A brief history of Pixel Magick
Hi, I am Pixel Magick, a solo indie developer based
in Scotland.
When I was 14 I got my first computer, a Sinclair ZX81. It didn't take me long to want to program my first game in Z80 assembly language (a Donkey Kong clone).
I signed my first professional game development contract when I was 16 and still in School, initially developing a game for the Amstrad CPC range of computers and subsequently working on the ZX Spectrum version as well.
It was a bit wild-west in those days, with some dodgy characters etc, so I didn't pursue a career in game development at that stage.
A number of years later, I was married and starting a family, and I went to college to do an HND in Computing.
Just before the end of the course, my lecturers recommended me to a local company looking for a trainee programmer.
Nine months later I had risen to senior programmer, in record time for that company.
After 2 years with that company, I moved to a rival company to become their Systems Support Executive.
After about a year and a half with the rival company, it was doing so well, to increase capacity its owners bought out the previous company I was working for, which had been going steadily downhill after I had left.
At this point, I had been struggling with an undiagnosed illness and chose to take redundancy.
The newly merged company did not survive and closed down around 18 months later.
But in the meantime, I did not let my illness prevent me from gaining entry straight into the 3rd year of the Abertay Game Development BSc as a mature student. I also became the Student representative for the course, helping address students' concerns and steer the future direction and content of the course.
I was told I was the first person ever to get a 1st Class Honours in that degree.
Upon finishing I applied for several coding jobs at various games studios.
Despite my degree and recommendations from lecturers I only received one reply, which was a standard letter advising me to try writing a Pacman game to demonstrate my skills, despite me submitting a far more complex game with my CV.
It became clear that the studios were not interested in hiring a married man of my age with 3 children and were not even looking at my applications beyond my age and personal circumstances.
So I enrolled in a Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship at Abertay.
It was whilst still studying in this course that I set up Pixel Magick. I had used the name previously for the “Dare to be Digital” games development contest. The name was specifically chosen because a pixel is the smallest element on the screen and as a solo developer, I wanted to demonstrate what one person could achieve.
During the course, I also got my first contract to develop a J2ME game for another company.
Very soon after this, the iPhone launched. I was not in the financial position to be able to invest in the hardware required to develop for this platform.
However, when Android launched, the entry costs were far less, and I could pursue the smartphone app market.
Over the years I was an early developer in multiple new platforms, such as Microsoft's Windows Phone, Samsung Tizen, and Blackberry 10 smartphones.
I've even developed games for an in-flight entertainment system, as well as games for Sony and multiple Nintendo game consoles.
Of course, it has not all been plain sailing.
I have found myself having to take legal action and had to go to court several times, representing myself, because clients/business partners have thought they could get away with not paying me, or stealing my code.
Sadly the cowboys I had experienced in my early days were still present.
On the bright side, I never lost a single case in court. The court either decided in my favour or the other side always backed down and settled out of court before the courts ruled against them.
But this came at some cost. Going to court is less expensive when you represent yourself, but very expensive in terms of the time it takes to navigate the legal system and compile all the necessary evidence to support your case.
I concluded that working for other companies was simply too much effort/risk and in the long term not cost effective.
So I decided at that point to only write games for my own business.
I sadly found that in mobile game platforms, the market for paid games had been destroyed with free games that used the unethical psychology of gambling and addiction to make money from only the most vulnerable gamers with in-app purchases.
So this brings us to today.
I am relaunching my business as a PC Game developer, a market where quality games can be sold for a fair price.
I aim for nothing but the best quality, as it says in my new logo Pixel Magick - FOR INDIE EXCELLENCE!
When I was 14 I got my first computer, a Sinclair ZX81. It didn't take me long to want to program my first game in Z80 assembly language (a Donkey Kong clone).
I signed my first professional game development contract when I was 16 and still in School, initially developing a game for the Amstrad CPC range of computers and subsequently working on the ZX Spectrum version as well.
It was a bit wild-west in those days, with some dodgy characters etc, so I didn't pursue a career in game development at that stage.
A number of years later, I was married and starting a family, and I went to college to do an HND in Computing.
Just before the end of the course, my lecturers recommended me to a local company looking for a trainee programmer.
Nine months later I had risen to senior programmer, in record time for that company.
After 2 years with that company, I moved to a rival company to become their Systems Support Executive.
After about a year and a half with the rival company, it was doing so well, to increase capacity its owners bought out the previous company I was working for, which had been going steadily downhill after I had left.
At this point, I had been struggling with an undiagnosed illness and chose to take redundancy.
The newly merged company did not survive and closed down around 18 months later.
But in the meantime, I did not let my illness prevent me from gaining entry straight into the 3rd year of the Abertay Game Development BSc as a mature student. I also became the Student representative for the course, helping address students' concerns and steer the future direction and content of the course.
I was told I was the first person ever to get a 1st Class Honours in that degree.
Upon finishing I applied for several coding jobs at various games studios.
Despite my degree and recommendations from lecturers I only received one reply, which was a standard letter advising me to try writing a Pacman game to demonstrate my skills, despite me submitting a far more complex game with my CV.
It became clear that the studios were not interested in hiring a married man of my age with 3 children and were not even looking at my applications beyond my age and personal circumstances.
So I enrolled in a Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship at Abertay.
It was whilst still studying in this course that I set up Pixel Magick. I had used the name previously for the “Dare to be Digital” games development contest. The name was specifically chosen because a pixel is the smallest element on the screen and as a solo developer, I wanted to demonstrate what one person could achieve.
During the course, I also got my first contract to develop a J2ME game for another company.
Very soon after this, the iPhone launched. I was not in the financial position to be able to invest in the hardware required to develop for this platform.
However, when Android launched, the entry costs were far less, and I could pursue the smartphone app market.
Over the years I was an early developer in multiple new platforms, such as Microsoft's Windows Phone, Samsung Tizen, and Blackberry 10 smartphones.
I've even developed games for an in-flight entertainment system, as well as games for Sony and multiple Nintendo game consoles.
Of course, it has not all been plain sailing.
I have found myself having to take legal action and had to go to court several times, representing myself, because clients/business partners have thought they could get away with not paying me, or stealing my code.
Sadly the cowboys I had experienced in my early days were still present.
On the bright side, I never lost a single case in court. The court either decided in my favour or the other side always backed down and settled out of court before the courts ruled against them.
But this came at some cost. Going to court is less expensive when you represent yourself, but very expensive in terms of the time it takes to navigate the legal system and compile all the necessary evidence to support your case.
I concluded that working for other companies was simply too much effort/risk and in the long term not cost effective.
So I decided at that point to only write games for my own business.
I sadly found that in mobile game platforms, the market for paid games had been destroyed with free games that used the unethical psychology of gambling and addiction to make money from only the most vulnerable gamers with in-app purchases.
So this brings us to today.
I am relaunching my business as a PC Game developer, a market where quality games can be sold for a fair price.
I aim for nothing but the best quality, as it says in my new logo Pixel Magick - FOR INDIE EXCELLENCE!