Greetings

I'm Brian Vaughn, a hobby game developer, career web guy, parent, a sometimes maker, retro gamer, pro wrestling lifer, plus cartoons & toys.

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• @morningtoast on Bluesky

PICO-8 Games

My games are made in PICO-8, a fantasy console for making, sharing and playing tiny games and other computer programs.

Many of my games have been included or featured in Retro Gamer magazine over the years. I was even interviewed in Retro Gamer issue #268 in 2025 about my work with PICO-8. Read the interview (PDF)

You can find all my games on Itch.io profile but I highly recommend checking out some of my greatest hits...

• Don't Dig Up the Dead - My most successful release, it's a horror shmup adventure. Can you find all the relics and defeat evil?
• Alien: Harvest - As a lifelong fan of the Alien franchise, this is my contribution to the universe. Dylan Burke is finishing the job his father failed to complete on LV-426. He must be stopped. Explore planets and collect alien eggs before Burke can get to them.
• BuzzKill - One of my first games and still plays really well. Invaders from space are fine but what about the invaders that live in your own backyard? The mechanics really set this one apart.
• Steel Hunter - Expanding on a classic Atari 800 game, this hits my love for submarine and periscope themes. Short n' sweet but still good fun.

For more games, check out my Itch.io profile or jump on over to the PICO-8 website to see more of my contributions and join the fun.

More things I've done

• Redline Derby Racing - A community website I founded more than 15 years ago that helped create and support the diecast racing hobby. Yes, we race Hot Wheels and other toy cars...I know, sounds weird but it's a thing and it's been going strong for more than a decade.
• Tales from Counselor's Corner - I was fortunate enough to interview Nintendo Power employees about their time as Game Play Counselor's and the best job in the world - playing video games. This was a trip down memory lane at a time well before everything was up on Facebook or YouTube.