Resume This is an up-to-date Curriculum
Vitae. It outlines Brent Silby' education, employment, and
projects he has been involved with.
Production
history This
page contains information about the production of games
written by Brent Silby.
Essays,
Articles, and e-papers
A collection of ePapers and articles. Subjects include Consciousness,
the Mind, Evolution, Space Exploration, Memetics (the evolution
of ideas and culture), the Environment, and Nanotechnology.
Sites
constructed
Def-Logic has been responsible for the design and maintenance
of several sites. Some of the sites still online are listed
here.
Links
This page contains links to sites that use Def-Logic games.
Who
is Brent Silby? "I
currently live in Christchurch, New Zealand. The following
is a short rundown of some of the more interesting parts
of my life...
In
1988 I became a sound and lighting engineer--operating sound
systems and light-shows for bands and other productions.
Through my contacts in that industry, I changed profession
and became a nightclub DJ in 1990 (to this day I am very
interested in club music. I enjoy a range of dance music,
from "vocal house" to "hard house" and
some "melodic trance").
During
the daylight hours, I ran a computer graphics business,
which involved the production of animated cartoon commercials
for a local network of video screens that I installed in
various public locations. The business also gave me the
opportunity to produce a 30 minute long animated Nursery
Rhyme video (for children under 5 years old), which was
marketed throughout New Zealand and Australia by the Hughes
Leisure Group.
In
1995 I enrolled at the University of Canterbury. Originally
a computer science major, I fell victim to the seductive
influence of philosophy, which prompted me to change my
course of study. I completed my Masters degree in 1999,
and was employed by the Department of Philosophy as a teaching
and research assistant until 2002. I am still associated
with the department as their webmaster. My philosophical
interests include philosophy of mind and cognitive science,
memetics, cosmology and the study of the universe, evolutionary
theories, and the philosophy of technology. A number of
my articles on science
and philosophy have been listed on this site.
At
this point in time, I spend much of my time designing and
programming web-based Video Games.
These 'neo-arcade' games are written in javascript and can
be played in any standard web browser. I have always been
a fan of video games. My first attempt at programming games
was on a primitive Sinclair home computer in 1984. I quickly
progressed to an Acorn computer (they built the famous BBC
machines of the mid 1980's), and it was with that system
that I learned most of the techniques used to design games.
After 1987 I took a long break from videogame design until
1995 at which time I created a Dos based game named Orbs.
A few years later I became interested in animation effects
on Internet sites using dynamic HTML, and it was from there
that I jumped right back in to writing games. You can check
out the production history of my games by visiting the Production
page.
While
not writing games, I teach in Primary schools. I have recently
completed a Graduate Diploma in Teaching and Learning at
the New Zealand Graduate School of Education. There is a
shortage of Information Technology teachers in New Zealand,
and I am hoping to help fill that gap. For the next few
months I will be relief teaching in a number of schools.
Its a great opportunity to work in many different settings
with children of all ages.
I
am currently working on two goals. The first is in relation
to videogames. My goal is to further the resurging popularity
of arcade-style games. There is a growing view that modern
console games are lacking some of the basic features of
gameplay that once made videogames exciting and popular.
The adrenelin boosting action is what is missing. I am attempting
to design new games based on the arcade model. Gameplay
is kept simple and fast.
My
second goal is one of science and knowledge. My goals is
to move philosophy out of the corridors of academia, and
introduce it to a larger audience. My hope is that people
will learn how to think in philosophical terms. In doing
so, people will be able to think rationally and exercise
skepticism when faced with everyday concerns. This will
allow all people to question authority, ask for reasons
before accepting claims, and seek a better understanding
of the world and the universe. As people become skilled
in this way of thinking, they will look at the bigger picture
of the world. With any luck we will see a change in humanity's
collective attitude. This change will see people take care
of eachother and the fragile planet upon which we all rely."
-- Brent Silby
2001-2004
