Michael Berlyn (1949 – March 2023) was an American

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the rules and content of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development ...

and writer. He was best known as an implementer at

Infocom Infocom, Inc., was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called ''Cornerstone (software), Cornerston ...

, part of the

text adventure Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text Command (computing), commands to control Player character, characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narrati ...

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 Bend Studio (formerly Blank, Berlyn & Co., Inc. and Eidetic, Inc.) is an American video game developer based in Bend, Oregon. Founded in 1992, the studio is best known for developing ''Bubsy 3D'', the ''Syphon Filter'' series, and ''Days Gone'' ...

, which later became

Bend Studio Bend Studio (formerly Blank, Berlyn & Co., Inc. and Eidetic, Inc.) is an American video game developer based in Bend, Oregon. Founded in 1992, the studio is best known for developing ''Bubsy 3D'', the ''Syphon Filter'' series, and ''Days Gone'' ...

. 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

ebook An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

s and

interactive fiction Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text Command (computing), commands to control Player character, characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narrati ...

. 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 ''Oo-Topos'' is an interactive fiction game published by Sentient Software in 1981 for the Apple II. In 1986 it was re-released by Polarware for additional systems and with graphical depictions of scenes described by the game's text. The graphic ...

'', 1981, Sentient Software and Polarware/Penguin Software * ''Cyborg'', 1981, Sentient Software * ''Gold Rush'', 1982, Sentient Software * ''Congo'', 1982, Sentient Software * '' Suspended'', 1983,

* '' Infidel'', 1983, Infocom * '' Cutthroats'', 1984, Infocom * '' Fooblitzky'', 1985, co-designer, Infocom * '' Tass Times in Tonetown'', 1986,

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

* ''Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I.'', 1988, First Row Software Publishing * '' Keef the Thief'', 1989,

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

* '' Altered Destiny'', 1990,

Accolade The accolade (also known as dubbing, adoubement, or knighting) () was the central act in the rite of passage Ceremony, ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. Etymology The term ''accolade'' entered English by 1591, when Thomas ...

* '' Les Manley in: Search for the King'', 1990, Accolade * ''Snoopy's Game Club'', 1992, Accolade (with former

Intellivision The Intellivision (a portmanteau of intelligent television) is a home video game console released by Mattel Electronics in 1979. It distinguished itself from competitors with more realistic sports and strategic games. By 1981, Mattel Electronic ...

programmer Gene Smith) * ''Columbo’s Mystery Capers'', 1993, Bend Studio * ''Dell Crossword Puzzles'', 1993, Bend Studio * ''Motile'', 1993, Bend Studio * ''Notion (List Maker)'', 1993, Bend Studio * '' 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 Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin Jr., Sidney B. K ...

, (1980) * ''Crystal Phoenix'', Bantam Books, (1980) * ''Blight'' as Mark Sonders,

Ace Books Ace Books is a publisher of science fiction (SF) and fantasy books founded in New York City in 1952 by A. A. Wyn, Aaron A. Wyn. It began as a genre publisher of mystery fiction, mysteries and western (genre), westerns, and soon branched out int ...

, (1981) * ''Eternal Enemy'', Wm. Morrow, (1990)

References

External links

*
Interview with Mike BerlynHot Mustard (virtual jazz band by Berlyn)Keeping Warm - A Berlyn Jazz creation (as Hot Mustard)History of Bend Studio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlyn, Michael 1949 births 2023 deaths American video game designers Infocom Interactive fiction writers