R. DePhillip – Founder
I am a programmer at heart! I have been since I was seven years old and first discovered BASIC on my DOS 4 Pentium 386 system. After I got my first taste at code I started looking for anything I could program. Aside from my computer I was toying with my parents Atari system and trying to get my hands on a Commadore64. I sat up at night planning my next great idea in a composition notebook (I still do this by the way) and working on that idea the next evening after I rushed my homework and scarfed my dinner.
Windows 95 brought unto me Visual Basic and C++ and I just about lost it when I learned I could make bigger things now! I loved it and I still shudder to this day about how adept I became with Visual Basic. Upgrading to Windows 98SE with a dual boot of Mandrake Linux I began working more diligently on my C++ programming while writing utilitarian applications in Visual Basic for my school work and my mothers work. In 1999 I released my first game onto a site called http://www.freewaregames.com. I had been studying HTML for several years and had a little Geocities website that I thought was just awesome (Black background with red text and everything).
The 1999 release of IRCNinja was popular enough that I had multiple lobbies on DALNet’s IRC network being managed by my custom bot application meant to track the duels that the players had. The bot would generate an HTML file and then FTP it up to the Geocities site on an hourly basis (which was insane since all I had was a dual band 56k dialup setup).
About this time I discovered Ultima Online and Everquest which set my heart on become a C++ developer for a game company that created Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs). I was so hooked on gaming that I spent an average of $150/mo on games. This may have been my ultimate downfall since I never released another game, I didn’t finish my college, and while I’m in the computer field it isn’t in programming.
Now I spend a lot of time playing World of Warcraft like so many people. I’ve returned to college and I’m trying to switch from Computer Technician to Computer Programmer. I have become adept at web development and learned enough skill to actually be capable of front end design. Having no professional programming experience paired with no degree I’m just pressing on.
I founded Hysteria Games after a friend and I formed a game team and disagreed on how things should be handled in legal terms. The friend still has that team and is still working on projects. He has inspired me to push forward and get my gears turning as well. I’m hoping that we will be able to feed off of one another as we push forward as semi-motivated minds with common goals.
2012 is my year for Hysteria Games to finally complete and publish a game (hopefully more than one). I do not intend to look beyond my abilities by working on multiple projects simultaneously, but instead breaking out one project into multiple tasks I can do. This is to keep me focused, but not burn me out and this is the plan for HG. I can’t allow myself to get stuck. If I get stuck I move to another piece of the puzzle and work on it. My friends and family are a great encouragement and those that visit this blog, G+, and Twitter are also huge contributors for the much needed encouragement to keep pushing forward for my goal in a supersaturated field.
