Jump Logs: The OG DJ (#4) | July 2026

This is now the fourth Jump Log, and development has really started to ramp up as I work towards getting a playable demo ready for friends to try this December.

I'm aware that the last two blog posts have been quite long, although hopefully they have been informative and have given a deeper insight into the development of Dimension Jumper. For this blog post, I’ve decided to make it a little shorter and talk about the game that started it all... the original Dimension Jumper (see figure 1) from 10 years ago, and why I decided to return to it after all this time.

Figure 1 - Dimension Jumper (Original), Maze Section [Video Game]

Humble Beginnings

Dimension Jumper originally started as my EPQ project during college, where I decided to investigate how retro games were made. It's worth mentioning that at this point, I didn't really understand how modern games were developed, so I thought the best place to start was by looking back at the history of game development and understanding how games were made in the past.

I remember my dad mentioning that he used to play computer games on an Amstrad CPC, and there was one game in particular called Sorcery that he really enjoyed. Having kept the Amstrad, he showed me the game, and it was safe to say I immediately appreciated the simplicity of its design. There was something really charming about how straightforward the concept was, and I remember thinking that if there was a game simple enough to recreate, surely it would be this one.

As it turns out, I was very wrong!

However, driven by passion, curiosity, and ignorance, I decided to try anyway. I wanted to take the core ideas of Sorcery but put my own spin on it by moving the setting from fantasy into science fiction. And that was how Dimension Jumper (Remake) was born (see figure 2).

Figure 2 - Dimension Jumper (Pre-Alpha v0.4), Local Co-op [Video Game]

The Idea That Stayed With Me

One of the things that stood out to me even back then was just how unique the concept felt. I could genuinely picture it as something sitting on a shelf in a game store, with its own identity and style. That idea stuck with me, even after I eventually moved on from the project.

For the next 10 years, Dimension Jumper was put aside while I continued learning about game development and improving my skills. I worked on other projects, studied different areas of development, and continued building up my experience, but the idea always remained in the back of my mind.

Returning 10 Years Later

It wasn't until 2023 that the idea came back around.

My brother would regularly joke about when Dimension Jumper was getting its remaster, and after hearing it enough times, I started thinking... why not actually try?

It felt like unfinished business. After completing two degrees in indie game development and spending years learning the different aspects of making games, I really wanted to make a genuine attempt at turning this idea into something more. Maybe it could become my first semi-professional release and my first real step into indie development and self-employment.

With that motivation, I started working on rebuilding the game from the ground-up and adding features that I had never attempted before. One of the biggest additions was local multiplayer. From the beginning, I wanted this version of Dimension Jumper to be something I could sit down and play with my brother.

Paying Homage To The Original

Fast forward to today, and I'm still just as passionate about the project as I was when I first started. I'm also really happy that I've been able to preserve some of the original identity from the game I made 10 years ago.

I've kept some of the original sound effects, and the distinctive purple and green colour palette has also made a return, although thankfully it has been toned down and refined a little since the original version!

Figure 3 - Dimension Jumper (Pre-Alpha v0.4), Main Menu [Video Game]

Looking back, it's quite strange seeing how much the project has changed, but also how much of that original idea is still there. The game has grown significantly, but the heart of it remains the same.

That's about it for this month's Jump Log. Next time, I promise I'll get back into something a little more technical and share more screenshots of the game so you can get a better insight into exactly what I've been working on. Thanks again for taking the time to read, and I'll see you in the next Jump Log!