Lemmings is renowned as one of the UK’s first global blockbusters, topping 55,000 copies on its first day, going onto pull in over 15 million sales. The game is also heralded as being the predecessor of the modern real-time strategy (RTS) video game genre, for introducing the ‘indirect-control’ concept, an element now common in many RTS games.
The basic objective of the game is to rescue the Lemmings across 120 levels of fast-paced puzzling. These loveable creatures walk blindly through the world in the hope of reaching safety at the end of the level, which unfortunately include steep drops, gaps in the ground, barriers and rivers amongst other hazards.
Published by Psygnosis, Lemmings was originally developed for the Commodore Amiga and due to its huge popularity became available on a staggering 28 systems including Atari Lynx and ST, Nintendo’s NES, Game Boy, PlayStation 2 and 3 and Windows Mobile.
Considered a gaming classic, Lemmings repeatedly makes it into many of the industry’s ‘Best games of all time’ shortlists.
Dave Jones comments: “Lemmings is one of those few games whose design has stood the test of time, and with versions being released on new generations of hardware, it continues to be enjoyed by players of all ages everywhere.
Gary Timmons, co-designer and animator of Lemmings, comments: “Initially I just wanted to get the original team together again to mark the 20th anniversary of the launch of Lemmings on 14th February 1991. However, as the game is so significant to the computer games industry in Dundee, the idea snowballed into a wider set of events including talks, exhibition of Lemmings items and a commemorative ceremony to mark the location of DMA Design's first offices in the Nethergate, where it all started.”
Games fans can still play the PC Windows version of Lemmings as well as the recently released versions for PSP and PS3.
The event comes on the back of this week’s launch of a new report on Scotland's games industry, which gives "compelling arguments for tax relief" after a Labour government proposal for a games industry tax break was cancelled by the coalition government in June 2010.
The report cited the fact that the sector operated in an uneven international playing field, disadvantaged by subsidies from governments overseas, notably France and Canada, and cheaper labour markets elsewhere.
Video games development is currently worth about £30m to the Scottish economy although the market is thought to be worth more than £55bn worldwide. Dundee, which plays a key part in the sector, is home to about 15 design companies.