Thanks for visiting my site. I'm Mike, your webmaster. On this page you'll find a short narrative of my programming experience and find out a little bit about me. As an added bonus for actually viewing this page, you'll have a chance to download ancient programs over my time programming. =)

Bario I started programming in the middle of 1999. I started with C++, and shortly thereafter I adopted DirectX so that I could create high-performance games. (I made a couple of games in plain Windows first, such as the classic Bario.) After learning how to do some basic things in DirectX, I set about to create a better version of the aforementioned Bario; I called it Lario.

Lario Oh, did I ever make a lot of mistakes in Lario. I believe you can get yourself stuck in the ground without having to try all that determinedly. I didn't fully grasp the animation portion of the helper libraries (from the well-known LaMothe books) that I was using; thus, the "lava" animations I added looked more like the static you see when your antenna isn't getting good reception! I released it with two or three levels as a demo; unfortunately, the devoted fans of Lario never saw another release.

Code Blue As a fan of games like Zelda, I next set out to make a role-playing game (RPG). I crafted a small demo of a game (this would become a pattern: demo releases followed by cancellations) called Code Blue. This game continued the trend of low-quality graphics, though I had figured out how to use animations by that point. You could move from room to room and attack basic enemies with a rocket launcher, a boomerang, or a fireball. The first room also had the prerequisite elderly sage, but I don't think he actually ever said anything.

Missile Command game Over the following years I attempted (and often released somewhat-promising demos of) various other RPGs; unfortunately, I never managed to approach a finished RPG of any sort. At one point during this stretch of uncompleted projects, I decided I needed to make a smaller game that I would / could actually finish. Among these stood an Asteroids-type game, a simple Pong clone of sorts, and a Missile Command-style game. I completed each of these small projects, though none of them bore a particularly remarkable level of polish. For instance, I don't believe any of the games had a menu screen. Nonetheless, I met my reachable goal of finishing a project.

While I was working on all of these various projects, I also maintained various iterations of a personal website to track their statuses. I actually started learning about / working on websites the year before I started learning C++. I learned a little bit from a book called HTML for Dummies. =) At the time I enjoyed playing the relatively new Lode Runner 2 (surprise!); in my fandom, I created a site called The Lode Runner 2 Shrine with some level walkthroughs, homemade levels for download, and lots more I'm sure! I used a WYSIWYG editor to build this website, though.

Eventually, of course, I learned more about HTML and other ancillary languages such as JavaScript. After a while I moved away from static pages and started making dynamic pages with ASP and, shortly thereafter, PHP. More recently I've put aside a little bit of my stubbornness and started working with style sheets more extensively. In building this newest version of my website, I've refined my knowledge of both style sheets and basic HTML; you will find that my sites pass HTML validators, even! =)

Just as I've refined my web programming skills over time, I continued to refine and improve my computer programming skills over time as well. Occasionally I would partake in short-term (e.g., 48 hours) programming competitions that both helped me work on my programming abilities and also gave me a chance to get started on new project ideas (and too get valuable feedback on those ideas as well). In this period I began to attempt to add multiplayer support to one of my games for the first time.

NOLS During one of the competitions I composed the beginnings of a Lemmings type of game. I liked the game fairly well at that early point, and it received some decent feedback. Thus, I decided to continue to develop it into a full-fledged game. I eventually called it Night of the Living Sheep (NOLS). It had some unique tools and had a fair amount of polish; I liked it pretty well. Pursuant to the previous point, I also included a multiplayer mode in the game. Representing my first foray into multiplayer gaming, this mode obviously excited me a lot.

Tetratris After NOLS, I took some time off of programming. Eventually, I started playing a java-based version of Tetris (in an applet on a website). I enjoyed it fairly well, but I decided I might have an idea for a more interesting version of Tetris: four-way Tetris, or Tetratris! This led to my creation of the original Tetratris; you can find that in the "Games" menu at the top of each page. Looking back, the game itself played very well, but I could have done a better job on things like the menu and option screen. Later, obviously, I would create a sequel that improved on every aspect of the original.

Lode Runner X Before that happened, though, I embarked upon a mission to create a Lode Runner game. At first I only intended to make a pretty strict clone. After a time, though, I started adding new features to the game. For the most part they remained true to the Lode Runner motif, but they certainly turned it into more than a "strict Lode Runner clone." I naturally included a multiplayer mode in this game as well. This time, however, I got the multiplayer mode right. I included an easy-to-use game finder in the game, and the multiplayer mode performed very well. With an enormous variety of customizeable game options that could spawn any number of multiplayer gameplay modes and support for up to four players, I came away very pleased with my effort on this game (Lode Runner X (LRX)).

Snake! After I had completed LRX, I started desiring to experiment with other programming languages / libraries. To this end, I started playing around with Flash development. I ended up making only one game -- Snake -- but that game turned out very nicely. Looking around at other language possibilities, I decided to give Python a try. After I had played around with Python for a little while, a game development message board I visit hosted a game design challenge, and I took advantage of the opportunity to make my first Python-based game. It turned out very well, and I found Python very engaging. Not only could I code more easily using Python, but also it offered me the opportunity to create cross-platform games. Thus, I created my first cross-platform game during the game design challenge: a hybrid of a platformer game and an RPG.

Tetratris True A short time afterward, I switched from using Windows to using Linux. By this point I had become somewhat addicted to playing my original Tetratris game; unfortunately, I could no longer play it seeing as the original version only supported Windows (using DirectX). I therefore realized that I had to create a sequel. From the underlying code to the gameplay to the user interface, I created a superior game in every regard. I titled the game Tetratris True. I also included a head-to-head multiplayer mode that I enjoy playing.

Lode Runner '07 By this point I had become entrenched in using Python to develop my games. I continued to work on the demo-ish game I had made for the aforementioned competition. Soon I started to believe that I could use this as an engine for other games as well. To put this to the test, I started to work on a new version of Lode Runner called Lode Runner '07. The engine from the platformer / RPG hybrid carried over very well to the new Lode Runner game; I completed development in a surprisingly short time. LR07 takes a more classical approach to Lode Runner than my previous game of the same genre, LRX. I enjoy the final result very much.

Since LR07, I have not had a major official release, but the coming months will surely hold some cool new games. Last summer I released a small game called WiiWord. It plays somewhat like a hybrid of Boggle and Tetris; you have to make letters out of the words. It provides good fun if you have two players who like word games. =)

Over the past year, I have intermittently worked on a 2d game engine / ASCII game. I have also created a not-quite-complete block-pushing puzzle game which I call 'Dozer. Perhaps the bulk of my coding time has, however, fallen into the time sink known as web design! :P Earlier in 2008, I set about to create a new web framework type of thing. I had planned to use this as a new backdrop on PsyguyGames.com as well. Unfortunately, the software sputtered and stalled just short of the finish line. I had put together a pretty fair product, but I just couldn't convince myself to finish it for some reason. As time passed, I liked the code less and less.

Finally, I recently gathered the ambition, motivation and masochism to cast side nearly the entire code base for that project and start anew. I put a strong effort into planning out the whole design and creating a strong code base. I so happily can report that I feel very satisfied by the final product! =)

Stay tuned for more games!

Mike (mike at psyguygames dot com)