Synthetic Dimensions was a

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

, 3D

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

and

interactive media Interactive media normally refers to products and services on digital computer-based systems which respond to the user's actions by presenting content such as text, moving image, animation, video and audio. Since its early conception, various fo ...

company based in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. It was founded in 1985 in

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

Kevin Bulmer Kevin Bulmer (1962, in Solihull – 12 November 2011, in Tettenhall), also known as Kev Bulmer, was an English artist, game designer and president of the graphic design and video game company Synthetic Dimensions, which was co-founded by him in 198 ...

and his partner Kate Copestake and closed in 2012. Bulmer successfully took Synthetic public on both OFEX and AIM markets in 2000 (valued at 11 million pounds). It was also known as Dimension Creative Designs, Ltd. (DCD Ltd.). It is part of the

Animation Forum West Midlands Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

network.Animation Forum West Midlands , Beyond the Synthetic Dimension

Company history

The company achieved the Innovations Award at the

Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...

(CES) in 1996, in recognition of unique technologies developed for real-time, multi-user 3D game environments, and won the Wolverhampton Small Business of the Year title and the City of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Award for excellence in animation, both in 1998. In 1999, Synthetic worked with

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

, developing the computer game ''

Ed Hunter ''Ed Hunter'' is a greatest hits album and video game released in 1999 by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden and Synthetic Dimensions. The game objective consists of following Iron Maiden's mascot, Eddie, through various levels depicting the ...

'' and designed graphics and memorabilia for the band's

The Ed Hunter Tour ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

world tour. The company closed in 2012 after the death of Kevin from prostate cancer.Tributes paid after 3D games innovator Kevin Bulmer dies - Creative industries - Business News - Business - Birmingham Post
/ref> * 1985: Bulmer and Copestake form Synthetic Dimensions. * 1998: SDSynthetic Dimensions wins the Small Business of the Year Award. * 1999: Synthetic Dimensions floats on Ofex with a market valuation of £11 million. * 2000: Bulmer is a semi-finalist in the

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award The EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards previously Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards is an award sponsored by Ernst & Young in recognition of entrepreneurship. Founded in 1986 in Milwaukee as a single award, as of 2016 twenty-five pro ...

s. * 2001: Synthetic Dimensions moves to AIM with a valuation of £15.6 million. * 2002: Bulmer and Copestake take the company private out of the parent group. * 2012: Company closes after the death of Kevin. Kate founds Copestake Ltd.

Video games

Including home ports of arcade games: *'' Gauntlet'' (1986) *'' Mickey Mouse: The Computer Game'' (1988) *''

Gauntlet II ''Gauntlet II'' is a 1986 arcade game produced by Atari Games that serves as the immediate sequel to the original '' Gauntlet'', which was released the previous year. Like its predecessor, ''Gauntlet II'' is a fantasy-themed top down dungeon ...

'' (1988) *''

Galaxy Force II is a third-person space combat simulator game developed and released by Sega for Arcade game, arcades in 1988. The player assumes control of a starship named the TRY-Z, as it must prevent the Fourth Empire from taking over the entire galaxy. Gam ...

'' (1989) *''

Hot Rod Hot rods are typically American cars that might be old, classic, or modern and that have been rebuilt or modified with large engines optimised for speed and acceleration. One definition is: "a car that's been stripped down, souped up and made ...

'' (1989) *'' Resolution 101'' (1990) *''

Corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...

'' (1990) *''

Golden Axe is a series of side-scrolling beat 'em up arcade video games developed by Sega. The series takes place in a medieval fantasy world where several heroes have the task of recovering the legendary Golden Axe, the mainstay element of the series. M ...

'' (1990) *'' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' (1991) *''

Legends of Valour ''Legends of Valour'' is a role-playing video game developed by Synthetic Dimensions and released by U.S. Gold and Strategic Simulations in 1992 for the Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS, with the additional FM Towns and PC-98 versions in 1993-1994 i ...

'' (1992) *'' Rapid Assault'' (1994) *'' Druid: Daemons of the Mind'' (1995) *''

Chronicles of the Sword ''Chronicles of the Sword'' is an adventure game developed by Synthetic Dimensions and released by Psygnosis in 1996 for MS-DOS and Sony PlayStation platforms. The game, originally titled as ''King Arthur: The Quest of The Fair Unknown'', is ba ...

'' (1996) *''

Perfect Assassin ''Perfect Assassin'' is a point and click adventure released by Grolier Interactive for MS-DOS and the PlayStation in 1997 and 1998 respectively. The game's titular character, Charon, a cyborg with superhuman abilities, suddenly loses his memo ...

'' (1997) *''

'' (1999)

References

External links

*
Synthetic Dimensions
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

{{Animation industry in the United Kingdom British animation studios British companies established in 1985 Design companies of the United Kingdom Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game development companies 1985 establishments in the United Kingdom