Whatnot Studios
This site represents a catalog of all the games released by me, John D. Moore, going back to the year 1997 and all the way up to the present. This number is fast approaching ninety. I am interested in creating independent games that experiment with traditional video game mechanics, as well as making comical games.
Game Development and Me
From about the time I was introduced to the NES, I was designing video games on paper. Starting around 1996, I began coding in QBASIC, working on a few simple Zork-like text adventures. My only completed QBASIC adventure game, a collaboration with a friend entitled UFO Invasion, was uploaded to an AOL channel, but is now lost to time.
In 1997, my cousin introduced me to ZZT, the ANSI-based game creation system, and I began programming comedy adventure games, eventually moving on to more complex . I retired from ZZT game-making officially in 2002. My best-received ZZT projects were the four installments of the Zem! series. In addition to ZZT, I also worked with game creation systems like OHRRPGCE, MegaZeux, and Bang!
In 2009, I began working in Yo Yo Games’s Game Maker, releasing an experiment in level design I called About a Ball. Beginning in 2010, I began participating in Glorious Trainwrecks events, producing simple and often comic games in brief bursts of time.
Perhaps my most popular games have been the five games in the Watch Ducks series.
I spent most of 2012 developing and polishing Caverns of Khron, my most ambitious project in terms of scale at that time.
In 2017, I released Explobers, my biggest and most complex game to date. If you play one of my games, check that one out!
Currently, I continue to participate in the occasional Glorious Trainwrecks event or weekend game jam, while producing small experimental takes on conventional game designs (for example, see Shadow Wrangler or Santa Claus’s Candy Cane Craze), both of which were built in less than 48 hours. I spend at least a few hours each week working on a project of some size, so watch this space for more games!
License and Support
With the exception of Explobers, all of my games are currently released as freeware. At present, they are available on Microsoft Windows platforms. I hope to bring some of my favorite and most interesting games to other platforms in the near-ish future. Explobers is available on Android phones and gaming devices.
If you’d like to support my games or show your appreciation, please consider the following:
- Download a game from my itch.io storefront or GameJolt storefront and pitch in a dollar or two when prompted. My games are freeware, but I gratefully accept tips!
- Buy me a virtual coffee at Ko-fi!
- Share my games with your friends. I even have some two-player games!
- Blog about or link to my games on social media! Write reviews! Make videos! Anything to spread word of mouth is deeply appreciated.
- Write to me using my contact form or tweet at me on Twitter. Just knowing that you’re playing and enjoying my games is inspiring and satisfying to me!
By the way, please consider doing all of the above for any indie game developer whose work you admire. It’s hard to describe just how nice it feels to be told that your creative work is appreciated! A little note can really brighten someone’s day.
About John D. Moore
Currently living in Salt Lake City, Utah, I am also a filmmaker, a writer, a cartoonist, and a scholar of Japanese literature, film, and animation. To see my other work visit my homepage. I’m also a freelance copyeditor and proofreader, and I am available for hire.
Page last updated April 28, 2021.