Dojo Dan

What started as a personal project at home turned into something much bigger. Hayden Dalton and I decided to leave Software Creations and form our own company, Psyonic Systems. I handled the business side and programming while Hayden focused on design and art. Allister Brimble came on board to compose the music, and it was through him that we eventually connected with Team 17. We also had additional art from the Darling brothers, twin artists who Allister recommended to us.

The Original Vision

This was the first game we made exclusively for the Amiga, which allowed us to really take advantage of the hardware. Previous projects had often been cross-platform or ports, but with Dojo Dan we could tap into what made the Amiga special.

The game started life as "Woolan Kid" - a martial arts platform game that we designed to run at 50 hertz (Hz). We hit that target early on, and the game felt smooth and responsive. That frame rate was important to us. It made the gameplay feel tight and professional.

Publisher Pressure

Europress picked up the game for publication, but that's when things got complicated. Toward the end of development, they insisted we add more enemies to the levels. The problem was, this pushed the frame rate down to 25Hz. The game still played fine, but it wasn't what we'd envisioned.

They also made us change the name to "Dojo Dan." It feels odd to say we were forced into these changes, but that's essentially what happened. If we didn't comply, they wouldn't release the milestone payments. That's one of the hard realities of working with publishers - they hold all the financial cards, and they can simply stop paying if you don't do what they want.

Lessons Learned

It's still a good game, and I'm proud of what we built. But I've always wondered how it would have performed without those forced changes. Would the smoother frame rate have made a difference? Would the original name have resonated better? We'll never know.

After that experience with Europress, Allister Brimble connected us with Martyn Brown at Team 17. We switched publishers for future projects, which turned out to be a smart move.

Starting Our Own Company

Despite the complications, it was genuinely exciting to start our own company. We set up an office above a wedding shop on Oldham Road in Manchester. We kitted out the space with desks and chairs from MFI - the desks were actually dining room tables, but they did the job perfectly well. Other essential equipment included a microwave oven and a Calor gas heater to keep us warm through the Manchester winters.

Looking back, those early days were about learning the business as much as making games. Publisher relationships, milestone payments, creative compromise - all lessons that would serve us well going forward.