Terminal Panic: Building A Physical Console-Horror Experience, Because I Can
I have always loved the chunky tactility of physical buttons, switches, flashing lights and all the trappings of the retro-future promised by classic science fiction, and realised in the arcades of my youth. So I'm building it: a bespoke physical game terminal, part retrogame remake and part movie prop, in an attempt to reimagine one of the most unique and obscure games in the legendary Alien franchise. The fact I can barely hold a soldering iron, never mind design circuits or work a 3D printer, will not scare me off. Join me for a personal project deep-dive that touches on game coding, hardware design, survival horror mechanics, emergent narrative, 3D printing, ‘cassette futurism’ and movie set UI. This is a story of actually finishing a project, building weird things for the love of the process, and the need for creative curiosity now more than ever.
Neil McCallion
Neil McCallion is a Staff Software Engineer at Rapid7, a long-tenured browser-based developer, engineering manager, and occasional community speaker. Neil likes to promote the more creative and experimental side of the Web, from audio-visual art and learning aids to game dev and beyond, while also pushing for better performance, accessibility and inclusion on the platform. Will 'do things' for cake.