Reece Millidge (born 1975) is a Brighton-based British

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid F ...

and

mobile game A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA t ...

developer, also known under the pseudonym Damp Gnat, which is also the name of his (one-man) studio. He is best known for the games '' Wonderputt'', which was a finalist for the

Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...

Excellence in Visual Art award, and ''Icycle''. Millidge was named a " Breakthrough Brit" at the 2014 BAFTAs.

Life and career

Millidge's father was himself an independent game developer, releasing and self-publishing a single game for the

BBC Micro The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an empha ...

in the 1980s, when Millidge was only 7 years old. Millidge was an early fan of video games, finding himself especially spellbound by the game '' Exile'' for the

at the age of 13, which also inspired him to make his first own game together with a friend for the

Amiga 500 The Amiga 500, also known as the A500, is the first low-end version of the Amiga home computer. It contains the same Motorola 68000 as the Amiga 1000, as well as the same graphics and sound coprocessors, but is in a smaller case similar to that ...

. The game was eventually released under the name ''Odyssey'' in 1995 by publisher

Audiogenic Audiogenic Software was a British video game development company. It was established in 1985 following an earlier Audiogenic company that had been founded in the late 1970s. It published its last new title in 1997, after the core of the developme ...

for the Amiga 500/600/1200. A fan letter sent to Peter Irvin, the co-creator of ''Exile'', led to some work at the studio

Frontier Developments Frontier Developments is a British video game developer founded by David Braben in January 1994 and based at the Cambridge Science Park in Cambridge, England. Frontier is known for developing amusement park management simulators within multipl ...

, where Millidge worked as an artist on the

32X The 32X is an add-on for the Sega Genesis video game console. Codenamed "Project Mars", it was designed to expand the power of the Genesis and serve as a transitional console into the 32-bit era until the release of the Sega Saturn. The 32X ...

game ''

Darxide ''Darxide'' (stylized as ''DarXide'') is a shoot 'em up for the 32X by Frontier Developments, released in January 1996 only in Europe. Designed by David Braben, it was one of the last releases for the console. Gameplay is similar to that of ''As ...

'' (1996). After ''Darxide'', Millidge worked as an advertising animator and would not return to video game development until 2009, with the release of the Flash game ''Icycle''. That game was followed by ''Microputt'' (2010), ''Adverputt'' (2010) and the IGF Excellence in Visual Art finalist '' Wonderputt'' (2011). His latest release is the game ''Wonderputt Forever'' (2022). In 2016, Millidge joined BAFTA Crew, a program that aims to support career progression by connecting upcoming talent with their peers and established industry figures. He was also a jury member for the BAFTA The Ones To Watch Award in the same year.

Games

References

External links

DAMP GNAT
(official website)
Reece Millidge on Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Millidge, Reece Browser game developers Video game artists British video game designers Indie game developers 1975 births Living people