This is me on the walk of fame in LA

Hi. My name is Neil Millstone, and I'm 22. I love films, and go to the cinema often. It's very difficulty to pick favourite films, but ones I've liked are Contact, The Green Mile, Forbidden Planet, Cube, and practically everything sci-fi! I also enjoy reading, and am a great Douglas Adams fan. I've also been reading a lot of Nick Hornby recently too.

I grew up in a small dull town called Potters Bar which lies just north of London, a town full of nuclear families with 2.4 children. I wasn't very outgoing as a kid, and didn't a great time at school. I spent much of my time at home playing video games and reading novels.

By the age of 16 I was making my own games for the PC, some of which you can find in the downloads section of this site. I enjoy the challenge of programming, and also the pleasure of entertaining people. Having people appreciate and enjoy something you have created is one of the greatest pleasures you can have, and in 1998 one of my games, Marble Crazy, which I was giving away for free on the internet, became a minor hit and now has been downloaded by over 200,000 people worldwide, one of my proudest moments.

In 2001 Potters Bar grew up by becoming home to the one major indication of an advanced civilization, a McDonalds resturaunt, then in 2002 the town was catapulted into the media spotlight by a train crash. Apart from that, there is nothing at all interesting about Potters Bar, which is why when the time came do decide what I was to do with my life, I decided to leave and become a student at Manchester University, which has an excellent Computing department. There I spent three happy years getting a degree in Computer Science, where I made many like-minded friends!

I have a great interest in film, and while studying, I was involved in The Manchester University Film Society, where I learned about the evocotive world of gaffer tape and celluloid. One highlight was watching a copy of Lost in Space burst in to flames while being projected, which will be pleasing to those of you who have actually seen the film. Three years and a very small amount of work later, I had a laminated piece of paper printed in gold leaf with my name on it. Three years work... for a piece of paper?

Soon after leaving university I decided that I would spend all the money I didn't have on a trip round the world. I planned my trip, and travelled to Hong Kong, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and New York, all on my own. I met some fascinating people and saw things I never image I'd never see... It was a great adventure, and an amazing experience. You can read more about my trip and see some pictures of it in the Travelogue section of this site.

Anyway, after I had my degree I was meant to be prepared to enter the wide world of work. A place of besuited people working nine to five in tall office buildings with executive toys on their desks. I wanted to avoid this fate worse than death, so I looked for work doing what I've always wanted to do since I was a kid -- make video games. Before long, I was working for Software Creations as a programmer. In the seven months I worked there I developed sound and music technology which was used accross all their products on the Game Boy Advance. I also did work on the terminally dull Baseball game All-Star Baseball 2003 and also Ripping Friends.

However, the company had been making a loss for some time, and in early May 2002, all the staff were called downstairs and it was announced that the company was going into liquidation. They didn't even pay our salaries. However, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as one of the bosses, a veteran in the games industry, decided to form a start-up company to complete the project I was working on. About a week after the demise of Creations, we had hired an office, and were continuing work on our game, under the new name of Realism Studios.

When I'm online, I use icq. My icq number is 3276705. Say hello when I'm about, I'll talk to anyone!