The abridged History of MindRec.

MindRec was born in 1997, shortly after it was announced that .rec was going to become a new Top Level Domain. The idea was that Mind.rec would be a site that blurred the line between recreation for the mind (games and music) and the obvious pun of a wrecked mind. The name was kept private to dissuade any potential cybersquatters from trying to get the mind.rec domain first.

In 1998, ICANN officially abandonded the .rec TLD, Mind.rec became MindRec, and ultimately the online entity of MindRec.com. The Domain was register in late 1998, and the initial online offerings were minimal.

In 1999 MindRec released a series of audio files. Although they were not "an album" of songs by any means, some of them did eventually show up on later MindRec gaming efforts.

After the audio files were released, MindRec focused its energies on development for the PCEngine system. In order to help fund this development, small development projects (mainly web based) were accepted.

Between 2000 and 2002, MindRec release a number of PCE games & demos (Orbit, Crash, and lots of unnamed ones). Most of these are either available for download from the MindRec.com site, or of such little interest that they have long been forgotten

In late 2002, MindRec released Implode -- the first new SCD for the PCEngine and TurboDuo systems in over 5 years.

Two years later in 2004, the next PCE Game from MindRec: Meteor Blaster DX is released. Due to changes in the CD Mastering software, getting the CD officially pressed was not an option, so all copies were released on printed CD-Rs.

2006: A special version of Meteor Blaster (the Signature Edition) is released. With these units, the final stock of MB is sold to the public

In 2008 - MindRec released its first mobile game (Hextic), and started working on a larger PCE effort called Xymati,this efforts turned out to be too much for the limited capacity of the PCE, so development was moved to windows. The entire first stage of Xymati is compelted using MSL (MindRec Scripting Language), a high level language that allows stages to be scripted like movies; all the parts are there, but a lack of graphics beyond level 1 dooms Xymati.

In 2010, CD pressing is again possible, so Meteor Blaster DX is re-released as a pressed SCD.

Shortly after MB is releaeased, Development on Hypernova Blast begins. HNB is ultimately released in 2014. Unfortunately, a hard drive crash shortly after the CDs are sent to the pressing plant means a loss of all the last 1-2 weeks of code; the pressed CDs do have this compiled code, but the source code is gone, including all traces of the bonus game Rocket Squirrel.

2017: a demo of "Boat Game" is created. This will ultimately morph into Wave of Thunder, but shortly after the demo is made, life gets in the way of any further development for the time being.

2019: Two more proof of concept games are created; Slope Dope, a quirky skiing game; as well as another game that went through several names changes (F*** Bombs, Major Deminer), before settling on Vax. Both of these titles would not move beyond the proof of concept stage for two more years.

2021: the 2017 and 2019 demos are all exhumed and given new life. Boat Game is renamed to Wave of Thunder; Vax is given a story and an external artist is hired to create the NN9 character for the game. Lots of enhancements are added, along with a six week development session that became Zar's Ultion. By the end of the year, most of the game features, sound effects, CD soundtracks (etc) are implemented and going through intense beta testing. It is also decided to include a second SCD in the Vax packaging, Implode Remastered to help celebrate its 20th anniversary of MindRec's initial release.

2022: Further polishing and testing, several artists are commissioned to create packaging artwork for the release. Finally, the game is released (8 Sept, 2022), and now we begin work on "Vax: The Second Nightmare."

More to come ...