Blitz Games: Then and Now
History
Blitz Games: The History.
It all started in 1980. Two young boys, unknown of their future, were introduced to the Apple lle computer system.
And they haven’t looked back.
Form the early age of 12, English born Phillip and Andrew Oliver have lived off the vibes of computer games. Through nearly 20 years in the computer industry, the brothers have worked on over 50 games, on all the platforms that you can imagine.
Early programming on the Sinclair Spectrum (mainly for the fun of gaming) led to their first published title, Black Box and Gambit on the BBC Model B format (published by Acornsoft).
By 1985, the brothers had worked on another 10 titles, for both the BBC and the Amstrad CPC. They had also graduated from Clarendon School in Trowbridge, and were ready to go out into the big, wide world:" During the summer of 1985 we put together a business plan and convinced our parents that we would take one year out before going to university. We thought that if we were successful enough during that time we could pursue our burning ambition to write computer games for a living."
And then came the big break. During the ECTS show of ‘85, the twins met up with David & Richard Darling, who were at the show to promote their new company, Codemasters. Impressed by the Twins talents, they started work on a joint project titled Super Robin Hood for the Amstrad CPC. The game was a big success (and later was published for the Commodore 64 and Nintendo Entertainment System [NES])
Of course, the only way was up, and the twins became regulars around the Codemasters office, adding another 28 titles to their name. One of those games, called Dizzy, introduced the world to a small, egg like character, who would become the main attraction at Codemasters for many years: "We sold this as "The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure". The name came from his main attribute which was rolling, and therefore he would always be dizzy. Why an egg? Because he was easy to draw!"
Dizzy would eventually become a household name in England, and another 10 Dizzy games were made, each improving in some way over the last.
Entering the nineties, titles such as Firehawk, the continuing adventures of Dizzy and the return of Robin Hood continued the Twins success. However, new technology (including faster PC formats, the portable Game Boy and early 3D machines) also opened up new opportunities, leaving Codemasters behind in its wake. It was time for the Twins to leave: "We were getting desperate and by now we were having difficulty paying staff, some of them left and we were living off our wives’ incomes. We felt that the time had come to break away from Codemasters and go it alone."
So the Olivers put together their own company from scratch, calling it Interactive Studios. Cards and profiles were made for the CES trade show in Los Angeles, and a meeting with Jacqui Lyons, industry agent from Marjacq, got things going. As impressed as Codemasters were all those years before, Jacqui represented the company, and landed a deal with Probe, who were very close to publishers Acclaim.
At first, Interactive’s main line of work was translations, ranging from Judge Dredd on the 8-bit Sega Master System to Theme Park for Sega Mega CD. This trend lasted for some time, until Argonaut and Data East asked for help in translating Creature Shock from PC to Sony’s new Playstation and Sega’s Saturn consoles. This would break the twins into the next generation market for the first time, and although the game was only released in Japan, the experience was well worth it.
Just a few months later, publisher BMG gave the go ahead for Interactive Studios first original game, Firo & Klawd. This combination of Isometric platform action and first person shooter was released for PC and playstation, and had some success. MGM handed Interactive the contract to develop a title based on the 80’s cult film, WarGames. And Glover, a unique platform title, was released for the N64. It was these three games that put Interactive Studios into elite company.
And now we jump to the present day. The company’s name has been changed to Blitz Games, which now has over 90 employees, all fully committed to high quality titles no matter what the platform. New contracts include Action Man, The Little Mermaid 2, and the highly acclaimed claymation movie, Chicken Run. "It’s been a rough, roller-coaster ride to get Blitz Games to the position it’s in today but although we’ve had low points it’s still been great fun and we’re still just as excited about creating great games as we’ve ever been."
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