Dundee made Lemmings and GTA. Now its young people are building the museum.

Everything you need to cover Dundee Made Games in one place: the story, key facts, quotes, images and logos. Click any image to open the full size version.

At a glance

• What: young people at HELM are crowdfunding to prototype ideas for Dundee’s first gaming museum
• Crowdfunder: live from 10am on Friday 6 November until 4pm on Friday 18 December 2026
• Target: £16,000. Every pledge up to £250 is matched pound for pound by Creative Scotland, so £8,000 from the public becomes £16,000
• Match condition: at least 25 supporters are needed to unlock the match
• Who leads it: HELM’s Youth Collective (HYC), young people aged 14 to 25
• What happens next: work starts February 2027, leading to a one day public exhibition in June 2027

The story

The idea came from a conversation at HELM. “Dundee made Lemmings. Dundee made Grand Theft Auto.” “No way,” said one young person. “Y’ken, the gaming story is massive in Dundee.” “Where?” said another.

That’s the problem. Dundee has one of the strongest games industries in the country, from Denki, Rockstar Dundee, Bit Loom, Tag Games and Hyper Luminal to Abertay University’s world famous games courses. Yet there is nowhere to find that story, and many of the young people growing up here have never heard it. Dundee cake gets better PR.

The story goes back to the early 1980s, when the Timex factory in Dundee built the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the computer that got a generation of kids making games at home. DMA Design, the studio behind Lemmings and the first Grand Theft Auto, started in Dundee in the late 1980s. In 1997, Abertay launched the world’s first degree in computer games.

HELM’s Youth Collective chose the idea and will lead it. From February 2027 they will:

• build models of a gaming museum and cafe inside HELM’s home, The Sea Captain’s House
• record the memories of people who worked in Dundee’s games industry, before those stories are lost
• create artwork and start a collection of games, hardware and memorabilia

They will present their plans to Dundee City Council and partners, then open a one day public exhibition in June 2027 and ask Dundee what it wants from its gaming museum.

Quotes

Many of the young people we work with play games but have never pictured themselves making them. This project changes that. They’ll work alongside artists and industry experts, be paid for their time, and build something the whole city can be proud of.

Clare Taylor Brown, Chief Executive, HELM

A games museum in Dundee would help to explore a valuable piece of local social history, showing part of the post industrial transition of the city away from factory work and into the new technological and cultural sectors. It would hopefully also be quite good fun, and possibly even more exciting than jute! ;-)

Pat Kerr, Physics Programmer for GTA

Dundee has such a rich gaming history and it deserves a home where people can see it, play it and share it. We’re delighted to back HELM’s young people in making it happen.

Cake or Dice, Community & Board Game Cafe, Dundee

Images

Free to use with coverage of Dundee Made Games. Please credit HELM. Young people’s faces are covered to protect their identities. Interviews and photos with HYC members are available on request, subject to consent.

Logos

About HELM

HELM Training Limited (SC008580) has supported young people aged 14 to 25 in Dundee for over 40 years, working with those affected by poverty, care experience, poor mental health and trauma. In the past 12 months, over 140 young people achieved 323 qualifications, and over 40 moved on to college, jobs or apprenticeships.

The project is supported by James Moorwood of Bit Loom, Professor Robin Sloan of Abertay University and Brian Baglow of the Scottish Games Network, with match funding from Creative Scotland through the National Lottery.

Press contact

Email: contact@dundeemadegames.org.uk

For interviews, images or a copy of the full press release, please get in touch.