Creative Scotland Crowdmatch provided £265 of match funding
Dundee Made Games - so why no museum?
Dundee, Dundee City Council, United Kingdom
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Aim
To inspire new & diverse voices to get into art & gaming by capturing the past & bigging up Dundee's gaming heritage awesomeness (•̀ᴗ•́)....
WHY NO GAMING MUSEUM, DUNDEE?!
(ノ°▽°)ノ︵ ┻━┻
"Dundee made Lemmings. Dundee made Grand Theft Auto."
"No way," said one bairn. "Y'ken, the gaming story is massive in Dundee."
"Where?" said another. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
OMG, I thought. Not even the young people growing up here know it. ヽ(°〇°)ﾉ
That's the problem. Gaming is everywhere in this city, and nowhere at the same time. Dundee has one of the strongest games industries in the country, with studios like Denki, 4J studio, Rockstar Dundee, Bit Loom, YoYo Games and Hyper Luminal, and Abertay University's world famous games courses. Yet if you come looking for that story, there is nowhere to find it.
It's Dundee's best kept secret, and that makes no sense. Dundee cake gets better PR. ಠ_ಠ
How can a city encourage more diverse voices into games, tech and the creative industries if it never tells them they belong to that story? It's madness.
Image: Young people looking out over the Tay. Faces are covered to protect identities.
Where it started
In the early 1980s, the Timex factory in Dundee built the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the computer that got a generation of bairns (kids) making their own games at home. Some of the people who worked there went on to make games themselves. DMA Design, the studio behind Lemmings and the first Grand Theft Auto, started in Dundee in the late 1980s. In 1997, Abertay Uni launched the world's first degree in computer games. A small city on the Tay helped build an industry now worth billions, and made gaming cool and accessible the world over.
Who will build this museum?
HELM's Youth Collective (HYC), is a group of young people aged 14 to 25 who want to see that story told. HYC is HELM's guiding force. They shape new projects, have a say in how HELM is run, and help make it the best it can be for them and for the young people who come after them.
They chose to create and prototype a gaming museum and cafe inside HELM's own home, The Sea Captain's House. It's an old captain's house, so the project is a voyage of its own, collecting treasure from the past to build something new.
They chose the idea, and they will lead the design, the research, the collecting and the events. HELM's staff back them with youth workers, a building and access to experts, but the direction is theirs.
Image: A small gaming display in Dundee
Dundee legend, Pat Kerr, Physics Programmer for GTA, said: "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! ;-)" https://patkerr.co.uk/
What is the HELM Youth Collective?
Based at HELM Training, a youth charity in Dundee, HYC is the guiding force of this 40 year old organisation. HYC are a group of young people helping HELM be the best it can be for them and for future generations. They shape new projects, have a say in how HELM is run, and decide what happens next. They get to be creative on their own terms and steer their way to new destinations. (っ◔◡◔)っ ♥
More than a museum
Saving the past matters. Backing the future matters more. Young people today are dealing with a lot that isn't of their making. Cracked surroundings, systems that aren't fit for purpose, AI anxiety, and a dreich stream of commentary about a world that always seems to be on fire.
(dreich - adjective. Bleak, miserable, dismal, cheerless, dreary.)
No more, thanks.
This project gives them something different. It's exciting, it's fun, and it's real learning. It could be the start of a career. And it's something they chose for themselves. The young people will go from consumers to creators. Through creative experiments, design and model making, they will lay the plans for their long term aim, opening Dundee's own gaming museum, which they can run.
Image: Young people celebrating graduation in Helm’s games development course. Faces are covered to protect identities.
What your money pays for?
This campaign funds the first stage, starting in early 2027. Think of it as a test run: a few months of making, experimenting and finding out what works, ending with an exhibition that proves the idea. (•̀ᴗ•́)و £
HYC will be:
- building models of the future museum
- creating artwork and designs to capture the look and feel of the museum
- retro gaming research and playing using emulators at this stage
- tracking down people who worked in Dundee's games industry and recording their memories, before those stories are lost, plus the tech to capture this
- meeting experts and asking them, "Why doesn't Dundee have a gaming museum?" and asking other stuff
- collecting and scanning pictures, articles and memorabilia to get the collection started
- a public interactive exhibition at HELM
They will present their plans to Dundee City Council and other partners to win their support. Then they will open a one day public exhibition at HELM of everything they have found and made, and ask Dundee what it wants from its gaming museum. Expect Dundee’s gaming history, retro gaming activities and, fingers crossed, some classic games to play. Anyone got an old copy of Lemmings in the loft? Get in touch!
After the exhibition, the space, one of HELM’s underused rooms, will stay open for young people to keep adding ideas, making new art and design work, and playing old games.
Your money also contributes to expert staff and youth workers who will care and support the young people every step of the way.
Double your money
Every pledge up to £250 is matched pound for pound by Creative Scotland. £8,000 from you becomes the £16,000 this first stage needs. We need this to be from over 25 unique supporters (ง'̀-'́)ง
Want to give more than £250? Creative Scotland matches up to £250 per pledge, so please get in touch and we’ll talk about how a larger gift can do the most.
What happens next?
After the exhibition, HYC will gather the feedback and document everything they have done and found, to shape the next stage. They will turn their vision into a proper business plan, take it to investors, and get the backing needed to get this ship out of the dock. (⌐■_■)
Help them tell this story, learn new skills, and change who gets to make the future of games, art and entertainment.
Image: Collage of creative work by young people at Helm
What people are saying
Clare Taylor Brown, Chief Executive, HELM - "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".
Pat Kerr, Physics Programmer for GTA - "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! ;-)"
Prof Robin Sloan. Professor of Game Design and Culture, Abertay University - "Dundee has played a remarkable role in shaping the history of video games, and it’s really important that we celebrate and preserve that heritage. With next year marking both 30 years since the launch of Grand Theft Auto and 30 years since Abertay launched the world’s first games degree, it’s a great time to be looking towards projects that help our video games stories to be more visible and accessible and to use our history to inspire future generations. We’re proud to be supporting Helm in this excellent project which has clear potential to connect our city’s gaming past with the young creators and innovators of the future".
Cake or Dice, Community & Board Game Cafe - 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.
About HELM
For over 40 years, HELM has supported young people aged 14 to 25 in Dundee who face barriers to education and work. Those barriers include poverty, care experience, trauma and mental health challenges, things that shape a young person's chances long before they reach us.
We run a 12 week employability programme, HELM AutoCare, HELM Beauty, Computer Game Development, the HELM Youth Collective, and youth work and volunteering programmes. Young people get one to one support, real work placements, wellbeing support and SQA qualifications, and they leave with confidence and a plan.
So far this year, over 140 young people have achieved 323 qualifications, and over 40 have moved on to college, jobs or apprenticeships. Two young people now have paid work at HELM AutoCare. (°ロ°) !
Clare Taylor Brown, Chief Executive of HELM, said: "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."
Thank you for reading - Back it, Share it, Get in touch :)
Big thanks to James Morwood of Bit Loom and Professor Robin Sloan of Abertay University for providing a supporting video.
Match funding from Creative Scotland through the National Lottery.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 18th December 2026 at 4:00pm