DMA Design

DMA Design Limited was a British video game developer based in Dundee, Scotland, best known for creating the original top-down Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings franchises.

The company ran from 1987 when work began on their first game, Menace, and ended with the last game developed by DMA, Grand Theft Auto 2 in 1999.

History

1984–86: Prior to founding

In 1984, David Jones, Russell Kay, Steve Hammond and Mike Dailly often met at the Kingsway Amateur Computer Club (KACC) in Dundee, Scotland. While Jones used an Amiga 1000, the others used Sinclair Spectrum or Commodore 64. They developed numerous small games while attending the KACC: Jones and Kay developed Moonshadow (eventually renamed Zone Trooper), Daily developed Freek Out, and Jones and Dailly collaborated on The Game With No Name. When later attending the Dundee Institute of Technology, Jones began development on a game tentatively titled CopperCon1, as part of a company temporarily named Acme Software, alongside Kay, Hammond and Dailly. To publish the game, Jones first approached Hewson Consultants, where Andrew Braybrook played and recommended the game. When Jones was informed that Hewson wanted the game to be the "Amiga version of Zynaps", he realised that sales would be limited, and refused to sign the contract, instead signing a deal with publisher Psygnosis. The game was renamed Draconia, with Tony Smith working on graphics and Jones designing levels, and the company was renamed DMA Design.