MugginsVR is currently the home of a solo indie game developer, David Barlia—that’s me! If at any time the word “we” is used on this website, that would be the royal “we” because there is in fact, only “me”.
Who is David Barlia?
When I was eleven years old, my father decided to build a computer. This was well before the emergence of personal computers, Windows or Macs. It had 48K of memory, later updated to a whopping 64K—not gigabytes or even megabytes, but kilobytes. Back then a terabyte was unimaginable. Programs were saved on audio cassettes that, if you played them to listen to would sound like you’d called a fax machine. The computer’s screen was black and white, and the only graphics were simple and blocky. My father taught me how to program in the language BASIC, which I used to invent little games. But really, the puzzle of making a game was the best game of all.
In my late teens and early twenties, my interests expanded to different horizons—I wanted to be a filmmaker. Without today’s internet and the ubiquitous availability of high-quality digital cameras and editing software, that was a very different challenge back then. But I did manage to make several short films, some of which made it into short film festivals, and some which won prizes. Making a profession of it, however, remained a nut I couldn’t seem to crack.
I started making animations with Flash and was commissioned by Animal Aid UK to make two animations to further their cause. I found professional work making websites with Flash. I realized I could be making games with Flash, right around the time HTML5 came along as the new standard for web construction, and I pivoted into the world of games. Eventually it was clear that Flash’s days were numbered, and I moved on to Unity. About five years later the Oculus Rift was born, and that’s when things got really interesting.
Over the years, I’ve worked at some amazing companies on a madly diverse array of game projects, like Blade Runner 2049: Memory Lab and Mission:ISS. I created a VR experience for the United States Air Force that places you at the back of an in-flight refueling plane, connecting with jet planes above the clouds–you might have played that yourself at a local air show. There was an online funhouse for DC Comics’ annual FanDome, the year Covid forced that event to go virtual. Another VR game put you inside a submarine, shrunken down and injected into the bloodstream of a patient with Von Willebrand’s disease, to deliver cutting-edge medication. So I guess you could say I’m something of a veteran of VR game making. It was high time I made a full game of my own.
When the pandemic arrived in early 2020, my co-workers and I switched to working from home. That gave me a couple of hours a day that otherwise would have been spent commuting to the office. Which gave me the chance to spend time on personal projects—one of which would become Banjax!
Where did the name
“BANJAX” come from?
Originally I was going to call it “Shattered”. It’s a dramatic, one-word title. Sounds crisp. …Turns out I wasn’t alone in that view, as I found several other games already using the same name. There’s an impressive Mixed Reality horror game with that title on the Quest store. Very very briefly I tried out: “Shattered Discus” but the suggestion of a terrible spinal injury made that …unappealing. Outside of Ireland the word “Banjax” isn’t very well known. It’s Irish slang for damage, wreck, or even shatter. I think it’s got a cool sound to it. Plus, it’s got an X in it, which is just inherently cool (except when obnoxious billionaires take over social media.)
…and “MUGGINS”
What’s that supposed to mean?
When we’re not in VR, my wife and I like to play the old-fashioned card game, Cribbage. There’s a funny rule in Cribbage, where you’ve got to count up all your points each round; if the other player spots some points you’ve missed, they can shout “Muggins!” and claim those points for themselves. The word comes from around the 19th century and basically means, “Fool!” I like the idea that VR tricks you into believing in a fictional reality, making a muggins out of you!