- Source: Michael Berlyn
Michael Berlyn (1949 – March 2023) was an American video game designer and writer. He was best known as an implementer at Infocom, part of the text adventure game design team. He is also known as the designer behind Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (1993) and Bubsy 3D (1996).
Life and career
Brainwave Creations was a small game programming company started by Michael Berlyn. The company was founded in the mid-1980s, and is probably best known for co-creating Tass Times in Tonetown along with Interplay's Rebecca Heineman.
Berlyn joined Marc Blank in founding the game company Eidetic, which later became Bend Studio. In the midst of working on the company's second game, Syphon Filter, Berlyn left the video game industry. He later explained, "I did not like what the game business had become, the people who were driving it, or the nature of the product. I left before it was done and said, 'Do not put my name on the product.' I walked away from my own company. When you tell me you want to put a monk or a nun in my game and have them standing there holding guns so I can justify having the players shoot them, I think that crosses the boundaries of good taste. It doesn't offend ME, but it's got to be in bad taste, and you have to know that."
In 1998, Berlyn started Cascade Mountain Publishing, whose goals were to publish ebooks and interactive fiction. Cascade Mountain Publishing went out of business in 2000. After this business venture collapsed, Berlyn returned to the video game industry, with a focus on casual games.
Berlyn created a "light-jazz" band called Hot Mustard, made up entirely of his own music and performances.
Berlyn was diagnosed with cancer in September 2014, after which he underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment until at least mid-2015. He died in March 2023, at the age of 73.
Games
Oo-Topos, 1981, Sentient Software and Polarware/Penguin Software
Cyborg, 1981, Sentient Software
Gold Rush, 1982, Sentient Software
Congo, 1982, Sentient Software
Suspended, 1983, Infocom
Infidel, 1983, Infocom
Cutthroats, 1984, Infocom
Fooblitzky, 1985, co-designer, Infocom
Tass Times in Tonetown, 1986, Activision
Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I., 1988, First Row Software Publishing
Keef the Thief, 1989, Electronic Arts
Altered Destiny, 1990, Accolade
Les Manley in: Search for the King, 1990, Accolade
Snoopy's Game Club, 1992, Accolade (with former Intellivision programmer Gene Smith)
Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind, 1993, Accolade
Bubsy 3D, 1996, Accolade
Zork: The Undiscovered Underground, 1997, Activision (with Marc Blank)
Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I., 1999, Cascade Mountain Publishing
Syphon Filter, 1999, contributor, producer, 989 Studios
Zen Ball, Quick Click Software
The Art of Murder (with Muffy Berlyn), iOS, Windows, OS X, Flexible Tales
Grok the Monkey (aka Carnival of Death) (with Muffy Berlyn), iOS, Windows, Flexible Tales
A Taste for Murder (with Muffy Berlyn), iOS, Windows, Flexible Tales
Reconstructing Remy (an interactive novel with Muffy Berlyn), iOS, Windows, Flexible Tales
Ogg!, iOS, OS X, Flexible Tales
Novels
The Integrated Man, Bantam Books, (1980) ISBN 978-0-5531-3999-0
Crystal Phoenix, Bantam Books, (1980) ISBN 978-0-5531-3468-1
Blight as Mark Sonders, Ace Books, (1981) ISBN 978-0-4410-6709-1
Eternal Enemy, Wm. Morrow, (1990) ISBN 978-0-8779-5963-2
References
External links
Michael Berlyn profile at MobyGames
Interview with Mike Berlyn
Hot Mustard (virtual jazz band by Berlyn)
Keeping Warm - A Berlyn Jazz creation (as Hot Mustard)