I was involved in the Kingsway Amateur Computer Club from 1984 onwards, where the founding members of DMA Design met. I worked for DMA freelance from 1988 to 1991 and full time from then until 1997. Since then I've somehow managed to direct Britain's first ever Star Trek Fan Film (now a crowded field) and a few sequels, written a full-length original screenplay and a first draft of a novel. During the day I am mainly a programmer with an aerospace company.
Author's posts
Aug 14
Lemmings Post-Mortem
Mike Dailly’s talk at GDC in San Francisco, March 2019, where he talks about the development of Lemmings. I’m in the audience, giggling along with other ex-DMA staff. Many apologies to the guy sitting in front of us for making a noise. (But when Mike put up a picture of us, how could we not …
Mar 07
GDC 2019
I will be going to GDC 2019 in a week’s time, in a development I still find quite surprising. Mike Dailly will be giving an hour long talk deconstructing Lemmings*, and has spent the previous month agonizing (I assume) over writing the content. He tells me this will be his biggest audience ever and, in …
Feb 03
Babbling On
Feb 03
Play Expo Blackpool
I’ll be on stage at Play Expo Blackpool sometime on the 10th being interviewed by The Retro Hour Podcast guys! There I’m going to talk about what it was like to be part of DMA from the earliest days, about some lesser-known games and some personal highlights. At least that’s the theory. Content may vary …
Oct 25
GTA Begins!
It’s been 20 years since the release of the original Grand Theft Auto. Theoretically I’m currently writing a “complete” history of DMA Design, a task which gets trickier as the timeline progresses. More and more I wasn’t physically present, because how could I be in two buildings at once? But I wrote the internal newsletter …
Oct 06
Where Does the Time Go?
So it’s been over a year since the last post. Well it’s been a busy year, but possibly the most relevant part is that I’ve been helping CNN out with a documentary. It’s a series of short pieces about games history and one of them — of course — is about DMA Design. Specifically the …
Aug 03
Oh No!
I’ve been quiet lately. Not as many updates to the site as I’ve hoped. The reason for that, however, is that I’ve been busy writing a book: Oh No! The History of DMA Design. It’s still in the rough first draft stage, it won’t be finished anytime soon. But it’ll be as comprehensive a history …
Aug 03
A Short Video History of DMA Design
Please find enclosed a short history of DMA Design, courtesy of Nostalgia Nerd who put together the video. And which I complained about for not crediting anybody for some of the content. And which I then got my ass handed to me because the list of credits is extensive*. Just not in the video itself. …
Apr 16
Lemmings Tribes Pins
What amazing things I can find when rummaging around in the attic. I thought I had found all the DMA memorabilia, in boxes and scattered around everywhere, but apparently (and fortunately!) not. They were created, I believe, as promotional items for Lemmings 2: The Tribes. Of course there were twelve tribes in total and I’ve …
Jan 20
Newly Appeared Lemmings Graffiti
Sometime in the last week someone has taken the effort to paint an entire Lemmings level on a wall in Dundee, which as you know is the spiritual and literal and physical home of Lemmings. As is usual for this kind of thing, no-one knows who the artist is. And if they do then they …