Doodlemonkie is a veteran of the UK computer games development scene, starting out back in the day when computers had memory you could count in kay, not gigs. Prior to this, his background was in the design and development of more traditional games - boardgames, role-playing games and the like. At the tender age of 16, Doodlemonkie left his parents' home in the south of England to be mentored by Bryan Ansell, whose fledgling company Citadel Miniatures would go on to be a worldwide franchise known as Games Workshop.
This brief period introduced Doodlemonkie to the secrets of miniature figurine production, from sculpting to final manufacture. He also added a volume to Ansell's popular series of skirmish rules and was published by Tabletop Games; this set of rules was the precursor to Games Workshop's hugely successful Warhammer product lines.
Inspired by Ansell's acumen and drive, as well as his own youthful enthusiasm, Doodlemonkie secured a couple of hot licences for his new company, Target Games, including one for the seminal movie Halloween, as well as a licence for the 2000AD character Strontium Dog, for the transition and development into game properties.
Computer Games
Perhaps inevitably, Doodlemonkie was drawn to the world of computers, following the rise in popularity of the home microcomputer in the mid-80s. With traditional gaming now playing second fiddle to the newly emerging computer games, he applied his talents to pixel art, creating graphics and/or designing games for most of the 8-bit machines.
Doodlemonkie set Target Games Ltd up in partnership with rising programming talent Julian Gollop. The company created their own niche of turn-based strategy games, starting with Rebelstar and developing the idea with Laser Squad and ultimately UFO: Enemy Unknown (aka. X-COM: UFO Defence), which led to a whole series of X-COM games, published by Microprose, creating several bestsellers in the process.
In the early 90s, Doodlemonkie was invited to work with Peter Molyneaux of Bullfrog Productions, Britain's then hottest property in the games development arena. During his tenure there, he worked on Theme Park (still one of the biggest selling games of all time), Syndicate, Magic Carpet and Dungeon Keeper.
Back in Essex, Target Games eventually became Mythos Games, and was signed to the Virgin Interactive label. Under this banner, Doodlemonkie's opus Magic and Mayhem (Duel: The Mage Wars in USA) was released.
Doodlemonkie continued working in the games development industry on a freelance basis, allowing for experimentation on smaller platforms such as the Nintendo GameBoy, the crowning achievement being the conversion of seminal PC game DOOM, all running from a single cart on the GameBoy Advance.
The Present
Doodlemonkie's more recent endeavours have included the coordination and management of two national charities, with diverse tasks including parliamentary activity and media coordination.
Working in various mediums, Doodlemonkie now spends his time creating paintings and sculptural forms; works that not only reflect his macabre humour, but also the wealth of experience that inevitably influence his output.
He currently lives in the South of England.