Since its release in 1993, the film Jurassic Park has spawned a large number of games. Many of them have been platform games, and almost all of them are about killing dinosaurs. Our publisher, Universal Interactive, wanted Operation Genesis to be different. Instead of asking the player to destroy and survive dinosaurs, they wanted to give players the opportunity to create and manage their own Jurassic Park.

All of us at Blue Tongue Software were excited to explore the Jurassic Park license as a simulation game. Blue Tongue Software has always picked unique and innovative projects to tackle. Previous projects include AFL Finals Fever (the first Australian Rules football game ever) and Starship Troopers (based on the book and movie of the same title).

The development of Operation Genesis was an exciting and challenging journey. While there is a wealth of console experience within the team, Blue Tongue Software has only developed PC games. So, as a company, we were new to console development. This was also the first time we've simultaneously developed for multiple platforms. The scope of the game also led us to creating a new engine in parallel with creating the game itself. And, to handle the increased scope, we increased the size of the team significantly. On our previous project, Starship Troopers, we had 20 in the team. At the end of Operation Genesis, the team had grown to about 40 members.



Build fences and attractions in your own Jurassic Park.

While there were a number of challenges, we are happy with what we were able to achieve. We created an original game, for three platforms, in multiple languages, and we did it in less than two years.