Andrew Nicholas Oliver and Philip Edward Oliver, together known as the Oliver Twins, are British

twin brother Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

s and video game designers. They began to professionally develop

computer games A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-deter ...

while they were still at school, contributing their first type-in game to a magazine in 1983. They worked with publishers Codemasters for a number of years following their first collaboration '' Super Robin Hood'', creating the ''Dizzy'' series of games and many of Codemasters' Simulator Series games. At one point during the 1980s it was reported that 7% of all UK games sales were attributable to the Oliver Twins. In 1990 they founded

Interactive Studios Blitz Games Studios Limited was a British video game developer based in Leamington Spa. Founded in 1990 by the Oliver Twins, who ran the company until its closure in 2013, it is best known for producing games such as ''The Fairly OddParents'', ...

which later became

Blitz Games Studios Blitz Games Studios Limited was a British video game developer based in Leamington Spa. Founded in 1990 by the Oliver Twins, who ran the company until its closure in 2013, it is best known for producing games such as ''The Fairly OddParents'' ...

. In October 2013 they founded

Radiant Worlds Rebellion Warwick (formerly Radiant Worlds Limited) is a British video game developer based in Leamington Spa, England. It was founded in 2013 almost immediately after the closure of Blitz Games Studios. The former owners of that company, the Ol ...

,Develop
/ref> based in

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

, with long time friend and colleague Richard Smithies.

History

Philip and Andrew Oliver first began programming computer games while at school (Clarendon School in Trowbridge). They discovered their interest in computing when their brother bought a used

ZX 81 ZX may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Kamen Rider ZX (pronounced "Zed-Cross"), the tenth fictional superhero in the "Kamen Rider" franchise * ''Mega Man ZX'', a video game for the Nintendo DS * ''ZX Tunes'', remastered soundtracks of the "Meg ...

when they were 13. They bought a

Dragon 32 The Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 are home computers that were built in the 1980s. The Dragons are very similar to the TRS-80 Color Computer, and were produced for the European market by Dragon Data, Ltd., initially in Swansea, Wales before mov ...

in September 1982, as they wanted to have a faster computer with a bigger memory. They tried to improve the type-in games they found in magazines and eventually created their own game, ''Road Runner'', which was published as written code in ''Computer and Video Games Magazine'' in January 1984. The same year they won first prize in a national TV competition (''The Saturday Show'') to design a computer game. Their first very successful game, '' Super Robin Hood'' for the Amstrad CPC, was published in 1985 by Codemasters.

Codemasters

The Codemasters publishing relationship led to the origin of the ''Dizzy'' series and the ''Simulator'' series. Whilst with Codemasters, they were responsible for over 10 UK number one best sellers and over 3 million sales.with the Oliver Twins
from GIGnews.com In 1986, it was reported that an estimated 7% of all UK games sales were attributable to the Oliver Twins.

Interactive Studios (Blitz Games Studios)

In 1990, at the age of 22, they started

, later called

. Apart from their own games, the Oliver Twins were also responsible for porting a number of other prominent games to the

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

platforms, including '' Theme Park'' and '' Syndicate''. After 23 years, Blitz Games folded in 2013, with the loss of 175 staff, and owing millions to creditors.

Radiant Worlds

In October 2013 they founded

, based in Leamington Spa, UK, with long time friend and colleague Richard Smithies to develop '' SkySaga: Infinite Isles'' for Korean-based Smilegate. SkySaga was an ambitious online voxel based game based on an original concept by members of the Blitz Games Studios team. In August 2017 Smilegate put SkySaga on hold and the Olivers and Smithies put the company up for sale. In January 2018,

Rebellion Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

, a UK games developer and publisher purchased the company and renamed it to Rebellion (Warwick). The twins remained with Rebellion until February 2019, at which point they left to form a game consultancy business.

''Dizzy'' revival

In 2015 Philip Oliver found a hand drawn map titled ''Wonderland Dizzy'' while preparing for a talk the twins were due to give at that year's ''Play Blackpool'' event, after looking around further a disk was found which contained the full uncompiled source code of a game with the same name which they had written 22 years earlier for the NES but had forgotten about. The twins came into contact with Lukasz Kur via a ''Dizzy'' fansite, who fixed a few bugs in the game's code and translated it into a few languages before compiling it. The game was released online and free to play on 24 October 2015. In 2016, they released a second lost Dizzy game, ''Mystery World Dizzy'', which was originally scheduled for release on the Nintendo in 1993. In May 2017 the twins announced they would be working on a new ''Dizzy'' game, their first for over 20 years. In a fun video for the

ZX Spectrum Next ZX Spectrum Next is an 8-bit home computer, initially released in 2017, which is compatible with software and hardware for the 1982 ZX Spectrum. It also has enhanced capabilities. It is intended to appeal to retrocomputing enthusiasts and to " ...

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign they revealed the game would be inspired by the classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by author L. Frank Baum, and would be called Wonderful Dizzy.

Leadership

Both of the Olivers take an active role in supporting the UK games industry. Philip Oliver is one of the founders of developers' trade body TIGA and has served as an active board member (currently a director) since its inception in 2001. He was also a director on the board for ''

e-skills UK The Tech Partnership (formerly e-skills UK) is the United Kingdom (UK)'s sector skills council for the information technology (IT) industry, also known as "Business and Information Technology" or "IT & Telecoms." It is based in central London. ...

'' for several years. The brothers received honorary doctorates in 2008 from Coventry University (in business administration (DBA) and technology (DTech) for Philip and Andrew respectively) in recognition of their contribution to the growth of the electronic games industry both regionally and internationally, and were honoured as

Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

in 2010. After Philip attended the launch of the UK Government's Next Gen Report (also known as the ''

Livingstone Livingstone may refer to: * Livingstone (name), a Scottish surname and a given name. **David Livingstone (1813–1873), Scottish physician, missionary and explorer, after whom many other Livingstones are named Places *Livingstone Falls, on the Con ...

''-Hope Report) in February 2011 about challenges faced by the UK Games industry, he established Made in Creative UK which with Andrew they run as a not for profit campaign to raise awareness of the world class game developers and digital creatives developers based in the UK. The campaign has over 350 supporting companies and many high-profile supporters, including Sajid Javid MP (Culture Secretary & Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills) The Oliver Twins' early games and story inspired many people to develop video games as a career, and this was captured in Chris Wilkins and Roger Kean’s book ''Let’s go Dizzy: The Story of The Oliver Twins'' published December 2016 through Fusion Retro Books. A video shot at the launch of the book entitled ''Videogame Legends – Computerphile'' prompted Markus Persson ‘Notch’, the creator of Minecraft, to tweet that he was one of those inspired by the Oliver Twins games “I grew up loving and being inspired by their work.” In September 2018 the Guinness World Records awarded the Oliver Twins "Most Prolific 8-bit videogame developers", adding "Philip and Andrew Oliver (aka The Oliver Twins) developed 26 commercially released games for 8-bit computers and consoles from 1984-1992, and they designed 35 overall. Taking into account the many different platforms at that time - notably the Dragon 32, BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC, Spectrum, Commodore 64, NES, Master System and Game Gear - they actively wrote 49 released 8 bit games, they also produced titles that never saw the light of day. During that time they had 14 number one games for the Amstrad CPC series of computers and 12 number ones on the Spectrum. They also produced Dizzy, one of the most iconic characters on 8-bit computers. They are still active in the UK games Industry. Their first game was Road Runner, which was published as a type-in in C&VG in 1983."

Games developed

* ''Road Runner'' - (C&VG Magazine) December 1983 -

(Type-in listing) * ''Gambit'' (initially called Strategy) - (Acornsoft) April 1984 -

BBC Model B The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphasi ...

* ''Tellscope'' - (Acorn User) November 1984 -

* ''Easy Art'' - (Interceptor) - Amstrad CPC (Original written for the

for Firebird but never released) * ''Cavey'' - (Players) -

* ''Panda Sprites'' - (Interceptor) - Amstrad CPC * ''Rescue Mission'' - (Beebug) -

* ''Magic Maths'' - (Players) - Amstrad CPC * ''Magic Clock'' - (Players) - Amstrad CPC * ''Killapede'' - (Players) - Amstrad CPC * ''Excaliber'' - half complete & unreleased - Amstrad CPC * '' Super Robin Hood'' – (Codemasters) November 1986 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

C64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness Wo ...

, ST,

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

, NES * '' Ghost Hunters'' – (Codemasters) February 1987 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

* ''

Grand Prix Simulator ''Grand Prix Simulator'' is a racing game developed by The Oliver Twins and published by Codemasters for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit family. The ZX Spectrum conversion was done by Serge Dosang. The game was end ...

'' – (Codemasters) April 1987 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

* ''

Dizzy - The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure Dizziness is an imprecise term that can refer to a sense of disorientation in space, vertigo, or lightheadedness. It can also refer to Balance disorder, disequilibrium or a non-specific feeling, such as giddiness or foolishness. Dizziness is a ...

'' – (Codemasters) June 1987 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

* '' Professional Ski Simulator'' – (Codemasters) October 1987 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

* ''3D Starfighter'' – (Codemasters) November 1987 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum * ''Fruit Machine Simulator'' – (Codemasters) February 1988 – ZX Spectrum, '' Amstrad CPC'',

* ''

Treasure Island Dizzy ''Treasure Island Dizzy'' is a puzzle video game published in 1989 by Codemasters for the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum, and later ported to the Commodore 64, NES, Amiga, Atari ST and Atari Jaguar. ''Treasure Island Dizzy'' is the second game ...

'' – (Codemasters) August 1988 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

, NES, PC DOS * ''Advanced Pinball Simulator'' – (Codemasters) October 1988 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

* ''Pro BMX Simulator'' – (Codemasters) November 1988 –

, '' Amstrad CPC'', '' ZX Spectrum'',

* ''

Fast Food Dizzy ''Fast Food'' (sometimes referred to as ''Fast Food Dizzy'') is the title of two slightly different maze video games in the vein of ''Pac-Man''. Both feature Dizzy an anthropomorphic egg designed by the British-born Oliver Twins. The game was o ...

'' – (Codemasters) December 1988 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

, PC DOS * ''Grand Prix Simulator II'' – (Codemasters) February 1989 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

* ''

The Race Against Time ''The Race Against Time'' is a 1988 adventure video game designed by the Oliver Twins, and developed and published by Codemasters. The player controls Sudanese runner Omar Khalifa, who has to venture to six continents to light torch bowls and r ...

'' – (Codemasters) May 1989 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

* ''Jet Bike Simulator'' – (Codemasters) September 1989 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

* ''

Incredible Shrinking Sphere ''Incredible Shrinking Sphere'' is a 1989 video game developed by Foursfield and published by Electric Dreams Software for Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was de ...

'' – (published by Activision) October 1988 –

, '' Amstrad CPC'', '' ZX Spectrum'',

* '' Fantasy World Dizzy'' – (Codemasters) October 1989 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

, PC * ''

Ghostbusters II ''GhostbustersII'' is a 1989 American Supernatural fiction, supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Ramis, Rick Moranis ...

'' (published by Activision) August 1989 –

, '' Amstrad CPC'', '' ZX Spectrum'',

* ''Operation Gunship'' – (Codemasters) August 1989 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

* '' Kwik Snax'' – (Codemasters) November 1989 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

, PC * ''

Magicland Dizzy ''Magicland Dizzy'' is a platform adventure game published in Europe in 1990 by Codemasters for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amiga platforms. By 1992 there were also MS-DOS, Atari ST and Amstrad CPC versions available. It is the sixth gam ...

'' – (Codemasters) February 1990 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

, PC * '' Dizzy Panic!'' – (Codemasters) May 1990 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64, Master System, Game Gear * '' Dizzy Prince of the Yolkfolk'' – (Codemasters) August 1990 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, C64,

, PC * ''

Bubble Dizzy ''Bubble Dizzy'' is an arcade style action video game developed by the Oliver Twins and published in November 1990 by Codemasters for the Amstrad, Spectrum, MS-DOS, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and Amiga. Gameplay The game involves Dizzy being fo ...

'' – (Codemasters) November 1990 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

, PC * ''

Spellbound Dizzy ''Spellbound Dizzy'' or ''Dizzy 5'' is an adventure video game, featuring the character Dizzy, released in November 1991 by Codemasters. The series was originally developed by the Oliver twins but they had little involvement with this title oth ...

'' – (Codemasters) December 1990 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

, PC * ''

Dizzy Down the Rapids ''Dizzy Down the Rapids'' is an arcade style action video game, that was published in 1991 by Codemasters for the Amstrad CPC, Spectrum and Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in J ...

'' – (Codemasters) April 1991 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

* '' Fantastic Dizzy'' – (Codemasters) April 1992 – NES,

, Mega Drive/Genesis, PC, Game Boy, Master System, Game Gear. * ''Firehawk'' – (Codemasters) September 1992 – NES,

* ''

Crystal Kingdom Dizzy ''Crystal Kingdom Dizzy'' is an adventure game, adventure video game featuring the character Dizzy (series), Dizzy released in December 1992 by Codemasters. The Oliver Twins – who were heavily involved in the design and programming of previous ...

'' – (Codemasters) December 1992 – Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum,

, PC * ''Robin Hood Legend Quest'' – (Codemasters) January 1993 – NES (Quattro Adventure),

, * '' Dizzy The Adventurer'' – (Codemasters) November 1992 – NES (Bundled with Aladdin) * ''Go! Dizzy Go!'' – (Codemasters) November 1992 – NES (Quattro Arcade) * ''BMX Simulator'' – (Codemasters) March 1993 – NES (Quattro Sports) * ''The Excellent Dizzy Collection'' – (Codemasters) November 1993 – Master System, Game Gear * ''

Wonderland Dizzy ''Magicland Dizzy'' is a platform adventure game published in Europe in 1990 by Codemasters for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amiga platforms. By 1992 there were also MS-DOS, Atari ST and Amstrad CPC versions available. It is the sixth game i ...

'' – (FusionRetro Kickstarter) November 2015 – NES * ''Dreamworld Pogie'' – (FusionRetro Kickstarter) May 2017 – NES * ''Mystery World Dizzy'' – (FusionRetro Kickstarter) February 2018 – NES Key to formats... They are in order of release, the first in the list being the first and main version, from which others were derived. Bold Designed and written by The Oliver Twins. Plain Font Converted by other people to these formats. ''Bold + Italic'' Converted to these formats by The Oliver Twins.

Later games (Developed after 1993)

Games created or published by Complex Software, Interactive Studios, Blitz Games Studios, and Radiant Worlds: *'' Puss in Boots'' (Q4 2011) *'' Michael Phelps: Push the Limit'' (Q4 2011) *'' SpongeBob's Surf and Skate Roadtrip'' (Q4 2011) *'' Fantastic Pets'' (2011) *'' Yoostar 2'' (2011) *'' Droplitz Delight'' (2010) *'' SFG Soccer: Football Fever'' (2010) – Published by Blitz 1UP *'' The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout'' (2010) *'' The Biggest Loser Challenge'' (2010) *'' Dead to Rights: Retribution'' (2010) *'' All Star Karate'' (2010) *''

Biggest Loser ''The Biggest Loser'' is a reality television format which started with the American TV show ''The Biggest Loser'' in 2004. The show centers on overweight and obese contestants attempting to lose the most weight; the winner receives a cash prize ...

'' (2009) *'' Karaoke Revolution'' (2009) *''

iCarly ''iCarly'' is an American teen sitcom created by Dan Schneider, which originally aired on Nickelodeon from September 8, 2007, to November 23, 2012. The series tells the story of Carly Shay (Miranda Cosgrove), a teenager who creates and hosts ...

'' (2009) *'' KrissX'' (2009)- Published by Blitz 1UP *'' Fluttabyes'' (2009)- Published by Blitz 1UP *'' Mole Control'' (2009)- Published by Blitz 1UP *'' Clover: A Curious Tale'' (2009)- Published by Blitz 1UP *'' Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao'' (Q4 2009) *''

Droplitz ''Droplitz'' is a 2009 puzzle video game developed by Blitz Arcade and published by Atlus USA. It was released for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, Microsoft Windows and iOS in June 2009 In May 2012 a sequel called ''Droplitz Delight'' was ...

'' (Q3 2009) *''

PowerUp Forever ''PowerUp Forever''Was mistakenly announced as ''Infinitum'' in the original press release. is a downloadable multi-directional shooter developed by Blitz Arcade and published by Namco Bandai for the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStati ...

'' (2008) *'' Buccaneer: The Pursuit of Infamy'' (2008)- Published by Blitz 1UP *'' Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2'' (2008) *'' Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Make the Grade'' (2008) *''

Bratz Girlz Really Rock The Bratz franchise's virtual band released six soundtrack albums, three compilation albums, one extended play, four singles and three music videos. Their debut single "Show Me What You Got", featuring BoA and Howie D. of the Backstreet Boys, wa ...

'' (2008) *''

Tak and the Guardians of Gross ''Tak and the Guardians of Gross'' is a platform video game developed by Blitz Games and published by THQ for Wii and PlayStation 2 in 2008. It is the fourth title in the ''Tak'' series following '' Tak: The Great Juju Challenge''. Plot In the ...

'' (2008) *''Project Aftermath'' (2008)- Published by Blitz 1UP *'' Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore'' (2008) *''SpongeBob SquarePants – Underpants Slam'' (2007) *'' Bratz: The Movie (video game)'' (2007) *'' Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol'' (2007) *''

Big Bumpin' ''Big Bumpin is an advergaming title from Burger King for the Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles. published by King Games and developed by Blitz Games. On November 19, 2006, Burger King started selling it with any value meal. It is one of ...

'' (2006) *'' PocketBike Racer'' (2006) *''

Sneak King Sneak or Sneaky may refer to: * DJ Sneak, Puerto Rican born American house music DJ and producer Carlos Sosa (born 1969) * Quarterback sneak, an American football play * ''Sneak magazine'', a British weekly magazine published from 2002 to 2006 ...

'' (2006) *'' SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab'' (2006) *'' Bratz: Forever Diamondz'' (2006) *'' Reservoir Dogs'' (2006) *'' Pac-Man World 3'' (2005) *'' Bratz: Rock Angelz'' (2005) *'' The Fairly OddParents: Shadow Showdown'' (2004) *'' Bad Boys: Miami Takedown'' (2004) *'' Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue'' (2003) *'' The Fairly OddParents: Breakin' Da Rules'' (2003) *'' Zapper: One Wicked Cricket'' (2002) *'' Taz: Wanted'' (2002) *''Lilo & Stitch: Trouble in Paradise'' (2002) *''

Fuzion Frenzy ''Fuzion Frenzy'' is a launch title for the Microsoft Xbox. At its core, ''Fuzion Frenzy'' is a four-player party game featuring 45 different mini-games (not including the titular Fuzion Frenzy). A demo of the game was included with some other lau ...

'' (2001) *'' The Mummy Returns'' (2001) *'' Chicken Run'' (2000) *''The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea'' (2000) *'' Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge'' (2000) *''

Action Man Action Man is an action figure launched in Britain in 1966 by Palitoy as a licensed copy of Hasbro's American "movable fighting man", G.I. Joe. Action Man was originally produced and sold in the United Kingdom and Australia by Palitoy Ltd of Co ...

: Destruction X'' (2000) *''

: Mission Xtreme'' (1999) *'' Glover'' (1999) *'' WarGames'' (1998) Radiant Worlds *'' SkySaga: Infinite Isles'' (Alpha released Q4 2014 Develop Online News Story
/ref>)

References

External links

Official Oliver Twins website

Blitz Games Studios website

Desert Island Discs style interview with Andrew Oliver

interview with the Goddess from GIGnews
The Dizzy Fansite
page dedicated to Oliver Twins games
Wonderland Dizzy website

Mystery World Dizzy website
{{Codemasters 1969 births Living people British twins British video game designers British video game programmers British computer programmers Oliver Twins