Dizzy is 'rubbish', admits Dad

One half of the Oliver twins has admitted that their best known series of games is in fact "rubbish".

Andrew and Philip Oliver began to develop games when they were still at school, and formed their own company, Interactive Studios (now known as Blitz Games), in 1990.

They were best known for producing the Dizzy titles, but these days they're busy doing Spongebob Squarepants for the Wii and developing new downloadable games with their Blitz Arcade division.

But don't they miss the times when no one had ever heard of Cell processors or rag doll physics or two pound coins? Well, our sister site, GamesIndustry.biz, caught up with Andrew to find out if he wouldn't rather be back in his bedroom making games about eggs.

"It was only fun in those days because it was kind of novel; nobody had seen little characters moving round the screen," Oliver said.

"Quite frankly, you put that stuff on now, and people go, 'It's rubbish' - well, actually, yeah. I've got fond memories, but it's a bit embarassing when you look back at it."

The thing is, Oliver explained, in the old days you could just have an idea, write a game and "bung it out".

"Nowadays... People occasionally come along to our company or we get packs in the post, 'I've got a good idea for a videogame!', and it's like, 'Yeah, like we haven't!'

"I've got loads of great ideas, I'm so close to it I can see all the trends - I just don't have ten million bucks spare to build the bloody things. I've got to build prototypes and do design docs, and take all the fun out of it trying to convince someone else that it's great, when all the time the market wants sequels and licences. Which is a kick in the teeth."

But there is a bright spot on Oliver's horizon... "I love Xbox Live Arcade. There are a lot of people in our company who have all been sitting on game ideas, and we all agree that you don't have to build an epic to make a fun game," he said.

"We'll be able to put many fun games in places like Live Arcade, and I think that's a very redeeming thing for the future. Though even then, it's going to take five people five months or something to build a game, typically."

Visit GamesIndustry.biz to read the full interview. There's also an interview with Philip Oliver, if you're that bothered.