dotSphinx

A reflection of perfection

The past...: The story of the Sphinx, how it all began...
The present...: About deterioration & restoration...only a dot remains!
...and the future!: Wonders the Sphinx may perform for you...

The past...

It must have started somewhere around 1985, but I lost track really. Together with some friends, we created several demo's for the Commodore 64. The demo's were released under various labels: FCT, Orion, and last but not least, Sphinx. At first, these demo's were very basic, but as time passed by our demo's began to improve. We realised that apart from ripping music from other people's games, we could start writing games of our own. So, our first commercial game was born: Artax, a shoot'em up for the Commodore C= 64. It was published on Magic Disk 64 (number 4).

Inspired by the success of our first game, we found a new challenge: the Commodore Amiga. Our first game for this platform was called Real Genius. It was a rather simple game, as we were not quite familiar with all the horse power the Amiga offered. As time passed and our knowledge grew, games improved, and Future Shock, a Cybernoid-like shoot'em up, saw daylight. After that, we started coding Doofus, which happened to be our last commercial production. Why? Well, for one, the Amiga was falling apart and PC games were becoming increasingly popular. Another reason was that, sad but true, Sphinx as a group fell apart also. Coding made place for other interests, and other obligations such as studies, girlfriends :) etc. appeared on the horizon. The result was that we never made the jump to the PC platform...

I myself did try to get something off the ground on the PC platform. My closest attempt was a 3D game engine, featuring tanks, heli's and hovercrafts at war on a 3D island. However, I lacked inspiration for a good idea for game play. Also, the fact that I had to do everything by myself wasn't really inspiring. And really, coding on the PC felt, compared to the Amiga, taking lots of steps back...

The present...

I never really lost interest in writing computer games. However, I do realize that these days it is almost impossible to compete with the commercial games out there, without sacrificing all my spare time to the computer.

Luckily, a new platform appeared on the horizon: Java. The Java platform brought back to life small, simple, but entertaining games. Ofcourse, I couldn't resist, and gave Java my first try with Thimblerig. I received quite some positive reactions on Thimblerig and some of my other Web creations. You may check out the showcase for a quick overview of games, applets, and ratings...

Nowadays, I mostly code and work on my home page as part of my hobby. However, sometimes I work on a freelance basis for various customers. The work ranges from designing web sites, to creating games that can be played online.

... and the future!

The future is still open. I still like writing games, designing sites and working out other creative things a lot. If I have a good idea, I am still eager at doing my best in turning this idea into real bits'n'bytes. Unfortunately, really good ideas are rare. But perhaps you yourself have a really good idea that needs to be worked out, or you need a cute applet for your own site? If you do, contact me, perhaps we can help each other out...

dotSphinx

dotSphinx

Contents

The past...

The present...

... and the future!