Portfolio: InterDimension Software
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English
Two Jims
To tell the story of InterDimension Software is to tell the story of the ‘two Jims,’ level builder James Romanov and tech designer James Vandyke. They may have begun their game development careers in disparate ways, but once introduced, they became (and continue to be) an apparently unstoppable force for developing a string of massively successful releases, from the kid-friendly Admiral Cool to the highly realistic Star Marine.
Shy, quiet and difficult to approach, James Vandyke very much fits the classic stereotype of the spectrum game developer. Underneath his cold exterior, however, lies unquestionable brilliance: from his early childhood it was apparent that he had a natural empathy with machines, and a level of understanding that allowed him to make them sing. Vandyke naturally gravitated towards game development not only because he was as a player himself, but because the game industry tended to push hardware and logical systems to their extremes. Fueled by a genuine desire to further technology on all levels, Vandyke skipped a formal education in favor of a job offer to develop his own game technologies through indie-publisher Perigree Press.
Oakhurst & Perigree
Seemingly Vandyke’s polar opposite, Romanov was an outgoing young game designer brimming with such confidence that he quickly inspired a cadre of fans eager to follow his career personally. He was inspired to begin building his own games at a young age, designing his own stylized versions of popular titles for release on the Spectrum. At age twenty, with a host of simple mobiGlas games under his belt, he took his first formal job at the industry powerhouse Oakhurst Online. His first project was an aborted port of 3400 AD, followed by six months making dungeons, quests and monsters for Henry Garrity’s ULTIMATE III. Unfortunately, he was clashing with his bosses over creative direction to such a degree that, shortly before the release of ULTIMATE III, when Perigree approached him with an offer to be their Lead Designer, he quickly accepted.
And with that, lightning struck. Vandyke and Romanov, the cardinal introvert and the shameless self-promoter, struck up an unlikely friendship that lead directly to their first co-authored game, Admiral Cool versus the Karate Dogs from Mars, released by Perigree under a ‘try before you buy’ license, that helped make the pair household names. Bright, colorful and fun, Admiral Cool’s kid-friendly outlook belied outstanding technical achievements under the hood. As he has done with all projects since, Vandyke viewed the project as a technical challenge: how could he recreate the experience found in arcade machines and dedicated gaming rigs on the common mobiGlas? Turning to an encyclopedic knowledge of assembly language and machine logic, he created a stunning interface unlike anything else available for wearable systems at the time.
Two additional Admiral Cool games followed, including a final title, Admiral Cool in Vegetable Panic, created solely to fulfill a publishing contract. Romanov built the levels foreach game, turning colorful blocks, cartoon dogs, hamburgers, Opi-Ola bottles and glittering candies into an immersive, fast-paced world.
Upon seeing a demo of Original’s ULTIMATE spinoff series, ULTIMATE: Downbelow, Vandyke sought an even greater technical challenge for their next project: replicate and then surpass the total immersion interface being developed by high-end publishers, but in a faster-paced, action-oriented world that better suited the design aesthetics of Romanov and his growing team. This time around, Romanov opted to forgo the kid-friendly graphics that defined Admiral Cool, and instead turned to the gritty details of history: an action title based on the internecine warfare of the Messer era. The result was named Tiger3D, and the response was immediate. Players everywhere hailed the impossibly realistic environments, the sheer speed of movement allowed by the engine … and countless others focused on what they saw as a tasteless appropriation of history. While the gaming industry is no stranger to unwarranted protests, there’s some truth to the claim that the team at Perigree intentionally hit a nerve. From levels covered in totalitarian banners to the final episode in which the player must battle a titan-suited parody of Ivar Messer, the game’s design seemed intended to offend more delicate sensibilities.
InterDimension
Despite the outrage, Tiger 3D was a hit and catapulted the pair to the next level. In 2941, Romanov and Vandyke quietly exited Perigree and set up their own shop, founded on the idea of building out innovative technology and flavoring it with great game design. InterDimension Software sought to be a different kind of game creator, with a small-scale ethos that appealed to hardcore players around the Empire. Their first title, announced well in advance via Romanov’s over-stuffed personal Comm-Link updates, was Star Marine. Building on the technology premiered in Tiger 3D, Star Marine was intended as the most ultra-realistic ground combat simulator ever attempted. Building around carefully constructed maps of a Gold Horizon station, Star Marine was crafted from Day One to immerse the player in the very heart of an epic life-or-death struggle.
After a series of unexpected and much publicized delays, Star Marine premiered recently to great acclaim. Based in the present-day and featuring incredibly realistic design, Star Marine has become the “it game” of the year, with the response ranging from the creation of massive communities of competitive players and other fanatics to headlines about companies bemoaning the productivity lost to employees playing it on extended lunch breaks. It seems that nearly everyone in the universe has become a Star Marine. Asked at their launch event why they thought their latest title would be successful, Romanov, speaking for the pair, responded simply, “because it’s pretty damn fun.”
To tell the story of InterDimension Software is to tell the story of the ‘two Jims,’ level builder James Romanov and tech designer James Vandyke. They may have begun their game development careers in disparate ways, but once introduced, they became (and continue to be) an apparently unstoppable force for developing a string of massively successful releases, from the kid-friendly Admiral Cool to the highly realistic Star Marine.
Shy, quiet and difficult to approach, James Vandyke very much fits the classic stereotype of the spectrum game developer. Underneath his cold exterior, however, lies unquestionable brilliance: from his early childhood it was apparent that he had a natural empathy with machines, and a level of understanding that allowed him to make them sing. Vandyke naturally gravitated towards game development not only because he was as a player himself, but because the game industry tended to push hardware and logical systems to their extremes. Fueled by a genuine desire to further technology on all levels, Vandyke skipped a formal education in favor of a job offer to develop his own game technologies through indie-publisher Perigree Press.
Oakhurst & Perigree
Seemingly Vandyke’s polar opposite, Romanov was an outgoing young game designer brimming with such confidence that he quickly inspired a cadre of fans eager to follow his career personally. He was inspired to begin building his own games at a young age, designing his own stylized versions of popular titles for release on the Spectrum. At age twenty, with a host of simple mobiGlas games under his belt, he took his first formal job at the industry powerhouse Oakhurst Online. His first project was an aborted port of 3400 AD, followed by six months making dungeons, quests and monsters for Henry Garrity’s ULTIMATE III. Unfortunately, he was clashing with his bosses over creative direction to such a degree that, shortly before the release of ULTIMATE III, when Perigree approached him with an offer to be their Lead Designer, he quickly accepted.
And with that, lightning struck. Vandyke and Romanov, the cardinal introvert and the shameless self-promoter, struck up an unlikely friendship that lead directly to their first co-authored game, Admiral Cool versus the Karate Dogs from Mars, released by Perigree under a ‘try before you buy’ license, that helped make the pair household names. Bright, colorful and fun, Admiral Cool’s kid-friendly outlook belied outstanding technical achievements under the hood. As he has done with all projects since, Vandyke viewed the project as a technical challenge: how could he recreate the experience found in arcade machines and dedicated gaming rigs on the common mobiGlas? Turning to an encyclopedic knowledge of assembly language and machine logic, he created a stunning interface unlike anything else available for wearable systems at the time.
Two additional Admiral Cool games followed, including a final title, Admiral Cool in Vegetable Panic, created solely to fulfill a publishing contract. Romanov built the levels foreach game, turning colorful blocks, cartoon dogs, hamburgers, Opi-Ola bottles and glittering candies into an immersive, fast-paced world.
Upon seeing a demo of Original’s ULTIMATE spinoff series, ULTIMATE: Downbelow, Vandyke sought an even greater technical challenge for their next project: replicate and then surpass the total immersion interface being developed by high-end publishers, but in a faster-paced, action-oriented world that better suited the design aesthetics of Romanov and his growing team. This time around, Romanov opted to forgo the kid-friendly graphics that defined Admiral Cool, and instead turned to the gritty details of history: an action title based on the internecine warfare of the Messer era. The result was named Tiger3D, and the response was immediate. Players everywhere hailed the impossibly realistic environments, the sheer speed of movement allowed by the engine … and countless others focused on what they saw as a tasteless appropriation of history. While the gaming industry is no stranger to unwarranted protests, there’s some truth to the claim that the team at Perigree intentionally hit a nerve. From levels covered in totalitarian banners to the final episode in which the player must battle a titan-suited parody of Ivar Messer, the game’s design seemed intended to offend more delicate sensibilities.
InterDimension
Despite the outrage, Tiger 3D was a hit and catapulted the pair to the next level. In 2941, Romanov and Vandyke quietly exited Perigree and set up their own shop, founded on the idea of building out innovative technology and flavoring it with great game design. InterDimension Software sought to be a different kind of game creator, with a small-scale ethos that appealed to hardcore players around the Empire. Their first title, announced well in advance via Romanov’s over-stuffed personal Comm-Link updates, was Star Marine. Building on the technology premiered in Tiger 3D, Star Marine was intended as the most ultra-realistic ground combat simulator ever attempted. Building around carefully constructed maps of a Gold Horizon station, Star Marine was crafted from Day One to immerse the player in the very heart of an epic life-or-death struggle.
After a series of unexpected and much publicized delays, Star Marine premiered recently to great acclaim. Based in the present-day and featuring incredibly realistic design, Star Marine has become the “it game” of the year, with the response ranging from the creation of massive communities of competitive players and other fanatics to headlines about companies bemoaning the productivity lost to employees playing it on extended lunch breaks. It seems that nearly everyone in the universe has become a Star Marine. Asked at their launch event why they thought their latest title would be successful, Romanov, speaking for the pair, responded simply, “because it’s pretty damn fun.”
German
Zwei Jims
Die Geschichte von InterDimension Software zu erzählen bedeutet, die Geschichte der beiden Jims, des Level Builders James Romanov und des Tech Designers James Vandyke zu erzählen. Sie mögen ihre Karriere in der Spieleentwicklung auf unterschiedliche Weise begonnen haben, aber einmal eingeführt, wurden sie zu einer scheinbar unaufhaltsamen Kraft für die Entwicklung einer Reihe von massiv erfolgreichen Veröffentlichungen, von der kinderfreundlichen Admiral Cool bis zur hochrealistischen Star Marine.
Schüchtern, leise und schwer zugänglich, passt James Vandyke sehr gut zum klassischen Stereotyp des Spektrumsspielentwicklers. Unter seinem kalten Äußeren liegt jedoch unbestreitbare Brillanz: Schon in seiner frühen Kindheit zeigte sich, dass er ein natürliches Einfühlungsvermögen in Maschinen und ein Verständnisniveau hatte, das es ihm erlaubte, sie zum Singen zu bringen. Vandyke hat sich natürlich der Spieleentwicklung zugewandt, nicht nur weil er selbst ein Spieler war, sondern auch weil die Spieleindustrie dazu neigte, Hardware und logische Systeme auf die Spitze zu treiben. Getragen von dem echten Wunsch, die Technologie auf allen Ebenen weiterzuentwickeln, übersprang Vandyke eine formelle Ausbildung zugunsten eines Jobangebots, um seine eigenen Spieltechnologien über den Indie-Verlag Perigree Press zu entwickeln.
Oakhurst & Perigree
Anscheinend war Romanov Vandyke's polarer Gegenüber, ein scheidender junger Spieleautor, der so selbstbewusst war, dass er schnell eine Gruppe von Fans inspirierte, die seine Karriere persönlich verfolgen wollten. Er wurde inspiriert, schon in jungen Jahren mit dem Bau eigener Spiele zu beginnen und seine eigenen stilisierten Versionen beliebter Titel für die Veröffentlichung auf dem Spectrum zu entwerfen. Im Alter von zwanzig Jahren, mit einer Vielzahl von einfachen mobiGlas-Spielen im Gepäck, nahm er seinen ersten formalen Job beim Branchen-Kraftwerk Oakhurst Online an. Sein erstes Projekt war ein abgebrochener Hafen von 3400 n. Chr., gefolgt von sechs Monaten mit Dungeons, Quests und Monstern für Henry Garritys ULTIMATE III. Leider kollidierte er mit seinen Chefs über die kreative Richtung in einem solchen Maße, dass er kurz vor der Veröffentlichung von ULTIMATE III, als Perigree sich ihm mit einem Angebot, ihr Lead Designer zu werden, näherte, schnell akzeptierte.
Und damit schlug ein Blitz ein. Vandyke und Romanov, der kardinale Introvertierte und schamlose Selbstdarsteller, schlossen eine unwahrscheinliche Freundschaft, die direkt zu ihrem ersten Co-Autor-Spiel Admiral Cool gegen die Karate-Hunde vom Mars führte, das von Perigree unter einer Try before you buy"-Lizenz veröffentlicht wurde, die dazu beitrug, die beiden zu bekannten Namen zu machen. Hell, farbenfroh und unterhaltsam, Admiral Cool's kinderfreundliche Einstellung widersprach hervorragenden technischen Leistungen unter der Haube. Wie bei allen Projekten, die Vandyke seitdem durchgeführt hat, betrachtete er das Projekt als technische Herausforderung: Wie konnte er die Erfahrung von Arcade-Maschinen und dedizierten Gaming-Rigs auf dem gemeinsamen mobiGlas nachbilden? Er wandte sich einem enzyklopädischen Wissen über Assemblersprache und Maschinenlogik zu und schuf eine atemberaubende Benutzeroberfläche, die es bei tragbaren Systemen zu dieser Zeit noch nicht gab.
Zwei weitere Admiral Cool Spiele folgten, darunter der endgültige Titel Admiral Cool in Vegetable Panic, der ausschließlich zur Erfüllung eines Verlagsvertrages entwickelt wurde. Romanov baute die Levels für jedes Spiel und verwandelte bunte Blöcke, Cartoon-Hunde, Hamburger, Opi-Ola-Flaschen und glitzernde Süßigkeiten in eine immersive, rasante Welt.
Als Vandyke eine Demo der Original ULTIMATE Spinoff-Serie ULTIMATE: Downbelow sah, suchte er für sein nächstes Projekt eine noch größere technische Herausforderung: die von High-End-Verlagen entwickelte Immersionsoberfläche zu replizieren und dann zu übertreffen, aber in einer schnelleren, handlungsorientierten Welt, die besser zur Designästhetik von Romanov und seinem wachsenden Team passte. Romanov verzichtete diesmal auf die kinderfreundliche Grafik, die Admiral Cool definierte, und wandte sich stattdessen den körnigen Details der Geschichte zu: einem Aktionstitel, der auf der internen Kriegsführung der Messerzeit basiert. Das Ergebnis hieß Tiger3D, und die Antwort war sofort. Überall begrüßten die Spieler die unmöglich realistischen Umgebungen, die schiere Bewegungsgeschwindigkeit des Motors.... und unzählige andere konzentrierten sich auf das, was sie als geschmacklose Aneignung von Geschichte sahen. Während die Spieleindustrie den ungerechtfertigten Protesten nicht fremd ist, stimmt die Behauptung, dass das Team von Perigree absichtlich einen Nerv getroffen hat. Von Levels, die mit totalitären Bannern besetzt sind, bis hin zur letzten Episode, in der der Spieler gegen eine titangeeignete Parodie von Ivar Messer kämpfen muss, schien das Design des Spiels darauf ausgerichtet zu sein, feinere Empfindungen zu verletzen.
InterDimension
Trotz der Empörung war Tiger 3D ein Hit und katapultierte das Paar auf die nächste Stufe. Im Jahr 2941 verließen Romanov und Vandyke Perigree leise und gründeten einen eigenen Laden, der auf der Idee basierte, innovative Technologien zu entwickeln und mit großartigem Spieldesign zu versehen. InterDimension Software versuchte, eine andere Art von Spieleentwickler zu sein, mit einem kleinen Ethos, das Hardcore-Player im ganzen Reich ansprach. Ihr erster Titel, der lange im Voraus über Romanovs überfüllte persönliche Comm-Link-Updates angekündigt wurde, war Star Marine. Aufbauend auf der in Tiger 3D vorgestellten Technologie war Star Marine als der ultrarealistischste Bodenkampfsimulator gedacht, den es je gab. Star Marine wurde vom ersten Tag an um sorgfältig zusammengestellte Karten einer Gold Horizon Station herum gebaut, um den Spieler in das Herz eines epischen Kampfes um Leben und Tod zu versetzen.
Nach einer Reihe von unerwarteten und viel beachteten Verzögerungen feierte Star Marine kürzlich eine Premiere mit großem Erfolg. Basierend auf dem heutigen Stand und mit unglaublich realistischem Design, hat sich Star Marine zum "it game" des Jahres entwickelt, mit einer Antwort, die von der Schaffung massiver Communities von Konkurrenten und anderen Fanatikern bis hin zu Schlagzeilen über Unternehmen reicht, die die Produktivität beklagen, die den Mitarbeitern verloren geht, die es in längeren Mittagspausen spielen. Es scheint, dass fast jeder im Universum zu einer Sternenmarine geworden ist. Auf die Frage, warum sie dachten, ihr jüngster Titel würde erfolgreich sein, antwortete Romanov, der für das Paar sprach, einfach: "Weil es ziemlich viel Spaß macht".
Die Geschichte von InterDimension Software zu erzählen bedeutet, die Geschichte der beiden Jims, des Level Builders James Romanov und des Tech Designers James Vandyke zu erzählen. Sie mögen ihre Karriere in der Spieleentwicklung auf unterschiedliche Weise begonnen haben, aber einmal eingeführt, wurden sie zu einer scheinbar unaufhaltsamen Kraft für die Entwicklung einer Reihe von massiv erfolgreichen Veröffentlichungen, von der kinderfreundlichen Admiral Cool bis zur hochrealistischen Star Marine.
Schüchtern, leise und schwer zugänglich, passt James Vandyke sehr gut zum klassischen Stereotyp des Spektrumsspielentwicklers. Unter seinem kalten Äußeren liegt jedoch unbestreitbare Brillanz: Schon in seiner frühen Kindheit zeigte sich, dass er ein natürliches Einfühlungsvermögen in Maschinen und ein Verständnisniveau hatte, das es ihm erlaubte, sie zum Singen zu bringen. Vandyke hat sich natürlich der Spieleentwicklung zugewandt, nicht nur weil er selbst ein Spieler war, sondern auch weil die Spieleindustrie dazu neigte, Hardware und logische Systeme auf die Spitze zu treiben. Getragen von dem echten Wunsch, die Technologie auf allen Ebenen weiterzuentwickeln, übersprang Vandyke eine formelle Ausbildung zugunsten eines Jobangebots, um seine eigenen Spieltechnologien über den Indie-Verlag Perigree Press zu entwickeln.
Oakhurst & Perigree
Anscheinend war Romanov Vandyke's polarer Gegenüber, ein scheidender junger Spieleautor, der so selbstbewusst war, dass er schnell eine Gruppe von Fans inspirierte, die seine Karriere persönlich verfolgen wollten. Er wurde inspiriert, schon in jungen Jahren mit dem Bau eigener Spiele zu beginnen und seine eigenen stilisierten Versionen beliebter Titel für die Veröffentlichung auf dem Spectrum zu entwerfen. Im Alter von zwanzig Jahren, mit einer Vielzahl von einfachen mobiGlas-Spielen im Gepäck, nahm er seinen ersten formalen Job beim Branchen-Kraftwerk Oakhurst Online an. Sein erstes Projekt war ein abgebrochener Hafen von 3400 n. Chr., gefolgt von sechs Monaten mit Dungeons, Quests und Monstern für Henry Garritys ULTIMATE III. Leider kollidierte er mit seinen Chefs über die kreative Richtung in einem solchen Maße, dass er kurz vor der Veröffentlichung von ULTIMATE III, als Perigree sich ihm mit einem Angebot, ihr Lead Designer zu werden, näherte, schnell akzeptierte.
Und damit schlug ein Blitz ein. Vandyke und Romanov, der kardinale Introvertierte und schamlose Selbstdarsteller, schlossen eine unwahrscheinliche Freundschaft, die direkt zu ihrem ersten Co-Autor-Spiel Admiral Cool gegen die Karate-Hunde vom Mars führte, das von Perigree unter einer Try before you buy"-Lizenz veröffentlicht wurde, die dazu beitrug, die beiden zu bekannten Namen zu machen. Hell, farbenfroh und unterhaltsam, Admiral Cool's kinderfreundliche Einstellung widersprach hervorragenden technischen Leistungen unter der Haube. Wie bei allen Projekten, die Vandyke seitdem durchgeführt hat, betrachtete er das Projekt als technische Herausforderung: Wie konnte er die Erfahrung von Arcade-Maschinen und dedizierten Gaming-Rigs auf dem gemeinsamen mobiGlas nachbilden? Er wandte sich einem enzyklopädischen Wissen über Assemblersprache und Maschinenlogik zu und schuf eine atemberaubende Benutzeroberfläche, die es bei tragbaren Systemen zu dieser Zeit noch nicht gab.
Zwei weitere Admiral Cool Spiele folgten, darunter der endgültige Titel Admiral Cool in Vegetable Panic, der ausschließlich zur Erfüllung eines Verlagsvertrages entwickelt wurde. Romanov baute die Levels für jedes Spiel und verwandelte bunte Blöcke, Cartoon-Hunde, Hamburger, Opi-Ola-Flaschen und glitzernde Süßigkeiten in eine immersive, rasante Welt.
Als Vandyke eine Demo der Original ULTIMATE Spinoff-Serie ULTIMATE: Downbelow sah, suchte er für sein nächstes Projekt eine noch größere technische Herausforderung: die von High-End-Verlagen entwickelte Immersionsoberfläche zu replizieren und dann zu übertreffen, aber in einer schnelleren, handlungsorientierten Welt, die besser zur Designästhetik von Romanov und seinem wachsenden Team passte. Romanov verzichtete diesmal auf die kinderfreundliche Grafik, die Admiral Cool definierte, und wandte sich stattdessen den körnigen Details der Geschichte zu: einem Aktionstitel, der auf der internen Kriegsführung der Messerzeit basiert. Das Ergebnis hieß Tiger3D, und die Antwort war sofort. Überall begrüßten die Spieler die unmöglich realistischen Umgebungen, die schiere Bewegungsgeschwindigkeit des Motors.... und unzählige andere konzentrierten sich auf das, was sie als geschmacklose Aneignung von Geschichte sahen. Während die Spieleindustrie den ungerechtfertigten Protesten nicht fremd ist, stimmt die Behauptung, dass das Team von Perigree absichtlich einen Nerv getroffen hat. Von Levels, die mit totalitären Bannern besetzt sind, bis hin zur letzten Episode, in der der Spieler gegen eine titangeeignete Parodie von Ivar Messer kämpfen muss, schien das Design des Spiels darauf ausgerichtet zu sein, feinere Empfindungen zu verletzen.
InterDimension
Trotz der Empörung war Tiger 3D ein Hit und katapultierte das Paar auf die nächste Stufe. Im Jahr 2941 verließen Romanov und Vandyke Perigree leise und gründeten einen eigenen Laden, der auf der Idee basierte, innovative Technologien zu entwickeln und mit großartigem Spieldesign zu versehen. InterDimension Software versuchte, eine andere Art von Spieleentwickler zu sein, mit einem kleinen Ethos, das Hardcore-Player im ganzen Reich ansprach. Ihr erster Titel, der lange im Voraus über Romanovs überfüllte persönliche Comm-Link-Updates angekündigt wurde, war Star Marine. Aufbauend auf der in Tiger 3D vorgestellten Technologie war Star Marine als der ultrarealistischste Bodenkampfsimulator gedacht, den es je gab. Star Marine wurde vom ersten Tag an um sorgfältig zusammengestellte Karten einer Gold Horizon Station herum gebaut, um den Spieler in das Herz eines epischen Kampfes um Leben und Tod zu versetzen.
Nach einer Reihe von unerwarteten und viel beachteten Verzögerungen feierte Star Marine kürzlich eine Premiere mit großem Erfolg. Basierend auf dem heutigen Stand und mit unglaublich realistischem Design, hat sich Star Marine zum "it game" des Jahres entwickelt, mit einer Antwort, die von der Schaffung massiver Communities von Konkurrenten und anderen Fanatikern bis hin zu Schlagzeilen über Unternehmen reicht, die die Produktivität beklagen, die den Mitarbeitern verloren geht, die es in längeren Mittagspausen spielen. Es scheint, dass fast jeder im Universum zu einer Sternenmarine geworden ist. Auf die Frage, warum sie dachten, ihr jüngster Titel würde erfolgreich sein, antwortete Romanov, der für das Paar sprach, einfach: "Weil es ziemlich viel Spaß macht".
Chinese
Two Jims
To tell the story of InterDimension Software is to tell the story of the ‘two Jims,’ level builder James Romanov and tech designer James Vandyke. They may have begun their game development careers in disparate ways, but once introduced, they became (and continue to be) an apparently unstoppable force for developing a string of massively successful releases, from the kid-friendly Admiral Cool to the highly realistic Star Marine.
Shy, quiet and difficult to approach, James Vandyke very much fits the classic stereotype of the spectrum game developer. Underneath his cold exterior, however, lies unquestionable brilliance: from his early childhood it was apparent that he had a natural empathy with machines, and a level of understanding that allowed him to make them sing. Vandyke naturally gravitated towards game development not only because he was as a player himself, but because the game industry tended to push hardware and logical systems to their extremes. Fueled by a genuine desire to further technology on all levels, Vandyke skipped a formal education in favor of a job offer to develop his own game technologies through indie-publisher Perigree Press.
Oakhurst & Perigree
Seemingly Vandyke’s polar opposite, Romanov was an outgoing young game designer brimming with such confidence that he quickly inspired a cadre of fans eager to follow his career personally. He was inspired to begin building his own games at a young age, designing his own stylized versions of popular titles for release on the Spectrum. At age twenty, with a host of simple mobiGlas games under his belt, he took his first formal job at the industry powerhouse Oakhurst Online. His first project was an aborted port of 3400 AD, followed by six months making dungeons, quests and monsters for Henry Garrity’s ULTIMATE III. Unfortunately, he was clashing with his bosses over creative direction to such a degree that, shortly before the release of ULTIMATE III, when Perigree approached him with an offer to be their Lead Designer, he quickly accepted.
And with that, lightning struck. Vandyke and Romanov, the cardinal introvert and the shameless self-promoter, struck up an unlikely friendship that lead directly to their first co-authored game, Admiral Cool versus the Karate Dogs from Mars, released by Perigree under a ‘try before you buy’ license, that helped make the pair household names. Bright, colorful and fun, Admiral Cool’s kid-friendly outlook belied outstanding technical achievements under the hood. As he has done with all projects since, Vandyke viewed the project as a technical challenge: how could he recreate the experience found in arcade machines and dedicated gaming rigs on the common mobiGlas? Turning to an encyclopedic knowledge of assembly language and machine logic, he created a stunning interface unlike anything else available for wearable systems at the time.
Two additional Admiral Cool games followed, including a final title, Admiral Cool in Vegetable Panic, created solely to fulfill a publishing contract. Romanov built the levels foreach game, turning colorful blocks, cartoon dogs, hamburgers, Opi-Ola bottles and glittering candies into an immersive, fast-paced world.
Upon seeing a demo of Original’s ULTIMATE spinoff series, ULTIMATE: Downbelow, Vandyke sought an even greater technical challenge for their next project: replicate and then surpass the total immersion interface being developed by high-end publishers, but in a faster-paced, action-oriented world that better suited the design aesthetics of Romanov and his growing team. This time around, Romanov opted to forgo the kid-friendly graphics that defined Admiral Cool, and instead turned to the gritty details of history: an action title based on the internecine warfare of the Messer era. The result was named Tiger3D, and the response was immediate. Players everywhere hailed the impossibly realistic environments, the sheer speed of movement allowed by the engine … and countless others focused on what they saw as a tasteless appropriation of history. While the gaming industry is no stranger to unwarranted protests, there’s some truth to the claim that the team at Perigree intentionally hit a nerve. From levels covered in totalitarian banners to the final episode in which the player must battle a titan-suited parody of Ivar Messer, the game’s design seemed intended to offend more delicate sensibilities.
InterDimension
Despite the outrage, Tiger 3D was a hit and catapulted the pair to the next level. In 2941, Romanov and Vandyke quietly exited Perigree and set up their own shop, founded on the idea of building out innovative technology and flavoring it with great game design. InterDimension Software sought to be a different kind of game creator, with a small-scale ethos that appealed to hardcore players around the Empire. Their first title, announced well in advance via Romanov’s over-stuffed personal Comm-Link updates, was Star Marine. Building on the technology premiered in Tiger 3D, Star Marine was intended as the most ultra-realistic ground combat simulator ever attempted. Building around carefully constructed maps of a Gold Horizon station, Star Marine was crafted from Day One to immerse the player in the very heart of an epic life-or-death struggle.
After a series of unexpected and much publicized delays, Star Marine premiered recently to great acclaim. Based in the present-day and featuring incredibly realistic design, Star Marine has become the “it game” of the year, with the response ranging from the creation of massive communities of competitive players and other fanatics to headlines about companies bemoaning the productivity lost to employees playing it on extended lunch breaks. It seems that nearly everyone in the universe has become a Star Marine. Asked at their launch event why they thought their latest title would be successful, Romanov, speaking for the pair, responded simply, “because it’s pretty damn fun.”
To tell the story of InterDimension Software is to tell the story of the ‘two Jims,’ level builder James Romanov and tech designer James Vandyke. They may have begun their game development careers in disparate ways, but once introduced, they became (and continue to be) an apparently unstoppable force for developing a string of massively successful releases, from the kid-friendly Admiral Cool to the highly realistic Star Marine.
Shy, quiet and difficult to approach, James Vandyke very much fits the classic stereotype of the spectrum game developer. Underneath his cold exterior, however, lies unquestionable brilliance: from his early childhood it was apparent that he had a natural empathy with machines, and a level of understanding that allowed him to make them sing. Vandyke naturally gravitated towards game development not only because he was as a player himself, but because the game industry tended to push hardware and logical systems to their extremes. Fueled by a genuine desire to further technology on all levels, Vandyke skipped a formal education in favor of a job offer to develop his own game technologies through indie-publisher Perigree Press.
Oakhurst & Perigree
Seemingly Vandyke’s polar opposite, Romanov was an outgoing young game designer brimming with such confidence that he quickly inspired a cadre of fans eager to follow his career personally. He was inspired to begin building his own games at a young age, designing his own stylized versions of popular titles for release on the Spectrum. At age twenty, with a host of simple mobiGlas games under his belt, he took his first formal job at the industry powerhouse Oakhurst Online. His first project was an aborted port of 3400 AD, followed by six months making dungeons, quests and monsters for Henry Garrity’s ULTIMATE III. Unfortunately, he was clashing with his bosses over creative direction to such a degree that, shortly before the release of ULTIMATE III, when Perigree approached him with an offer to be their Lead Designer, he quickly accepted.
And with that, lightning struck. Vandyke and Romanov, the cardinal introvert and the shameless self-promoter, struck up an unlikely friendship that lead directly to their first co-authored game, Admiral Cool versus the Karate Dogs from Mars, released by Perigree under a ‘try before you buy’ license, that helped make the pair household names. Bright, colorful and fun, Admiral Cool’s kid-friendly outlook belied outstanding technical achievements under the hood. As he has done with all projects since, Vandyke viewed the project as a technical challenge: how could he recreate the experience found in arcade machines and dedicated gaming rigs on the common mobiGlas? Turning to an encyclopedic knowledge of assembly language and machine logic, he created a stunning interface unlike anything else available for wearable systems at the time.
Two additional Admiral Cool games followed, including a final title, Admiral Cool in Vegetable Panic, created solely to fulfill a publishing contract. Romanov built the levels foreach game, turning colorful blocks, cartoon dogs, hamburgers, Opi-Ola bottles and glittering candies into an immersive, fast-paced world.
Upon seeing a demo of Original’s ULTIMATE spinoff series, ULTIMATE: Downbelow, Vandyke sought an even greater technical challenge for their next project: replicate and then surpass the total immersion interface being developed by high-end publishers, but in a faster-paced, action-oriented world that better suited the design aesthetics of Romanov and his growing team. This time around, Romanov opted to forgo the kid-friendly graphics that defined Admiral Cool, and instead turned to the gritty details of history: an action title based on the internecine warfare of the Messer era. The result was named Tiger3D, and the response was immediate. Players everywhere hailed the impossibly realistic environments, the sheer speed of movement allowed by the engine … and countless others focused on what they saw as a tasteless appropriation of history. While the gaming industry is no stranger to unwarranted protests, there’s some truth to the claim that the team at Perigree intentionally hit a nerve. From levels covered in totalitarian banners to the final episode in which the player must battle a titan-suited parody of Ivar Messer, the game’s design seemed intended to offend more delicate sensibilities.
InterDimension
Despite the outrage, Tiger 3D was a hit and catapulted the pair to the next level. In 2941, Romanov and Vandyke quietly exited Perigree and set up their own shop, founded on the idea of building out innovative technology and flavoring it with great game design. InterDimension Software sought to be a different kind of game creator, with a small-scale ethos that appealed to hardcore players around the Empire. Their first title, announced well in advance via Romanov’s over-stuffed personal Comm-Link updates, was Star Marine. Building on the technology premiered in Tiger 3D, Star Marine was intended as the most ultra-realistic ground combat simulator ever attempted. Building around carefully constructed maps of a Gold Horizon station, Star Marine was crafted from Day One to immerse the player in the very heart of an epic life-or-death struggle.
After a series of unexpected and much publicized delays, Star Marine premiered recently to great acclaim. Based in the present-day and featuring incredibly realistic design, Star Marine has become the “it game” of the year, with the response ranging from the creation of massive communities of competitive players and other fanatics to headlines about companies bemoaning the productivity lost to employees playing it on extended lunch breaks. It seems that nearly everyone in the universe has become a Star Marine. Asked at their launch event why they thought their latest title would be successful, Romanov, speaking for the pair, responded simply, “because it’s pretty damn fun.”
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- 10 years ago (2015-10-27T00:00:00+00:00)