Tyler Glaiel Explained

Tyler Glaiel
Other Names:Glaiel Games
Birth Date:8 June 1990
Nationality:American
Occupation:Game designer and programmer

Tyler Glaiel (born 1990), also known by the moniker Glaiel Games, is an American video game designer and programmer known for games such as Aether (2008), Closure (2012), Number (2013), Bombernauts (2017), The End Is Nigh (2017) and Mewgenics (2025).[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Life and career

Glaiel is a native of Westfield, Massachusetts.[6] He developed his first game, a simple thing called Pigeon Pooper using Adobe Flash in 2002, before his twelfth birthday.[2] By high school, Glaiel was already one of the most successful game developers on Newgrounds, reportedly earning thousands of dollars from his games alone, leading Jonathan Holmes of Destructoid to calling him "the Doogie Howser of videogames".[7] He became a frequent collaborator of Edmund McMillen and went on to develop several titles together.[8] [9] In 2008, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest achievement in Scouts BSA.[6] [10] His game, Closure, won the Gameplay Innovation award at Indiecade 2009 and the Independent Games Festival award for Excellence in Audio in 2010, in addition to being nominated in the Innovation and Technical Excellence categories.[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] The following year, he was invited to participate in the IGF's jury for the festival's innovation award, Nuovo.[16]

Glaiel was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 games industry section in 2016.[17] Utilizing and building up a proprietary game engine of his own creation that allowed for SVG assets created in Adobe Flash to be imported expediently, Glaiel collaborated with McMillen for several months on The End Is Nigh, before it was released in 2017.[18] In 2018, McMillen announced that he had acquired the rights to his previous project, Mewgenics and that he and Glaiel have begun developing it.[19]

As of 2020, he was living in California.[20] In 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic when face masks were becoming mandated by law in many parts of the world, Glaiel received a great deal of attention for a voice-activated LED face mask he made on a lark.[21] [22] [23] The positive press led Glaiel to take the mask to Kickstarter, where he was able to raise over US$70,000 to mass-produce it under the name JabberMask.[24] [25] [26]

Games

YearTitlePlatformCo-developer(s)DesignerProgrammerNotes
2005MagnetismFlash
Magnetism 2Flash
Krazy KarFlashAudio
supersoldierFlashDan Paladin
2006NightStrikeFlash
Aqua SlugFlash
PathsFlash
2007Paths 2Flash
2008AetherFlashEdmund McMillen
2009ClosureFlashStory, Music
TetraformFlash
2012ClosurePS3, Windows, Mac, LinuxPort of the Flash game
Offspring FlingWindows, Mac OS, LinuxTech Support
FracuumFlash
The Basement CollectionWindows, OS X, LinuxEdmund McMillen
NumberFlash
2015Crypt of the NecroDancerWindows, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS Vita, iOS, tvOS, Xbox One, SwitchTester
BombernautsWindows
2017The End Is NighWindows, OS X, Linux, PS4, SwitchEdmund McMillen
2018OctogeddonWindows, SwitchTester
IconoclastsWindows, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS Vita, Switch, Xbox One
2019The Legend of Bum-boWindows, OS X, Android, iOS, SwitchAdditional Programming
2021The Binding of Isaac: RepentanceWindows, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/STester
2025MewgenicsWindowsEdmund McMillen

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Matulef . Jeffrey . 2013-11-22 . Closure dev reveals explosive isometric multiplayer brawler Bombernauts . en . Eurogamer .
  2. Web site: 2017-07-30 . Review: The End is Nigh . Destructoid . en-CA.
  3. Schmalzer . Matthew . The Ontology of Incremental Games: Thinking Like the Computer in Frank Lantz's Universal Paperclips . 2020-04-21 . Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture . 10 . 93–94 . en . 10.7557/23.6174 . 1 . 219096829. free .
  4. Web site: Couture . Joel . Punishing difficulty conveys a personal story in The End is Nigh . 2021-07-25 . Gamasutra . 2017-08-15 . en.
  5. News: Chalk . Andy . 2018-03-28 . Edmund McMillen says Mewgenics work is 'in effect' but still a few years away . PC Gamer . 2021-07-27.
  6. News: 2012-04-25 . Westfield native brings Closure to gaming industry . The Westfield News . The Westfield News . 2021-07-25.
  7. Web site: Holmes . Jonathan . 2015-04-10 . Tyler Glaiel is the Doogie Howser of videogames . Destructoid . en-CA.
  8. News: Chalk . Andy . 2018-03-28 . Edmund McMillen says Mewgenics work is 'in effect' but still a few years away . PC Gamer . 2021-07-27.
  9. Web site: O'Connor . Alice . 2021-03-26 . The Binding Of Isaac 2 "will happen" but not "any time soon" . Rock Paper Shotgun . en.
  10. Web site: Glaiel . Tyler . 2008-04-08 . So.... . 2023-06-23 . Newgrounds.
  11. Web site: Alumni Successes . IndieCade.
  12. Web site: IGF 2010 Announces Main Competition Finalists . Gamasutra . 2010-01-04 . en.
  13. News: Alexander . Leigh . Road To The IGF: Closure 's Tyler Glaiel And Jon Schubbe . en . Gamasutra . 2021-07-25.
  14. Web site: Purchese . Robert . 2010-03-12 . IGF 2010 winners revealed . Eurogamer . en.
  15. Web site: Tyler Glaiel . INTERVIEW . Oxford University Press.
  16. Web site: 2010-10-28 . 2011 Independent Games Festival Announces Nuovo Award Jury . Independent Games Festival.
  17. Web site: Tyler Glaiel, 25 . 2021-07-25 . Forbes . en.
  18. Web site: Mersereau . Kevin . 2017-08-17 . An effigy for Adobe Flash . 2023-02-08 . Destructoid.
  19. Web site: O'Connor . Alice . 2021-03-26 . The Binding Of Isaac 2 "will happen" but not "any time soon" . Rock Paper Shotgun . en.
  20. News: Goodyear . Sheena . This voice-activated LED mask simulates facial expressions for talking, smiling . As it Happens . CBC Radio . Bero . Tayo . 2021-07-25.
  21. News: Click, Tech Fast, Tech Furious, Light-up face mask responds to your voice . BBC World News . BBC . 2021-07-25.
  22. Web site: Pellot . Emerald . Programmer creates voice-activated LED protective face mask . yahoo.com. 2020-06-03 .
  23. Web site: Cook . Jeremy . Voice-Activated LED Matrix Mask Responds to Speech and Lets You Smile . Hackster.io . en.
  24. News: 2020-09-26 . LEDで気持ちを伝えるマスク「JabberMask」 . ja . トラベル Watch .
  25. Web site: あなたが喋ればマスクも喋る ゲームプログラマーが開発したLEDで表情を伝えるマスク「JabberMask」 [インターネットコム] ]. JabberMask, a mask that conveys facial expressions with LEDs developed by a game programmer that speaks when you speak . インターネットコム [ライフナビメディア] . ja.
  26. Web site: 2020-09-25 . LEDマトリクスで口の動きを表現するマスク「JabberMask」--笑顔などで表情豊かに . "Jabber Mask", a mask that expresses mouth movements with an LED matrix--Smiling and other expressions . 2021-07-25 . CNET Japan . ja.