Mittens lives!

The first Matazone 'Mittens & Snowdrop' video is on YouTube - I can smell your brains!

It’s been 22 years since I put the first Mittens & Snowdrop animation online. As I wrote before, I never expected it would transform my life: it helped launch my games and animation business, which I ran for seven years, and led to a career in writing for games and other media. Unfortunately, Flash (the animation software I used to make these animations) is not supported by browsers anymore, so the first Mittens animation has been unviewable for several years… Until now!

It took a fair while to convert at a decent quality, but it’s back!
(And still silent, like in the old days.)

Click here for Mittens T-shirts, backpacks... Shower curtains? (and more—you can browse around on there for Mr. Snaffleburger and Little Goth Girl things too.)

More Mittens animations will be coming in future months - I’ll post on here whenever they go online.

Mittens launched my business 'Matazone', and I made Flash games and animations for the next 7 years. Meanwhile, I completed a PhD, worked in the mainstream video game industry as a designer and writer for video games, before becoming a professor, video game consultant, and writer.

Through Matazone, I found a huge community of similarly strange people spread all over the world. I made friendships that have lasted to this day, marriages happened, and children were born. Several people messaged me over the years to say that the Matazone community saved their life—and we lost a people too, and grieved them together. It was, and is, a cherished part of my life.

This Substack was launched with the mailing list from those days. I hope you’re enjoying reading where I’ve come from, and joining me on the path forwards.

Want to know more about my life when I started making these animations (and see a selfie from the days of physical-film cameras)? Read on…