The suspected gunman who attempted to storm the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton hotel allegedly identified himself as an “indie game developer” and released a video game on Steam.
31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, California, was arrested after police said he opened fire near a security checkpoint during the event at the Washington DC hotel on Saturday. U.S. President Donald Trump and his officials were the “likely” targets, acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche has said.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Allen registered a trademark in 2019 for Bohrdom, a video game he released on Steam on December 20, 2018. Bohrdom, whose Steam page is still live at the time of this article’s publication, is described as an “atomic fighting game.”
“This is technically a skill-based, non-violent asymmetrical fighting game loosely derived from a chemistry model that is itself loosely based on reality,” reads the description. “Alternatively, think of it as a hybrid of a bullet hell and a racing game, with the inclusion of self-propelled pinballs. If you love chemistry or physics, you’ll probably enjoy this. If you hate chemistry or physics… you’ll still probably enjoy this.”
On LinkedIn, Allen identified himself as a “game dev, engineer, scientist, teacher.” The ‘About’ section reads: “Mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, independent game developer by experience, teacher by birth.”
Under ‘Experience,’ Allen listed himself as a self-employed “indie game developer,” active from September 2018 to present, and based in San Gabriel, CA.
“Designed and built the C++-based video game Bohrdom™, including several custom musical pieces and over seven hundred and fifty custom graphics,” the entry reads. “Formulated and wrote Bohrdom’s advanced 2D elastic collision physics engine, including custom collision detection functions and the capability to accurately resolve rotational components of collisions.”
The LinkedIn page mentions a second game with the working name “First Law” as being in development, but this does not appear to have been released.
According to SteamDB, Bohrdom had a Steam concurrent peak player count of just one or two throughout its life, up until Sunday, April 26, when the concurrent peak hit 22 — still a tiny figure for any video game but obviously up following the shooting incident.
Meanwhile, Bohrdom itself is being review-bombed. According to Steam, Bohrdom had just two user reviews before Sunday, when it received 70 positive and 55 negative reviews. Most are troll reviews with very little playtime. The current ‘most helpful’ Steam review for Bohrdom reads: “when I’m in a ‘weirdest way to get publicity for my game’ competition and my opponent is this developer.”
The Steam Discussion page for Bohrdom is even busier, with scores of threads started over the last 24 hours. Most are filled with toxic commentary on current events.
Bohrdom was priced $2, but it looks like the ability to buy and download the game has been disabled. IGN has asked Steam for comment.
According to the BBC, Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for Washington, said the suspect faced two charges: using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon. He is expected to be formally charged on Monday in federal court.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
