I moved from Valdosta GA (about 3 hours from Savannah), and I didn't have much to do. Girlfriend and best friends were 3 hours away. I've done a little game programming, and I knew it was a great hobby. I didn't feel like creating an engine of my own (quite busy with new job), so I went to gamehippo.com and looked through their game development tools section. I looked at several and did a little research and BAM Game Maker was the best for what I wanted to do.

Qbasic - made a tile based rouge like RPG with level editor (lost to the world), and a couple of action game engines
C++ and the Allegra Libraries - made a simple top down engine with box collision
TCL - started on a simple chat battle game for a friends chat program - didn't get very far

All games have their own sections on darthlupi.com either under games or projects.

Finished games:

Mage Craft
SpoonPage
MoonHunter

Projects:

Unnamed Glider Game
Stranded

RunMan Unlimited - CoolMoose Productions
seiklus - clysm
Wally - messhof
Sexy Hands 2 - Jazzuo
Bounty Hunter - Shawn 64

Console:

Bionic Commando - NES
Crystalis - NES
Gaurdian Heros - Sega Saturn

PC:

Sacrifice - by Shiny
Cossacks

Try to use that great imagination of yours. Make those crazy monsters that have been lurking inside you head since you were knee high to a grasshopper.

Draw your sprites. Sure you may suck now, but practice makes perfect. I imagine that no one feels completely satisfied with their game when it has someone else's imagination running around in it.

Take your time. I know how easy it is to get super excited about a project and rush it just to get it out to the world. If you are unhappy with results of an explosion fix it. If you see a minor bug that kinda bugs you squash it. If you consider how many times you played your game and finally got used to the error/imperfection then think what some one who plays it for the first time will think. Don't release it until you know it is finished.

Understand your limits. It is fine to try to make a great game. Understand what you can and can't do. If you have no understanding of networking then don't make an huge network game. Make a small one. Don't try to tackle huge projects alone that will never get finished. They will just make you frustrated in the end.

Gameplay and polish -

The game could have the simplest graphics in the world, but the controls could so intuitive that an 3 year old or and old man could pick it up and at least beat the first level. This makes a game great. If the character can do so many different cool little moves at the press of a couple of buttons then that just wows me.

I love it in a game when a game surprises me with the amount of detail and attention. I love it when there are extra added little treats to a game that have nothing to do with the main objective. I love it when the menu system and intro have me excited to see what is next. I love being surprised by someone's level of detail and love they put into a game.

Who wants to play someone's half finished game?

Why do I make video games? Why is the sky blue? Kidding... ummm..... I guess because I was always slightly peeved at kids in the neighborhood who wouldn't play fair. You know, playing army men and they always win? Pretending to be ninjas and nothing hurts them.

I guess it is a way to unleash my imagination and create my own rules that people HAVE to follow. I can put my crazy little stories into action too.

Nothing more exciting than creating your own little worlds/

I like to carve wood and soap stone, and I play the harmonica. I do a little sketching too. No you can't hear/see any of it cause I'm not that good at either :)

Thanks for creating this great listing of GM authors, and thanks for adding me to it. It is an honor.