Making games by hand since 2001
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Digital Eel is a self/community-funded game development group based in the Seattle Washington area.


Iikka Keränen (game design, art, coding) works for Valve Software as level designer. Early on, Iikka programmed several freeware games for the Commodore Amiga and he released the popular Airquake mod as well as over a hundred free add-on levels for Doom and Quake. In recent years he has created 3D architecture and textures for many well known computer games: Thief 2, Alice, Day of Defeat, Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, the Left4Dead series and Portal 2.


Rich Carlson (music & sfx, game design, art) was a musician in Minnesota before becoming involved with the game industry. Primarily a keyboardist, he did studio work and performed in bands for over twenty years. Always an avid gamer, Rich was gradually lured away from music during the golden age of gaming in the 80's when he began to tinker with boardgames and rpg's with his friends. Later, he created 35+ Heretic, Doom and Quake levels for free internet distribution, a hobby that eventually led to designing 3D level architecture for Ion Storm, Looking Glass Studios and other doomed game companies.


Henry Kropf (coding, Mac expert) has been programming professionally for almost 20 years, starting at Vicarious Visions in 1996. While there he worked on a number of PC and PS1 projects including the hardcore space-sim, Terminus. Since then Henry has worked on a number of projects and ports, most recently as the sole programmer of the fantasy word game SpellBounders.



Curiously, Phosphorous (illustrative art, game design, sound design) prefers to be anomalous, claiming to be a transubstantial psychic force. When asked about his role as a Digital Eel collaborator, he refused to comment stating that it was the wrong question. It is speculated that Phosphorous is a versatile game industry artist who lives a mysterious double life, and while appearing to reside at Toad Hall, he likely exists within a pocket universe of his own devising.

After over ten years of providing mirth, fellowship, great ideas, out-of-this-world music and award winning, surreal, underground comic book tinged art as only he could make it, Digital Eel co-conspirator and close friend Bill "Phosphorous" Sears passed away in January, 2012, of heart-related troubles. He is greatly missed by all. Please visit Bill's memorial site here and Digital Eel's tribute to Bill on Facebook.


Ed Zavada was Digital Eel's resident Mac coder for many years until he disappeared into the wilderness one day. Ed was a founder of Pixel Dust Games and, previously, he worked on cool stuff like Air Warrior and The Sims Online, as well as his own ongoing game project, Galactica: Anno Dominari. It is said that Ed once worked as a jackalope rancher in Upper Volta. These days he may or may not live in Charlottesville, Virginia, which was recently nominated Hub of the Universe by some guy.



Anyone else you need to know about? Absolutely! The Fearless Testers, chief among them, Kevin Matheny, John Slade, and James Sterrett, as well as James Cook, Greg Costikyan, Chris Cummings, Bob Dalgliesh, James Ernest, Thomas & Zoe Flint, Bruce Ladewig, Chris Laskowski, Duncan McPherson, Deanna Molinaro, Joe Pallai, Jim Price, Richard Rouse III, Amy Schrader, Colton Sears, Corbin Sears, Chris Siegel, Brian Uhrig and Thom Wetzel, all of whom have helped to make sure every Digital Eel game is as spiffy and bug free as can be!



Digital Eel founders: Bill "Phosphorus" Sears, Iikka Keränen & Rich Carlson


Founded on July 17, 2001