My first game was created for the Unleash The Beast competition run by Live Nation for Download 2006 using 2d game development middleware Game Maker to handle most of the coding, and I supplied the commands, the sprites, the music, the menus, animations, and so on. It took me about two weeks from start to finish, teaching myself the software as I went.

In the game the player takes control of Timmy the Tiny Terrier as he tries to make his way across a city park to his owner  avoiding the menacing chavs armed with spiky baseball bats who hang out in the toilet and the fiendish traps everywhere!

Timmy has to collect all the bones and Snickers across 13 levels increasing in difficulty to get closer to his home.

To help you, there are power-ups scattered throughout the levels:

Download ticket - become the Download Dog and eat the fleeing chavs.

Electric guitar - send lightning in 4 directions.

Hamburger - poo in the pathway causing the chavs to slip in it.

Beer - piss on the path causing the chavs to slip, dissolves over time.

T-shirt - bonus points.

Get to the end of the game to reveal the dog's celebrity owner!

For the first time in about 3 years you can now freely download the full 12 mb game

HERE

I won a close runner-up prize of four weekend tickets with camping and a big box of Snickers. That'll do pig. That'll do...

I then started my next project, a silly 2d on-rails shooter in the vain of Operation Wolf, but with woodland creatures, led by the evil wizard, Nasty Badger! With Nympho Bunny (the new bride of his nemesis Major Psycho Bunny) in his pervy grip high on Skull Rock, he casts an evil mind-control spell over the whole woodland! His one command; kill the rabbit!

You play as Psycho as he slices, saws, shoots and explodes his way through 6 deadly zones of The Wilderdale Woods, encountering huge bosses and increasingly warped creatures along the dark path to Skull Rock, and his captive babe.

The player can upgrade their weapon and get ammo and supplies from frequent drops from Field Marshall Flip-Flap (an otter) flying over in his plane. It is possible to hit him when he flies past in the background, at which point he aborts the drop.

A second player option was planned to be added, as Captain Patch Black, an old friend of Psycho's, with separate cut scenes and endings for the two player game. This sadly was not meant to be.

About a quarter of the way through the laborious development cycle I realised I had made a fundamental error early on, bringing everything to a grinding halt and meaning I would have to do most of the same work over again. I do not dig doing that, and, though I enjoyed  the experience to that point, Woodland Warfare was not one of my favourite ideas, so I shelved the project indefinitely in favour of pursuing better things.

I have a pretty buggy version of the game's intro screens, first level, cut scene and a boss, with excruciating load times (seriously, 5 minutes plus  sometimes) and coming in at a whopping 37.5meg, which I may post a link to in the future if people want me to.

More lessons learned, I moved on to play around with tests and concepts for:

Survival Of The Fittest/Sperm Operated Tactical Fighter - horizontally and vertically scrolling shooter

Warrior Code - power metal themed action fantasy adventure

Panacea - superhero horror action fantasy adventure

Rise of the Black Tiger - ninja fighter action platform adventure

Flash Rogers: Time Pirate - time warping action platform adventure

The Magik Isle - family action fantasy adventure

Necessary Evil - horror themed first person shooter

Fight or Fall - hardcore 2d tournament fighter

And many more ideas which for better or worse will probably never see the light of day...

I have nothing of real consequence to show of these as other aspects of my life (film/band/promo) took the place of game design, and some of the ideas behind them will be returned to in various forms in the future, so I don't want to give too much away here.

I'm greatly looking forward to seeing how versatile the new game-production tools in Little Big Planet 2 are, as I may consider prototyping my game ideas in there to speed the process up, and to share the games quickly to a large audience.

For now, I've promised MJ Dixon 2d tie-in games for both Creepsville and Slasher House, so I look forward to cracking on with those once filming's completed later in the year.