After studying mathematics at Trinity College in Dublin, Cavanagh worked briefly as a market risk analyst before moving to focus on game development full-time in 2007. While he received some attention in the press for his "serious and arty" indie games, financially, things were not going well and Cavanagh was just about ready to throw in the towel when he released VVVVVV, which ended up a surprise hit, giving him the freedom to continue developing games.[2]
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, he gave away 1000 copies of three of his games for free in the hope it would "offer a distraction" to those in need of it.[3]
Many of his titles share a primitive, minimalist retro aesthetic.[4] He is credited as a programmer for Alphaland, a platform game by Jonas Kyratzes.[5]
Cavanagh has stated that he prefers the personal nature of independent game development, its smaller scale enabling the personality of the creator to shine through in the final product.[6]
Influences
Cavanagh cites the 1997 Japanese RPG Final Fantasy VII as his favorite game, crediting it as his inspiration for becoming a video game developer.[1] In 2009 Cavanagh named interactive fiction writer Adam Cadre as his favorite developer.[7]
Awards
Cavanagh's game VVVVVV won the 2010 IndieCade Festival in the category of "Fun/Compelling".[8]
In 2014, Cavanagh was named to Forbes' annual "30 Under 30" list in the Games category.[9]
In 2019, Cavanagh's game Dicey Dungeons won the 2019 IndieCade Grand Jury award.[10]
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