{{Short description|British video game programmer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}} {{Use British English|date=April 2018}}
The '''Revd. Michael Stuart Follin''' is a former video game programmer, working until the late 1990s. Among other companies, he worked at Software Creations and, while there, worked on ZX Spectrum. The titles included highly rated arcade conversions of ''Bubble Bobble''<ref>[http://www.crashonline.org.uk/45/bubble.htm CRASH 45 – Bubble Bobble<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and ''Ghouls 'n Ghosts'',<ref>[http://www.ysrnry.co.uk/articles/ghoulsandghosts.htm Ghouls And Ghosts<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721184302/http://www.ysrnry.co.uk/articles/ghoulsandghosts.htm |date=2015-07-21 }}</ref> as well as the innovative ''The Sentinel'',<ref>[http://www.crashonline.org.uk/40/sentinel.htm CRASH 40 – The Sentinel<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> one of the first games on the Spectrum with true 3D graphics. The music for these games was often written by his younger brother Tim Follin.
In ''CRASH'' issue 59, Follin cited ''Knight Lore'', ''Codename MAT'' and ''Pentagram'' as video game classics, with Jonathan Smith as his favorite programmer. Follin's Spectrum conversion of ''The Sentinel'' was considered by fellow programmers as one of the top five classic games on that platform.<ref>{{cite journal|date=December 1988 |title=Programmers on Programmers |journal=CRASH |issue=59 |url=http://www.crashonline.org.uk/59/progrmrs.htm |accessdate=2007-08-31 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130106170307/http://www.crashonline.org.uk/59/progrmrs.htm |archivedate=2013-01-06 }}</ref>
After sixteen years in the computer games industry, Follin left the industry to train as a priest in the Church of England.<ref>[http://www.worldofspectrum.org/zxspecticle/interviews3.htm ZX Specticle: Mike Follin, January 2001]</ref> He was subsequently ordained at Liverpool Cathedral,<ref>[https://www.angelfire.com/zine/baptistsurfer/ Baptist Surfer: Mike Follin]</ref> and as of 2010 is the vicar at St Peter's, a small Anglican church in Maghull, Merseyside.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.stpetermaghull.org/ |title=St Peter's, Maghull: Official Website |access-date=6 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901111111/http://www.stpetermaghull.org/ |archive-date=1 September 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He married his wife, Lynn Follin, in 1994.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20031207184239/http://www.follin.freeserve.co.uk/MikeHP/mikehp.htm Internet Archive: Mike Follin: Official Website]</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/mfollin/mikehp.htm personal home page] * [http://www.worldofspectrum.org/zxspecticle/interviews3.htm zxspecticle interview] * [http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,46020/ MobyGames rap sheet]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Follin, Mike}} Category:British computer programmers Category:Living people Category:British video game designers Category:Year of birth missing (living people)