Dinamic Software wants to regain its place in current game development and its first step will be with Army Moves Overdrive

The 80s are considered a legendary decade in entertainment culture. Its music, cinema and, of course, videogames are always praised. In Spain, that decade is considered the (first?) Golden Age of Spanish software, and a good part of that title is the responsibility of Dinamic Software, which at the time developed countless titles for Amstrad, Commodore 64, MSX and Spectrum. It was an era when home computers had the world at their feet, before the first home consoles took over a large part of the cake in the 90s.

Many memories remain from those years, but perhaps one of the most remembered and loved collections is Dinamic's trilogy of Army Moves, Navy Moves and Artic Moves. Side-scrolling shooters and platformers that delighted gamers in 1986. And now 38 years after its original release, it's about to make a comeback in the form of a reboot thanks to a partnership between Dinamic Software and Dunwich Studio, who present Army Moves Overdrive. We spoke to Spanish development legend Pablo Ruiz, CEO of Dinamic, and Erik Rueda, technical director at Dunwich, about this modern version of the game to hear about the rebirth process, in the interview below during the last IndieDevDay.

Recovering a franchise like Army Moves from the past is not an easy task, but the idea came precisely from another Spanish development of a remake that arrived in 2021, Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX, created by the Valencian Jankenteam. This is how Pablo Ruiz put it:

"I met Ramón Nafria who had made Alex Kidd DX (...) and we thought 'Is it possible to do something this big with Dinamic titles?', and we looked at the list and talked, and finally we decided on Army Moves. I remember the incredible image that Alfonso Azpiri, the illustrator, created, and I thought that at that time it was impossible to do this movement on the screen, and I say 'I want to bring this military drawing to a real and current game with all the powerful tools we have today' and this animated creation by Azpiri comes to life in the new Army Moves Overdrive".

Of course, adapting to the new times is a tough process, but Dunwich Studio proved to be the right choice for the task, especially as they had a lot of love for the original.

"It's a completely modern game, everything is new, but of course with a lot of respect and all the material from the original is something we took, applied and referenced, and we want both new players who don't know Army Moves at all and also people who played the original," commented Erik Rueda. "We want them to play the new one and say 'okay, I see what you're doing here, I can see that jeep moving, I can see the jump, I can see that enemy, I can see those things, those references, and hit their key."

"But we also want the new players that are playing today to take the game and say 'okay this is fun, this is cool, this is something faster, more modern, let's say... more 'dynamic'."

We'll still have to wait a while before we can try out this new version of the classic, as development is still in its early stages, but the idea is to release it on both PC and major consoles. "The 80s are back," says Ruiz.