Four Door Lemon Explained

Four Door Lemon Ltd
Type:	Limited
Foundation:	April 2005
Defunct:	September 2018
Fate:	Insolvency
Location City:	Bradford, West Yorkshire
Location Country:	United Kingdom
Key People:	Simon Barratt Les Ellis
Industry:	Video games
Num Employees:	15-20
Homepage:	fourdoorlemon.com (archived)

Four Door Lemon Ltd was a video game company based in Bradford, West Yorkshire and was one of the UK's longest-lived independent video games and middleware developers. Commonly known as "FDL", the company’s name derived from a children’s joke.

History

The company was founded in 2005 by programmers Simon Barratt and Tim Wharton. After developing and launching the Lemon Engine as a middleware program, the team expanded and began development on games for various publishers alongside continued development on the Lemon Engine.

The company's workforce grew in size over time, with its operations encompassing the creation of games for multiple publishers in addition to the development and release of proprietary titles. Ultimately, the company was disbanded in September of 2018.^[1]

Company philosophy

After years of focusing on middleware and game developments, Four Door Lemon started to develop games to be self-published on various platforms, alongside completing work-for-hire titles for other publishers.^[2]

Technology

Four Door Lemon utilized its own technology for developments. The multi-platform Lemon Engine has been used in all FDL-developed titles, with a version now being used for the PS4 and Xbox One developments.

Games

• 101 Ways To Die (PC) published by 4 Door Lemon Vision 1
• Foul Play (PS4/PS Vita) published by Mastertronic/Mediatonic
• Joe Danger Infinity (PS Vita) published by Hello Games
• Joe Danger Touch (Android) published by Hello Games
• Table Mini Golf (PS Vita) published by SCEE
• Table Football (PS Vita) published by SCEE
• Table Ice Hockey (PS Vita) published by SCEE
• (PS3/PS Vita) published by Oddworld Inhabitants
• New Star Soccer 1.5 (iOS/Android) published by NewStarGames
• Football Director (NDS) published by Sports Director
• The Lighthouse HD (iOS) published by Kavcom Ltd
• You are the Ref (iOS/Android/PlayStation Mobile) self-published
• You are the Umpire (iOS/Android/PlayStation Mobile) self-published
• Cricket Captain 2010 (iOS) published by Myinteractive
• Premier Manager (PS2/PC) licensed technology published by Focus Multimedia
• Puzzler Collection (NDS/PS2/PSP/Wii/PC) published by Ubisoft
• (PS2) published by Mastertronic
• Tic Toc Body Pop (iOS) self-published
• Quizquizquiz (iOS/Android/PlayStation Mobile/Kindle) self-published
• Aurifi (iOS) published by Punk Pie Ltd
• Busy Bees (PC touch screen) developed for the Eureka National Children’s Museum

Industry organizations

Four Door Lemon was a member of numerous video games related bodies, including UKIE (board member),^[3] Game Republic,^[4] TIGA, Made in creative UK^[5] and Ga-Ma-Yo.^[6]

External links

• Official Four Door Lemon website archive

Notes and References

1. Web site: FOUR DOOR LEMON LIMITED insolvency - Find and update company information - GOV.UK . 2022-07-28 . find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk . en.
2. Web site: Four Door Lemon: From Hired Gun to Full Indie. GamesIndustry.biz. 2016-06-04.
3. Web site: More top UK games makers win seats in Ukie Board elections Ukie. ukie.org.uk. 2016-06-04.
4. Web site: Game Republic Student Showcase 2014 Welcome to Game Republic. gamerepublic.net. 2016-06-04.
5. Web site: Made in Creative UK Supported by. www.madeincreativeuk.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20140416133843/http://madeincreativeuk.com/supporters. 2014-04-16. 2016-06-04.
6. Web site: GO TEAMS GAMAYO!. ga-ma-yo.com. 2016-06-04.