No Code

The embryonic stages of a family-run developer intent on upending expectations

- Lewis Gordon

Think of a typical Glaswegian family-run business. A cutting-edge videogame studio probably isn’t be too high up your list. Yet that’s precisely what No Code is. Established in 2015 by Jon McKellan and omar Khan, the team now encompasses not only the former’s brother, Graeme McKellan, but his own wife, Lena and her brother, Ben Hall. Oh, and Khan’s mum chips in with cleaning and odd jobs around the studio. You might also think, not unreasonably, that such a cosy environment isn’t the most fertile ground from which to dream up some of the most forward-thinking and unsettling videogames of the last few years – but the psychological horror of Stories Untold and the forthcoming sci-fi thriller Observation rather disprove that, too. No Code, it seems, is building a reputation off the back of confounding expectations and delivering some of the most thoughtful entertainment around in the process.

The core of the team, McKellan brothers Jon and Graeme, have known Khan since primary school. They grew up in what the trio describe as a “council-themed” village just off the northeast of Glasgow in the 1980s: working class, a smattering of houses surrounded by fields, pleasant hill views and a thunderous main road carrying commuters into the city itself. So far, so unremarkable. But the upbringing did offer them one thing: time with one another. For well over a decade, they’d play videogames at weekends and after school, whittling away hours on Command & Conquer and Unreal Tournament, while also building up an intimate familiarity with certain films. “Every Thursday for about two years we watched the Aliens Director’s Cut,” Jon recalls. “It was a special edition VHS and it had the trailer for Alien 3 at the start – so we watched that every time as well.”