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[zircon]

Hey all! My name is Andrew Aversa, and I'm part of a startup Philadelphia-based game dev called Space Whale Studios (http://www.spacewhalestudios.com/). My "day job" - if you could call it a job, since it doesn't really feel like one most of the time - is writing and producing music for video games and other media (http://www.zirconmusic.com/). I'm also an active electronic musician and sound designer, with one of my side businesses being the development of music software/virtual instruments for other composers.

I started Space Whale with four friends associated with Drexel University, where I graduated from and where I now teach as an adjunct. Two are fellow graduates, one is a senior C.S. student and the fourth is an ex-adjunct. We had all worked together in some capacity previously, but decided it would be fun to give commercial game development a shot.

Anyway, while my professional background is in business and audio, I used to dabble in programming, which was my passion in middle school and early high school. I even created a few MUD-type games played on IRC, which I still get emails about to this day, and I'm pretty proud of what I was able to accomplish even though they were completely text-based. I'm thrilled to be back in game development today, doing not only audio but level design, writing, etc. as well, and look forward to participating in the indie gamedev community

Cheers!

[KM]

Welcome zircon! I'm a pretty big fan of your OCRemix work. I didn't know you were into game deving too. :D

[SuperGork]

Hi everyone! My name is Matt and I'm a hobbyist indie game dev in Cambridge, MA. I first started playing games when I was 4 trying to figure out how to open the first blue door in Metroid. My mind was blown as I discovered how big the caves were below Zebes.

I played just about everything that came out on consoles while I grew up, but I really fell in love with PC gaming. I was introduced to indie-gaming through Home Of The Underdogs. I must have tried every indie-game they linked to.

I always wanted to get into game development, but didn't get started until a year or two ago. I've had a couple of false starts but things are going better more recently. I've been working on a city builder/tower defense/tyrant simulator called Tiny Tyranny, and also recording a weekly indie-games podcast, both of which you can check out at http://kindofprettyalright.com.

[wedieyounge]

hey there,

angelo is my real name, but call me wedge. i'm a brazilian graphic designer.

i used to be an amateur level designer, made a total of 16 maps for various half-life mods and unreal tournament, between 1999 and 2003. you can see some of my maps here at behance (http://bit.ly/9NZscg).

i'm familiar with Source and UDK, flixel and as3 (although i'm not a PROgrammer... i know some logics...heh).

as graphic designer, i've five years of professional experience, for both print and digital design.

i'm finishing college and my graduation project will be about game design. have about a year to develop a project. will post the progress here, hopefully :]

[Foppy]

Hi, I'm Robbert (from the Netherlands) and I have mostly been writing games in Blitz Basic. I started programming on my Commodore 64, and later also made a few games using Turbo Pascal. Just when I was starting to use Allegro, I discovered Blitz Basic, which is a nice all-in-one package.

I have made a couple of remakes (Crossfire, Paratrooper) and retro-inspired games (Space Invaders, Asteroids), as well as more original games (Flyout, Wizard Battle).

These can be downloaded from my homepage: http://www.foppygames.nl

There you can also see what I'm working on now.

Thanks!

[ham and brie]

Hello

I'm a guy who's been working for a few years as a coder in the UK games industry, currently working on a packaged retail triple-ay licensed console game. It's a fine job, but I also want to make my own games...

Recently I finished and released an iPhone game of my own. It sunk without trace in the App Store. Whoops.

That failure made me re-evaluate, thinking about what I really want out of my personal projects. I've got to change what I'm doing and improve. I ought to start making smaller, quicker, rougher stuff and getting feedback from people who aren't friends and family. I should also get involved with helping other people: do for them what I'd want people to do for me...

So, that's why I'm here.

[Vegas]

Hey y'all,

I'm Vegas, and my real name is William Hubbell. I'm a student at UT Austin, and the industry officer in the Electronic Game Developers Society (a student-run organization) there. I'm studying to become a game developer and plan to go to SMU's guildhall after I graduate UT.

I just joined this website because I was at Fantastic Fest yesterday and saw Derek speak as part of a panel called "declaration of independents."

Looking forward to becoming more of a part of the community!

[randomshade]

Once upon a time, a guy was born. As a youngster, the guy begged for the latest Nintendo strategy guides so that he could fervently reproduce the amazing artwork included in them; I'm looking at you, floating-castle-in-a-crystal-framed-by-an-ax-and-a-sword from Final Fantasy. Later, after submitting several hand drawn Darkwing Duck platformer levels to Nintendo Power and never getting a reply, said guy realized he was as artistic as a broken pencil and never really did anything artistic again.

Some years down the road, the guy spent every waking hour outside of high school using RPG Maker 95 to try and create the next great Chrono Trigger. Said greatness never occurred.

Down but not out, the guy went on to college and studied computer science and later pretended to be a chemist, burning a few years in a research laboratory, at which point the guy wanted to burn himself. Fortunately, the previous years of hobbyist game development offered a career change and the guy went to work making DS games.

Unfortunately, the story repeats itself, and after a few years of making licensed, budget DS games for a creatively draining company, the guy wanted to burn himself again. Which he didn't do, because he somehow miraculously landed a small game development contract with his friend Mr. Artist for a casual PC/Mac game. After spending the better part of a year on the casual game, the guy decided to finally make games he really wanted to make; games he really wanted to play.

And so the guy is here. Hi

[Theforeshadower]

Greetings!
Though I am only 21, my own story is too long to lay out.
Let's just say, I love indie games.  Currently working on my own classic rpg heavily based upon Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System.  One day after many recreations into different styles to work on my programming and expand my horizons, I hope my project will become as well known as Cave Story.

'til next time:
~Theforeshadower

[dongle]

Hi, I'm Jonathan.  I've been following the indie game scene since the BBS days, and had a brief stint in the AAA games business (which wasn't my cup of tea). Now I'm one-half of the independent studio Koduco Games and I figure I should stop lurking. If anyone wants more of my biography, check out my website.

Anyway, cheers, pleased to meet y'all.

[Pinback]

Hi!

I've been working on various indie projects for about three or four years, and I usually keep to myself a lot. I mostly do art and graphics, but I can animate, code (in AGS anyway) and a bunch of other crap if pressed to.
So yeah, recently started my own serious game project and thought I should get a bit more involved with the indie community at large!

I don't really play games that much anymore, I really prefer to make them.
 

[randomshade]

I've been a long time forum lurker here, but hope to be a more active contributor within the community soon. After working for years in non-game dev software, I spent a little over 3 years at a mainstream developer as a lead programmer. For the last couple of years, I've been doing freelance work in game development and various other things.

Recently I was able to join forces with a former colleague of mine and we've been working on getting some indie game development off the ground this Summer. The fruits of our labor will soon be public so I'm hopeful that many people will enjoy our stuff. Most of my game development experience is in the console and handheld arena, but I'm currently developing for PC/Mac/iOS.

Outside of game development, I'm a new dad -- which is far more terrifying and difficult than crunch ever was.

[petra]

I was wondering where this thread had gotten to.

I'm Petra. I've been hanging around here for some time but never really involved myself in the community due to my tendency to get well in over my head with my ideas before going off game design altogether in a fit of frustration. After a winter full of aches and pains that trapped me indoors for weeks, I rekindled my love for indie games. I feel it's about damn time I got my own out there!

The first indie game I remember playing was Samorost 1 & 2, and to this day they're still my favourites. I also enjoyed Knytt and Nelly Cootalot, would consider buying an iPhone just to play Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery, and may be alone on this forum with my fondness for The Endless Forest. Commercial games I love are the The Legend of Zelda, Monkey Island, Ico, and Shadow of the Colossus. I haven't even had the chance to play the latter two but they are oh so very beautiful!

Visual art is my passion, though I dabble in writing and have grand dreams of one day writing and illustrating children's books. I feel games are just another way to tell my stories; to untangle the jungles of my mind. Golly that sounds silly, but it's true!

I've gotten carried away yet again so I'll shut my big gob now and try to retain a little mystery!

[Mush.]

Hi guys, I'm Andrew. My first experience with game dev was when my friend introduced me to Game Maker about 7 years ago. Since then, I've started a countless number of projects that were never finished (except for a game I made in 3 hours for a Poppenkast Compo  .) I've tried learning C & C++, but I never really committed to it. I have, however, found a something that I'm somewhat competent at: pixel art.

I am currently working on a project, which can be found here:  http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=15003.0

[petra]

Hi guys, I'm Andrew.

I first read your name as 'MushFace'. If only...

[Kottis]

Did your head make that groove in the ground? 

[petra]

Did your head make that groove in the ground? 

Yes.

The presence of bark in my hair was the source of much confusion until I saw this picture.

[SpaceSalmon]

Hello TIGsource. Just joined. um.. I have been intrested in indie games since the release of knytt by nifflas. After that I spent alot of time in his forum doing shit with knytt stories and such. I think it was in 2007 or 2008 I first came here, looking around.

There is lots of people I recognize for their games here so it's nice to be around. Well I haven't joined until just now. Reason is I  myself got into game making and programing. So I might just do a complete game one day and it will go up here, off course 

Then I will promise I do good games. I am very dedicated to my work and quite the perfectionist.

[Valyou]

Well, I'm Valyou, and I'm a proud Notch wannabe!  I'm mostly working on a game, Wyr, with some slightly corny humor, and an example said humor's in my sig. I also have some plans for a show (that'd never surive on TV) that you'd hate me if I revealed the plot, and it's being made on yet another obscure forum. But my favorite games are mostly indie games, and they are Touhou, and Minecraft. Everybody's gotta like them, you know! But the first game I had played was the original Sonic for the Genesis. I don't watch TV much, because I'm weird like that. I also beta-tested LEGO Universe, but that got boring fast, and just now I waved bai-bai to LU closed beta. It's beautiful to see the game improve

[adamprack]

Hey everyone,

I've lurked here a few times and have been recently working on getting my own game up and running as a side project.  I primarily am a composer, however, and would love the chance to do more soundtrack work.

I've loved and played games since I could figure out how (somewhere roundabout mid NES days), but the games I just keep going back to and the more inspirational games to me were the Donkey Kong Country games, particularly part 2.  They played great (I prefer their controls and character handling to mario world, so there.),  had great visuals (they're still pretty), and stellar music.  Ocarina of Time and Majora's mask took up the mantle afterward.

I ended up loving music, doing it all the time (along with some visual art--I'm not half bad), started composing around freshman year of high school, and got my degree in May.  Clearly, the goal is video game soundtracks.

I hope this place ends up being a lot of fun and as useful as it appears!

PS: I'll be on IRC as C7