Tyler Glaiel

Last updated

Tyler Glaiel
Born (1990-06-08) June 8, 1990 (age 34)
NationalityAmerican
Other namesGlaiel Games
Occupation(s)Game designer and programmer
Website glaielgames.com

Tyler Glaiel (born 1990 [1] ), also known by the moniker Glaiel Games, is an American video game designer and programmer known for games such as Aether (2008), Closure (2012), Number (2013), Bombernauts (2017), The End Is Nigh (2017) and Mewgenics (2025). [2] [1] [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Life and career

Glaiel is a native of Westfield, Massachusetts. [6] He developed his first game, a simple thing called Pigeon Pooper using Adobe Flash in 2002, before his twelfth birthday. [1] By high school, Glaiel was already one of the most successful game developers on Newgrounds, reportedly earning thousands of dollars from his games alone, leading Jonathan Holmes of Destructoid to calling him "the Doogie Howser of videogames". [7] He became a frequent collaborator of Edmund McMillen and went on to develop several titles together. [8] [9] In 2008, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest achievement in Scouts BSA. [6] [10] His game, Closure , won the Gameplay Innovation award at Indiecade 2009 and the Independent Games Festival award for Excellence in Audio in 2010, in addition to being nominated in the Innovation and Technical Excellence categories. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] The following year, he was invited to participate in the IGF's jury for the festival's innovation award, Nuovo. [17]

Glaiel was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 games industry section in 2016. [11] Utilizing and building up a proprietary game engine of his own creation that allowed for SVG assets created in Adobe Flash to be imported expediently, Glaiel collaborated with McMillen for several months on The End Is Nigh , before it was released in 2017. [18] In 2018, McMillen announced that he had acquired the rights to his previous project, Mewgenics and that he and Glaiel have begun developing it. [5] [9]

As of 2020, he was living in California. [19] In 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic when face masks were becoming mandated by law in many parts of the world, Glaiel received a great deal of attention for a voice-activated LED face mask he made on a lark. [20] [21] [22] [19] The positive press led Glaiel to take the mask to Kickstarter, where he was able to raise over US$70,000 to mass-produce it under the name JabberMask . [23] [24] [25]

Games

YearTitlePlatformCo-developer(s)DesignerProgrammerNotes
2005Magnetism Flash YesYes
Magnetism 2FlashYesYes
Krazy KarFlashYesYesAudio
supersoldierFlash Dan Paladin YesYes
2006NightStrikeFlashYesYes
Aqua SlugFlashYesYes
PathsFlashYesYes
2007Paths 2FlashYesYes
2008 Aether Flash Edmund McMillen YesYes
2009 Closure FlashYesYesStory, Music
TetraformFlashYesYes
2012Closure PS3, Windows, Mac, Linux YesYes Port of the Flash game
Offspring Fling Windows, Mac OS, LinuxTech Support
FracuumFlashYesYes
The Basement Collection Windows, OS X, LinuxEdmund McMillenYesYes
NumberFlashYesYes
2015 Crypt of the NecroDancer Windows, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS Vita, iOS, tvOS, Xbox One, Switch Tester
BombernautsWindowsYesYes
2017 The End Is Nigh Windows, OS X, Linux, PS4, SwitchEdmund McMillenYesYes
2018 Octogeddon Windows, SwitchTester
Iconoclasts Windows, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS Vita, Switch, Xbox One
2019 The Legend of Bum-bo Windows, OS X, Android, iOS, SwitchYesAdditional Programming
2021 The Binding of Isaac: Repentance Windows, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S Tester
2025 Mewgenics WindowsEdmund McMillenYesYes

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Review: The End is Nigh". Destructoid. July 30, 2017.
  2. ↑ Matulef, Jeffrey (November 22, 2013). "Closure dev reveals explosive isometric multiplayer brawler Bombernauts". Eurogamer.
  3. ↑ Schmalzer, Matthew (April 21, 2020). "The Ontology of Incremental Games: Thinking Like the Computer in Frank Lantz's Universal Paperclips". Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture. 10 (1): 93–94. doi: 10.7557/23.6174 . S2CID   219096829.
  4. ↑ Couture, Joel (August 15, 2017). "Punishing difficulty conveys a personal story in The End is Nigh". Gamasutra. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
  5. 1 2 Chalk, Andy (March 28, 2018). "Edmund McMillen says Mewgenics work is 'in effect' but still a few years away". PC Gamer. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  6. 1 2 "Westfield native brings Closure to gaming industry". The Westfield News. The Westfield News. April 25, 2012. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
  7. ↑ Holmes, Jonathan (April 10, 2015). "Tyler Glaiel is the Doogie Howser of videogames". Destructoid.
  8. ↑ Chalk, Andy (March 28, 2018). "Edmund McMillen says Mewgenics work is 'in effect' but still a few years away". PC Gamer. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  9. 1 2 O'Connor, Alice (March 26, 2021). "The Binding Of Isaac 2 "will happen" but not "any time soon"". Rock Paper Shotgun.
  10. ↑ Glaiel, Tyler (April 8, 2008). "So..." Newgrounds . Retrieved June 23, 2023.
  11. 1 2 "Tyler Glaiel, 25". Forbes. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Alumni Successes". IndieCade.
  13. ↑ "IGF 2010 Announces Main Competition Finalists". Gamasutra. January 4, 2010.
  14. ↑ Alexander, Leigh. "Road To The IGF: Closure 's Tyler Glaiel And Jon Schubbe". Gamasutra. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
  15. ↑ Purchese, Robert (March 12, 2010). "IGF 2010 winners revealed". Eurogamer.
  16. ↑ "Tyler Glaiel". INTERVIEW. Oxford University Press.
  17. ↑ "2011 Independent Games Festival Announces Nuovo Award Jury". Independent Games Festival. October 28, 2010.
  18. ↑ Mersereau, Kevin (August 17, 2017). "An effigy for Adobe Flash". Destructoid . Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  19. 1 2 Goodyear, Sheena. Bero, Tayo (ed.). "This voice-activated LED mask simulates facial expressions for talking, smiling". As it Happens. CBC Radio. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Click, Tech Fast, Tech Furious, Light-up face mask responds to your voice". BBC World News. BBC. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
  21. ↑ Pellot, Emerald (June 3, 2020). "Programmer creates voice-activated LED protective face mask". yahoo.com.
  22. ↑ Cook, Jeremy. "Voice-Activated LED Matrix Mask Responds to Speech and Lets You Smile". Hackster.io.
  23. ↑ "LEDで気持ちを伝えるマスク「JabberMask」". トラベル Watch (in Japanese). September 26, 2020.
  24. ↑ "あなたが喋ればマスクも喋る ゲームプログラマーが開発したLEDで表情を伝えるマスク「JabberMask」 [インターネットコム]" [JabberMask, a mask that conveys facial expressions with LEDs developed by a game programmer that speaks when you speak]. インターネットコム [ライフナビメディア] (in Japanese).
  25. ↑ "LEDマトリクスで口の動きを表現するマスク「JabberMask」--笑顔などで表情豊かに" ["Jabber Mask", a mask that expresses mouth movements with an LED matrix--Smiling and other expressions]. CNET Japan (in Japanese). September 25, 2020. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
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