Michael Todd

In 2011, Michael Todd gave a lecture during the Independent Game Summit of the Game Developers Conference titled "Turning Depression into Inspiration". In the talk, Todd discussed his own decade-long battle with depression, and the coping mechanisms he had devised to funnel his emotions into his creative work. In 2013, as Todd was putting the final touches on Electronic Super Joy, he gave an interview to Polygon about his process of developing games through depression.

He eventually moved back in Toronto following a soul-searching trip to Africa. As a video game developer, Todd is primarily self-taught, and has been creating games with various levels of success since he was 13 years old, and has been developing games as his professional, full-time occupation since age 17. His first financially successful commercial title is Engine of War in 2009.

Michael Todd (born 1989) is a Canadian independent video game programmer and designer. He is an active member of the Toronto video game developer community, and an advocate for mental health awareness within the profession.

Todd was born in 1987 in Toronto, and was home schooled as his family followed his father, a Reverend with the Anglican church. He is the brother to four siblings, three of whom are adopted from various countries, including Ethiopia and China. Todd moved with his family to the Northwest Territories, through Europe, and then to Halifax, Nova Scotia.