Drawing on his experience as a locomotive engineer, journalist and punk rock documentarian, Joel started sfpg in 1981 because it seemed like a good idea at the time. A mystical vision at a trade show in 1986 resulted in the addition of computer-generated special effects to the video thing.

Joel has written, co-designed and programmed a number of CD-ROM adventure games. He is currently making animated videos about Greek mythology and creating content for his web sites: mythweb, mesoweb and cultures.