Oliver Joyce

Oliver Joyce is a game designer, programmer, animator, artist and musician from Whiskeybarrel Studios and is mainly known as the creator of the Swords and Sandals game series. He is considered a veteran of the Video Game industry, having created his own games for over 15 years. Oliver lives in Sydney (Australia) with his wife and 2 young sons, and hopes to keep making Swords and Sandals games for as long as he lives.

Biography[]

Early Developer Life[]

Oliver started his game dev journey as a child, making text adventure games in BASIC on his father's old PC (complete with 4 colour monochrome screen and no hard disk). His first 'official' game release was as a 12 year old, creating the text adventure Dark Dungeons II : The Tower of Bargle, a sequel to his friend Geoff Wicks' own game, Dark Dungeons I. The game was distributed via floppy disk to family and friends and though it did not gather the worldwide critical fame the duo hoped it would, it had set them upon their journey.

Graduating high school in 1995, Oliver worked in many jobs including butcher's boy, warehouse stock worker, computer salesman and CD-ROM multimedia designer before finally finding his niche as a professional game designer for a tiny web games business in 2005.

Swords and Sandals[]

As children, Oliver and another lifelong friend Gregory Bernard Wee created the mythical lands of Brandor as a setting for their Dungeons and Dragons adventures. Over the years, the maps, characters, heroes and villains grew in grandeur and size, and the world of Swords and Sandals was born.

The first Swords and Sandals was released on Newgrounds in 2006 and as the series grew in fame and popularity over the next seven years, Oliver would build numerous sequels and spinoffs, with Swords and Sandals V: Grail of Antares was to be the last game launched by the old company. Increasingly challenging development and creative clashes eventually saw Oliver's relationship with the old company fracture and he set out on his own.

Independent Developer of Whiskeybarrel[]

In 2013, Oliver founded Whiskeybarrel Studios and struck out as an indie dev. The early years were difficult, with his first game "You Are A Knight" being blocked from release and his other early independent games failing to make a splash on the app stores. Another planned game Everyone Gets Treasure would be abandoned, and his pirate adventure Ships and Scurvy faced long delays as he took up contracting work to pay the bills.

Partnership with eGames[]

In 2015 his fortunes would change as he teamed up with eGames.com, a New York based publisher who had acquired the rights to the Swords and Sandals games. Together they would breathe new life into his beloved Swords and Sandals series, remastering the classic games and building new sequels at a prolific rate. Since then, the franchise has been reborn and is now more successful than ever with over eight launched across various platforms. The games remain beloved and a touchstone for fans all over the world to the nostalgic days of Flash games and gladiators.

Creations[]

As well as authoring over a hundred Flash games over the years, the following are some of Oliver's most notable games and planned releases for the future.

2023[]

Swords and Sandals Constellation Mirror

2021[]

Swords and Sandals VI
Swords and Sandals GameBook Adventures I : The Tower of Bargle

2020[]

Swords and Sandals Crusader Redux

2019[]

2018[]

2017[]

2016[]

Swords and Sandals Medieval

2015[]

Dark Rolls

2014[]

2005 - 2013[]

Swords and Sandals I : Gladiator (2006)
Swords and Sandals II : Emperor's Reign (2007)
Swords and Sandals Crusader : (2008)
Swords and Sandals III : Gladiae Ultratus (2008)
Swords and Sandals IV : Tavern Quests (2009)
Swords and Sandals V : Grail of Antares (2011)
Swords and Sandals Mobile : (2011)
Diesel and Death
Death Row
Heroic Sports Football
Ghoul Academy
A Ghoul Academy Christmas
Yum Cha Showdown
Hearts Aloft
Get Off My Planet
Gross Out : Battle For Sludge Valley
Wolf N' Swine