Michael Berlyn

Michael Berlyn
Born	1949 (1949)
Died	March 2023 (aged 73)
Nationality	American
Occupation	Game designer
Employer(s)	Infocom, Accolade
Known for	Co-founder of Bend Studio
Notable work	Suspended Bubsy Bubsy 3D
Spouse	Muffy Berlyn

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]

Life and career

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]

Games

^[9]

• Oo-Topos, 1981, Sentient Software and Polarware/Penguin Software
• Cyborg, 1981, Sentient Software
• Gold Rush, 1982, Sentient Software
• Congo, 1982, Sentient Software
• Suspended, 1983, Infocom
• Infidel, 1983, Infocom
• Cutthroats, 1984, Infocom
• Fooblitzky, 1985, co-designer, Infocom
• Tass Times in Tonetown, 1986, Activision
• Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I., 1988, First Row Software Publishing
• Keef the Thief, 1989, Electronic Arts^[4]
• Altered Destiny, 1990, Accolade
• Les Manley in: Search for the King, 1990, Accolade
• Snoopy's Game Club, 1992, Accolade (with former Intellivision programmer Gene Smith)
• Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind, 1993, Accolade
• Bubsy 3D, 1996, Accolade
• Zork: The Undiscovered Underground, 1997, Activision (with Marc Blank)
• Dr. Dumont's Wild P.A.R.T.I., 1999, Cascade Mountain Publishing
• Syphon Filter, 1999, contributor, producer, 989 Studios
• Zen Ball, Quick Click Software
• The Art of Murder (with Muffy Berlyn), iOS, Windows, OS X, Flexible Tales
• Grok the Monkey (aka Carnival of Death) (with Muffy Berlyn), iOS, Windows, Flexible Tales
• A Taste for Murder (with Muffy Berlyn), iOS, Windows, Flexible Tales
• Reconstructing Remy (an interactive novel with Muffy Berlyn), iOS, Windows, Flexible Tales
• Ogg!, iOS, OS X, Flexible Tales

Novels

• The Integrated Man, Bantam Books, (1980) ISBN 978-0-5531-3999-0
• Crystal Phoenix, Bantam Books, (1980) ISBN 978-0-5531-3468-1
• Blight as Mark Sonders, Ace Books, (1981) ISBN 978-0-4410-6709-1
• Eternal Enemy, Wm. Morrow, (1990) ISBN 978-0-8779-5963-2

References

1. Horowitz, Ken (August 1, 2006). "Interview: Mike Berlyn". Sega - 16. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
2. Solberg, Dan (2019-08-30). "Bubsy Cannot Be Stopped". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Archived from the original on September 14, 2019. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
3. "Bubsy 3D". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 83. Sendai Publishing. June 1996. p. 49.
4. Cifaldi, Frank (3 October 2005). "Playing Catch-Up: Bubsy's Michael Berlyn". Gamasutra. UBM TechWeb. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
5. "Michael Berlyn". Infocom. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
6. Bowen, Christopher (February 4, 2011). "Diehard GameFAN Hall of Shame: Bubsy 3D". Diehard GameFAN. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
7. Maher, Jimmy (April 24, 2015). "Mike Berlyn Could Use a Little Helping Hand". filfre.net. Retrieved April 12, 2021.
8. Obituary: Bubsy creator Mike Berlyn passed away at age 73
9. "Michael Berlyn". Moby Games. Retrieved February 8, 2015.

External links

• Michael Berlyn profile at MobyGames
• Interview with Mike Berlyn
• Hot Mustard (virtual jazz band by Berlyn)
• Keeping Warm - A Berlyn Jazz creation (as Hot Mustard)