Head of Tools Group, March 1995 - January 1998

Rebellion Developments was a small company when I joined. During the first nine months I worked on a Sega Saturn project called Freerunner which unfortunately was never to be released due to financial problems at Sega. However, the experience I gained from that was invaluable in designing a new system for the tools which would companion Rebellion's gaming engine. Since the success of Aliens versus Predator the company has gone from strength to strength and now has an impressive portfolio of game releases.

The number one selling game - 'Aliens versus Predator', 2 years

My group developed software for the manipulation of data for 3D environments across three platforms. The system was used with other games including PlayStation Rainbow 6. The software optimised data for the game engine so that complex environments (or worlds) could be displayed with ease, and therefore at a fast frame rate.

I also designed and coded game strategy which included algorithms for helping the Aliens and other in-game characters track down the player. The Aliens could track a player over a long distance by smelling where he'd been, over shorter distances we had to assist the aritifically intelligent Aliens so that they could navigate complex 3D structures to get at the player.

The sound engine I developed allowed 3D placement of environmental sounds, this unique feature (at the time) helped the game get nominated for a best game sound award from the British Academy. It was also nominated for the best programming award.

Other projects

'Freerunner' for the Sega Saturn: I wrote software to generate BSP trees for polygon data. Some specific Sega Saturn programming needed doing as well, this included developing a working memory allocator.

'Skyhammer' for the Atari Jaguar: I wrote the music for the game. The game was never properly released due to financial issues at Atari but it is available on the Internet and one review actually complimented the music.

Contact Details

Rebellion Developments Ltd
The Studio
Brewer Street
Oxford OX1 1QN
Tel: +44 1865 200601