Tyler Glaiel (born 1990), also known by the moniker Glaiel Games, 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 programmer known for games such as '' Aether'' (2008), '' Closure'' (2012), ''Number'' (2013), '' Bombernauts'' (2017), ''

The End Is Nigh ''The End Is Nigh'' was an annual British fanzine edited by Michael Molcher. It was launched at the Bristol Comic Expo in 2005 and, since becoming a semi-annual publication, each subsequent issue is also launched there. It deals with the Risks t ...

'' (2017) and '' Mewgenics'' (2024).

Life and career

Glaiel is a native of

Westfield, Massachusetts Westfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, Hampden County, in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, United States. Westfield was first settled by Europeans in 1660. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metrop ...

. He developed his first game, a simple thing called ''Pigeon Pooper'' using

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia Computing platform, software platform used for production of Flash animation, animations, rich web applications, application software, desktop applications, mobile apps, mo ...

in 2002, before his twelfth birthday. By high school, Glaiel was already one of the most successful game developers on

Newgrounds Newgrounds is an entertainment website and company founded by Tom Fulp in 1995. It hosts user-generated content such as games, films, audio, and artwork. Fulp produces in-house content at the headquarters and offices in Glenside, Pennsylvania. I ...

, reportedly earning thousands of dollars from his games alone, leading Jonathan Holmes of

Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. History ' ...

to calling him "the

Doogie Howser ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'' is an American medical sitcom that ran for four seasons on ABC from September 19, 1989, to March 24, 1993, totaling 97 episodes. Created by Steven Bochco and David E. Kelley, the show stars Neil Patrick Harris in the tit ...

of videogames". He became a frequent collaborator of

Edmund McMillen Edmund Charles McMillen (born March 2, 1980) is an American video game designer and artist known for his Flash game visual style. His most notable works include 2010's side-scroller '' Super Meat Boy'' and 2011's roguelike game '' The Binding o ...

and went on to develop several titles together. In 2008, he earned the rank of

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...

, the highest achievement in

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. His game, '' Closure'', won the Gameplay Innovation award at

Indiecade IndieCade is an international juried festival of independent games. IndieCade is known as "the video game industry's Sundance."Fritz, Ben"IndieCade, the video game industry's Sundance" Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2009, accessed July 21, 2011. ...

2009 and the

Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...

award for Excellence in Audio in 2010, in addition to being nominated in the Innovation and Technical Excellence categories. The following year, he was invited to participate in the IGF's jury for the festival's innovation award, ''Nuovo''. Glaiel was included in the

Forbes 30 Under 30 ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists of people under 30 years old issued annually by ''Forbes'' magazine and some of its regional editions. The American lists recognize 600 business and industry figures, with 30 selected in twenty industries ...

games industry section in 2016. Utilizing and building up a proprietary game engine of his own creation that allowed for SVG assets created in

to be imported expediently, Glaiel collaborated with McMillen for several months on ''

'', before it was released in 2017. In 2018, McMillen announced that he had acquired the rights to his previous project, '' Mewgenics'' and that he and Glaiel have begun developing it. As of 2020, he was living in California. In 2020, at the onset of the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic when face masks were becoming mandated by law in many parts of the world, Glaiel received a great deal of attention for a voice-activated LED face mask he made on a lark. The positive press led Glaiel to take the mask to

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

, where he was able to raise over US$70,000 to mass-produce it under the name '' JabberMask''.

Games

References

External links

TYLER GLAIEL'S STUFF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glaiel, Tyler Indie game developers Browser game developers American inventors 1990 births Living people