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HISTORY AND THE MAKING OF MADHOUSE
MADHOUSE was created with a program called Game Maker, a free game developing utility created by Mark Overmars. A friend introduced me to Game Maker around fall of 2003, but I made no serious attempts at making anything that I was ever able to finish. However, after experimenting with the software and attempting to make a few games, the concept of MADHOUSE came to me. Although, it wouldn't be until a year later that MADHOUSE became the form that we see today. My first idea for MADHOUSE was to have a two-player game via a split screen, where players could fight against each other in a death match using "psychotic" characters. I did some minor conceptualization on characters, weapons, and the environment in my notebook. Thus, Butch, Zero, Bozo, and Ragman were born. At first, I had only planned to comprise the levels of three types of blocks; wood, stone, and metal. The player would be able to break through some of these blocks by using certain weapons. As anyone can see, the levels of MADHOUSE today are much more in depth than being made up of just blocks. However, I still maintained the theory of being able to interact with the level itself and not just the other player!
  In the beginning, there were a few models for MADHOUSE that are very rough and dissimilar in comparison to the model we see today, as you can see in the above images. These models were never released to the public and only played by my brother Lucas and I. The prototypes were barely animated, the attacks were experimental and ridiculous, and the games themselves were hardly even functional. I wasn't sure what kind of direction I wanted to take with the game, so I quickly phased it out of my line of projects. At that time I just wasn't experienced enough with Game Maker, and so I wasn't prepared to create MADHOUSE just yet. During the summer of 2004 I devoted part of my time to really working closely with Game Maker. I experimented with making a game called Amazin'!, which turned out to be the first complete game I created with the software. All of the sprites in Amazin'! were created pixel-by-pixel in the sprite drawing application of Game Maker, however, the game engine was constructed using GM's easy to use Drag & Drop feature. After summer, in late August and into early September, I began work on MADHOUSE as we see it today. I used the same theory of doing all of the sprites pixel-by-pixel within the Game Maker program as opposed to using an outside program like Photoshop or Flash. The result was desirable; the style was the missing piece of the puzzle that held me back from working on this project previously. Once I had established the style of MADHOUSE my workflow increased dramatically. The style, which is a pixilated low-resolution format I refer to as retrostylized, portrays an "old-school" feeling that is reminiscent from games of the Nintendo era. Perhaps one of the biggest inspirations for MADHOUSE was Splatterhouse: Wankpaku Graffiti, a rare Famicom gem that was never released in the US. Of course, one can see many influences from Nintendo's Zelda series, as well. And in my opinion, the Versus Mode game play is very much like that of a first-person shooter like N64's Goldeneye 007. Although MADHOUSE depicted a similar graphical style to that of Amazin'!, MADHOUSE was my first project that attempted to build a game using only the script features of Game Maker, as opposed to the Drag & Drop feature. GML, which is based loosely off of C++, is Game Maker's own built-in programming language. By creating the entire game using only code, the creation of MADHOUSE in itself was a learning experience. With the help of Lucas, I was able to thoroughly test MADHOUSE as it was being created. We would sometimes spend over an hour playing the game, and he was actually quite good at it, and frequently he was more than a match for me! On October 12th, 2004 I released MADHOUSE to the public via the Game Maker Community forums. I posted it in the Works in Progress section as a "Bloody 2 Player Deathmatch Game" that boasted "original graphics and themes". MADHOUSE was immediately well received by the GM community, and heralded by some as one of, if not the best game on the forums. Only days away from a big update I had planned for Halloween, which included two complete and new stages as well as many improvements over older versions, I tried to open the working file on the morning of October 27th, only to find that the file had somehow become corrupt. At this point, I was unable to recover MADHOUSE, and sadly, I had to announce that the project was over. I had not only lost the file, but also my will to continue working on the project. The only backup file I had was over 2 weeks old, which was at nearly 150 hours of work lost. So in lieu of this, I took a break. After four months of hardly touching the project, I decided to finally try again. Instead of focusing on trying to recover what had been lost, I started implementing a one-player version of the game, which we today know as Arcade Mode. Prior to this, MADHOUSE had only been a two-player versus game. MADHOUSE returned to the Game Maker Community on March 2nd, 2005. Since that day, production of this game has hardly stopped. Everything that was lost has been recreated and even better than it ever was before. Various new characters, modes, and stages have been created and even more are planned for the future. The future of MADHOUSE looks bright; I intend on creating Netplay Mode, which will allow players to connect to each other via an internet connection, and do battle against one another from the comfort of their own computer! I also hope to implement Story Mode, a one-player story driven adventure with RPG elements like character building, money gathering, and NPC interaction. However, both of these modes will require a large amount of work and time, so we may not see them until 2008. My excitement and passion for making this game is unceasing, thus, MADHOUSE continues to grow and expand daily.
My estimation for the completion of MADHOUSE including Arcade, Versus, and Netplay Modes, is at least another six months at the rate I am going now. To implement Story Mode in its entirety will take at least another year. But these estimations are highly variable; I might surprise you! As it stands right now, I have broken down the completion of MADHOUSE like this:
Characters
Arcade Levels
Versus Levels
Netplay Mode
Story Mode
Overall  What do you want to know about me? I'm just a humble, independent game designer living in San Francisco :) Well, I'm originally from Pennsylvania. Born in Bucks County, near Philadelphia, I moved to rural western Pennsylvania when I was nine. There wasn't much to do there, so I had to always keep myself entertained. My life has mostly consisted of playing video games and aspiring to create them. In school and at home, I was always known for devising pen & paper dice games, or sometimes even games that just involved using only your imagination to play. I have always thought of myself as a pioneer of game design; I would come up with my own ideas, or improve on already existing games. It is my belief that we humans are inherently predisposed to loving games! I can attest that I have learned much, both intellectually and ethically, from playing video games. I believe that I can also teach others through games; all while entertaining them! Some of my best ideas have been in conceptualization for years, the oldest one being an 20-year old idea for an adventure game called Killer Kelps (hey, I was 6 years old when I came up with the title, what do you expect?) More than anything, I would love to have the help of a team to help me bring some of these ideas to life, but I have to admit that because I'm so passionate about my own visions, I find it hard to accept too much outside input. One of my teachers has referred to me as a "rugged individualist," but I am an artist and this is my work. It just so happens that the kind of work I do requires an extensive amount of time and energy! Whew! If teamwork isn't for me, I'm content to whittle away for years just to turn out small independent projects like MADHOUSE; hoping that these games will reveal my commitment to game design and potentionally allow me to network with others who take game design as seriously as I do. It was once my dream to find a career in the game developing industry, but the more I look at the games today and the more I learn about the industry, the more reluctant I feel towards persuing that endeavor. I will always consider myself a game designer, nonetheless, and I will be making games until the day I die, be it on a commercial level or not. I want to create games with heart; something I feel that many of the games today have lost by focusing on making games pretty and not really thinking about what makes a game fun. As for living in San Francisco, that is a choice I decided to make last year on May 5th, when I packed up my car and drove out to California from my home and the only life I ever knew in Pennsylvania. I had never been to California, but I knew that if there was anywhere in the US that I might have an opportunity at finding a job in the game industry, it would be here. For a while I had worked as a game tester at SEGA on titles like Shadow the Hedgehog and Full Auto for the Xbox 360. That job was a lot of fun, but unfortunately it was only a temporary gig. I currently do freelance work for clients around the Bay Area, but my primary source of income is through school loans. I'm a student at the Art Institute of California, majoring in Game Art and Design, a program which I enjoy very much! I'm always interested in employment opportunities that pertain to what I love to do, so if you are an employer of such, please don't hesitate to contact me! Aside from designing games, I'm known to waste a lot of time surfing the Internet looking up various useless information. I do have some great friends that I love to spend time with, but unfortunately I don't get to see them too much since I got my new computer (he he, sorry guys!) I recently turned 26 years old (yikes!) on the 25th of May, so I'm a Gemini. I enjoy watching movies and I'm interested in film making, although my aptitude for that isn't nearly as cultivated as it is for game design. I also enjoy anime, particularly Akira, Vampire Hunter D, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Berserk and Fist of the North Star, but nothing past the nineties. Call me old-fashioned when it comes to video games and anime, I guess! I enjoy all kinds of music, especially instrumental and classical. (I'm not a serial killer- really!) And yes, ladies, I am STILL single ;)
-Dan1, Game Maker Community
"Fuzzydude and I love this game. We've had more fun playing this on multiplayer than Halo. This is one of the best games in multiplayer on my list, way up there with Metal Arms!"
"Very Very Good Game. THis Is The Only GM Game I've Ever Got Hooked On."
"I was highly impressed with this game. This is
one of the few GM games I've seen from this community
that actually seem to have had energy put into them."
"wow. VERY GOOD! 10/10! i mean just wow. I played and played and this is now one of my few desktop games. very nice very nice indeed."
"It actually felt like a comercial game, every aspect felt proffesional and original. Great work!
"I must say this game has gotten me addicted and I've added it to my "GM Games I'm keeping folder""
"the graphics have a kind of "life" in them, thats true pixel art"
"This game is so freaking good, I peed my pants!
Just so GREAT! I have 3 brothers at my house, and they each picked different characters they like! WE LOVE THIS GAME!"
"this is PHENOMINAL! THE best game I have seen on this forum"
Q: What's FAQ? A: Frequently Asked Questions, or questions that I anticipate people will ask. Q: Help! I can't figure out the controls! A: Read the manual or play through Tutorial Mode! Q: What's with these controls, anyways? A: They have been set up so that two players may comfortably share the keyboard in Versus Mode. You can use either set for any single player game mode, though. Q: How do I beat this level? How do I kill this boss? A: Don't ask me; I don't like to reveal too much. I think the point of games is figuring things out for yourself. But if you are truly stumped, check out the DOCUMENTS section for walkthroughs and tips. Good luck! Q: I like MADHOUSE, can I help in any way? A: The best way to help with this project is by visiting the SUPPORT section, where you will find information on what you can do to help support MADHOUSE. As for actually creating material for the game, the answer is no. I don't know what the future holds for MADHOUSE, but I'd like to keep it as my own work. Q: Can you put my character in the game? He's real cool and has claws and shoots laser beams and blows up and shoots spiked balls and whoaa yeah he's so cool! Will you use him? Please? Please?? A: I'm honored that you've created your own MADHOUSE character. But as I said before, I won't be accepting any submissions for in-game material. Feel free to submit any of your own MADHOUSE inspired work to the Fan Art section, though! Q: How much does this game cost? A: Not one cent! But donations are more than welcome :) Q: Donations? But nobody does that! What's in it for me? A: I will personally send you a special file with instructions on how to use it. It will unlock bonus characters, stages, and modes that aren't accessible by any other means! Q: When will you release the next update? A: There's no way to be certain. On average, I usually release a new update monthly. However, it may take several months depending on many factors. Conversely, there may even be an update that comes out within a week of the previous one. Q: I noticed throughout the website you have consistently capitalized the title of the game. Does this mean I have to scream it every time I am reading it aloud?
A: Yes. There is no other way.
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