I'm a dude who likes programming! Games! I've got big plans for SmileBASIC! Half of which will probably never be released! YAYA!!!
—mystman12, SmileBASIC description
Micah's photo.
Micah James McGonigal (born: December 10, 1998 [age 27][1]) better known online as mystman12, MM12 or simply mystman, is the creator and sole developer of the Baldi's Basics series as well as the founder of Basically, Games!.
Micah is from Waynesboro, Virginia, USA. Nothing much is actually known about his personal life at the time, except that he has a dog, Gibby, a cat, Bubs, an older brother, Ethan, and a younger sister, Cady.
He created Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning as the part of the annual 2018 Meta Game Jam, which ended up taking 2nd place, with Farfalle OS just barely in 1st place. Micah's game was an instant hit, with YouTubers such as PewDiePie, Jacksepticeye, and Markiplier recording themselves playing it.
Micah also already made other games before the Baldi's Basics series, which were made for the Petit Computer.
Personality[]
Micah is a hardworking person who has a passion for making games. He can be somewhat comedic, one example being Baldi's Basics, which is supposed to be a nonsensical and funny game. Also, he likes memes, retro games and Nintendo games, which influence the creation of his games.
He wanted the sequel of Kirby Air Ride a lot, so he made a reaction video when it is announced in Nintendo Direct.[4] In this reaction video, he also talks about Deltarune.
Bubs, mystman12's cat.
mystman12 got a cat named Bubs according to the 31st Status Update. He did not have a plan to get any pet before he had one.[5]
According to the V1.3.2 changelog post in Baldi's Basics Classic, Dreams of Being, a game made by Iseeicy, is one of Micah's favorite Meta Game Jam entries. Iseeicy helped Micah fix the mouse issues.[6]
According to his description in Miiverse and Nintendo Life, pinball and game programming are his favorite hobbies.
On December 27, 2020, Micah announced in a Twitter/X post that he believed he had COVID-19. Due to this, development on Baldi's Basics Plus was halted until further notice.[7] On January 4, 2021, he had been recovered from it, so he is able to work on the game again.[8]
According to his YouTube channel, he has only beaten Baldi's Basics Classic once. This happened in a live stream, which can be watched here.
mystman12 once played Alex Basics in Biology and Zoology, a Baldi's Basics fan game, with JayskiBean.[11]
Social media[]
His username refers to Myst, a game that he likes. He first used the Webkinz account named "mystman10" to play the game, but the previous account did not work properly, so he made a new one where he used the current name.[12]
Micah has a Fandom account to post his own games for Petit Computer on Petit Computer Wiki.
The Baldi's Basics Wiki was mentioned again when he confirmed that the salad in a hot dog in Pick-Quick-Nic is not actually salad, but rather relish.[14]
mystman12 has a Discord account, which he used to join a server for the Anim8or community while the Anim8or Forums were down. However, he wound up not needing to use Discord because the Anim8or forums went back up right after he joined.[15]
mystman12 actually has a GameBanana account. One of the more notable things on his account was when he answered a question in regards to mods for Baldi's Basics Plus.[16]
The origin of mystman12's Bluesky banner is from Homestar Runner.
His Instagram account was previously "mystman1210". This account is now no longer available.[17]
The reason why his Instagram account's name is "mystman12basically" is because "mystman12" is already used by someone else, and there is no support for the username issue.[18]
mystman12's frightening face posted on August 23, 2021 in his Twitter/X.
mystman12 wearing sunglasses, posted in his Instagram.
mystman12 holding the game Sonic's Schoolhouse.
mystman12 meeting LS Mark and Veronica Gallardo for his appearance on "Meeting Halfway".
mystman12 in 2018.
Old profile picture of mystman12's inactive YouTube channel Micah McGonigal.
Current profile picture of mystman12's inactive YouTube channel and mystman12's Linkedin account.
Ditto, but the upscaled version for mystman12's GitHub account.
mystman12 in 2025, wearing glasses.
mystman12's face edited as being "beaten up", as seen in one of the posts from mystman12's alternative account, "Out of Context Files on my Computer".[19]
mystman12's Instagram screenshot in his Twitter/X.
Dithered mystman12's old profile picture as a test poster and placeholder texture of broken window in V0.3.5.
mystman12's old photo from when he was younger, found in the game files of Baldi's Basics Plus.
Collapsed content may contain spoilers of the lore for the Baldi's Basics series.
mystman12's face in the empty box of a high quality render of the Baldi's Basics Classic pre-V1.4 You Can Think Pad, as seen in the thumbnail of the "No Seriously, How is Kirby Air Riders Real?" video.
Videos[]
Trying to beat Baldi's Basics for the first time! - Livestream Archive
"Some Baldi's Basics Plus 0.3 Playtesting Highlights!"
References[]
↑December 10th is my birthday. -Interviewing Baldi's Basics Creator Micah McGonigal (mystman12) 23:05
↑"Well, my first job was at Taco Bell, then I was a grocery bagger for a few years before the Kickstarter. That's it!" - mystman12. December 2, 2020. Twitter/X
↑"The year is 2097. I'm 99 years old," - mystman12. August 8, 2020. Twitter/X
↑"Heck, you could even throw Kirby Air Riders onto the pile of weirdness lol (In case you didn't know, I have wanted a sequel to the original game for a long, long time). The fact that it exists has no bearing on anything other than the fact I'll probably end up sinking hundreds of hours into it once it releases and that I can finally stop making jokes about how badly I want a sequel (That's going to be hard to get used to)!" - Status Update #31: Baldi's Basics Plus is reaching a turning point!
↑"...And then I got a cat. Or rather, a cat got me haha. I was not planning on getting a pet any time soon, but out of nowhere a strange set of circumstances occurred which left me with a cat. I named him Bubs and he is a wonderful cat!" - Status Update #31: Baldi's Basics Plus is reaching a turning point!
↑"Thanks to help from a fellow game developer, Iseeicy (Go check out his game Dreams of Being, one of my favorite Meta Game Jam entries:)" - 1.3.2 Update Changelog - Mouse issues fixed!
↑"So I was going to continue my challenge today after taking a Christmas break, but I'm pretty sure I now have COVID-19. So I'm going to wait until I get better before returning to my normal schedule. In hindsight December wasn't a great month to try and do the daily schedule challenge, what with holidays and a bunch of other stuff that was going on, so I'll be continuing into January once I'm better. Which hopefully won't take long, I already feel a bit better than I did yesterday I think." - mystman12. December 27, 2020. Twitter/X
↑"Starting day 13 of my work challenge which now extends into January! I've pretty much completely recovered from COVID-19 at this point (Just waiting to get my sense of smell back) so I'm ready to work again!" - mystman12. January 4, 2021. Twitter/X
↑"To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the release of Revenge of the Crazy Baby, I wanted to release Revenge of the Crazy Baby HD! I never got around to making Revenge of the Crazy Baby HD though, so instead I'm releasing, for the first time, the first game in the series: The Crazy Baby!
↑"I like Myst, and needed a name for my Webkinz account like 12 years ago. I went with mystman10. My account wouldn't work properly though so I ended up making a new one with the name mystman12." - mystman12. August 22, 2019. Twitter/X
↑"The voice lines are all available on the Baldi's Basics wikia I believe." - mystman12's Kickstarter comment
↑"Look normally I let fans handle the Baldi's Basics Wiki even if some things are incorrect, but I can't just let this one slide - That's relish. Chopped up pickles. Dill, specifically. Who the heck puts salad on a hotdog?!" - mystman12, September 13, 2024. Twitter/X
↑Q: "@mystman12 did you join the anim8or discord, is this the real you" / A: "Yes that's me! I joined because the forum was down and I wanted to ask a question, but I didn't end up needing to use the Discord because the forum ending up coming back up right after I joined." - mystman12. October 24, 2023. Twitter/X
↑"Yes, Baldi's Basics Plus mods are allowed, but only the files and modifications you create may be distributed. I will send take-down notices to any mods that are just re-uploads of the entire game." - GameBanana
↑Q: "Do you have an Instagram?" / A: "Yeah, it's mystman1210 ... I don't use it, though." - mystman12. Twitter DM
↑"Also if you go searching for it I'm "mystman12basically" because someone stole my username and Instagram support is non-existent so I haven't been able to get "mystman12"." - mystman12. November 17, 2022. Twitter/X
![mystman12's face edited as being "beaten up", as seen in one of the posts from mystman12's alternative account, "Out of Context Files on my Computer".[19]](/wiki/File:Beaten_up_mystman.jpg "Beaten up mystman.jpg (191 KB)")
