Get Info: #early

Some new old posts you might find interesting

by Matt Sephton — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 22:38:00 +0000

I just added a bunch of backdated posts to the blog, mostly to do with my early games and apps:

2022-04-23 Wire Hang Redux for 64-bit macOS
2015-03-14 Boom Matt
2011-12-12 Wire Hang Redux: update
2004-06-20 Wire Hang Redux
2002-08-23 Terra Firma
2002-03-27 Yaking
2001-02-14 Bendertron
2000-09-29 Simple Soccer
1998-12-01 My old Atari ST software
1998-11-16 My old Windows software

Wire Hang Redux for 64-bit macOS

by Matt Sephton — Sat, 23 Apr 2022 15:40:00 +0000

I just uploaded a 64-bit macOS version of my 2004 game Wire Hang Redux that I had forgotten all about. So now you can play it on your 64-bit Mac. This version built using BlitzMax. I’ll try to build it for Apple Silicon some time this decade, but no promises!

Read more about the game in the original blog post.

Download: gingerbeardman.itch.io/wire-hang-redux

Boom Matt

by Matt Sephton — Sat, 14 Mar 2015 23:59:00 +0000

This is my version of the mobile game Boom Dots by Umbrella Games, made this one Saturday evening in 2015 using Phaser HTML5 game framework just to see what it was like.

Works on mobile, of course.

Play in your browser: gingerbeardman.itch.io/boom-matt

Wire Hang Redux: update

by Matt Sephton — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 14:54:00 +0000

An update to Wire Hang Redux my version of the Java game Wire Hang, with improved controls and graphics. This version was built using BlitzMax.

Read more about the game in the original blog post.

Download: gingerbeardman.itch.io/wire-hang-redux

Wire Hang Redux

by Matt Sephton — Sun, 20 Jun 2004 00:34:00 +0000

I made a new game! It’s a from-scratch remake of an original Java game, Wire Hang, by Masaki Kobayashi (D2AC) who went on to become part of the Gran Turismo team.

I had a pretty underpowered laptop at the time, and writing my own version of the game was the only way I was able to play it comfortably.

My version of the game, Wire Hang Redux—made with Kobayshi-san’s blessing—went onto to receive over one million downloads from early download sites like Tucows, Version Tracker, Download.com, Mac Update, Home of the Underdogs, Game Hippo, Hyper Jeff, Windows Forest (Japan), and even a little website called Apple.com—back when it had a download section! It was featured in computer magazines all around the world.

Archived web page: gingerbeardman.com/archive/wirehang/

Download: gingerbeardman.itch.io/wire-hang-redux

Circuit Heat

by Matt Sephton — Thu, 23 Jan 2003 12:00:00 +0000

I made a prototype of a game called Circuit Heat. It is a version of the classic network completion puzzle (aka Pipes, FreeNet, Net, NetWalk, etc). The graphics remind me a little of the Atari Lynx classic puzzler Chip’s Challenge.

Notes:

At this time, long before iPhone, I was playing Java games on a (Sagem?) cell phone so many of my concepts around this time were targeted at that sort of platform
The game was was later featured on PC Format 161 (May 2004) cover disc

Screenshots

Terra Firma

by Matt Sephton — Fri, 23 Aug 2002 11:00:00 +0000

This is my entry into the BlitzCoder Stupidest Game Competition, 2002. You need to guide a sky diver—whose parachute has failed—past obstacles and attempt to land on a cow. Fun!

It was written using BlitzBasic and later recompiled in BlitzPlus.

This is the game that made me realise I could make games.

Archived web page: gingerbeardman.com/archive/terrafirma/

Download: gingerbeardman.itch.io/terra-firma

Yaking

by Matt Sephton — Wed, 27 Mar 2002 12:00:00 +0000

A small prototype for a kayak/canoe “simulator” game, featuring water currents, a gate to paddle through, and somewhat unique paddling controls (press left/right alternately).

Made using BlitzBasic and targetting Game Boy Advance resolution of 240×160.

Archived web page: gingerbeardman.com/archive/yaking/

Download: gingerbeardman.itch.io/yaking

Bendertron

by Matt Sephton — Wed, 14 Feb 2001 14:11:00 +0000

This is my Futurama-themed fan-game inspired a little by the Williams arcade classic Robotron and a lot by Jeff Minter’s Llamatron. Written in BlitzBasic for Windows 9x.

Created in Feb/Mar 2001 during the dot-com boom and released in Jan 2002 after the bubble burst!

Explosion animation by the wonderful Alex Amelines
Sounds and graphics ripped from the TV show
It’s a 25-year-old free fan-game, you know?

Play it on an old install of Windows, or on modern Windows using DxWnd.

Free Download: gingerbeardman.itch.io/bendertron

Simple Soccer

by Matt Sephton — Fri, 29 Sep 2000 11:00:00 +0000

Simple Soccer is my take on the classic Sensible Soccer. It was written in BlitzBasic and ran at 800×600 under Windows 9x.

I built multiple parts—player control, dribbling, cpu and formation, goalkeeper behaviour—but never managed to combine it all in a finished game. Still, I count it as my first real game.

Archived web page: gingerbeardman.com/archive/soccer/

My old Atari ST software

by Matt Sephton — Tue, 01 Dec 1998 12:00:00 +0000

I dug out some old 3.5” double density floppy disks from my Atari ST days and have made some old apps of mine available as downloads. These were made between 1992 and 1994.

Paint (chunky pixel art app)
REview (text document viewer)
Chaos Calc 2 (fractal viewer)

Also included are some icons and Fuji Bar!, a companion app for the PaCifiST emulator on Windows 95 that allows you to easily manage and change .ini settings through a GUI. This was made in 1996.

Archived web page: gingerbeardman.com/archive/tektonix/atarist.htm

My old Windows software

by Matt Sephton — Mon, 16 Nov 1998 12:00:00 +0000

After moving to Windows PC from Atari ST I discovered Visual Basic and my mind was blown by the possibilities of laying out a graphical user interface using the mouse and adding code to make it do stuff. I jumped in and made a whole bunch of Windows software, including some world-first features like hot-corners to invoke the screen saver and being able to quickly select favourite folders whilst in the file selector of any application.

I also made fun stuff like screensavers and videogames, as well as more utilitarian software “apps”. In addition, I played around with a really cool and very fast interpreted language called Euphoria!—whose claim to fame was that it had a reference-counting garbage collector—and I’m surprised to read that it is still around over 30 years later!

Archived web page: gingerbeardman.com/archive/tektonix/