DARRAN THOMAS

About

All careers start somewhere and I think mine started with the first computer game I ever saw, a version of Hangman that was running on a Commodore Pet in my Junior Schools teachers staff room. I think I was around 6 or 7 and I was familiar with the game as I had played it on paper. From that moment on I not only had a passion for playing computer games but for knowing how they worked.

 

Playing games really started on the Grandstand console complete with light gun and paddle controls, they were simple games but playing tennis on your tv was great. The Atari 2600 followed with its great joysticks and games like Asteroids, Missile Command, Pitfall, Frogger, Popeye, Empire Strikes Back and Zaxxon.

 

Arcade games also played a key part in those early years, Space Invaders, Galaxian, Amidar, Pac Man, 1942, Donkey Kong Jr, Scramble, Guantlet and Defender are ones that still spring to mind.

 

I first tried writing my own games around the age of 11 on my Sinclair Spectrum and then later on the BBC Micro in Basic, learning by copying source code out of magazines like Sinclair User. There was a Dennis the Menace take on Manic Miner, and a Battlestar Galactica take on Scramble, and an attempt to turn the Warlock of Firetop Mountain book into a graphic adventure like The Hobbit or Lords of Midnight, I clearly had no understanding of Intellectual Property Rights at that age.

 

Games that bring back great memories from around this time are Manic Miner, Monty Mole, Jet Set Willie, Atic Atac, Wheelie, Spy Hunter, Jetpac, Sabre Wulf, Raid over Moscow, Lords of Midnight, Airwolf, Commando, Chuckie Egg, Strykers Run, The Way of the Exploding Fist, Underwurlde, and Knight Lore.

 

After completing my A Levels, I managed to find a university course that allowed me to focus on computer animation even though it was still relatively new and there weren’t any courses specialising in it at the time.

 

Ignoring a lot of the comments such as "computers are sterile and depersonalising" or "computer animation, whizzbang, here today gone tomorrow", I focused on building a showreel with the ambition of working for someone like Pixar who were a huge inspiration with CG shorts like Knick Knack and Reds Dream. They still are a great inspiration to me.

To help fund my degree during the summer I worked at a multi-media company (a big step up from the Furniture and Lighting factories I had worked previous summers) doing business presentations, and worked on a presentation for Olivetti that won a BIMA Gold Award. This work got me thinking about interactivity again rather than just computer graphics and animation, although things were easier using Animator Pro and 3DStudio for the artwork.

 

Memorable games I recall playing during this period, Wolfenstien 3D, Spear of Destiny, Doom, Ridge Racer, Alone in the dark, Virtua Fighter, Duke Nukem 3D.

Having visited quite a few CG houses in London, all they seemed to be doing was modelling and animating commercial products like Maltesers rolling around. That didn't appeal to me as there seemed to be very little potential for creativity, and my enthusiasm for a career in film waned.

 

It was at this time I discovered that you could actually pursue developing games as a career. This came as a bit of a revelation to me, as until that point I just imagined games as something people did in their bedroom as a hobby and as stupid as it may sound I just didn’t think you could get a career doing it unless you were a hardware manufacturer.

So after I finished a contract working as a part time instructor at the University, off I went for some interviews, and turned up at Bullfrog Productions in Guildford where I first laid eyes on Magic Carpet which I thought was the best thing I had ever seen with its colourful Mana balls and morphing landscape. Luckily enough Bullfrog saw some potential in me and offered me a job as a Junior Artist for which I will always be grateful. I don't think I could have had a better start as Bullfrog was a massively creative place to be, full of hugely talented people, and I learnt a massive amount.