Alex Sulman - "Psygnosis - A Love Story"

Alex Sulman explains the story behind his tender fascination with game developer Psygnosis, its origins, impact, and enduring legacy...

[@Scuba72Chris]

Great talk, it brought back loads of good memories. I worked for Psygnosis from early 1990 so was lucky enough so see many of those games going through development. I'm still with Sony after all these years! The office in Wavertree was called Napier Court but we've now left that place and moved into some very fancy new offices in Liverpool city centre. RIP Ian Hetherington, such a sad loss. Ditto for one of our lovely Psygnosis producers, Steve Riding.

[@ThePToast]

Wow, thanks for the kind words Chris, especially from someone that was actually there! I hope I represented your work well! Agree on Ian and I'm sorry to hear about Steve too. Would love to pick your brain sometime on those years and what it was like to be there!

[@Scuba72Chris]

@@ThePToast You really did mate, it was a pleasure to watch. Certainly a much better job than I would have done! I'd be more than happy to chat about the old days anytime you like.

[@cassiel1970]

Novastorm was awesome! I never see it referenced anywhere. I wish I could find my copy…

[@kajsagauza]

Demo reel with the fighter jet was actually released around 1991 for Amiga CDTV. The game was called Planetside and it was cancelled in 1993. In general, it helped Psygnosis to develop Microcosm.

[@ThePToast]

Good catch, I did indeed reference the wrong year there. I hope I drew that line between that Planetside demo and Microcosm through the Fujitsu & FM Towns Marty connection, though! Fascinating to think how ahead of the game Psygnosis and ATG were at that time!

[@paulhorton916]

Fascinating. I grew up with their software. So well presented. Thank-you for your insights and knowledge. In regard to pc 3D accelerated games, I remember playing a 3D game called Lander by Psygnosis.

[@ThePToast]

@@paulhorton916 Oh I LOVED Lander - I remember picking that up and being stunned at how it looked and played. Good call out!

[@Asobitech]

Great talk, on a great publisher.

[@ThePToast]

Thank you so much for checking it out - was really fun to do and I'm really grateful to the Centre and Dan for giving me the time to share my enthusiasm!

[@hymanmj]

Superb! Thanks. :)

[@ThePToast]

Yay, thanks for checking it out!

[@HCihaiJB]

Great talk- I loved their games as a kid

[@BoyceBailey]

Still remember seeing Shadow of the Beast after school around someones house. mind blown

[@ThePToast]

Agreed, dat parallax tho!!!

[@pikuma]

This was one of the best talks at the Centre so far! Great stuff.

[@ThePToast]

Thank you Pikuma, really appreciate you taking the time to check it out and your kinds words !!

[@mik8032]

I remember play shadow of the beast 1 & 2 on the Amiga. Amazing graphics and sounds. My mates were blown away. I thought it was a great game back then but now I now it’s rubbish. Anyway fond memories

[@ThePToast]

Good call, all 3 Beasts were great examples both of Psygnosis' boundary pushing and their growth as a developer! Beast 3 is very underrated imo!

[@6581punk]

Imagine were way ahead of their time. Adding additional hardware into cartridges became common place later on. The SNES superfx chip. The Japanese NES release of Castlevania III had an additional sound chip. Atari 7800 had poor sound and so some games shipped a Pokey sound chip in the cart. Some NES games also had RAM inside.

[@ThePToast]

10000% chap - In so many ways, from the hardware ambitions to the scope of their ideas, Imagine were ahead of their time for sure!

[@GeorgesChannel]

Really great talk! As a Software Developer myself i really enjoyed the insides and tge pushing boundaries mentality. I remember Ecstatica and their unique aproach for 3d graphics with spheres...Love early 3d graphics anyway...:)

[@ThePToast]

Thank you for checking the talk out and for the kind words - glad you enjoyed it! It was a lot of fun to do and getting to support the Museum made it all the better!

[@GeorgesChannel]

@@ThePToast You are always welcome! The museum is great..i bought that computer trump card set from them and made a humble video about it with their permission..:)

[@SnabbKassa]

I thought the first four letters rhymed with vibe, not fib.

[@ThePToast]

Great question, and I'm fact in some places it was said that way. But as far as I understand it's definitely "Sig" but perhaps @ChrisStanley could confirm for us?

[@000Angus000]

For me, they didn't become a worthwhile company until the PlayStation era. The DMA Amiga games were great, most of the rest weren't and some of the early Amiga games were really awful.