Mark Essen, better known as Messhof, is an American

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the production stage. Some common video game design subdiscipline ...

and

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

best known for '' Nidhogg'', its sequel, and ''

Flywrench ''Flywrench'' is an action video game developed and published by Messhof. The game puts the player in the role of 6802, a spacecraft floating through the Solar System in search of a mysterious access point. As 6802 passes the different planets ...

''.

Career

In college, Messhof made games with

GameMaker GameMaker (originally Animo, Game Maker ''(until 2011)'' and GameMaker Studio) is a series of cross-platform game engines created by Mark Overmars in 1999 and developed by YoYo Games since 2007. The latest iteration of ''GameMaker'' released ...

and

Microsoft Paint Microsoft Paint is a simple raster graphics editor that has been included with all versions of Microsoft Windows. The program opens and saves files in Windows bitmap (BMP), JPEG, GIF, PNG, and single-page TIFF formats. The program can be in ...

software. An early game, ''Punishment 1'', began as a group assignment in an advanced, experimental class. His other early games included ''Wally'', ''Bool'', ''Booloid'', ''Punishment 2'', and ''

'', uploaded on his website. His work was profiled in

The Creators Project Vice Media Group LLC is an American-Canadian digital media and broadcasting company. , the Vice Media Group included five main business areas: VICE.com (digital content); VICE STUDIOS (film and TV production) VICE TV (also known as VICELAND); ...

and the

Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's or ...

, and shown in the New York

New Museum The New Museum of Contemporary Art, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is a museum in New York City at 235 Bowery, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-named New Sc ...

, Toronto

Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art The Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada (MOCA), formerly known as the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA), is a museum and art gallery in Toronto, Ontario. It is an independent, registered charitable organization. ...

, and Liverpool

Foundation for Art and Creative Technology FACT Liverpool is a new media arts centre in Liverpool, England. The building houses galleries, a cinema operated by Picturehouse, a bar and a café. History FACT was established as an organisation focussed on video and new media art, exhibit ...

. He was cited by a

Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a private nonprofit art school with locations in Savannah, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; and Lacoste, France. Founded in 1978 to provide degrees in programs not yet offered in the southeast of the Unit ...

instructor as a successful example of blending arts aesthetics and video games. Messhof developed '' Nidhogg'', a fast-paced, side-scrolling sword

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...

between 2010 and 2014. Its first prototype, ''Raging Hadron'', was expanded over four years to include online multiplayer, new environments, and new gameplay modes. Messhof balanced development as the sole programmer with development on other games and both teaching and student commitments in graduate school. He taught classes on intermediate game design and experimental mobile games at

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

's Interactive Media & Games program. ''Nidhogg'' production's pace increased when he formed a studio, also known as Messhof, with Kristy Norindr, who found other collaborators for finishing the project. An expanded version of the game, ''

Nidhogg 2 ''Nidhogg 2'' is a fighting game and sequel to '' Nidhogg'' by indie developer Messhof. It was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS and PlayStation 4 in 2017. An Xbox One version was released in July 2018 and the Nintendo Switch version was ...

'', was illustrated by artist Toby Dixon and includes new levels, music, and weapons.

Games developed

References

{{authority control American video game designers Video game artists