Terry Cavanagh ( ; born 1984) is an Irish

video game design Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules 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#P ...

er based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. After studying mathematics at Trinity College in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, Cavanagh worked briefly as a market risk analyst before focusing on game development full-time. Many of his titles share a primitive, minimalist aesthetic. He has created over two dozen games, most notably '' VVVVVV'', ''

Super Hexagon ''Super Hexagon'' is an indie rhythm video game developed by Terry Cavanagh, with music composed by Chipzel. Originally released for iOS in September 2012, versions for Windows and macOS were released 3 months later, and Android, BlackBerry an ...

, and

Dicey Dungeons ''Dicey Dungeons'' is a roguelike deck-building game developed by Irish game designer Terry Cavanagh (developer), Terry Cavanagh. It was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux in August 2019, for Nintendo Switch in December 2020, and ...

''. He is credited as a programmer for '' Alphaland'', a platform game by Jonas Kyratzes. Cavanagh has stated that he prefers the personal nature of independent game development, its smaller scale enabling the personality of the creator to shine through in the final product.

Influences

Cavanagh cites the 1997 Japanese RPG ''

Final Fantasy VII is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation console. It is the seventh main installment in the '' Final Fantasy'' series. Published in Japan by Square, it was released in other regions by Sony Computer Enterta ...

'' as his favorite game, crediting it as his inspiration for becoming a video game developer. In 2009 Cavanagh named

interactive fiction '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...

writer Adam Cadre as his favorite developer.

Awards

*Cavanagh's game ''VVVVVV'' won the 2010 IndieCade Festival in the category of "Fun/Compelling". *In 2014, Cavanagh was named to

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

' annual "30 Under 30" list in the Games category. * In 2019, Cavanagh's game ''Dicey Dungeons'' won the 2019 IndieCade Grand Jury award.

Games

References

External links

*
The Escapist interview with Terry CavanaghThe Spelunky Showlike — Making Generous Games with Terry Cavanagh
1984 births Indie video game developers Irish video game designers Living people Video game programmers Irish expatriates in England Browser game developers {{Ireland-bio-stub