My name’s Eli.  I’m one of the lucky folks who get to make video games.

It didn’t take long for me to figure out that I’m awful at drawing, so my original childhood endeavors to become an animator were short lived.  I did, however, pick up a copy of Macromedia’s Flash along this short journey, and eventually realized that it included a coding language called Actionscript.  I quickly decided that it was absolutely awesome.

Magic happened, elbow grease was utilized, and eventually I got pretty decent at writing code.  Sooner or later I made a game called Reverb, which featured shoddy graphics that I had to make myself, and code that I was immensely proud of writing from scratch.  Someone told me that you can get paid for making Flash games by sticking an ad at the beginning, so I talked to Jason of Stickpage.com, who said he’d be willing to pay for it.  Having no idea how much an ad in a game like this was worth (my best guess was somewhere around $50), I suggested that he pick a number instead, since he had more experience with this kind of thing.  He came up with $500, and I nearly pissed myself.

Several years later, I’m still making games, and still putting ads in them.  Soon, though, it might be time for the next step…

53 Responses

  1. hmm, im very interested in this sounds very nice and fun im surprized you got it on newgrounds congratulation

  2. sorry to repost doesn’t let me edit” omg iv played spewer! i love that game i can’t wait see more!! good luck on that codeing

  3. madameesp

    Check out this article about Spewer in the current issue of Maclife!
    http://www.maclife-digital.com/maclife/200908/?pg=74

  4. Skrator van Kernel

    hello, let me present myself, I’m a brazilian guy student of mechanical engineering, and I would apreciate if u could help me! 😀
    I’m creating a interactive animation in flash to use in a sheet of my graduation… and it’s about pumps, so I wanted the water (movieclips particles probably) to move trought the pipes… i was wondering how to do that, i thought something like the movement of fluids in your “Spewer” game.. (by the way, you did a great work on it)

    So i was thinking if you could help me with the code for the water movement (the water maybe just some colored dots), do you mind?

    I just sent you an equal message on you newgrounds account, you can anwser me there, Thanks!

  5. Eli,
    I couldn’t find your email address on here so I first want to apologize for writing through here.

    Personally, I am an experienced and trained classical music composer. I’ve worked for three years as a free-lance composer and would love to work on one of your projects.

    I have an B.A. in classical music composition and I particularly enjoy scoring music for video games.

    Here are some samples of my work:

    My demo reel: http://www.box.net/shared/p5dtif2rez

    Wesbite: http://www.jonadamich.tk

    I know these times are tough for indie developers, so compensation would be fairly minimal. Much lower then if you bought the rights through a music library.

    I hope to hear from you soon, and I hope development is going smoothly.

    Sincerely,

    Jon Adamich
    Adamichmusic@yahoo.com

  6. Hi,

    just came here from bubblebox to see if there were some other games then Company, but didn’t find any :( it would really be great if you put some links or at least the names of other stuff you’ve done! Love the style of it.
    And just a little bug on the website: the category links up left don’t work, there is a “/” missing after the .net (at least for me).

    Keep up the great work!
    Regards,
    Franz.

  7. Hello there! I figure you probably enjoy positive feedback, so here I am. I’d like to start off by putting the coming compliments in perspective. I’ve been playing any flash game I can get my hands on for years. I’ve sampled even more in the past half-year due to working a boring night-shift job, so I’d like to think I have a good handle on what makes a flash game “fun” (at least for me).

    I have played Spewer through at least 3 times, start to finish. I have no major gripes with the physics it uses, it’s VERY well polished (for a game about puke), and I was intrigued enough with it’s storyline to enjoy it unfolding, which is rare considering the genre. I understand the game’s story wrapped up nicely at its end, but I’d gladly pay 10-15$ for a sequel, or even a large level pack.

    I just finished Company on Armor Games, and I enjoyed it as well. Again, it is so rare to find a flash game that has both an interesting storyline AND fun gameplay. I’ve heard plenty about Braid, but have never got around to buying it, so this seemed pretty fresh to me on the mechanics side. Company didn’t feel as “fancy” or polished as Spewer, but it oddly made sense after I saw the ending.

    That about covers what I’ve played of yours, so keep up the awesome work! :) -Nick

  8. five hundred dollars!?!?!

  9. Generic Poster

    Hello Eli,

    I have a potential business proposal for you concerning one of your games. Please contact me when you get the chance.

    Thank you.

  10. I want to congratulate you on The Company of Myself. It’s done well on many different aspects that most flash games don’t touch. The music is touching, graphics look great, challenges are substantial, and emotion is involved. I also liked the help option on youtube. The only thing I’m disappointed in is how short it is! Make another one that’s longer! Please :)

  11. “The company of myself” was a great game. I agree with Lauren about making a longer version.
    About the music, I wonder if you or your partner could share the file with us. I really really liked that music.

  12. You MUST put together some sort of 2d, online RPG game.

  13. High-Lord Vin

    <blockquote cite="#commentbody-433">
    <strong><a href="#comment-433">Snufflez</a> :</strong>
    <p>You MUST put together some sort of 2d, online RPG game.</p>
    </blockquote>

    err that is not an independent project; also, I do not see a MMORPG being a popular thing; finally, that is not the kind of things he does, he does flash games

  14. Fotios Siafarikas

    Eli, your work is amazing.
    As for generating 500. this is nothing for the kind of quality you deliver.
    You could make social games on platforms like Facebook and make even 50.000/month.
    I am a social games developer and entrepreneur working in that industry for 2 years now.
    If you want to discuss with me and view a portfolio of games generating very good revenues e-mail me at f.siafarikas@gmail.com.
    Thanks and i wish you the best.

  15. Markus Kuosmanen

    The Company of Myself was pretty darn good. You should definetly work a bit with the animation and publish it in its own site. Losing the gaming site extra stuff would do wonders for the general calm athmosphere of the game. Also, in case you need income, a license to XBoxLA might be possible…

    Keep up the good job! It’s always nice to see young guys doing magic on shoelace budget.

  16. Hello Eli,

    I couldn’t find your email address on here so I first want to apologize for writing through here.

    My name is Max, I’m of the guys behind gameshed.com. I have a potential business proposal for you concerning Company of Myself game. Please contact me at contact[at]gameshed[dot]com when you get the chance.

    Keep up the good job!

  17. Hi Eli,

    Just played Company of Myself, it’s probably the best flash game I’ve ever played.
    I would love to discuss making a game with you through email, can you please send me an email so we can talk?

    Thank you,

    João

  18. Do you know that it is correct time to get the loan, which will realize your dreams.

  19. alejandro

    My name is Alejandro, i’m 23 year’old boy, i just played your game (the company of my self) about half hour ago. i found no email in your webpage, and i nedded to say thank you to you. i apologyze my self for my english.

    thank you for sharing this, your game, and the way you let us feel what you felt

    i couldn’t believe it, the game, the phrases, the stuff you should be feeling and carrying at the moment you made it, very likely you’re still carrying with that, or at least a big part of it.

    i want to thankyou for letting us know that, ironically, we’re not alone

    i think so because when i read the things you wrote at the beggining of the game, and all along the scenes or chapters, it sounded so familiar…

    i fell in love once,

    a two-year lasting dream , in which i can sincerely say i was truly happy

    she was my everything, she was and she meant… so many things for me,

    i’m not the kind of friendly person, in fact i guess i lack of real friends at all, she became my friend, my only one, and i was hers, i’m not the kind of family guy, in fact almost all of my family lives far away from i live, and i don’t talk to them very often, she became my family and i tried to be hers. she was my sister, my lover, my friend, my teacher, my classmate, my partner, she was my soulmate, she was the person i wanted to walk with, through life, forever…

    i had nothing but her, but with her, i had everything, without her…

    well, i lost her, i made no mistake, neither she, she just, started to walk away, i don’t want to try to understand what happened, i just couldn’t stop my star from leaving me, may be i m not her soul mate as much as she is for me.

    it was funny i came up with your work today, since i have to call her tomorrow, and have a chat with her, she asked me for, she need advice, and despite sometimes his relationship don’t go well, well, she loves hime too much, thath kills me.

    and well your game it’s kind of inspiring, makes me remember the time when i wanted to move on and be happy despite i didn’t have her by mi side…

    thanks for your game

  20. Hi Eli,
    I’ve played company of myself and reading your intro an idea have come in my mind in connection with your solitude… If you are interested in it, please wirte me an e-mail.

  21. Aziz! LIGHT!

    Hi Eli!
    The other day, I was just looking out the window at my yard the cutest little bunnies hopped right on by. Four bunnies! One, two, three, four little bunnies- Hop, hop, hop, right through my yard!
    Kissies Huggies,
    J.

  22. Hi, we are team of freelancers that specialize in 2d design/animation, we’ve got a job proposition for you – please, send e-mail at gekonum@o2.pl, it’s about flash games programming,
    with regards, TMoser & ATarkowska

  23. Hey!

    I really loved your game ‘company’ and i was wondering if we could expect a sequel?

    The story was epic and really inspired me. I don’t think i have ever been so moved by a little game!.

    I think what you did with Luke and Dave on the music and art really made it an awesome game because it all fitted so beautifully. The audio was lonely but also happy – which was perfect!

    I guess what i’m saying is great bleeding job! I feel like together you guys could have wrote a best selling movie based souly around this idea! (no joke!)

  24. Hey

    It’s the holidays and this is the first time my mum’s allowed me time to play games… anyhow, the game “The company of myself” it amazing!!!… Okay, i sound weird and i don’t know anything about games but the graphics, the music and the words are so good it’s… well can’t find a work to describe it, I look at it and it looks so happy and the the words, esp the part with Kathryn is so tragic the game is beautiful! anyhow, i just couldn’t stop admiring the game was made so i thought I’d comment. Hope your life is okay, = )

    Kind regards
    T.Fang

  25. Eli – please contact me with your email address. I’m building a database of indie game developers for the 2011 Indie Game Challenge, and would like to include you. Please check out the website and consider entering. Love your games!

    Melissa Lee
    Special Projects & Events
    The Guildhall at SMU
    http://www.indiegamechallenge.com
    mslee@smu.edu

  26. Kuba Games

    Hello!
    We’re present the company which is engaged in developing games for social networks. We are interested in your games. We would like to buy your source code for placing them in Russian social networks. Please let us know if you’re interested.
    Best regards, Kuba Games.

  27. High-Lord Vin

    haha someone pulling a prank? lol

  28. Hey Eli, I was surprised to find a game designer that i share names with! anyways, I’d like to say that I loved playing The Company Of Myself, If you want/need music, voiceovers, sfx for any of your games, let me know, I’d be glad to help out,

    email me: elijahlucian@gmail.com

  29. Great games, great ideas. Try for something other then just flash games and the such, you’ve got great potential and ideas, talent like yourself could aim for much higher.

  30. Hello Eli,

    I’m a film student over at the University of California, Santa Cruz. I want to say I am very impressed by your games. You certainly challenge the stereotypes surrounding flash games.

    I was inspired by your game “The Company of Myself” and created a short film from my experience playing it. You can find it on Vimeo:

    http://www.vimeo.com/17509273

    It was just a small production put on by myself and my friends, so don’t expect anything grand. Incidentally, before I decided to become a filmmaker I always considered game design, which still interests me, especially experimental mixed media games. If you ever contemplate creating some kind of hybrid between film and game, please contact me. You are evidently very talented I would love working with you.

    David Murakami
    vdesign@davidmurakami.com

  31. Hello Eli, I think you are handsome. That is all.

  32. Hello, I’m a college student writing a research paper about narrative in games and I’d be thrilled if you could contact me and I could ask you some questions.

  33. Hey Eli,

    We at SuperStudios would like to make a business proposition with you concerning amounts of approximately 15,000,000USD.

    No, just kidding, but I really liked Company of Myself and I know you’re making a prequel. I know that adding voice acting to a game is not something to be decided lightly, but if you should decide to add that extra layer of humanity to your next project, I’d certainly be up for it.

    When the time comes, check out my work at http://www.jonathanvonmering.com. I might have the sound you had in mind for a character, the sound to bring him to life… who knows?

    Maybe I’ll hear back from you.
    Jonathan

  34. Jesus Teran

    Eli, I’ve come to be a good fan of your projects, and ask two things from you:

    1. I need the files listed in the game ‘This is a work of fiction’, but the games proves too difficult for me and I can never find a way to save them. Could you please send them to my e-mail?

    2. I wish to follow in your steps as a flash game creator (I aspire to be a game developer in the future), but despite previous attempts to learn to do so, I never find a good source of information that helps me or the right tools. Could you please briefly describe where or how I can get started in this fun and benefit business?

    Jesus

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  39. Hi Eli,

    I am Tanya from Gameshastra. We are the largest Game Services Company in India having expertise across multiple platforms.

    We have exclusive partnerships with leading Handset manufacturers in India and we are currently looking for around 100 Flash games to be embedded on over 100,000 our devices. We discovered some of your flash games on Kongregate and found them really interesting and engaging, therefore, a perfect fit for us. So, we would like to have you as one of our partners.

    Please suggest a convenient time to discuss in detail the opportunity that lies ahead and how we can move forward.

  40. Hi Eli,
    I play your game named “company of myself”. I thing it is greate.
    Regards.

  41. still cryin'.

    played company of myself twice; cries every time.
    such a great game, but so sad T____T

  42. Hi Eli,

    I’m Kevin Bozell, a free-lance English to Spanish translator with expertise in software, philosophy, ethics, literature and poetry. I’ve played all of your games (some of them several times) and find them fascinating.

    I would love to translate some of your games for a minimum rate, out of respect for your work and the fact that you offer your games for free.

    If you’re at all interested, please contact me here: feldkhon@gmail.com

    I can adapt to pretty much any fee you want.

    Thank you, and conrgratulations on doing these works of art,
    Kevin Bozell.

  43. Hello Eli,

    I have played many of your games. I can’t help but loving them.

    My name is Dan Erhard Olsson and I run a game development studio called dpflashes studios. Earlier this year I released my first title for the AppStore (Clear Vision 17+) and it went crazy pretty much everywhere. Up to date the game has sold well over 1.5 million copies.

    I would like to get in touch with you to see if you’d be able to help us code a new project for the mobile market. This new project has got an incredible potential with amazing animations and art. I’m working with Trever Barger (fleckogold at newgrounds) and Douglas Atkinson(head of industrial Zen) on this project.

    What I’m looking for is a skilled AS3 programmer to join us for this project. We could work out a %-deal or a decided sum for your part. I’m working in Flash/AIR which allows us to create versions for Android, AppStore as well as the online flash scene with little adjustments. This gives us great opportunities.

    We have animated about 70-80% of the game already so we are basically just about to put it all together.

    Should you be interested I would like to share more information about the game, pictures and animation samples so you can see for yourself that this game is something unique with a lot of potential.

    Thank you for your time Eli:)
    Dan

  44. Adina Karev

    Hello,

    I am contacting you on behalf of Clickware Inc., a software development company.

    We found your website profile on kongregate.com and we saw that you have interesting games. As we operate a casual games platform and we want to increase our games offer, we would like to know if any of your games are for sale.

    We look forward to receiving your answer.

    Kind regards,

    Adina Karev

  45. just feel like saying I love your games.
    When I eventually get my shit together and learn a code langauge I plan to make some games myself. I have Ideas and doodles and I hope to eventually make them as great as yours

  46. Hello,
    i make flashgame walkthrough videos on youtube. I find your games very good.
    Can i do pls official walkthrough videos for your games (future games)? You can
    integrate it in your game. It´s for free.
    here is my channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/nikitamazuev
    Thanks

  47. Hello my name is Benjamin Stuhl and I want write about your game Not The Robots in my blog.
    In my opinion Not The Robots is a wonderful game.

    Sincerely a big fan of your game
    Benjamin Stuhl

  48. Hello, I am a German Youtuber called Domtendo.
    I was looking at your new game ‘Not the Robots’ I was wondering could you possibly send me a Steam key of the game so I can do a “Lets play” series on the game?
    Here is the link to my Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Geilkind

    Thank you.

  49. Hi Eli.
    I work for a gameblog that originate in sweden called Blogemup.se.
    We would love to make a segment about your game Not the robots in one of our podcasts and on the webpage.
    Our regular plan is to fist play the game trough and then record while we talk about the game and points that we have made before we started. Then we take that and other that we have recorded and create a podcast. Then when we release it we also write a review that we post on the site.

    We would love for your game to be a part of it. But as we are on a rather slim marginal when it comes to money as hosting and salary cost, we would love a few copies f the game, preferably 3-5 of that is possible.

  50. Is there ANY chance at all of some kind of third addition to the Company of Myself games?? One of my absolute favorites.

  51. Is there any possibility of the company of my self being adapted to s book? That would be so cool!

  52. Hi, are you going to make more free flash games? I know you have reasons for not doing, but I like them a lot, particularly fixation.

  53. Hi Eli,

    I am the co-director of an upcoming video production company, Zenedrome. I would like to ask if it were to be possible to create a short film based off of your games “The Company Of Myself” and “Fixation”? I have been a big fan of the games due to their philosophical plots, and how psychologically provoking they are. You will of course be credited, and if we could use the original soundtracks that would be great.

    Thanks.
    James

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