Projects
Here you can find a list of many projects I have worked on.
Last Updated: September 2023
Full-Stack Apps & Websites
Goldbar Games (2011+)
The official website for my game company. First hosted on Weebly, then Wordpress, then GitHub Pages using Jekyll. In 2020 I redid the site using Python/Django and in 2022 I redid the site using NextJS. In 2018 I also ran the Shopify store, which did make some sales, but is currently closed.
NFTwitch (2021)
Dapp and smart contracts that mint dynamic NFTs using data from the Twitch API via Chainlink oracles. Created by myself in 30 days for the Chainlink Spring Hackathon 2021. Received a positive comment from the Chainlink team on DevPost.
/seacats/ v3 (2021)
Known as the "Umineko theories board" since 2009, ownership was passed to me. I revamped the website using a new Javascript-based imageboard software. Archived site is hosted on AWS.
Meal Planner (2022 (unreleased))
App that helps you plan and budget for meals. Put on hold for now.
Anton's Home Movies (2022)
Website featuring my collection of childhood home movies, mirrored from my YouTube channel. All data is hosted on AWS. The website is currently out of sync, but I consistently upload the videos to YouTube every Friday (and I do all the video editing myself).
Jimmy Strickland Music (2023)
Static website for my dad's music. I also manage his YouTube channel, and I edited a music video that went viral with over 20,000 views.
Mystery Gamedev (2023)
Founder and leader of the world's #1 community for fans and developers of mystery-themed video games. I write weekly articles on relevant topics and manage our 130+ member Discord server. At this time we have almost 20 developers from a variety of successful mystery games who actively participate in the community. I plan to offer much more as time goes on, including educational services and software tools.
Released Games
When the Seacats Cry (2010, 2011)
A collection of Umineko fan-games with 70% positive reviews. Created during my last two years of high school.
Detective Butler: Maiden Voyage Murder (2013, 2017)
A murder mystery visual novel. 25,000+ players, 200+ reviews, 80% positive. Initially released after my first year of university, it was re-released on Steam four years later. In 2020, I ported the game to my own custom engine.
Closed Room Blitz: Arena (2014)
An online multiplayer game where each player must solve the other's mystery within the time limit. Made in Unity.
World End Domination (2017)
An Umineko fangame first-person shooter. Made in Unity for the Umineko Game Jam.
Nekouzan: Maze Miner (2017)
A Minesweeper-like puzzle game where you must navigate mazes while avoding bombs. Made in Unity.
Cruise Ship Cleanup (2017)
A stealth/puzzle game where you must clean rooms while hiding from the guests. Made in Unity.
Snowball Saves Christmas (2017)
A cute and fun 2D platformer. Made in Unity.
Crypto Traders (2018 (unfinished))
A crypto trading simulator. Made in Unity for the 2018 Crypto Game Jam.
Snowball Saves Summer (2018)
A cute and fun 2D platformer. Made in Unity.
Detective Butler: Choices DLC (2020)
Adds choices and alternate endings to Detective Butler: Maiden Voyage Murder.
Picking Up The Pieces (TBA)
A jigsaw puzzle game. Made in my custom game engine.
Detective Butler and the King of Hearts (TBA)
A murder mystery visual novel. Made in my own C++ game engine. I also created several Python scripts to automate the AI-assisted creation of some assets (Stable Diffusion, Eleven Labs).
Running Late (2023)
A short mystery/thriller visual novel made within 72 hours.
Reaplaced (2023)
A Halloween-themed horror/mystery visual novel. As Project Manager, I led a remote team of 8 talented individuals to successfully complete the game within a 30-day time limit.
Other Software
Digital Artist (2016 (unfinished))
A Python program using evolutionary algorithms to draw digital art. Basically the same concept as generative AI, but I gave up on making it happen.
Seacats Mobile (2017 (scrapped))
A short-lived mobile app where you could view and post on the /seacats/ imageboard from your Android phone.
ONScripter-EN-Steam (2017)
A fork of the visual novel engine ONScripter-EN that is compatible with Steam. Mainly, rendering is switched from SDL's CPU-based rendering to OpenGL's GPU-based rendering, which allows the game to work with Steam's overlay.
Goldbar Game Engine (2019+)
My own custom game engine made in C++. It's a modular C++ framework based on SDL2 and OpenGL that allows you to quickly get started making a game in any genre. Comes with its own level editor and cutscene scripting language. Compiles on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Deconsole (2022 (unreleased))
A web3 game client made in Electron. Downloads games via IPFS and users mint ownership on-chain. Communicates with any game engine to transact on Ethereum. I built a prototype in 30 days, but never released it.
My Writing
Children's Book Series (1998-2008)
A collection of stories I wrote while I was growing up: Dinosaur Land, The Little Old Octopus, The Little Old Spider, The Spooky Old Island, The Smiley Guy, The Little Old Birdy, The Little Spooky House, The Leprechaun Lost His Magic, Hercules: Giving And Sharing, Go Go Evil Bug!, LEGO Rampage, Kung-Fu Guy, The Day After Yesterday, Spare the Rod, The Adventures of Super Sparky, Rat Factory, and more.
The Lost Years (2009-2022)
By this time, my writing turned into one of the following: visual novels (see the Games section), blog posts about my progress making games, essays for school, or plaintext files that were my personal diary entries.
Solo Gamedev School (2023 (scrapped))
A weekly publication on how you can make games by yourself. It ran for 11 weeks before being scrapped in favor of Mystery Gamedev.
Life Achievements Unlocked
Early Bird (1994)
I was born a few days ahead of schedule.
Young Author (1998)
I wrote my first story, called Dinosaur Land.
Fire Ants (1999)
I won my first game of soccer on the Fire Ants team.
Pinewood Derby (2000)
I won the 3rd place trophy in my first Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby.
Yellow Belt (2002)
I graduated from Karate class with a Yellow Belt.
Blind Putt (2003?)
I sank a putt with my eyes closed during my first golf lesson.
Spelling Bee (2004)
Won 2nd place in the spelling bee in 4th grade, even though the contest included kids up to 8th grade. The word I lost on was ironically "alibi".
Learn To Code (2006)
Created my first video game "Hammer Man's Adventure" after teaching myself how to code in Game Maker from reading its documentation.
Pentagon (2008)
During our school trip to Washington, D.C., I was one of three students who signed the guestbook at the Pentagon where the plane crashed.
High School Graduation (2012)
Graduated high school with honors.
Charles Martinet (2014)
Met Charles Martinet who signed my Super Mario 64 cartridge and gave me inspirational advice I will never forget.
Anime Con Panels (2015)
I gave a talk at Kawa Kon and Anime St. Louis called "Creating Visual Novels: A Beginner's Guide" based on my own experiences. Our panel at ASTL was absolutely packed, and everyone loved it.
Ryukishi07 (2015)
Met Ryukishi07 who signed my Kinjo portrait. During Q&A, I was the one who asked him the question where he talked about 4chan.
Just Like Anime (2016)
Traveled across Japan for 10 days, visiting Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Miyajima, and Okunoshima.
College Graduation (2016)
Graduated college with honors. My GPA was a 3.3 but would've been a 3.7 if not for the math classes I took in high school disproportionately affecting my grades badly. In college I got A's in every computer science class.
Campaign Trail (2017)
Successfully won a Steam Greenlight campaign for my game within 1 month.
Blown Away (2018)
Jonathan Blow raided my gamedev Twitch stream, giving me 200+ viewers.
Government Office (2020)
I was given my own office with my name on it inside a government building.
To The Moon (2021)
I made literally 100x gains from crypto's 2021 bull run.
Bridge Builder (2022)
I repaired a friendship that had been broken for 7 years.
Mystery Fest (2023)
My game was listed as the top free visual novel during Steam's Mystery Fest.