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[UncleJoe]

Welcome, brother!

[Mr. Yes]

Well hey, look at these beautiful people.

[Dinaroozie]

Hi folks. My name is Finn, and this is my introductory post. I'm an indie developer at times, as well as a (recovering) graphics programmer - I once worked at the no-longer-with-us Transmission Games. I mess around a lot with pieces of experimental gameplay, and unusual uses of the programmable bits of graphics cards. I've made one game that actually got finished and made publicly available - it's called Colourbind - I entered it in the Eegra Game Making Shindig a while ago. Some people liked it, some people threatened me with violence after playing it, and in general it was a positive experience which I hope to repeat in the near future. I'm working on another game at the moment, and if it comes out sufficiently nicely I may attempt to trade it to people in exchange for some small amount of money or scraps of food.

I've been designing or thinking about making games in my head for a long time - longer, in fact, than I've been playing them - but I only learnt the subtle art of programming at the relatively advanced age of seventeen. I wrote an ascii-based Scorched Earth style game in a language called Haskell, in one huge source file that took ten seconds to process each turn, and with that the tone for my future game development career was set. These days I have experimented with Unity, and to a lesser extent, UDK, but most of my work gets done in C++ and HLSL. I have no ability to create art assets of any kind besides procedurally, and the appearance of my games is thus dictated.

You'll likely never meet me in person, as I'm from Melbourne, Australia, and I don't have a photo to upload, but if either of these situations changed the things you'd probably notice about my appearance are: Male, tall, white, thin, long ponytail, wears glasses - roughly in that order. Some random games that I have enjoyed a lot, that happened to come to mind just now, are Moonbase Commander, Earthbound, Dwarf Fortress, Portal, and Knytt Stories.

Anyway, that's enough exposition for the moment. I hope to stick around here and post at least the occasional interesting thought or useful piece of information. Wish me luck!

[rljohn]

Hello all,

My name is Johnathan Moore. Like most of you, I have been a gamer all of my life and naturally took an interest in making games since my grade 9 computer programming course (6? 8?) years ago.

My first game was a 2-player game of tag built in Turing. Next year's project was a short textual RPG with story-board graphics written in Java. My third year project was a casino game. And finally, for grade 12 I built a Zelda-clone (as close as I could to the original) in Java.

Here I am 4 years later in University and haven't made a game in awhile. However, my goal at this point is simple. I want to build a top-down action-adventure 2D game (like Zelda 3). The plot of the story is not a 'save the princess' type goal that many adventure games have, but rather a thirst for revenge, as well as the ultimate goal of reversing time and avoiding the terrible tragedy that thrusts our hero into her situation to begin with.

My goal is to have the project be comparable in graphics styles and quality to SNES classics like Zelda 3, FFVI and Chrono Trigger.

My target date is Summer 2010, and I aim to make at least 2000$ from the project to fund a trip to Blizzcon for my girlfriend and I. The target platform is PC and XBLIG.

[Lon]

Hello I am Lon Porter, some friends call me Lonnie.
(Working on a roof)

   My earliest memories of video games are the arcades in pizza parlors and my Uncle's bedroom where we would co-op Teanage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the SNES and Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis.  I also tried playing a bit of Super Ghouls n Ghosts and Link the the Past, however as I was about four years old these games were much to difficult for me.

   One of the first electronic games I got was Tiger Handhelds' Dennis the Menace for my fifth birthday:


   That Christmas I got one of my favorite games to this day, The Legend of Zelda: Links Awekening, Game Boy bundle:


   I mostly played Nintendo Games until Final Fantasy VII and Starcraft came out on the PC, then I started playing PC games in addition to Nintendo games.  I never really got into Microsoft's XBox or Sony's PlayStation.  Now, when I do play games, I tend to favor multi-player games.  Most recently I have enjoyed playing Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Half Life 2, Resident Evil 4, Final Fantasy IV on the Nintendo DS and the occasional game of Super Smash Bros Brawl.

   I was home schooled 2nd grade through high school because my parents decided they could give me a better education than the public schools could.  In high school I wanted to learn how to program games so I purchased Dark Basic Pro.  I played around with it a bit, but never really got past arrays.

  In 2009 I graduated with an AS in Computer Science and an AA in Mathematics from Columbia College (a junior college in the sierra foot hills of California).  Now I am twenty-one years old and am pursuing a BS in Computer Science at CSU Stanislaus.

   The majority of my programming experience has been with Java.  I enjoy finding new, unusual, and improved ways of solving a problems.  Sometimes I have a difficult time deciding how to structure my programs.  For example: what class should update the screen, or should each object handle its own collision detection, the player classes, or the 'main' class?

  Thus far in my game making experience I have made some maps in Starcraft and Warcraft III using Blizzard's map editors and triggers/scripting.  In my studies I have made chance based games (Rock Paper Scissors and the like), Conway's Life (no player game) and the strategy game Go (2-Player).  Most recently I have been developing a Shoot-Em-Up style game with a swarm of ships at your control.  Originally I was trying to develop this game as an entry to TIGSource's Assemble Competition, but it was not complete by the deadline.

   Walking is an enjoyable pastime of mine.  Good to clear the head, organize thoughts, find adventure, find friends and a good way to spend time with friends.  I practiced Piano for several years back in grade school and high school.  Kajukenbo is a mixed martial art style I used to practice.

  One of my favorite things to do is dance.  However I don't feel to comfortable just making up my own thing to the popular song of the week, yet.  I have been taking Swing and Ballroom classes off and on for the past six years or so.  Practiced Ballet for the past six months.  I have performed with multiple dance companies, most recently in a Nutcracker Ballet production as the Cavalier/Prince.  Swing, and specifically Lindy Hop, is my favorite style to dance.  However I have done Ballet, Hip Hop, Latin and Contemporary in recent years and my appreciation and enjoyment of these styles have grown.  Last summer has been the best yet, dancing nights away to some swinging live big bands with great friends.  
Various Photos:


  Currently my 'dream job' would be to program by day (also working with music, GFX, and Physics), dance and instruct dance by night.

  Anyways, the TIGSource community is great and am looking forward to much fun to be had here!

[ChevyRay]

 One of my favorite things to do is dance.  However I don't feel to comfortable just making up my own thing to the popular song of the week, yet.  I have been taking Swing and Ballroom classes off and on for the past six years or so.  Practiced Ballet for the past six months.  I have performed with multiple dance companies, most recently in a Nutcracker Ballet production as the Cavalier/Prince.  Swing, and specifically Lindy Hop, is my favorite style to dance.  However I have done Ballet, Hip Hop, Latin and Contemporary in recent years and my appreciation and enjoyment of these styles have grown.  Last summer has been the best yet, dancing nights away to some swinging live big bands with great friends.  
Various Photos:

So awesome! Damn I want to learn dancing so bad. Especially

Lindy Hop

Oh god yes I want to learn to do this.

[longstreamofnumbers]

hey there,

My name is Julian or Fabs (as my friends call me). i was introduced to gaming when i was pretty young, i got a really crappy mac computer when i was about 5 or 6 and it had a demo of civiliszations 2 on it and i played that thing for years, eventually moving on to a gameboy colour when i was 8 and then a GBA when they were released. I then moved on to consoles a few years after that; owned a gamecube and an xbox. then this generation I recently became an owner of all three consoles (woo!). I enjoy myself some indie games, usually flash games, I have a friend who makes them for armor games ( http://armorgames.com/play/1906/soviet-silo-defense ) and I have a crippling addiction to spelunky

so uh... hi

[Dualmask]

Hello, my name is Jonathan Price. I'm actually not much of a game developer yet, but I hope to be. I've always wanted to make games, but lack of access to information and tech kept the ambition elusive to me until I became an adult and began to explore the internet.

I'm currently attending the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online for Game Art and Design, but I'm also trying to get into the act of developing games in my spare time between class, full-time work and taking care of my family. I'm a pretty decent artist and writer, and part of what attracts me to indie game development is my desire to use games as a conduit through which to tell my stories. My art suggests that I'd be better suited for comic books, but I don't have enough passion to finish the comics I start. I figure once I get the hang of the difficult parts of game design, e.g., coding, I can apply my own artistic skills to my game development and make the games I'd like to see, and hopefully games that others would enjoy as well.

I recently downloaded Game Maker 8 and I'm hoping to put it to use as the foundation of my future game development endeavors, but I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out where to start.

I joined this site because I realized I needed to try to get to know people who have done it and are doing it day in and day out. I generally hang out on DeviantART but there's too much random influence there; it makes me want to try everything and hence accomplish nothing. A site focused on my goal is the place to be.

Outside of that, I find joy in drawing characters (female mostly), writing stories, and of course playing games (mostly Wii and PSP, some PS3 and lots and lots of old-school).

http://dualmask.deviantart.com

[BrianSlipBit]

Hello,

I'm Brian Lawson.  I worked in the game industry as a programmer from 1999-2009.  I've worked at a handful of studios (some of which are gone now) like Midway San Diego, Treyarch, Obsidian Entertainment, and 3D Realms.  Throughout my 10 years in the industry, I worked mostly as an engine/tech programmer.  I'm fortunate that along the way I had the opportunity to work with some really talented people, from whom I learned much of what I know today about game development.

My last three years were spent working on Duke Nukem Forever at 3D Realms.  After DNF was canceled, I decided to leave the commercial (big money) game industry for a variety of reasons.  Some of those reasons included a more sane work schedule and a desire for creative freedom.  While it's cool and fun to work on commercial games, things like intellectual property contracts, non-compete contracts, and expenditure of creative energy at the day job ultimately hinder people who aspire to be independent.  I think having spent 10+ years on the inside provides me with a pretty unique perspective on what it means to be truly "independent".

I believe anyone who works in a creative role on the development of a game (indie or pro) obviously has a passion for doing so.  Games are by far some of the most complex products out there today.  With that being said, it's a given that all of us here love games and love to play games.  I won't subject you to the long list of consoles and games that fueled my passion for game development.  However, I will subject you to the short list.

My first console was an Atari 2600.  But, the consoles that had the biggest influence on me were by far the NES, Super NES, and the N64.  Yes, GoldenEye really is the best console FPS ever (even though the frame rate sucked) because it was simply way ahead of its time in terms of gameplay mechanics.  However, the game that ultimately motived me to change my undergraduate major from Mechanical Engineering to Computer Science was Super Mario 64.  From that point forward there was simply no looking back.  I reflect on that summer and sometimes can't believe I'm here today.  I feel really lucky.

With that being said, I look forward to getting to know the people (you all) who compose a large part of the independent game development scene.

[Lime]

Your username should be "CannonBall Jack"!

[dmaz]

Hello,

I’m David Maziarka, another lurker… I work in IT and have been programming games as a hobby much of my life.  Most finished projects were created a long time ago on the Amiga but last year I got a new one done.  A game that I think is a lot of fun but I really didn’t give it much exposure.  Recently though I uploaded it to apple.com and got a staff pick which was nice so I’m now out to do a little more marketing.
 
I’ve also been dabbling with on the iPhone a little and even went to the last iDev in Denver, that was a lot of fun.  Currently though, I’m playing with multi-player on the PC and am so far very happy with the library I’ve written… since I do this as a hobby, I tend to remake the wheel even though there are plenty of good ones out there.  Most likely that’s why I don’t finish most of my stuff.  I’m going to post the game I finished last year so please look for it….. “Rocks” is it’s name… not very original I know.

Cheers!

[Crowbar]

Yo! My name's John Hurst. I'm a programmer who is currently completely bored of Corporate IT Land and feel like I need to do something more with my life. I've been trying to make a game for years but never anything fully completed. Little bits and pieces I am especially proud of, but a string of bad luck the last couple of years have prevented me from getting anything to a state I feel would be "completed". I have plenty scrap notes and design documents all over and some that I feel would still make for a good game, but there is a place and time for everything. But this year! Things will change! This year will be awesome and exciting and I will get things done and everyone will have cake. It will be good.

I wish I had a scan of it, but there's a picture of me when I was three that defines my gaming past: It's me in my parents bedroom, standing in front of a black and white tv with a Atari 2600 Joystick in hand and wearing swim goggles. I'm not sure why I'm wearing the goggles. Perhaps I thought they would make the screen look bigger. Regardless, it's the best example I can think of as to how much into games I was. I spent most of elementary school plotting out robot masters for Mega Man-esque games and even attempting to build a skateboard based on the Rush Jet design. It should come as no surprise then that the game I'm currently working on is a platformer in that vein. We shall see how that turns out!
 
Here's what I look like when I'm trying to view you in 3D:



I'm also part of a sketch comedy group called Channel Z - The Last TV Station, which is why the picture of me above looks semi-professional. We're still trying to get things off the ground (I'm still in another state, for one.) but I'm hoping that in the coming months things will work out so that I'll be able to spend the time I feel I need on the things I feel most passionate about.

I'll try and be active on the board, I swear! I don't tend to check boards as often as it should, but I've been lurking for a while and have enjoyed what I've seen. So, hey.

[CiroContinisio]

< "Hi all, I'm Ciro Continisio and I'm from Rome, Italy."

"Hi Ciro." >

< "My experience is the following:
Since I can remember, I always wanted to do videogames. No, actually when I was very small I wanted to draw comics.
Anyway, eventually I fell in love with games at the age of 8, with a NES. At first I only knew I wanted "to make games", then it came the decision to be a designer.
The choice was very unfortunate, since in Italy there's no proper game industry and game designer are never paid to make games.


I am destroyed because I have just learned that in my country game designers are never paid.

I attended a very broad course of Digital design, and now I find myself trying to make the break into the 'real games industry'. In the meanwhile, I enjoy making games, and I make them in Flash so I can be like the One-man band, and do everything on my own (from design to graphics, to programming, except music).

I'm currently occupied with a new project, UFHO2, but of this I will talk in another thread.

I don't know why I waited so long before joining the TIGsource boards... I had been already following the indie scene for a while.."

[Lime]

Hey Crowbar, this is your website, isn't it? http://crowbar.ripsystem.com/
I recall enjoying some of your pxtone songs, man!
Anyway, welcome to TIGS!

[DavidN]

Hello, I'm David Newton - or DavidN, as I tend to call myself after a series of disastrous attempts at more original Internet names. I'm from both sides of the Atlantic, having been born in the South of England where I learned to talk posh, then moving up to the Scotland, and then ultimately to America. I've lived in Boston for nearly four years now, and still wander through life in a perpetual state of bemusement. Like just about everyone on the thread, I've been following the independent games community for some time but somehow never got around to joining for a while (in my case, until the time came to shamelessly promote one of my own efforts). You can see me on the left there, in one of the very few times I have worn a kilt, apparently following the trajectory of an incoming flying breed of haggis.

I was interested in computers from a very young age, and I still remember that I got interested in actually coding them when I found the Usbourne Book of Better Basic in my dad's bookcase, therefore making me the only child in the entire primary school to have a children's book about BASIC. I made my start on the Commodore 64 putting together little text adventures, then moved up to the PC. We never had any game consoles in the house, so they were rather mysterious things to me - instead, I grew up first with the little reader submissions that I found on the PC Plus 5 1/2" coverdisk, which was the IT magazine that my dad used to get, and then on to the many DOS games that were produced by Apogee, ID and Epic in an attempt to out-shareware each other. That's Hocus Pocus on the right there, which was inadvertently an inspiration for the game that I'm working on just now. Something I love about the independent community is that it's a return to some of the ideas of that era - the possibility of very small numbers of people producing games, and each person being recognizable in the community for their own style or approach.

I took the inevitable route and am now employed as a coder, though for content management systems rather than games. I'm mostly an MMF2 user for my game projects, mostly because I think that spending as much time in the same IDEs I use at work in my spare time would destroy the very last shreds of my sanity. After using MMF2's predecessors for a number of years, I discovered its online community in 2002 and started submitting serious attempts at games, such as Treasure Tower (my most popular effort yet even though I think it was responsible for more keyboards through monitors than was really necessary) and Special Agent, a game very much inspired by Apogee's "Secret Agent".

Recently I regressed to the past and made an MMF2-Java applet version of Jason Jupiter, one of the very first games that I can remember playing from those PC Plus disks - it attracted an email from the original creator, something that I was most proud of. And these days I'm working on Crystal Towers 2, the sequel to my earliest big game, which I have been procrastinating over for roughly one million years so far.

As if that wasn't enough of a hobby, I also write music in a sort of unholy electronic power metal hybridized style, and write at length about my experiences of being British and living in America. This is primarily done through a livejournal, but I made an attempt at submitting some articles to a free newspaper once. Out of everything I sent in, they printed one paragraph about biscuits and cut off the funny bit at the end, but you've got to accept publication when you can. All of these things can be found at my site complete with cheap-as-free domain name, http://www.davidn.co.nr (as if I hadn't spammed it enough already above).

Nice to meet all of you