Michael Berlyn (1949 – March 2023) was an American video game designer and writer. He was best known as an implementer at Infocom, part of the text adventure game design team.[1] He is also known as the designer behind Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (1993) and Bubsy 3D (1996).[2][3]
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, which later became Bend Studio. 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."[4]
In 1998, Berlyn started Cascade Mountain Publishing, whose goals were to publish ebooks and interactive fiction. Cascade Mountain Publishing went out of business in 2000.[5] After this business venture collapsed, Berlyn returned to the video game industry, with a focus on casual games.[4]
Berlyn created a "light-jazz" band called Hot Mustard, made up entirely of his own music and performances.[6]
Berlyn was diagnosed with cancer in September 2014, after which he underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment until at least mid-2015.[7] He died in March 2023, at the age of 73.[8]
^Horowitz, Ken (August 1, 2006). "Interview: Mike Berlyn". Sega - 16. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
^Solberg, Dan (2019-08-30). "Bubsy Cannot Be Stopped". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Archived from the original on September 14, 2019. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
^"Bubsy 3D". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 83. Sendai Publishing. June 1996. p. 49.
^ abCite error: The named reference gamaCat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Michael Berlyn". Infocom. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
^Bowen, Christopher (February 4, 2011). "Diehard GameFAN Hall of Shame: Bubsy 3D". Diehard GameFAN. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
^Maher, Jimmy (April 24, 2015). "Mike Berlyn Could Use a Little Helping Hand". filfre.net. Retrieved April 12, 2021.
^Obituary: Bubsy creator Mike Berlyn passed away at age 73
MichaelBerlyn (1949 – March 2023) was an American video game designer and writer. He was best known as an implementer at Infocom, part of the text adventure...
developer for PlayStation Studios. Marc Blank and MichaelBerlyn founded Bend Studio as Blank, Berlyn & Co. in 1992. Blank had been a founder and the product...
Berlyn can refer to: Ivan Berlyn (1867-1934), British stage and film actor MichaelBerlyn (b. 1949), American video game designer and writer Nigel Berlyn...
Bubsy is a series of platforming video games created by MichaelBerlyn and developed and published by Accolade. The games star an anthropomorphic bobcat...
released in 1994, Accolade asked the original Bubsy creator and designer MichaelBerlyn to return to the series, who decided to revitalize the series with a...
MichaelBerlyn) The Witness (1983, Stu Galley) Infidel (1983, MichaelBerlyn) Seastalker (1984, Stu Galley & Jim Lawrence) Cutthroats (1984, Michael Berlyn...
distributed for free, there are some commercial endeavors. In 1998, MichaelBerlyn, a former Implementor at Infocom, started a new game company, Cascade...
compared to the Sonic the Hedgehog games from the Genesis era. Designer MichaelBerlyn had previously designed adventure video games, such as Altered Destiny...
game published by Activision in 1986. It was designed by MichaelBerlyn and Muffy McClung Berlyn and programmed by Rebecca Heineman of Interplay (credited...
Accolade was responsible for making the game, without original designer MichaelBerlyn's assistance. Like the original, the Sega Genesis and Super NES versions...
2022-12-22. Josh Wirtanen (December 1, 2015). "A Chat with Bubsy's MichaelBerlyn Part 1: The Rise and Fall of Bubsy". Retrovolve. Retrieved 2017-05-26...
the character's personality and the graphics. Bubsy series creator MichaelBerlyn cited the game as his biggest failure. Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero...
compatible operating systems and in 1991 for Amiga. The game was designed by MichaelBerlyn and it uses a text parser interface. It is the second adventure game...
collision. Leandro Becheroni, 72, Italian motorcycle racer, heart attack. MichaelBerlyn, 73, American video game designer (Tass Times in Tonetown, Bubsy in...
ISSN 1067-6392. Cifaldi, Frank (October 3, 2005). "Playing Catch-Up: Bubsy's MichaelBerlyn". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Edge staff...
text adventure game partially written by original Infocom implementers MichaelBerlyn and Marc Blank to promote Zork: Grand Inquisitor. In 2009 Jolt Online...
Zork: The Undiscovered Underground (1997), written by Marc Blank & MichaelBerlyn, programmed by Gerry Kevin Wilson. Given away free by Activision to...
by a team which included interactive fiction authors Marc Blank and MichaelBerlyn. It is unique among Infocom titles for not being interactive fiction...
still skeptical about its resources and its credibility." Although MichaelBerlyn of Infocom promised that his company would quickly publish all of its...
Brad Armstrong. Alex (as Berlyn) and Brad Armstrong had a match at Halloween Havoc, which Berlyn lost. After the match, Berlyn and The Wall attacked Armstrong...
published by Penguin Software, the animated game Pie Man by Eagle Berns and Michael Kosaka, and the adventure game Transylvania written by Antonia Antiochia...
Journey: The Quest Begins In 1993 he founded Blank, Berlyn and Co. with former Infocom writer MichaelBerlyn. The company's name was later changed to Eidetic...
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