"The life which is unexamined is not worth living..." - Plato

Although my dealings with the outside world are drawing to a close, I did enjoy a brief reign as one of the most well-publicized independent game developers on the scene. The surest way to get talked about is to break the mould, and I was giving the world a triple threat of unusual methods, unusual results, and unusual views! My single-handed approach to a team-based sport had mere mortals scratching their heads, while my genre-bending concepts ensured that each game was worth talking about. And to top it all off, the minute anybody put a microphone near me I was causing controversy by berating the very industry that I seemed to belong to! Not an awful lot has changed since then, but those era-defining press cuttings are sealed forever in this time capsule...

PC Format Magazine ~ February 2001
Within 2 months of setting up my own website, there was talk of appearing in PC Format - one of the UK's leading PC magazines. A series of WWF-inspired games had captured the imaginations of wrestling fans everywhere, and their journalists just happened to be among them! By the following February, a favourable article ensued as MDickie.com was crowned "Reader Site Of The Month" and enjoyed a whole page of coverage. It was the perfect start to my career as a webmaster, as an audience of hundreds ballooned into thousands within a matter of weeks. I even managed to score some brownie points by name-checking the university I was attending at the time, but I would later regret endorsing a course that was more of a hindrance than a help! The recognition made me the "poster boy" of student game development, as hundreds of wannabe's clamoured to universities all over the country hoping to follow in my footsteps. The only problem being that the course of study wasn't responsible for my progress! I was going through the motions at university while teaching myself at the same time - a dichotomy that would confuse my protégés until the day I left...

Digitiser (Teletext) ~ July 2001
Although not strictly a "magazine", Digitiser was perhaps the most well-read gaming commentary of the late 90's. Distributed through the magic of television, it boasted a readymade audience of millions. It certainly caught my attention, so I jumped at the chance to flex my journalistic muscles by submitting an article for consideration. I penned a piece about my recent experiences, reporting that "there had never been a better time to start making games". The turn of the 21st century had everyone believing that games had become some impenetrable science worthy of Stephen Hawking, but I confidently stated that the opposite was true - that advances in technology and software were actually lowering the entrance level. Although it was good exposure, the publication's caustic editor had a field-day with the name "Dickie" - and my claims of "one day making a living from the independent scene" attracted yet more acrimony. Just one year later, however, Digitiser was defunct and I was negotiating publishing deals. Karma is a wonderful thing!

PC Utilities ~ May 2002
Although I had become something of a "wrestling specialist" in the eyes of my fans, it was actually the non-wrestling concepts that were keeping MDickie.com afloat as we headed into 2002. While Federation Online and Big BumpZ were being overlooked, Sure Shot was touring the world as a piece of freeware on magazine coverdiscs! The retro arcade concept resonated with nostalgic journalists everywhere - none more so than Martyn Carroll of PC Utilities, who described the game as a "gem" and "extremely playable". Elsewhere in the magazine, the articles on my website were hailed as "excellent" - and my work in general was charged with making independent game development "something to get excited about again". Having spent the first years of my career being defined by the games, it was refreshing to be acknowledged as a multi-faceted force of nature in the games industry - and once opened, that door would never close...

Student Direct ~ March 2003
2002 was the year that a hobby turned professional, as the first two projects I ever made in the Blitz programming language were snapped up in my first publishing deal! Within 24 hours of releasing a humble 3D boxing game, the offer came to publish it as a budget-priced boxed product - and I jumped at the chance to get on the ladder. It would soon be followed by my latest and greatest 2D wrestling simulator, so I had two published releases in my hands as we headed into a 2003 full of possibilities. Although the venture was a failure in practise, it still looked (and felt) good on paper. Single-handedly making games was interesting enough, but to then market them in this day and age was practically unheard of. It was a double-bill of achievements, and it resonated with any journalist that would listen. Particularly those at my local student paper, who once again wheeled me out as an example of their fine course of study! At my insistence, we downplayed the role of the university in my progress and instead focused on the trials and tribulations of my solitary work ethic. Although it was a humble piece of exposure, it marked the first time that my work was taken seriously - as I stood on the brink of a professional era, threatening to make a living from something that everybody (including myself) had dismissed as a pastime...

Daily Telegraph ~ November 2003
Once I had my first publishing deal, I assumed that every game thereon would follow suit - but the niche concepts of Big BumpZ and Federation Booker failed to win the support of an office full of wrestling sceptics! Couple those creative differences with the fact that my royalties were going missing, and it wasn't long before my relationship with the publishing world buckled completely. Out of pure desperation, I took the rather ambitious step of publishing myself - which made me both more powerful and more newsworthy than ever before. To single-handedly make sophisticated 3D games was impressive. To then turn around and take responsibility for publishing the results was a miraculous achievement - the likes of which no other game developer has matched before or since. The gravity of the situation was not lost on the Daily Telegraph, who (incorrectly) associated my one-man empire with the promise of untold wealth. They conveniently overlooked my cult status, and figured I was single-handedly earning the combined salaries of every human being in the games industry! At the time, the implication was both flattering and exciting - so I rolled with it in this article about my publishing potential. Although the "millions" that I was a "mouse-click away from" have since failed to materialize, I did find treasure in the blissful simplicity of publishing myself. Churning out the boxed products has since grown to be a natural part of my work, and it's with great fondness that I look back on a tangible body of work...

Michael Jackson ~ March 2004
I resurfaced in the Telegraph just 6 months later, when a cocktail of celebrity conquests were giving me the kind of publicity that most mainstream game developers can only dream of! In the midst of Michael Jackson's risible court case, I put together a quick remake of my 3D wrestling game that conveyed the ridiculousness of the situation. As if the gesture wasn't newsworthy enough in itself, it reached the eyes of the Michael Jackson camp where a representative described it as "fabulous" - and paranormal friend of the stars, Uri Geller, jumped on the bandwagon wanting a game of his own! Meanwhile, news of the game reached Eminem's camp via a radio phone-in and I was soon talking about making similar projects for his rap ensemble, D12. The said project never materialized due to bureaucratic reasons, but the triple-bill of celebrity endorsements made me the talk of independent game development. Between the newspaper article and the online buzz amongst Michael Jackson fans, my audience practically doubled overnight - making 2004 one of the most high profile years of my career. My miserable peers even relented for a few weeks to celebrate it as an example of games as "expression", and that was indeed the project's greatest strength. I proved to myself and the world that my methods have unparalleled creative power, and it's always there should I ever feel the need to tap into it...

Develop Magazine ~ April 2004
Having spent the past 2 years making the headlines, my audience had long since forgotten that I was also capable of writing them. Indeed, the most overlooked part of my work is that I spend as much time talking about the games as I do making them! The website alone has claimed hundreds of thousands of words over the years - establishing me as perhaps the most articulate game designer to ever take up the cause. It's with that brazen optimism that I sought to reclaim my voice in the printed press. Contributions to the more childish mainstream magazines fell on deaf ears, but the industry journal Develop was a snug fit for my revelatory views. In their April 2004 issue, they ran with an article that I had written many months earlier. It was the same old story of preaching the benefits of my method, but it was the culmination of that message - bringing together every belief I had ever had in one almighty mission statement. However, despite a glowing introduction from the editor, it didn't go down too well with the magazine's target audience! The last thing the established professionals wanted to hear is that their days are numbered, but I've always stood by it as a passionate call to arms for those that want to innovate. Whenever anybody asks me what my work is about, that scan is the first place I send them to...

The Final Chapter
I'm often asked why my contributions to the media came to an abrupt halt just as my work was getting interesting. The simple answer is that neither party wants to play anymore! As the quality of gaming visuals has improved with each passing year, a shallow media has grown increasingly disinterested in the efforts of a guy that champions substance over spectacle. And given that the average journalist hasn't got a clue how his beloved games are made, even my miraculous methods can no longer elicit a favourable response. Meanwhile, I simply don't care enough to rectify the situation! It's been 5 years since I last approached the games industry with any degree of enthusiasm, and I'm no longer qualified to trade blows with its insecure inhabitants. At the turn of this year, I filed for divorce in a bid to focus on making MDickie.com an industry in its own right - and all that requires is that I communicate with my own audience in my own words...