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, Cavanagh faced significant financial difficulties in his early career. He was reportedly close to abandoning game development when
VVVVVV (released in 2010) became an unexpected success, providing him with the financial means to continue developing games. 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. Many of his titles share a primitive, minimalist retro aesthetic. He is credited as a programmer for
Alphaland, a platform game by
Jonas Kyratzes. 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. ==Influences==