6. It never turned out as a 'real' game... but at least I got to understand the wonderful land of tiles, UDT's... everything there was to know to start an own game.

So, I went on programming Tetris from scratch... and it worked out nicely (in my pov). Again, it never got finished... (I was programming it whilst I had to be learning for the exams until I finally realised... ummm I should be directing my attention to something more important).

From then on... I did alot of experiments. I tried to make some basis for a realtime RPG game and a leveleditor. Created an mp3-player... even threw my time at a Tic-Tac-Toe tutorial. Until I discovered the SDK named "Truevision 3D".

I toyed around with this thing, found someone to create textures and another person modelling some stuff for me, so that was really neat! But I guess I didn't realize what I had in my hands at that moment... and since Sega was leaving the gaming scene and our game happened to become a 3D remake of the first Sonic Game.... I cancelled our efforts.

It was at the end of that year that I graduated and was looking for programming jobs... but I always got the reply that I was put into the "allmighty" database... and after 3.5 months I just took the first, the best job I could get... which had nothing to do with IT.

Since almost 2y... I completely banned the programming scene from my mind...guess I was somewhat pissed to have learned so long (and hard) and couldn't even start a job I liked. But.... the love was somewhere still tucked away and I've been mostly thinking 'bout a comeback... but one where I would really act as I should act when it comes to programming a game.

The idea of starting an indie company arose and with it, the acknowledgement that everything should be done 'correct' from now on. Correct in my eyes would mean: Design Document, Technical Document, Music, Soundeffects... anyway... everything should be there to make a game from a game.

Hmm I could go on and point out all the things I did in my life... but I'll just summarize most of it here:

programming mostly in Visual Basic, with plans to start things in either C++ or C#.net
Creating music (of some kind :P).
Had a quick throw at 3dsmax... but nothing to brag about (except the one cool cube :D)
Well, a quick look at my old site should actually speak for itself... I've been trying to educate myself everything that an indie w(c)ould need.

Now that I'm taking things seriously.. I hope I can present you guys very soon with my first game I've in mind :).

Greetz,
Gasproof

[indieSoft]

__________

[Tom Gilleland]

Name: Tom Gilleland
Company: BeachWare
URLs:
http://www.beachware.com
http://www.vegasjackpotgold.com
http://www.firsthourfree.com

Occupation: Full-time Game and Education Developer/Publisher
Location: Tucson, Arizona

Background:
Let's see, I wrote my first game way back in 1983 on an Apple IIe. Of course I didn't have a disc drive, so it was lost when I ultimately turned the power off. I worked at a huge variety of jobs in the computer industry since 1982, until I started BeachWare in 1990. We've created over 50 commercial titles since then, most of them being games and educational programs. We've created over a dozen Casino type titles, with "Vegas Jackpot Gold" being our best in that category. Our best educational title has been "Bernie's Typing Travels", that also contains ten typing games. The bulk of our titles have been sold through mail-order and retail channels. And we've done a variety of contracting projects. We've just recently changed our focus to creating top-notch games for the download market.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure that I've played more computer games than you have! :)

[Kite65]

Name: Kite65
Company: Firecrown Systems.
URL: http://www.firecrown.com
Occupation: Full Time Software Engineer
Location: Central Belt, Scotland

Background:
I've lurked here for a long time, even did a bit lurking on the old dexterity forums as well. But 2006 will be different, no more lurking and I will ship the games that I have been developing. (well that's the ambition anyway :) )

In the Real World, I've programmed software as a job for 15 years (from military through insurance and into web work). I like C# but the .NET DLLs requirements make it not feasible option to develop games with it. So it's Delphi for me in the meantime.

For me, it's a hobby that might raise the odd pound (or euro or dollar ..)
It's a shock to see that I have been registered a year before my first post :(
I need to get on with doing stuff rather than sitting watching TV

Here's hoping everyone has a good new Year

Kite65

[Rubs]

So...

Name: Rouben Sardarian
Company: soon gonna be Cubic Games ;)
URL: already exists but the site is empty yet
Occupation: Full time software engineer strongly wishing to become a full-time indie
Location: Yerevan, Armenia

Background:
Been a full-time software developer for 6 last years. Lived 11 years in Moscow, Russia, graduated from Moscow State Engineering-Physics University in 2002, master degree in computer science. Got married and been living in Armenia since then.

Got inspired by Dexterity about a year ago, finishing my first small game now...

Gotta say that this community is a real jewel with lots of cool people and opinions around :). Got infected with this forum and reading thru it takes a lot of my time recently. Wanna say big HI to everyone here and wish good luck and great mood in your day!

[Mark_Tempe]

Name: Mark
Company: Very Big Games URL:http://www.verybiggames.com (http://www.verybiggames.com/)
Occupation: Medic
Location : Canada , Alberta , Edmonton

I become Indie to create Huge Unique Science Fiction and Fantasy Games.
I have been making games since I was 13 now I am 33
First TRS-80 ,Then C64,Then Amiga, Now PC

In 1996 my teams made commercial game Heliosfera (http://hol.abime.net/3999) which was sold in a box in a country far far away.
You can also find our staff on aminet

[Artinum]

Name: Andrew Williams
Company: IndieProofing
URL: http://www.indieproofing.co.uk/
Occupation: Proofreading (as above), reviewer at www.bytten.com and office worker in the "real" world. So I keep busy.
Location: Leicestershire, UK.

I'm a fairly new addition to the Indiegamer Forums, since for some time I felt like I didn't belong here - I don't write code. Not since my schooldays, when I used to play around with Basic and Pascal. These days I can often figure out what code does but you're better off finding some use for my maths degree and asking me about algebraic formulae.

I've recently started a new venture in the form of www.indieproofing.co.uk, a proofreading service aimed at indie developers for whom English is a problem and those that simply don't trust the spellchecker. I'm also still reviewing for Bytten after two years - it's too much fun to be work! - and I'd get even more done were it not for this irritating thing that takes up most of my week called "a job". But hey, get the mortgage first and *then* I can quit...

At the moment I have some interest in learning more HTML. My webdesign skills are limited. I will probably be changing ISP as well in the near future as Tiscali are being both unreliable and unreachable.

[Vorax]

Name: Darren Pye
Company: Vorax Games
URL: http://www.voraxgames.com
Blog: Nibble's and Bits (http://www.voraxgames.com/community/blogs/dut/)
Occupation: Director of Research & Development in a fairly large, non-game related software company.
Location: Ottawa, Ontario - Canada

No history. I was left behind by the mother ship... those bastards!

[Shaz]

Name: Sharon Hanlon
Company: none (me, myself and I - currently contracting to local council)
Occupation: Programmer.
Location: Queensland, Australia

Completed BBus (IT) after high school and spent last 15 years programming business apps - mainframe RPG (which has nothing to do with games) - no PCs :( no C or C++ :(

Had the desire for a couple of years to start games programming but not a self-learner - need to see how its done then do it myself. Enrolled in games programming course at Uni (offered first time this year) and I'm on my way! Have found a WEALTH of information from this forum and Dexterity is EXCELLENT to getting started with the right attitude (and glad to realise I DO have what it takes! :D ). Just need to make a routine that includes work, study, forums, progressing on my own games, 4YO, hubby and church and I'll be set! Simple, huh?

[Tr00jg]

Name: Simon "Tr00jg" de la Rouviere
Site: http://www.shotbeakgames.za.net
Company: Shotbeak Games
Occupation: Full time scholar/Part time Developing Indie games
Location: Sunny South Africa!

Background:

I have been creating games for a year now, and I have been loving every second of it! At the start of 2006 I created a website to schowcase my games. I have written several design articles for a mag and my site.

It is a very exciting time to be alive in South African game development. We only have 1 licenced developing company called I-Imagine http://www.i-imagine.co.za/ . The rest of us is just indie developers! A few months ago the first game dev degrees was started here and a group of people, inlucding me, started a Game Development mag.

Im lovin it!

[ThomasW]

Name: Thomas White
Site: http://www.lightworksgames.com
Company: Lightworks Games
Occupation: Full time indie game developer
Location: Brisbane, Australia

Background:
About a year ago a friend and I began making a game for Pocket PC, Smartphone and PC. Towards the end of last year we started our company and a few months ago we stopped working so we could devote ourselves full time to getting our game done (he worked at an Australian game company called Auran (http://www.auran.com), I did contract programming).

Lightworks Games is just the two of us doing all the programming and design, with a contracted artist doing all our visuals. We're currently finishing up our first game, Cavemen (http://www.lightworksgames.com/blog/cavemen.aspx), which will go into public beta soon and hopefully will be ready for release shortly after.

We recently began a blog to talk about our experiences starting this game company and making our game, which you can check out here (http://www.lightworksgames.com/blog/index.aspx).

It's an exciting time :)

[whipper]

Name : J.L. Osborne
Company:Able Dimensions Inc.
URL: http://www.theindiewhip.com
Occupation: Ok. Officially, I grow greenhouse potted roses
Location: Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada

Background:
Honours BMath, CS degree University of Waterloo
xIBMer. Started in Large Accounts marketing, finished as a QA Manager.
Left IBM to raise my two boys. Now trying to learn to be a Indie Game Developer.

Yes I am a "she".

[_6_]

Name: Brian
Site: http://www.whitespace.net.nz
Company: Inland Revenue
Occupation: Siebel Configurator (Previously Intranet Dev)
Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Background:
BSc in Biology (Major in Virology), but never used it once to get a job. Worked several jobs in I.T, mostly admin roles until I was made redundant. Used that money to take 6 months off work and earn an Advanced Cert in OOP through Spherion(now called Computer Power). That gave the background to tackle OpenGL and since then have been developing a casual TBS similar to the Samauri game.

The prototype is very near completion, about a month away. After feedback and comments, I'll tidy the code up and release it before Christmas.

Progress is often held back by spending too much time playing COD2 online.

[Level_Designer]

Name: Paul Tanner.

Site: http://lddreams.com

Company: Level Design Dreams, LLC

Occupation: Self-Employed.

Location: New York, USA.

I own and operate Level Design Dreams, LLC. We provide Professional Level Design and Profesional Modeling Services plus much more to Indie's and Professionals in the Industry.

Most of our production Team has worked in the Industry. We have Jeff Geis from Unreal 2004 and others. We are here to provide Professional services for you. Thank you and have a good one.

[Desktop Gaming]

Name: Dave Kirk
Site: Used to be www.binaryzoo.co.uk
Occupation: Customer Services by day, bouncer by night
Location: Barnsley, England.
Interests: Programming, playing bass guitar, photography, science fiction, drinking ale.

Been into programming since 1986, had my first game published in 1994 (on Amiga) plus a string of public domain and licenceware releases in mid 1990's. Late 1990's moved to PC and began programming again in Blitz Basic. Ten published PC titles to date (in order of release): Hole in One, Double Top, Arcade Chess, Operation Overkill, Arcade Bowling, Maxx GP, Maxx Trucks, Maxx Powerboats RC, Tennis Ace, Par FORE!

Have also played bass guitar since 1990, and was in a locally well-known band for 14 months - the highlight being touring with Mansun in October 1998.

[JonC]

Name: Jonathan Cummings
Company: Dreamworks Animation
Location: Glendale, CA
Interests: Relaxing with my wife and our dog, programming, cooking

I studied CS at Boston University, and got a masters from Brown. Then I went into the world of AAA game development for 3 grueling years... That was enough! :D

Since then, I've been working part time on games. Nothing finished yet, but I'm commited to seeing my current project through. I'm only at it part-time now, but hope to be full-time in a few years...

I only recently joined the forum, but have been reading the discussions for a little while now. Thanks to all of the people who share their knowledge here!

[MikeVitt]

Name: Mike Vitt
Company: Precision Games, LLC
Site: http://www.precisiongames.net
Occupation: Full time indie game developer
Location: New Jersey

Background:
I have been programming for over 15 years. I went to Lehigh University from 1995 to 1999. During that time, I had an interniship with a group at AT&T that spun-off to a company called GlobeSpan. While there, I worked with LabView on automation software for DSL modems. I finished my B.S. degree in Comp Sci and started working full-time at GlobeSpan on USB DSL device drivers and other supporting software. After working at the company for around 7.5 total years (4.5 full-time) I decided to leave in order to work on my own project. I started my indie game during September 2003 and am finally close to releasing it after around 33 months of work. I have been reading these forums for several months and look forward to the feedback.

[MibUK]

Just realised that I never filled this in

Name: Michael Brunton-Spall (or MIB)
Company: MIB Games (a division of MIB Solutions Ltd)
Site: http://www.mibgames.co.uk/blog
Occupation: Full time indie game developer as of 31/7/06
Location: Milton Keyens, UK

Background:
Started programming when I was about 10 or 11, on a spectrum 48K.
Self taught AMOS on the Amiga at age 13 - 15 or so, and with a friend wrote a number of games, mostly in the RPG genre. None of which were ever released.
Did 3 years at University of Lincolnshire and Humberside in Hull, studying Computer Games Design and Development. Following that did 3 years at a company called ECM that produces bingo systems and hardware for pay per play systems for pubs. Spent that time learning C++ for real! (amazing how much you can know without really grokking it! Worked on real time touch screen interactive gaming systems on both Linux and Embedded windows Xp.
Left to move to Milton Keynes with my wife, spent 3 months working at Bits Studios, writing networking code for Xbox and PSP games (1 cancelled and 1 released "Payout Party and Poker").
Seven months working at my current employer as developer of high speed low latency real time data trading systems for banks. Working within an Agile development environment and learning Java and Python and enhancing my raw C.
MIB Solutions Ltd will become my primary income as of 31st July 2006, and no games released as of yet.

[MacMan45]

Name: Nathan Wiliams
Company: none yet
Occupation: Uni Student, Last year!
Location: New South Wales, Australia

I have been lurking at these forums since i first found them at dexterity.
I was always hesitant to post until i had something of value to add, so I only signed up just the other day!

I've been interested in the shareware model for so long, being originally a mac die hard, it was basically our only option & AmbrosiaSW inspired me a lot.

I am now almost finished my degree in Games Technology (http://www.csu.edu.au/courses/undergraduate/computer_science_games/) which has been good, but the maths is a killer :P

As my last year, i have been working hard on a game project for the course (its a slotcars game), which i have decided to polish a lot more after i'm done & try to sell it as my first shareware game.


Thats it from me, i'll probably lurk a little longer & let those who have done it, speak ;)

[iGame Omaha]

Name: Omaha Sternberg
Company: MacRadio, Sound Podcast
Occupation: Gaming journalist and podcast producer
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA

I'm a journalist reporting about the games industry, specializing in Mac games. I've been doing this for 3 years. I broadcast an Internet radio show on Mac gaming called iGame Radio (http://www.macradio.com/igameradio) and produce a podcast for the DigiPen Institute of Technology called the DigiPen Podclass about game development (http://www.digipen.edu/main/PodClass)

I really enjoy exploring the Indie market because I believe that is were the real creativity in the gaming market will continue to be for many years to come, as AAA titles turn into never-ending sequels and million-dollar titles based on already copyrighted material.

I'm always ready to hear about new titles or interview developers, so don't hesitate to send me an email at omaha@macradio.com about your game or development studio.

[Cartman]

Hello Omaha. I see you took my advice and joined us.

Welcome!

[stiill]

Name: Matthew Franklin
Company: Independent Creator
URL: http://www.independentcreator.com/
Occupation: Independent Game Development and Contract Programming
Location: San Francisco

Background:
I recently left large-budget retail game development to go independent. My work experience includes making web apps as Technical Lead for Homestead.com, and Lead Gameplay Programmer on Psychonauts for Double Fine Productions. The lure of self-determination and crazy variety was too strong (and my own understanding of personal finance too weak), and now I'm excited to be working on an independent project several days a week, while contracting a couple days a week as well. I hope to keep this up as long as possible!

I consider myself particularly lucky to be able to work with my wife, who's a freelance artist and web designer (www.animalocean.com). I do tech work for her, she does art work for me, and so far it's working pretty well.

I've been lurking on these forums for a while. Now that I'm going indie full time, I hope to participate a lot more. See you guys around.

[Dave Chan]

Name: Dave Chan
Company: Giant Sandbox Productions
Occupation: Independent audio contractor
Website: www.giantsandbox.com (in the process of redoing it so it's just a placeholder page right now)
Location: Edmonton, Alberta

I have always had an interest in computers and audio. One of the first major purchases I made as a teenager was a Roland synthesizer so that I could experiment with sound and music. After high school and some university I decided to take an audio production course to further my interests. Using that knowledge I created a job for myself at a local computer store by convincing the store owner to partner with a local music shop. After many years working and finally managing that computer store I decided to expand my horizons and obtain my Microsoft certification. At the same time I was taking my certification I helped start a LAN even known as Fragapalooza. I invited the owners of BioWare (then a relative unknown) to demonstrate Baldur’s Gate at the event. Ray Muzyka was impressed with the job I had done for Fragapalooza, so when I finally got my Microsoft certification I ended up working at BioWare in the systems department. The owners were aware of my audio background and offered me a chance to make placeholder sounds for MDK2. They liked the sounds so much, they wanted me to do the whole game. The rest as they say is history. Since then I have been an active member in the Game Audio Network Guild since its launch in 2002 and am on the Advisory Board as well. In 2004 at the Game Developers Conference I was the lead speaker of a panel on Audio Asset Management for Large Projects, my evaluation can be seen here - http://www.cmpevents.com/m.asp?A=241228131H2&C=17

While at BioWare I worked on MDK2, BGII, BGII: Throne of Bhaal, Neverwinter Nights and all it's expansions, Star Wars:Knights of the Old Republic and the initial development stages of Jade Empire.

I left BioWare to start my own company doing game audio and other media in 2004. I have worked on an indie title and a couple AAA titles like Jade Empire, Prey and another unreleased project since going on my own. Some day I would like start my own small dev house and have been making strides towards that goal, but these things take time. If anyone is interested in a demo please contact me and I'll send you one ASAP.

[John Schultz]

Name: John Schultz
Company: Brightland
URL: http://www.brightland.com
Occupation: Full-time Indie Developer, part-time contract programmer
Location: La Jolla, CA

Background: Commercial Amiga and PC games, first XBox Live game. Currently working full-time on Amazing Curves Racing for the PC.

[moco]

Name: Matt Lee
Location: Spain
Occupation: Part-time teacher, part-time indie

I used to hide indoors from the rain in Oxford, now I hide indoors from the sun in Spain. I worked for three English games companies and one Spanish one before I realised that I needed complete creative freedom in order to really enjoy myself.

[Rohit]

Name: Rohit K
Company: TBA
URL: TBA
Occupation: Part Time Indie Game Developer/Publisher
Location: India

I am 30, and have been a professional (non-game) programmer for the last 7 years.

I registered at these forums long ago, but subsequently forgot about them. Dustin Sacks of Sillysoft pointed me here a few months ago in an email, so my thanks to him. I have been lurking here since, and enjoy reading your posts. I have learnt a lot from them, so thanks to all members who post.

I don't have any released games right now, since I am still learning game development. I hope to change that in the next few months though. :)

Regards,
Rohit

[Agent 4125]

Name: Joe Lesko
Site: http://www.fleacircusgames.com
Company: Flea Circus Games
Occupation: Full Time Game Developer
Location: Alameda, California
Interests: Drumming, Drawing

I started programming on the Vic-20 when I was 7 or 8. My first program was probably "Rock, Scissors, Paper" or "Russian Roulette". My first animation was a little ASCII guy doing jumping jacks.

Because my dad was a computer hobbyist starting in the late 70's, my brothers and I grew up around computers and game consoles. Over the years, we had a Bally Astrocade, TRS-80, Colecovision, Vic-20, and Commodore 128 ("GO64"), and the Amiga.

About 3 years ago, I started getting into games again, and created about a dozen freeware games in BlitzBasic.

In early 2006 I decided I wanted to leave my job, but instead of jumping into another job right away, I thought I'd give the indie thing a try. I've been going full-time since August.

The cool thing about making computer games is that it's one of the only activities where I can follow my interests in design, games, art, music, and programming all at the same time. :)

Joe

[Yard Sale]

Name: Jonathan Durain
Company: Bastion Entertainment
URL: http://www.bastionentertainment.com
Occupation: 3D Modeler and Designer
Location: Orange County, California

[Tom Ohle]

Oooh, fun!

Name: Tom Ohle
Company: Evolve PR
URL: http://www.evolvepr.com
Occupation: Director of aforementioned public relations studio
Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada

Been kicking around the industry for quite some time... spent four years at BioWare, a year handling PRish stuff for Atari, Microsoft, NVIDIA and others... currently working with Stardock, CD Projekt, Irrational and 2K Games on a variety of PR and community campaigns.

[amaranth]

Name: Amanda Fitch
Site: http://www.amaranthia.com
Company: Amaranth Games
Occupation: Programmer Writer, Indie Developer
Location: Redmond, Washington
Interests: Painting, writing, myths & legends, coffee

[Sectarian]

Name: Ian Chase
Company: Intregrated Security Systems Inc.
URL: http://www.iss.com
Occupation: COO. Software designer/programmer.
Location: Cheshire/UK

Background:

I got into computers in 1990 as a hobby which turned out to be my fulltime career. And started playing around with online browser games during y2k. Couple of years ago I design a Battle Calculator to use in the
game Ferion without comprimising the servers my cd-rom
proved itself well. Next came the strategy/battle calc
ulator which I used at Ferion and managed to get a solo victory and i'm very happy with it. Sometime in
the near future i'd like to design and produce an
online broswer based game.

I joined indiegamer forums to get insights into what
web gamers design to get a feel for a project that i'd like to get into.

[Glasswalker]

Name: Paul Mumby
Company: Not officially created yet
URL: http://www.finalfrontieronline.net
Occupation: IT Manager (and now part time indie dev)
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

I am relatively new to the independant game development scene, but have allways wanted to break into it, and just now managed to muster up the time, and resources to make it happen. I have been an avid gamer for most of my life (since games have been around anyway), so this is somewhat of a passion for me. I was a professional production programmer for 5 years, and have over 10 years of solid programming experience in literally dozens of languages. Since then I have moved on to the IT Industry, and am managing networks for a living (while still doing alot of programming both for work, and for fun). I am currently the IT Manager of a large development firm.

I am starting my first game (Final Frontier Online) as a part time thing while working full time, so may not advance quite as fast as someone doing it fulltime, but I am diligent, and a good coder, so I am hoping I can try to keep pace. :) If I can make it successful, it will allow me to focus more of my time into indie game development.

[Studio_Cobweb]

Caitlyn Kloecker
Studio Cobweb
Intermedia Arteest - games - music - animation -scriptologist
Somewhere in Germany but from San Francisco
www.studio-cobweb.com

Wow this is a great place! With creative and industrious peoples, my favorite kind of them. I'm happy to have stumbled my way to this excellent community.

Hokay- about meese: I formerly worked in SF for a lot of media and game companies but since moved into the sticks of rural deutschland where there's a bounty of free time.. I spend much of it developing an indie 3d platformer, tenatively called Sleepy Sushi Surface... It's probably more than I can chew, but it's going okay considering how much free time I have to work on it. See the video of the early ruff-a-roonie movement code online if ya wants: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU9v30UDu2s

I'm interested in art-vs-graphics, theory, design methodology, mechanics, making original and creative and innovative indie games, yaaummba jumba moomba. I use the A6 engine (snarf if u must) and am a maya & painter nutcaseomatic.

[jman2050]

Name: Joel Oquendo
Site: None yet
Company: None yet
Occupation: Unemployed (looking for a job though)
Location: Blairsville, GA

Background:

Games have always been a part of my life, and I'm glad to have the opportunity to use my programming skills to create great games. I was prevously working on a project which took up a lot of my time, but now that I'm off of it I can focus on my own game creations. I hope to have a good relationship with the users of this forum, and would like to thank princec for referring me to this forum in response to an enquiry ;)

I hope to be a valuable asset and look forward to contributing whatever I have.

[mrkwang]

Name: mrkwang (Real Name : Kim Jin Sung)
Site: http://www.pig-min.com
Company: Pig Min (Korean Independent Game Webzine. First & the Only 1)
Occupation: Webzine Writer / Admin (And selling Korean DVD / OST abroud through http://www.mrkwang.com)
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Nationality : Korean

Background:

Not sure I'm core gamer or not. Anyway I was doing sub-admin for Post Adventure(http://www.postadventure.com), Korean Adventure Game Webzine / Forum for several years. After that, I started my own webzine Pig-Min. Personally on pre-production of some game project, anyway basically doing Webzine.

[Jesse Hopkins]

---------------

[Chroma]

Name: Tony Cole
Company: Zama Games
URL: under development
Occupation: USAF / Real Estate Developer / Part Time Indie Game Developer
Location: Yorktown, VA
Interests: programming, guitar, buying cheap land and building apartments on it

This site is great. I've been perusing it for months and finally got around to posting a few days ago. I'm currently working on a casual puzzle game (who isn't?!). If anyone needs contract BlitzMax work done just PM me.

[Backov]

Name: Jason Maskell
Company: Tamed Tornado Software
URL: http://tamedtornado.com/devblog/
Occupation: Web programmer and wannabe full time indie games programmer.
Interests: Gaming, poker, motorcycles, sailboats.

I lurk here a lot and occasionally pop out of the woodwork to post. I hope to meet some of you at the next conference in Washington or get together in the Vancouver area.

[Qitsune]

Name: Chantal Fournier
Company: Studio Qitsune
URL: http://www.qitsune.com
Occupation: part time customer service/part time freelance 2D artist/animator/game designer
Location: Montreal, Qc, Canada

I'm trying to migrate to full time freelancing. I do pixel and vector graphics and animation and have designed some web and mobile games already. I come from an edutainment background where I worked on some big children IP's. I'm developping my own IP as I go along as well as work on other people's projects. I also paint, with real analog brushes and acrylics.

[StarLite Moon]

Name: StarLite Moon
URL: http://indieadventure.freeforums.org/
Occupation: Retired
Location: Ontario, Canada

Hello everyone, I am in the process of creating a free adventure game called Incident At ROANOKE. It's a 2D point & click game in the old Sierra, Lucas style. This is my first attempt at anything like this. I just finished a video to help promote the game and a friend's new album. If anyone is interested in viewing the video here is the address:

http://www.youtube.com/v/juLWMqvbGEM

please keep in mind that I am an amateur at everything so please don't expect anything spectacular. I'm basically learning as I go along. Glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

[LanceSB]

Name: Nikita Zharenko
Company: VSB Labs
URL: http://www.vsblabs.com
Occupation: web developer, level designer, testing and QA, sound
Location: Stavropol, Russia

Howdy ladies and gentlemens. I'm indie game developer since 2001. Take part in development such titles as Xtreme Tankz Madness II (http://vsbgames.com/xtm2/xtm2.php) and Paradoxion (http://vsbgames.com/paradoxion/paradoxion.php).

In 2006 our team decided to move beyond computer games and now we also develop non-game projects. While in-house game development is still our main activity, we also offer design and game development services.

[Borundin]

Name: Magnus Gustafsson
Company: Spelagon
URL: http://www.spelagon.com
Occupation: Full time software engineer/Game Developer wannabe
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Background:
I have been a software developer for almost 12 years now. Have also been coding games since I was a little kid. Started on a TI-99/4A then moved onto Amiga 500 and now on the PC.

Last year I decided to try to make a 3D platform game similar to my all time favourite game "Super Mario 64".
I have read alot on these forum lately and now decided to stop "lurking" ;)

[Jesse Hopkins]

---------------

[Shadow528]

Name: Barry Pockrus
Company: 1337 Studios
Site: currently down www.1337studios.net (http://www.mibgames.co.uk/blog)
Occupation: Military, with full-time game development as well
Location: Tucson, AZ

Background:
Growing up on titles such as Diablo, Final Fantasy VII and VIII, and so many more, I gained an interest in doing graphic design. Working with a partner for the last five years, we have released a few games, none of which were amazing. One of the first titles, Genesis, is currently being revamped into something completely different. Hopefully, it will be released at the end of October along with the remade website.

[MCameron]

Name: Michael Cameron
Company: 1337 Studios
Site: currently down 1337studios.net
Occupation: Lead Engine Programmer
Location: Tucson, AZ

Background:
Growing up in cold Colorado there was nothing better to do than play games. Which fueled my want to Create better games that are currently released. Starting out on Assembly at the age of 12, I worked my way up to C++, even done OOP. Loving programming in low level coding and the design of engines. I decided to join up with a long time friend and start creating games. This company was created in 2002. Seeing many errors and unrealistic goals thrown at my face I can still say that I have gained Knowledge and experience.

Always willing to lend a helping hand.
"To help better someone is to better yourself"

[AnttiKi]

Name: Antti Kirjavainen
Company: On my own now :)
Site: http://www.veljeskunta.info/altgames/en/
Occupation: Grad Student on Game Design / Software Engineering
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Background:
C64 illuminated my childhood, followed up by rpg's, Atari ST, Live-Action RPG's etc. I'm a M.Sc. on IT from Univ. of Jyväskylä, Finland and have been a researcher on educational games on the Agora Game Lab in the univ. for 2 1/2 years. My research is more practice-based as we made prototypes of learning games and tested them in classrooms. On the side I've designed board games, rpg's and a few computer game protos. After a short stint in the mobile game industry I'm looking for the next step. And trying to complete my Ph.D.

I'm also writing a blog called Alt+Games on indie games (the url is in the data "box" above) as a hobby, feel free to contact me with feedback & ideas to improve the site (or with nods toward interesting stuff to feature there).

[joshg]

Name: Josh Giesbrecht
Company: First Shot Games? On my own, but hey I registered a domain so it's semi-real
Site: http://joshg.wordpress.com (nothing released so I haven't put up a company website yet)
Occupation: Starting indie dev, contract coder / game developer, part-time student
Location: Abbotsford, BC, Canada

Background: Moved out here from Manitoba after I got married, and landed a job with EA for about a year and a half as a coder on the NBA Live and March Madness series. Learned a ton and then got booted out during the layoffs in Feb 2006, thus beginning my deep mistrust towards publicly-owned developers. Also the commute sucked anyway. Since then I've done a bunch of contract development work for Persuasive Games, and in between I've been trying to put a few months here and there towards indie development work of my own. Still working on overcoming personal procrastination and time management issues, so now I'm looking for paid work again. Also working alone sucks so I'm hoping to stumble across interesting like-minded collaborators.

Blogging at http://joshg.wordpress.com about game design and other semi-professional stuff. I've also blogged at http://faithgames.wordpress.com but that's on hold for now since I'm just tired of blogging into such a narrow topical space.

[jonaswills]

Name: Jonas Wills
Company: Team Phobic
Site: http://www.teamphobic.com
Occupation: Student, DB Admin, Game Developer(at least trying)
Location: Boulder, Colorado

Background: Been wanting to make games since I started learning QBasic on my dad's 386... now I'm in college and struggeling to survive, and now trying to start a computer game company with friends I've had since middle school... it's a lot of fun!

Blogging at http://jonas.teamphobic.com and http://darkhelmet.joeuser.com/

[Sectarian]

Name: Jonas Wills
Company: Team Phobic
Site: http://www.teamphobic.com
Occupation: Student, DB Admin, Game Developer(at least trying)
Location: Boulder, Colorado

Background: Been wanting to make games since I started learning QBasic on my dad's 386... now I'm in college and struggeling to survive, and now trying to start a computer game company with friends I've had since middle school... it's a lot of fun!

Blogging at http://jonas.teamphobic.com and http://darkhelmet.joeuser.com/

I use to live in boulder colorado and went to college at the university of colorado at boulder.
Worked at ibm in longmont while played lots of ferion on the side in spare time aside from studies. Good luck to you in game design wish you well in your successes. :)

[Mashew]

Name: Michael Cameron
Company: 1337 Studios
Site: currently down 1337studios.net
Occupation: Lead Engine Programmer
Location: Tucson, AZ

O_O; You have the exact same name as my older brother. That seems to be a very common name. (My brother's name is Michael Cameron.)

[MysticRealmz]

Name: Sonny James
Company: Mystic Realmz Productions
Occupation: Composer - Producer
Location: Sacramento, Ca
Hobbies: Composing - Producing music, reading philosophy, playing video games, and continuously working to expand my knowledge of all aspects of the gaming industry. :eek:

Currently, I'm in the starving artist category. Taking whatever job I have to in order to fund my exercise in futility....lol. It's the standard tale of "I can't get the experience if no one will hire me...". I have the desire and the will to accomplish this goal I started nine years ago, when I first discovered my addiction to video games had possibilities of making my music career happen. I gave up the rock star thing just before I embarked on this adventure. I have a total of three games to my credit, none of which have been released yet. (Check my website for details) I have also done a handful of power-point presentations. My latest accomplishment is ghost writing for a successful TV and film soundtrack artist. If you'd like to know who...contact me and I'll tell you. I'm not allowed to discuss it publicly.

This message will self destruct in....

~Peace~:D

[GOGO]

Name: Chris Cheetham
Company: Sweet Games
Site: http://www.chrischeetham.co.uk/ (personal portfolio)
Occupation: Graduate Freelance Artist & Designer
Location: Cardiff, United Kingdom

Hello everyone, Im guessing this is where everyone introduces themselves. Im currently working as a freelance concept and promotional artist and working with a coding partner on developing a demo for 2008. Here is some related material for the curious...

http://dredandbass.blogspot.com/

Great to be here cheers

Chris

[Crunch]

Name: John Gronquist
Site: http://gronkenheim.blogspot.com/
Occupation: Generalist/FX Artist
Location: Woodinville, Washington

Hi all! Been lurking here for a little while and thought I'd decloak.

I'm an artist in the Seattle area who's been working on triple-A games for about a decade now. Been a big casual game lover for a long time, since back when they used to cost a quarter and you had to play them in these mysterious and awesome places called 'arcades'. Kid's, ask your dad, he'll tell you about them..

My sons are both itching to make their own games, and we've bought onto Torque 2D for now, as well as RPGMaker XP. Who knows, maybe some day I'll work for them! :)

Looking to just start to meet peeps and see what's what. Love to connect with anyone local who'd like to trade my sad tales of endless crunchtimes for their exciting tales of adventure and wild abandon as indie devs!

email: crunch@crunchmonster.com

Cheers,
John

[Hoxolotl]

Name: Govert Combée
Company: Catnip Games
Site: http://www.catnipgames.nl
Occupation: everything except too much coding (my partner does that)
Location: Enschede, The Netherlands

Started the company to make games tailored for different devices/platforms. We're working hard on our first title and have about 8 game designs lying on the shelves to be made.
Using Blender, the gimp and XNA, but we are also proficient in Java, C++ (prototypes have to be made).
We have been funded by the local university to set up shop, as there's loads of employable people around, but we happen to be among the few (2) to start a game company in the region.

Wish us luck :)

[mot]

Name: Govert Combée
Company: Catnip Games


You gotta be kidding. Catnip Games???

[ChrisP]

Oh, man. And I thought the name clash between "Inventive Dingo" and "Dingo Games" was unfortunate... :D

[Isaachar]

Name: Daniel Sefton
Occupation: Software design/development (not games)
Location: London, England

I've been playing, designing and developing games as a hobby since childhood. The most influential games in my life : Had (aka It/Tag), Football, Asteroids, Dungeons and Dragons, Gauntlet, Lords of Chaos, Carrier Command, Dungeon Master, Masters of Orion II and Morrowind.

[hexatronic]

Name: Josh Singer
Occupation: Software Engineer (non-games)
Location: Glasgow, Scotland

Gaming childhood: Grandstand, Atari 2600, ZX spectrum, Atari ST, PC. I liked things like Elite, Spy vs. Spy, Populus, Starcraft. Also I spent a lot of time playing boardgames and tabletop RPGs. The social aspect of gaming is important to me.

Started programming spectrum Basic aged 9. Studied CS / AI at uni to PhD level. Have worked in corporate software dev for 7 years, using Prolog (an AI language) & Java.

Over the years I've often had a little hobbyist game development project on the side, none of them have gone anywhere. Most recently I've been working in my spare time on a mildly novel real-time networked PC game called SquirtySquirty. It's been going nearly 2 years and is getting to the playtesting stage. Probably only another 2-3 years left... No plans to "go indie" but I would like to get SquirtySquirty "finished" in some sense before I shuffle off this mortal coil.

I'm most interested in novel game design and AI.

[Matt_M]

Name: Matthew McDaniel
Company: KVUE News
Site: (no personal site yet, just a facebook page)
Occupation: Web Producer/Assignment Editor
Location: Austin, TX
Background:
I'm just starting out as far as game development goes. I've got some ideas that I want to pursue but I'm cognizant that I don't have all of the skills necessary to do so. I've got some minor programming ability, but I'm here mostly to try to contribute to questions about game design than I am to help write code. And good grief am I a terrible artist.

At my current job I work in the newsroom at an ABC affiliate, updating the website and running the weekend and PM assignment desk.

[Metallon]

Hey guys! My name's Amir (or Ameer, whichever you want). I'm eighteen years old (soon nineteen), I live in Sweden and am an aspiring game designer. I'm the type that doesn't always want to work on his own ideas - I think there's a sublte beauty in the challenge you're faced with when you're presented with an idea or a concept from which you produce a full game (even if only on written form).

I'm also very interested in the business aspect of the game industry, and this is the main reason why I'm here. I learned A LOT from my time on GameDev.net, and I think I have just as much to learn from here, if not more. Apart from working as a designer and writer for the game Radakan, I'm creating my own card game. I want to start a small team (with each member paid by me) and go on about this personal project through a more professional, business-oriented route. Of course I have little idea of how I will manage this, but I also had no clue about game design or what being a game designer meant when I realized I wanted to be one, but I've had this life goal for over a year now, and my dedication towards reaching it has only increased.

Uhh... I also love food, and work as a janitor on logistics at Lund's University Hospital (the really big hospital in Lund). My favorite console is the Nintendo DS, and I play the electric guitar. I saw Iron Maiden live at Ullevi, Gothenburg on July 26th this year and was at the very front. I own two videogame-related t-shirts and am going to Norwich by the end of August to meet up with this aspiring songstress:

http://www.clairejemima.co.uk/

So, what's up, forums?

[Jim Prior]

Name: Jim Prior
Company: UtS IT Consultancy
Possible Company: UtS Games ;)
Occupation: Technology/Manager/Designer/Musician/Artist/Jack-of-all-trades
Location: London uk

I started out on the old ZX81 in 1982, then Atari 800XL(1 published program in Atari User magazine), Amiga 600+1200 and finally a late comer to PC gaming(around 1992).
I've dabbled in game programming from the start, but somewhere along the line machine code melted my brain and I had to accept that my maths was just not going to cut it in terms of programming.

So I've ended up learning, or starting to learn, software like Photoshop/ Illustrator/Paint shop Pro and Sonar/Cubase/Ableton Live and a few others.

Long time p+p table top rpg player(from DnD to GURPS and back), with a few boardgames/cardgames/rpg systems under my belt(nothing commercial - all made when I was a kid for my friends to play and enjoy).

Over the years(wow, nearly 30!), I've started to find less and less of the AAA mainstream games to my taste, especially in the last 5 years or so.
So I've become some kind of game connoisseur/obsessive and find myself hunting down 'odd' games like Cosmology of Kyoto, King of Dragon Pass, Okami etc, looking for the secrets of gaming nirvana......or something!?

Unless the cautionary tales here of peoples journey into the murky world of Independent game development puts me off, I plan on starting my own company some day soon.

Favourite 10 games/series(not in order): Xcom, Civ(1-4), Alternate Reality(Atari 8bit version only - Philip Price was the man!), Speed Ball 2, Gunship2000, Joust, X-Wing, Okami, Daggerfall/Morrowind(+mods), Zork.

And I love playing sports, although my body isn't so keen these days!

[EFWStaff]

Name: Tom Honaker
Company: Electronic Fantasy World
URL: http://www.e-f-w.com/
Occupation: Owner, project coordinator, coder, chief bottle-washer, sad attempt at artist
Location: Florida Panhandle

Background:
I started EFW as a web services company, namely website development. From there EFW has expanded into a security software company, specializing in military-grade data destruction. And now I'm expanding the company yet again into game development now that the hardware's out to make some ideas I've got even remotely possible. (I have a pen-and-paper RPG I wrote 25 years ago specifically for building into a MMO before there even was such a thing as a MMO, but the tech needed is just now available to accomplish the design goals for that project.)

Current (as of mid-September 2008) projects include an update to my company's flagship product line, continued refinements to our thus-far-well-nigh-unhackable CMS/website engine, and (of more import to this community) a multiplayer race game featuring a full online competition-friendly ranking system and complete three-axis flight control.

Personal hobbies include a few online games (most notably Final Fantasy Online) and building lighting systems using white LEDs, with the LED thing being one of my longest interests thus far.

[ninjarat]

Name: Bill Whitacre
Abilities: system and games programming (C, C++, basic, assembly), graphic art, music (guitar), and a lot of other stuff that doesn't matter here like welding and cooking. :P
Current Projects: Rampancy Engine (like SDL with an OpenGL/Hardware focus), the physics engine for it, and a game to raise interest about the physics engine: Floculate
Occupation: Indie Game Developer / Student
Website: Click Here (http://rampancy.g0dsoft.com)
Location: Missouri, United States.

Hello, I'm new here. I'm basically coming here for advice on doing indie business, but hope to be part of your community. I'm just starting out on the indie games path and could use a little guidance. I'm a very experienced programmer, though, and am very confident in my abilities.

My language of choice in most cases is C. I favor it's short compile time, small memory footprint and machine code size, as well as simplicity and clarity. To me, it is better than C++, because well C++ has weakly object oriented code structures to help you do OOP, you can actually do all the same things in C with a little extra work, and have it run faster with less memory use. The only reason I would use C++ is if programmer convenience were more important than function, which to me is never. I like a challenge.

What else? I'm an Ubuntu user, and damn proud of it, but I develop for Windows too. I've been programming since I was five, albeit in BASIC until I was thirteen or so. And I'm not saying I was very good back then. My dad just got me started on these things early. Math and music too. Five is the magic age for me?

So let's see: I play guitar pretty well and write my own music, I draw pretty well, and I'm good at coding. One of the main reasons I've wanted to get in on indie game development is because I can do pretty much all the jobs in making a game.

I am an obsessed gamer and like indie games. My favorites at the moment include Cortex Command, Audiosurf, and World of Goo. I also dig on a few mainstream games, most notably at the present Dead Space. Check them all out, as awesomeness is within.

Lastly, I'm currently in student limbo, as weird twists and turns in life forced me to leave highschool. I was fortunately educated very well before highschool by my parents whom are very educated themselves. My dad is a mathematician and a software/hardware engineer, as well as having passed on courses to me in chemistry and quantum physics. My mom is a college math teacher who specializes in statistics, but also does calculus. How ironic that we are poor because family health prevents us from doing as much work and breaks us down with huge medical expenses. 20 grand a year in medical bills is not a joke. I am planning to go to college on a GED, and continue with that until I can get in to a large engineering focused college.

It is my dream to bring a game to the IGF. It has to be now or never, so I'm brainstorming on what the big IGF game should be now!

Peace :D

[fairychild]

Name: GiGi Miranda
Occupation: Being the perfect GiGi <3
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Hobbies: Music, Movies, Writing, Traveling to exotic places, Hanging out with my boyfriend

I liked playing video games as a kid (Super NES was my genesis) but nowadays I play whatever my boyfriend is playing. Actually wanted to go on some gamer forums to get to know what is up in the gaming world currently. If anyone could enlighten I am more than happy to listen. Thanks!! =D

[Mtg_kirin]

Name: William
Company: non - student
Occupation: hopping between part time jobs while being full time student working on bachelors of fine art.
Location: great NYC area
Portfolio:http://willtruran.com/portfolio6/ (very wip right now)
Background:
I have been self teaching My self maya and photoshop. I specialize in low poly environment art, but have also lately been getting into level design. Im working on my bachelors of fine art and hope to move onto smu guild hall for masters.

Also I am working on a turn based strategy game for XBL with a small indie team.

[max196]

Name: ankur nigam
Company: N/A
URL: http://www.daily1game.com
Occupation: student
Location: India

I am a post graduate student and so crazy about casual games. After finishing my examination, i started my website 14 months ago. I an affiliate of bigfishgames, reflexive, iwin, playfirst, alawar & many other game developers. I love to play game and share games with peoples. Peoples download games (http://www.daily1game.com) from my website to enjoy free trial demo pc version for 60 minutes. My dream is to develop a gaming portal like bigfish & reflexive.

Thank You!

[Uber Dowzen]

Name: Lachlan Ridley
Company: Somebody Else Games
URL: not yet (one day soon...)
Occupation: student
Location: New Zealand

Background:
I'm a teenager who loves games and wants to make them. I like anything good, but prefer RPGs,then FPSs, then Strategy (if they're good).

I'm wanting to make an oblivion like game called Earthica (code name). Also, when I leave university, i want to start my own indie company.

[OTrain13]

Hi Everyone:

Name: Owen Goss
Company: Streaming Colour Studios
Website: http://www.streamingcolour.com
Occupation: Full-Time Indie Game Developer
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Until recently I had been working in the AAA games industry in Vancouver, BC for the last 5 years or so, and worked for companies like EA and Propaganda Games. In July my wife and I returned to Toronto, ON, where I decided to form my own indie games studio: Streaming Colour Studios.

Streaming Colour was formed with the purpose of creating fun, non-violent, and creative video games. I'm currently working on my first game, which is slated first for release on iPhone, and then Windows and Mac OS X.

I have been reading the forums on IndieGamer for quite some time now, but I finally decided to sign up and join the conversation.

Owen

[Xathia Vastar]

Yay! I'm finally able to post! Hello, everyone! This is such a great community!

Name: Rebecca Long
Company: Exodus Studios
Website: http://www.exodus-studio.com
Occupation: Freelancing developer, writer and artist
Location: Ocala, FL

I hold a bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems and a minor in linguistics (Japanese). I'm currently back in school for another bachelor's degree in game and simulation programming, which I am hoping will make myself more marketable when finding a full-time job in the game industry.

For now, I am working freelance and accepting commissioned work whenever I can. My primary focuses are: illustration (manga/comic book, graphic design and CG), game and application programming (variety of languages), writing and web design & development. I formed a company in 2007 which offer some of my services in addition to selling family-friendly games done by indie developers.

I'm an avid gamer and currently working on a personal game project which I started on my own back in April 2008. I'm hoping to have it completed within the next year and a half.

Art Portfolio: http://www.artwanted.com/knuckles | http://knuxchan.deviantart.com

Proficient programming languages: HTML, RubyScript, C/C++, Assembly, Torque, Java, SQL

Proficient game engines: RPG Maker 95/2000/2003/XP, Game Maker, 3D Game Studio, Torque Game Builder, Blitz3D

Main website: http://www.exodus-studio.com

[Cevo70]

REVIVAL!!

Name: Carl Van Ostrand
Company: Small Cave Games
Website: http://ophidianwars.com
Occupation: Producer, Designer, Composer
Location: New York

We're working on an XBL CG (first goal) and having a ton of fun. I have a great programmer on the team and have met/contracted with several people from this site as well. :)

[CousinGilgamesh]

I guess I should have done this when I joined, but I'm going to do it now.

Name: Daniel DeKlotz
Company: Harmonic games (for now)
Website: www.csc.calpoly.edu/~ddeklotz and http://harmonicgames.blogspot.com
Occupation:
-Student at Cal Poly (studying computer science and philosophy)
-Individual game development when I have the time (I do all my own art, programming, design, music, etc.)
Location: San Luis Obispo, California

I'm a 3rd year at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and I make games when I have time. I've been really busy for the last 6 months (with an internship at Microsoft this last summer Summer and then a really more-than-full load of advanced real-time-rendering classes and such last quarter), and I finally have time to devote to game development again. I plan on spending the next 9 months on my next project [with school on the side =)], then studying abroad in Tokyo for 3 months, and then graduating 6 months later to go full-time indie. I also plan on being really poor for a long time after college.

In my game projects, I tend to favor experimental games and cross-generic games. I never make games that easily fit into one genre or model. I am interested in exploring the unexplored parts of game design.

[gunswordfist]

Since we are starting the forums fresh again, it's probably a good idea to do roll call like the original dexterity boards did...

Name: Mike Boeh
Company: Retro64, Inc.
URL: http://www.retro64.com
Occupation: Full Time Indie Game Developer/Publisher
Location: Chicago Suburbs

Background:
I have been a full time indie for about 4 years now (man how time flies!). Originally, the company concept was to make 3d remakes of classic arcade games. But since everyone seems to be doing that now, we are changing slowly but surely. Games we have developed include: Bugatron, Z-Ball, Best Friends, WarHeads SE. We have also published Platypus, Party Bowling, and Marbles Deluxe. I love constantly tweaking the site and experimenting in ways to improve sales.

Name: gunswordfist
Company: (It's non-existant)
Occupation: *secret*
Location: Somewhere in the U.S. of A.
Hobbies: gaming, eating, watching tv show, cartoons and anime

I joined here 3 days ago because I just got done playing Legend Of Zelda and it inspired me to try to work faster towards an indie career. So it's great to be here guys! Any DMC, MGS or Max Payne fans here????

[Zollo]

Name: Carolina Moya
Occupation: Freelancing and working on a game project.
URL: *will update this shortly
Location: NYC
Hobbies: Gaming, Movies,Animations, Comics, Paintings (traditional&Digital)

I have a BA in Computer Arts from S.V.A but my love is for 2D. I worked at a company called Game lab for like 4 years. It was an awesome experience. I learned a lot, loved the people and enjoyed making art for creative projects. I have so many interests. I like illustration, comics, animation and then some. Making games can involve all of those so it's perfect! :) I'm glad to be a part of the forum. It seems like an amazing resource for all my questions. I hope I can contribute as well.

[PlasticOstrich]

Name: Lisa
Company: Baby Eish Games
Site: http://www.babyeishgames.com
Occupation: Game Developer, freelance writer, tarot card reader, and "household executive" (apparently, that's the politically correct term for housewife).
Location: Cape Town, South Africa (but originally from NYC)

After watching Tom Hanks in "Big" as a kid, I wanted to be a toy tester. This is about as close as it gets. :D

[Matthew Doucette]

Name: Matthew Doucette
Company: Xona Games
Occupation: Video Game Developer (aka everything)
Location: Canada
Hobbies: Video games, board games, puzzles, Rubik's Cube, Weightlifting, Basketball, etc...

Currently working on Duality: ZF: http://dualityzf.com/

[Niels.Stephan]

Name: Niels Stephan
Company: Self employed
Occupation: Game translator (ENG>GER)
Location: Germany

I am a freelance translator with more than 8 years in English-to-German localization for the gaming industry. I was working on games for all major systems in various genres in the past.
Feel free to contact me if you want your game localized into German. I'm always interested in talking about projects.

[BlackBoxBETA]

Name: Jon Skinner
Company: Self Employed
Occupation: Web community admin
Location: UK

Hey, I'm a self-styled graphics and web designer now working on personal projects instead of working for the "man". I love to design and draw, and although I'm not that hot at any programming I'm always happy to heklp out with any graphics that are needed. In my free time I play Bass guitar and race nitro cars.

My current project is a beta testing community site aimed at providing a resoure of motivated testers with real incentive to provide detailed/quality feedback. The site will also host beta files/publicity stuffz/game servers etc so feel free to give me a shout if you'd like some testing or use of our services.

Looking forward to being part of the community here :)

[m3xican]

Name: Davide Coppola
Company: Curve Studios
Occupation: game programmer
Location: England -> London
Homepage: http://www.m3xbox.com
Twitter: vivaladav (http://twitter.com/vivaladav)

I'm Italian, but after I got my (useless) MSc in computer science last year I moved to London to join the game industry.

Previously I was working on a open-source game called "Mars, land of no mercy (http://www.marsnomercy.org)", but unfortunately I neved had enough spare time to finish it, so at the moment the project is freezed.

Now I'm working on a indie game in my spare time (almost every night), but it's still in a ealry stage, I hope to have some news to post soon.

[Complex Games]

Looking forward to joining the discussion on Indiegamer. We have been around since 2002 but have just recently joined this community.

We are close to releasing our first game, Pirates Ahoy! We are also looking to release some iPhone games.

Name: Noah Decter-Jackson
Company: Complex Games
Occupation: Game Designer
Location: Winnipeg, Canada
Homepage: http://www.complexgames.com
Twitter: complexgames

[Sue]

Name : Sue Moseley
Company: Moseley Multimedia Ltd
Position: Director

Hi everyone. A little about myself:

I have been working in the e-Learning development field for the last decade or so, but have been getting rather tired of late with the feasting/fasting cycle of income; so I've decided to change to something that has the potential to bring money in 'while I sleep' at a hopefully more consistent rate than I've been used to. I also want to have a lot more fun - e-learning is just not a lot of fun anymore - long story - I won't bore you with the details.

I'm coming to the last couple of months of studying for an MScIT with Liverpool University, which has given me a lot to think about; in particular, what I'd really like to be doing for a living, and I've decided it's casual games.

I've already got an idea for my first game, which is going to be a hidden object/adventure game, built in Flash (only because I'm already familiar with it). I can't wait to get stuck in - just have to get the MSc out of the way first.

I expect I'll be hanging round this site quite a lot. :)

[gutripper]

Name: Paul Turbett
Company : Black Lab Games
Occupation : Game Developer :)
Website : www.blacklabgames.com.au
Blog : www.blacklabgames.com.au/blog
Background : I guess my Linked-in (http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulturbett) profile is a good summary

Hi, just found this thread and thought I'd add my name to the list.

I started making games as a hobby in the mid-80s, and it's all I've ever wanted to do. I've started a few small companies over the years (the first was in 1991), and recently worked for other peoples companies, as the local industry in my home town (Perth, Western Australia) has grown.

I'm pretty excited about the possibilities for independent development, now that games as a hobby are becoming more mainstream, and the barriers between creators and players are breaking down (in theory, at least ).

[luciddeveloper]

Name: Jeremy Maughan
Occupation : Web Developer
Location: Provo, Utah USA
Blog : http://solarfrontier.blogspot.com/
Background : Been a web developer for over 10 years. I know a bunch of programming languages and love everything and anything on the web. I have worked on a few browser games in the past and figured I should really make one of my own.
Hobbies: Photography, Magic the Gathering, programming, design, reading and playing games.

I am excited to find a place where others have the same passions that I do.

[Twitchfactor]

Wow, never noticed this thread before... even though I don't spend as much time here as I used to, here are my vitals:

NAME: Tony Barnes
COMPANY: Currently Electronic Arts
OCCUPATION: Design Director
LOCATION: OC, CA. USA

BACKGROUND: I've been in the videogame business longer than many have been alive. Starting in the 80's, when I was 12, I worked on Vic-20's, C64's, TRS-80's, Apple's, Amiga's, Atari 8/16-bits, making "one-man-band" games (or "indie" games as you kids call them nowadays), where I programmed, art, design, music, etc... the whole works. Eventually, I joined the ranks of professionals, working for such companies as; Electronic Arts, Crystal Dynamics, THQ, Collective, Rockstar, Psygnosis and even Reflexive (unfortunately). Some of my bigger contributions to have been; The Strike Series (Desert, Jungle, Urban, Soviet, Nuclear), Madden Football, Legacy of Kain, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Midnight Club Racing, Star Wars: Episode III, Zoetrope/Cyberpaint, AMOS/STOS programming languages, etc.

HOBBIES: Cars (the faster and meaner, the better), my family, music (composing, remixing), video editing (trailers primarily), game making (not what I LIKE to do, not what I LOVE to do, what I was BORN to do!)

[supershigi]

NAME: Laura Shigihara
WEBSITE: www.mybluedream.com (http://www.mybluedream.com)
OCCUPATION: Composer/Game Designer
LOCATION: CA

BACKGROUND: I've been working as a freelance VGM sound designer and composer for the past 5 years. I've done soundtracks for about 15 published titles so far, my most recent project being Plants vs. Zombies (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N1_0SUGlDQ). I've also been independently developing a Super Nintendo style rpg for the past couple of years. And of course, I've been playing video games since the original NES ^_^

HOBBIES: video games (my favorites: Chrono Trigger, Megaman 2-5, Starcraft, Yoshi's Island, Secret of Mana, etc.), hiking, dancing, making music and singing, baking, Shotokan, drawing, trying out new restaurants, going on adventures...

[marque_pierre]

Name: Marque Pierre Sondergaard
Company: Imagination Technologies
Occupation: Business Development & Marketing
Location: London, UK
Hobbies: gaming, art, psychology, business strategy, cinematography & visual storytelling,

I have loved gaming deeply since I saw that big old Atari Gauntlet arcade machine on that fateful summer day in 1985. After jealously watching the Commodore 64 enthusiasts from the sidelines I finally joined the revolution with my beloved Commodore Amiga 500. Taught myself to program Assembler on it - what other options did you have back then, if you wanted something on screen? But Deluxe Paint was much more the place where I felt at home. I got involved with various outfits on the demo scene and explored the joys of pixel art through those outlets.

Since then, I decided against pursuing games - to be fair it never actually crossed my mind that it could be a job as such - and have worked in quite a few different business roles.

In 2002 I went back to university and retooled via a Bachelor degree in Games Art and Design from University of Teesside. I went on to study games on postgrad level at Liverpool John Moores University as well.

I have been involved in about a million mod teams and small indie games efforts. Some I have put together myself, others I have joined.

On a professional level in the games industry, I have done testing and art, and now I do business development and marketing for a graphics hardware company towards the games industry.

I love games and I love making games. I suspect that will never change. After all, the joy of creating - to point to something and say "I made this!" - how do you beat that? :D

[GnadeGames]

Name: Mike Gnade
Company: Graduate Games
URL: http://www.graduategames.com and http://www.indiegamemag.com
Occupation: PartTime Indie Game Developer + Part Time Indie Game Mag Editor + Full Time Boring Desk Job
Location: Outside Philly, PA

I started making games when I was 12-13ish. I never really finished anything, but it was a fun hobby. I rediscovered my passion for game programming and producing while I was in graduate school in 2005 (hence the studio name). Since then, I have released 2 casual-type family games and started the Indie Game Magazine in 2008. The Indie Game Magazine has done really well it's first year and has greatly surpassed the revenue of my 2 games. We're not giving up on game development though and recently refocused and restarted a project we were passionate about when we formed the company.

Since 2005, I've learned a ton from these forums and hope to shift to full time indie by the end of 2010.

that's good for now.

[Sue]

The Indie Game Magazine has done really well it's first year and has greatly surpassed the revenue of my 2 games.

When I try and access your site in Internet Explorer I get a message saying the site cannot be opened, operation aborted (even though I can see it in the background). When I click OK on the feedback box it takes me to a blank page. It works fine in Firefox. You should check this out, if people can't access your games that could be why you've had less revenue from thme than than your magazine.

[ChrisP]

That's great that IGM is doing well for you - I honestly wasn't sure that it'd be viable. I'm very glad to be proven wrong! Best of luck with growing it further. :)

[GnadeGames]

When I try and access your site in Internet Explorer I get a message saying the site cannot be opened, operation aborted (even though I can see it in the background). When I click OK on the feedback box it takes me to a blank page. It works fine in Firefox. You should check this out, if people can't access your games that could be why you've had less revenue from thme than than your magazine.

Thanks for the info. I'll look into it.

[lightassassin]

Name: Benjamin Jarvinen
Company: Currently unnamed
URL: Coming eventually
Occupation: Customer Service / Student / Part Time indie
Location: Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Background:
Currently working my way through uni studying Applied Computer Science, majoring in Software Engineering and minoring in Games design. Spend all my spare time working on my own projects with my brother (he's 2d/3d artist).

Hoping to get up and running within the next year to grow our business to the point where it becomes the fulltime job, which no doubt will take a few years (joys of being young). Been lurking here for awhile and just wanted to jump into the community and try contribute.

[CraigStroenker]

I am Craig Stroenker, right now I am in school, so I haven't progressed much and because of my daytime work. But 1 more year and Im done.

[Another Soundscape]

Name: Mattias Häggström Gerdt
Company: Morsel Games / freelance
URL: http://anosou.com/ http://playmorsel.com/
Occupation: Freelancing composer/game designer, part of Morsel Games
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Background:
Been doing music all my life, got into the indie scene in 2008 when I got to score a few Xbox Live Indie Game titles (then called Community Games). It has followed that path since. I've scored roughly 10 games including Dream Build Play finalists Artoon and Kaleidoscope. I also contributed tracks to Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix together with OverClocked ReMix ( http://ocremix.org ) where I'm also a remixer and part of the staff.

Game music is basically my passion in every way. I compose, arrange, write essays, study and try to enlighten people about it. Indie games in general have very varying quality of music and even if some music is fantastic, it lacks the fits-like-a-glove quality of professional game/film music. My goal is to really, REALLY make music that fits to make every game I work on a more engaging experience.

[Sos]

Name: Mikołaj Kamiński
Company: ghbrvlowabrvfladberogvlwrvfwlo games
URL: http://ghbrvlowabrvfladberogvlwrvfwlo.pl/
Occupation: Uberlord
Location: Poland

Background:
IRL I am actually an english teacher in pirmary school, but i guess no one cares, so now about my dev bg.

I have been making games since 1999. My first steps were made on C64 assembler. I love compos, especially the speedhack "make game in x hours" ones.
Also I love making music.
I guess that's it.

[TomQS]

Hello everyone, allow me to introduce myself. I have recently found this forums and would like to join the community.

Name: Tom Vrda
Homepage: www.qsoftz.com
Occupation: Senior developer currently working in automotive industry
Location: Zagreb, Croatia
Games published: Add-Venture - risk clone for Windows Mobile, 2006


Background:
I have been programming since the 90's, and have worked in various corporate setups, from programming embedded systems to GUI development in PyGtk.
I'm really sick and tired of my day-jobs and am currently in the process of gathering all the little bits together and going indie full time.

These forums are a source of a lot of motivation and inspiration for me.

See you around
Tom

[virious]

Name: Lukasz Lukasik
Company: Bionic Nose
URL: http://www.bionicnose.net
Occupation: Game programmer
Location: Poland

Hello, this is my first post here :) . Currently I'm working at "Two Worlds II" as a game programmer and I have about 3 years of working experience (~12 years of coding in my life :)). Even though I'm employeed, I'm trying to hit into the indie business and I hope I will find needed information thanks to all your help guys and gals :).

[j.klugmann]

Hi there! =)

My name is Jesse Klugmann and i'm a young hobby-gamedeveloper.My interests are graphics programming,game programming,philosophy and the internet.I'm also a member of the german Chaos Computer Club.I am developing 2 engines since three years and now i'm starting my first commercial game project for the Xbox360 and the PC.I have also some experiences with AI and the .Net-Framework.I have no position in a company, because i'm a student.In my freetime i work for a local software developer company.

Greetings, Jesse Klugmann

PS: Please forgive me my bad english! :P

[speeder]

Name: Maurício Gomes (actually, it is way longer, this part is what matters)
Company: Awesome Games Factory
Site: www.agfgames.com
Occupation: Starving student
Location: São Paulo, Brazil.


I am a Game Design student (stupid idea taking that course), I am finishing my degree (or trying), and I need to figure a way to move out of my country, I fear that I won't survive (literally... I witnessed already 2 firefights from my bedroom window, in two different cities that I lived, among other bad stuff) to release all the games I want if I stay.

Currently I am trying to make my first commercial release, without money... But I think that I can still do it :) Even if it is insanely hard.

[borneogamer]

Name: Jonathan Ho
Company: To Be Done
Site: To Be Done
Occupation: Just Quit
Location: Sabah, Malaysia


I just quit my day job to pursue my life-long dream, start a game company. I like all kinds of games, but most especially the RPG/Simulation type like Pokemon, Digimon, Monster Rancher, Princess Maker, etc.

Working on my first demo and an HTML 5 game engine...

[Dri]

Name: Adrien Debesson
Company: D2P Games (http://www.d2p-games.com)
Occupation: Part time student, part time game developer
Location: Montreal, Canada

Background:

I started developing games really early as a kid with RPG Maker 2000, my specialty was starting a project, work on it for a week, then restart everything with even more ambition. It's not a good way to finish things but it's a good way to learn :p
After this I jumped into programming and C++ because "everyone know it's better". My productivity goes worse than ever before, instead of half-finishing games I was half-finishing engines. But it was super-interesting and I learned a ton of things.

One year ago I've started an independent game company with two friends, D2P Games. We released our first game, Reckless Squad two weeks ago and are now moving to new projects :)

Hobbies:
Video games of course, but also movies, books, music, etc.
I love drawing too and dedicate a fair amount of time practicing, as it helps me in my game developer job.


PS: I hope my english is good enough (I'm living in Canada but I'm french), feel free to correct me, I need input to improve ;)

[Substance20]

Substance20
Name: Michael Lee
Company: None (solo)
Occupation: Former 2D artist/art director
Location: Philippines

Background:

Graduated with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts - Advertising. Had a short stint as a layout artist for a fashion and modeling magazine before getting chance to work at Anino Games (http://www.aninogames.com/) as a 2D artist. Became a lead artist and eventually Art Director after almost 3 years, mostly working on hidden object games, before deciding to quit and pursue entrepreneurship. The very last game I worked on was Dream Inn: The Driftwood (http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/12704/dream-inn-driftwood/index.html), published by Crown ADAM.

Ironically the very first game I was assigned to while in Anino was SteveZ's "Enlighten", which was the working title before it became Enlightenus (Steve, if you're looking at this, I was the guy that drew the lineart-heavy concept work and also did the touchups for the rendered scenes--a different person did the painted ones. That was the company's very first hidden object game back in 2008 and so we had no idea what we were doing--lol.). So, yes, I know at least two guys who visit these forums. :p

I am currently making an indie shoot-'em-up using Game Maker 8.0, using what little software engineering background I have.

Pleased to meet everybody. :)

[GeexGames]

Geex Games
Name: Stef Roys
Company: (solo)
Occupation: VP in a private bank
Location: Geneva

Hi There, gaming and development are hoobies for me since I am 11. I used to start on oooold PC and then ATARI 520ST and AMIGA 500. More recently I worked on a 2d Suite (called Geex) to fast-develop game compatible with xbox and PC. Basically it's a XNA framework with all necessary tools. This engine is also capable of importing RPG Maker XP data.
I've released the first game made with Geex one week ago and it's about to be released on xbox (peer review at the moment), so I reckon I'll be sharing the game with you guys soon

I am quite interested in getting in touch with motivated creators/art-gfx, especially if you want some help to develop your project/idea. Now that I have the Suite done, it should be easy as pie :)

I am also musician, you will be able to check my creation in the game presentation topic, I will post the game web-site where musics are available

talk to you soon

[MtM0201]

Name: Matt Murray
Company: None
URL: http://www.matt-boston.com
Occupation: Composer
Location: Greater Boston Area, Massachusetts

Hello everybody,
I have been making music for six years, gaming my whole life. I hope to blend my two loves into one craft.
I don't really know what else to say, but if you're interested in talking you're welcome to send me a PM or message me through my website.

[DirtyMongorian]

Name: David Polensky
Company: N/A
URL: http://www.mantis3d.com and www.darkhillstudios.com (not up and running yet)
Occupation: Aircraft ordnance mechanic
Location: Del Rio, Texas though, I'm from Montana

Background: I've been messing around with game development for 5 years but have very little to show for it except several engine and software licenses. I primarily keep to 3D architectural design but I'm starting to get in to the finer points of asset creation. I've also have been writing music for over 20 years and have a rather nice home studio that allows me to create just about any sound that I need. Some of the engines that I have had the fortune and misfortune of working with are: Torque (all of them), Unity3D, Unreal and a few others that are not worth a mention.

That is a very quick background write-up. I have released one demo (not worth playing) and have created several assets that mark huge benchmarks in my quest to release a mediocre game demo and perhaps a full game title at some point. If you want to know anymore about me such as my skill sets, software used, genre of development or anything else don't hesitate to ask!

Cheers,
David

[corvidology]

Corvidology
Name: Mary
Company: Corvidology Inc.
URL: http://www.corvidology.com/
Occupation: Game designer and artist
Location: Austin, Texas

Bg: Corvidology is a 2 person studio including me the artist and the programmer. We develop games on the iPhone currently but are looking to expand into other mobile devices.

I myself come from a film/video background and a Master's degree in Game Design. I moved to Texas from Michigan and worked for an iPhone development studio for 2 years before striking out with a co-worker and going indie.
My art is from self-teaching mostly.

Our company currently has one game on the market called Hubbub the Word Association game. It's only available on the itunes app store.

[Eniko]

Name: Emma Maassen
Company/URL: None yet
Occupation: Student, majoring in Japanese and communication
Location: Netherlands

I've been teaching myself how to program and do art for games for oh, 14-15 years now, yet I have one whopping finished game to my name. Specialties include graphical systems programming (2D and some 3D), pixel art, and retro style. Currently working on getting a serious game developed, unfortunately in my spare time.

I'd also love to chat with my peers since all these years I've neglected to network. So toss me a PM if you like.

[alfredosays]

Name: Alfredo
Company: Solo
URL: http://about.me/alfredogil
Occupation: Recent grad (aka, unemployed)
Location: Boston, but looking to move to San Francisco

Heya!

I'm a recent grad from Emerson College looking to connect with other indies and support them. I'm dedicating my life to this medium and just starting out, so it's nice to see a wide open field in front of me.

Cheers.

[DarKKendO]

Name: Ciaran Harrigan
Company: Don't Look Down Games
URL: http://tempusgame.wordpress.com
Occupation: Software Developer/Indie Developer
Location: Derry/Londonderry N.Ireland

Background:
Earlier this year I finished a degree in Computer Games Development and have been working on games since a few years before that. I'm currently working on getting my first game, Tempus, through development. I mainly use Unity for Tempus however I am looking to branch out into C++ in the future. I currently work full time as a Software Developer however the dream (as I'm sure we all share) is to be indie full time.

[pat3ck]

Name: Patrick Garde
Company: Games Reviewer
URL: http://gamesreviewer.net
Occupation: Founder of Games Reviewer and Contributor at Tapscape
Location: Philippines

Background:
Me and my brother have shared the passion for gaming since Family Computer and right now we're focusing more on playing, and eventually, reviewing iPad games.

[moxica]

Better late than never... :o

Name: Jerome Lorin
Company: Naaty Design
URL: http://www.naaty-design.com and http://www.content-pack.com
Occupation: I grow organic pixels
Location: Loire Valley, France

Cooking game graphics for PC, smartphones and tablets (first smartphone/pocket-PC game released in 2005), illustrations, pixel art, logos and many other pieces related to graphic design.

[DevonHG]

Name: Devon Godfrey
Company: None yet
URL: Under Construction
Occupation: Voice, Data, Video Assistant
Location: Michigan, United States

Background:
Just graduated with a degree in Multimedia and am continuing my education in computer science. I'm intermediate in coding but I haven't received much formal education in it since a bomb flash game design class back in my previous college. Nearly failed that class due to the lack of any programing knowledge. Since then I have dabbled in it and now have gotten to the point of being able to construct games in Game Maker 8.1(Code, not Drag and Drop). I joined this community to see what those much farther than myself and doing so I can start to set goals and standards to that of all the talented people here. Due to my degree I'm potent at pretty much everything except for the coding itself which I will get better at both due to my own time spent on it and my formal education.

I am looking forward to what insights I will find here. Glad to be a part of this.