My name is Doug. I am 51 years old and probably closer to being a father to most of you. :P Even though I might be the oldest in this community, I certainly have a heart of youth...as gaming continues to be a focus of my entertainment all the way back to around 9 or 10 years old.

Something that is not openly talked about, by others who have aliases, is the fact of how names are taken on for an identity. I took on the name of NYMX during my college years (1991-1995). What 99.9% of people don't know, is that my alias before NYMX was SDA, which I took on during my early high-school years. So, how did I come up with NYMX? I was heavily involved with the Valdosta State University Jazz band, where I played a variety of saxophone positions for their Big Band. During my time with them, a guy by the name of E.J. presented a piece of music, during his senior recital, that he wrote called Nemx. I thought the name had flare and decided to take it up a level by removing the common vowel and replacing it with the non-commonly used "Y". This occurred in April 1994, shortly after Super Metroid was release. I find it strangely coincidental that I would become known by this name so closely to the release of one of my top favorites of all time.

Because of my uncle, I was able to start my computer journey in the year 1984...when I was given a Commodore Vic-20. This turned my world upside down and I never quit since then. Additionally, he started me on a subscription of the famous Compute's Gazette!, where I waited each month for the magazine to be delivered to my mailbox. It was exciting to crack open that magazine and run back to my computer to type in games and learn new coding tricks. I eventually talked my parents into purchasing a Commodore 64, and finally a C128. Afterwards...my PC usage started, where I eventually ran across a new concept that blew me away. In 1997, I found an emulator for the Commodore 64 and couldn't contain myself. Over the next few years, I saw more and more emulators come into existence. Finally, I accidentally found out about TAS Videos late 2013, when looking up records for anybody speed-running Super Metroid. I was shocked to think that anybody could play so well, only to find out that it wasn't a person playing, but a script. My background in computing helped me to get started, especially when examining game code in ML/ASM to see what was going on underneath. My excitement increased when I found out that you can automate functions by using the embedded features for the lua environment.

Even though my first game choice never made a publication, I speak often about the experiences that my failed Super Metroid submissions gave me to tackle other games with high aggression. After having a run of successful submissions, I have sought out more aggression by including automation in my TASing. So basically, I have become a BOTer.

I absolutely love a good puzzle, whether it is something physical like a Magic Cube, or coming up with an algorithm to automate a process...like BOTing. TASing has become one of my hobbies where it has completely satisfied my cravings for puzzle solving.

As it currently stands, I have now have five games that have been BOTed. Below is a list of them in order of BOT effort (First one is the heaviest)

So my push for future work will always be to automate inputs for the highest level of optimization possible.

I am currently working on a number of TASes in secret, but still will TAS some manually. This leaves my choice for TASing a game to be based on one of the following considerations below:

At the moment, I have two games that are being heavily BOTed and showing extreme optimization. It appears to be coming to an end for one, and should be ready by the end of 2022. As for the other, possibly 2 more years.

As for any manual TASing, I have around 10 games that I chip away at from time to time. Maybe soon, they will be ready.