Game Republic is very sad to report that the founder of York-based games company Recluse Industries, Martin Wheeler, passed away on 18th September 2026 aged 57. Recluse Industries made some fantastic games including “hide and seek pushed to the extreme” game Surveillant and electro disco game Go Robo! for iOS, as well as first-person scifi thriller Vigil on PlayStation VR and most-recently the 90s-influenced escape the bunker VR title Haus of Klaus for Meta Quest.
Martin began his career in the 1980s as a teenage programmer, creating some of the best loved games of the 8-bit era on the ZX Spectrum, such as Sorcery, Dan Dare – pilot of the future (with programmer Dave Chapman), Dan Dare 2 (with programmer Andy Green) and Action Force 2 (with Andy Green). Martin also designed the first Real Time Strategy title on a handheld system – the award winning Warlocked on Game Boy Color in 2000). Martin was also an accomplished and extremely talented musician, creating music for his own games, as well as electronic music for labels such as Soma Records under the name Vector Lovers (Electrobotik Disco is an absolute classic tune from 2004).
“Martin was a passionate supporter of the games industry in the region and long-standing member of Game Republic, regularly attending our events over the years,” said Managing Director of Game Republic, Jamie Sefton. “I got to know him and play his brilliant games as well as find out about the incredible music he made, and I loved chatting to him about the latest synths. He was just a really funny, down-to-earth, lovely person.”
Earlier this year, Martin was unfortunately not feeling well and couldn’t attend the Game Republic event Dark and Doomy in March 2026 in Wakefield, with games legends Brenda Romero and John Romero, of whom he was a huge fan. We arranged a phone call for Martin with John Romero  – and John and Brenda both signed a Doom Guy autobiography for him, which he absolutely loved. We’ll miss Martin hugely – our thoughts go out to his wife and two children.
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