wilf ~ home

External links: JavaScript arcade games home (* Rebel Ideas *) | Personal game design blog

Notice: if you visited here recently you will have noticed that stuff looks different. In short I wiped everything accidentally and had no backup.
So I took the opportunity to offer something a bit more simplistic. I'm slowly rebuilding the content.

About

WilfI am a professional web developer with a geekish passion for creating my own arcade games which I create using JavaScript.
I am by no means a Javascript guru. The world is full of them. I just write code to get the job done and test in what I consider to be the major browsers.
Currently :- Internet Explorer 7, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera.
Google's Chrome is an excellent web browser for playing my games since it's JavaScript engine is lightning fast.
If something doesn't work for you then please mail me the details and I'll take a look if I get 5 minutes.
You can see two of the better games here: Invaders from Mars, Hoth Strike.
Invaders from Mars is a Space Invader clone. Hoth Strike is a Defender clone.
I have a love for (what are now considered old-school) sprite-based games. I've spent time in the past developing commercial games for Nintendo and their Gameboy Advance system via the game company Software Creations. I joined them as an artist and later went on to become a lead artist when the company was bought by Acclaim Entertainment. Acclaim went bust some time around 2006.

I've also dabbled with adventure games. Being an avid player of Zork and other Infocom titles in my youth I favour text adventures.
You can keep up to date with my development thoughts on my game design blog (Rebel Five).

Code and work

I use Microsoft Windows based PCs and ASP.NET technologies predominantly.
When left to my own devices however I much prefer PHP, Apache and the MySQL database. I tend to find that I fight it all much less than when using Microsoft's tools.
MS Visual Studio is in many respects a dog. You certainly don't need it to write HTML, CSS and script.
I use EditPlus to write my HTML and any web scripting.

I am currently working within the financial sector developing secure web applications for the stock market.
In addition I create web based tools for the development team to use internally. Monitoring tools predominantly.
I am something of a coding purist and don't use jQuery or any other frameworks and libraries. I'd much rather stay in direct contact with my code.
Each to their own.
I use AJAX and Web Services as liberally as possible.
View a little more detail on my work history by clicking here.

Professionally I have worked as a Software Developer, Web Systems Developer, Video Game Artist, Designer, Web Support Consultant, Marketing Manager and Web Developer of Marketing Solutions.

Some other links

Interest

I have a casual interest in Politics and a deeper interest in Political Philosophy. There are a wealth of books available on the subject and I've read just a few.
I'm also hugely interested in Society and the effects that democratic (and non-democratic) governments have on Society. Come to that I'm fascinated by the 'struggles' of the ordinary man in a society that is moving increasingly further and further away from him thanks in no small part to a love affair that politicians seem to have with the Super-Rich™.
To that end I am something of a student of Marx. I read the Communist Manifesto rather quickly and devoured it's intentions (which were admittedly very much of their time). However, despite it's age I see some potential in a number of the ideologies. How disastrous, then, that left wing politics are being eroded in the western world.
The distribution of wealth in the western world is always of interest. Wealth producers are increasingly reluctant to pay their fair share of tax to the UK government blindly ignorning the fact that they are depriving the very people that underpin their existence.
Despite my skepticism I aim to view all side of the story. Their has to be substantial benefits to the ordinary man with Capitalism and the growth of Private Equity. I aim to find them.
A thorough reading of Robert Peston's Who runs Britain? sadly seems to suggest that there are none too forthcoming.

I am an art lover.
I adore the work of Pollock, DeGas, Picasso, Van Gogh and Caravaggio to name but a few.
I even went to the trouble of compiling a list of locations that exhibit the works of Caravaggio.

I enjoy indulging in conversations about classic game design. My particular genre of choice is the Shoot-em Up but I'm always excited by any kind of arcade game chat. My game design blog is where I spill most of my thoughts.

Discussion

If anybody is aware of any discussion groups covering Political Philosophy, Art or Game Design Theory (not just video or computer games) based in Cheshire / North West England please get in touch.
I have considered hosting a small private members forum on this web site for such discussion. If this is of interest to you then please let me know.

[=*] wilcom1970@googlemail.com     2009-07-01