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Legendary Dundee computer game Lemmings has celebrated its 30th birthday.
From a humble beginning the game by DMA Design would go on to to sell around 20 million copies worldwide and helped launch Dundee’s now-famous computer games industry.
Creators, gamers and Lemmings lovers have shared their favourite memories of the iconic platform adventure as it celebrated its 30th birthday.
Originally developed by DMA Design, which was originally based near Seabraes on Dundee’s Perth Road, Lemmings was published by Psygnosis for the Amiga in 1991 and later developed for a number of other platforms.
The game was programmed by Mike Dailly, Dave Jones and Russell Kay and was inspired by a simple animation that Dailly created while experimenting.
Speaking on the 30th anniversary he said: “One of my many favourite Lemmings moments was seeing a Lemming walk across a level for the first time in Russell Kay’s demo. That’s when I thought we all had something.
“My biggest surprise with the game is how loved the music has been. To me it’s always been functional, and slightly annoying. But to many, it’s the sound of their childhood. Never thought that would have happened…
“This game helped change my life, and brought me more joy over the many years than I could have possibly imagined.”
Despite the games success of the past three decades fellow original programmer Russell Kay still sometimes thinks it’s amazing the Lemmings game saw light at all.
“It was actually rejected by almost everyone we showed it to, to start off with,” said Russell, 51, a former pupil of Craigie High School who is now chief technology officer at Yo Yo Games in Dundee.
“It was 1990. I did the demo in 1989. But I was at my final year of university and I said ‘I’m not doing this until I’m finished university and I can spend enough time on this’.
© PA
“I can also remember going to the bank manager and saying ‘I make computer games I need a loan to buy an Amiga so I can actually write games for it’. He laughed me out. ‘You are going to play games all day not do anything with it!’
“Little did he know that’s exactly what I wanted it for – to make games…”
Since its release Lemmings has often been celebrated both in Dundee and further afield. In 2013 artist Alison Conway created bronze statues of three cute Lemmings which were erected just behind the old DMA Design offices on Perth Road.
Earlier this year Royal Mail also announced 12 new stamps celebrating British-designed gaming icons with Lemmings being transformed in to a first class stamp.
