Dynamix, Inc. was an American developer of video games from 1984 to 2001, best known for the flight simulator Red Baron, the puzzle game The Incredible Machine, the Front Page Sports series, Betrayal at Krondor, and the online multiplayer game Tribes.
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Founder | Jeff Tunnell Damon Slye |
| Defunct | August 14, 2001;[1][2] 23 years ago |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
| Owner | Sierra On-Line (1990–2001) |
| Website | dynamix.com (archived) |
History edit
The company was founded in Eugene, Oregon in 1984 by Jeff Tunnell and Damon Slye. Their first title, Stellar 7, was released before company founding and was later remade with the Dynamix name on it. They made a number of games for the Commodore 64, among them Project Firestart, which was one of the most atmospheric titles for the C64.
In the following years, Dynamix created a line of action games for Penguin Software and Electronic Arts, including one of the first games for the Amiga, Arcticfox. Later titles were developed for Activision. After self-publishing their games for a short while, in 1990 Dynamix was bought by Sierra On-Line.
Dynamix had published A-10 Tank Killer and distributed it through Mediagenic, but the acquisition occurred during the development of Red Baron, which became the first game in Dynamix's "Great Warplanes" flight simulator series published by Sierra.[3] Dynamix created some of their most famous games, including a line of adventures and simulators that included Red Baron and The Adventures of Willy Beamish. They also created the puzzle game The Incredible Machine, along with the spinoff Sid & Al's Incredible Toons. Another successful product line was the Front Page Sports series, designed by Pat Cook and Allen McPheeters which included Football, Baseball, and Golf. Versions of Red Baron and Front Page Sports Football were included as part of the ImagiNation Network.
As a developer, Dynamix was notable for their early use of digitized graphics, animations and sounds effects in PC, Atari ST and Amiga games. The techniques were first used in 1988 in Pete Rose Pennant Fever, and used most notably in movie tie-in games like Die Hard and Ghostbusters II, as well as David Wolf: Secret Agent and Death Track.
By 1994 Slye agreed with a Computer Gaming World statement that "Now when someone hears 'Dynamix' they immediately think 'flight simulator'".[3] In 1994, the first game in a new series called Metaltech was released, a giant robot combat game with similarities to the BattleTech universe and games. This series resulted in two Earthsiege games and eventually Starsiege. As a side development of the Starsiege game, the successful Tribes series was created. Dynamix also created Outpost 2: Divided Destiny, the second game in Sierra's strategy/survival franchise, Outpost.
The Dynamix studio was closed by Sierra On-Line on August 14, 2001, as part of Sierra's restructuring under Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing. Several veterans of the studio (including Tunnell), however, stayed in Eugene and founded a new studio / electronic publisher, GarageGames.
Torque Game Engine edit
Some of the core Dynamix members started GarageGames, an independent-friendly engine developer and game publisher. They negotiated an agreement with Sierra for the source code to the Tribes 2 game engine. After reworking the code, GarageGames released it as a V12 but were soon told that an engine already had the name, so it was then called the Torque Game Engine (or TGE). The source code for TGE, a professional-grade 3D engine, was available to nearly anyone for fees starting at USD$100, but has since been released as open source under the MIT License.
List of games developed by Dynamix edit
| Title | Release | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Stellar 7 | 1983 (Apple II) 1984 (C64) |
Software Entertainment Company Penguin Software (C64) |
| Sword of Kadash | 1985 (Apple II, C64) 1986 (Atari ST, MacOS) |
Penguin Software Polarware (MacOS) |
| Skyfox (ports only) | 1986 (Atari ST, MacOS) | Electronic Arts |
| Arcticfox | 1986 (Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, C64) 1987 (DOS) 1988 (Amstrad CPC, PC-98, ZX Spectrum) 1989 (MSX) |
Electronic Arts DROsoft (MSX) |
| GBA Championship Basketball: Two-on-Two | 1986 (Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, C64, DOS) 1987 (Apple IIGS, ZX Spectrum) |
Activision |
| Championship Baseball | 1987 (Amiga, Atari ST) | Activision |
| Skyfox II: The Cygnus Conflict | 1987 (C64) 1988 (Amiga, DOS) 1989 (Atari ST) |
Electronic Arts |
| The Train: Escape to Normandy | 1988 (DOS) | Accolade |
| Pete Rose Pennant Fever | 1988 (DOS) | Gamestar, Inc. |
| Caveman Ughlympics | 1988 (C64) 1989 (DOS) 1990 (NES) |
Electronic Arts Data East (NES) |
| F-14 Tomcat | 1988 (C64) 1990 (DOS) |
Activision |
| Abrams Battle Tank | 1989 (DOS) 1991 (Genesis) |
Electronic Arts Sega (Genesis) |
| Motocross | 1989 (DOS) | Gamestar, Inc. |
| MechWarrior | 1989 (DOS) 1992 (X68000) 1993 (PC-98) |
Activision Cross Media Soft (PC-98, X68000) |
| A-10 Tank Killer | 1989 (DOS) 1991 (Amiga) |
Dynamix |
| Ghostbusters II | 1989 (DOS) | Activision |
| Deathtrack | 1989 (DOS) | Activision |
| Die Hard | 1989 (C64, DOS) | Activision |
| David Wolf: Secret Agent | 1989 (DOS) | Dynamix |
| Project Firestart | 1989 (C64) | Electronic Arts |
| Stellar 7 (re-release) | 1990 (DOS) 1991 (Amiga) 1993 (MacOS) |
Dynamix |
| Red Baron | 1990 (DOS) 1992 (Amiga, MacOS) |
Sierra On-Line |
| Rise of the Dragon | 1990 (DOS) 1991 (Amiga, MacOS) 1992 (Sega CD) 2017 (Windows) |
Sierra On-Line Dynamix (Sega CD) Activision (Windows) |
| The Adventures of Willy Beamish | 1991 (DOS) 1992 (Amiga, MacOS) 1993 (Sega CD) 2017 (Windows) |
Sierra On-Line Sega (Sega CD) Activision (Windows) |
| Nova 9: The Return of Gir Draxon | 1991 (DOS) 1992 (Amiga) |
Sierra On-Line |
| Heart of China | 1991 (Amiga, DOS) 1992 (MacOS) 2017 (Windows) |
Sierra On-Line Dynamix (DOS) Activision (Windows) |
| Red Baron: Mission Builder | 1991 (DOS) | Sierra On-Line |
| WWII: 1946 | 1992 (DOS, Windows 3.x) | Sierra On-Line |
| Aces of the Pacific | 1992 (DOS, Windows 3.x) | Sierra On-Line |
| The Incredible Machine | 1992 (DOS) 1994 (3DO) |
Sierra On-Line Dynamix (3DO) |
| Front Page Sports Football | 1992 (DOS) | Dynamix |
| Stellar 7: Draxon's Revenge | 1993 (3DO) | Dynamix (3DO) |
| Stellar-Fire | 1993 (Sega CD) | Dynamix |
| Sid & Al's Incredible Toons | 1993 (DOS) | Sierra On-Line |
| Betrayal at Krondor | 1993 (DOS) 2010 (Windows) |
Dynamix Activision (Windows) |
| Alien Legacy | 1993 (DOS) | Sierra On-Line |
| Space Quest V | 1993 (DOS) | Sierra On-Line |
| Front Page Sports Football Pro | 1993 (DOS) | Dynamix |
| Aces Over Europe | 1993 (DOS) | Sierra On-Line |
| Take a Break! Pinball | 1993 (Windows 3.x) | Sierra On-Line |
| Sierra Soccer | 1994 (Amiga) | Sierra On-Line |
| Metaltech: Battledrome | 1994 (DOS) | Sierra On-Line |
| Metaltech: Earthsiege | 1994 (DOS) | Sierra On-Line |
| Front Page Sports: Baseball '94 | 1994 (DOS) | Sierra On-Line |
| Bouncers | 1994 (Sega CD) | Sega |
| 3-D Ultra Pinball | 1995 (Windows, Windows 3.x, MacOS) | Sierra On-Line |
| Command: Aces of the Deep | 1995 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| The Incredible Machine 3 | 1995 (Windows, Windows 3.x) | Sierra On-Line |
| Earthsiege 2 | 1995 (Windows, Windows 3.x) | Sierra On-Line |
| Aces of the Deep Expansion Disk | 1995 (DOS, Windows, Windows 3.x) | Sierra On-Line |
| Trophy Bass | 1995 (Windows, Windows 3.x) | Sierra On-Line |
| Silent Thunder | 1996 (Windows, Windows 3.x) | Sierra On-Line |
| MissionForce: CyberStorm | 1996 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Front Page Sports: Trophy Bass 2 | 1996 (Windows, Windows 3.x) | Sierra On-Line |
| 3-D Ultra Pinball: Creep Night | 1996 (Windows, Windows 3.x, MacOS) | Sierra On-Line |
| Hunter Hunted | 1996 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Front Page Sports: Trophy Bass 2 - Northern Lakes | 1997 (Windows, Windows 3.x) | Sierra On-Line |
| 3-D Ultra Pinball: The Lost Continent | 1997 (MacOS, Windows, Windows 3.x) | Sierra On-Line |
| Red Baron II | 1997 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Front Page Sports: Trophy Rivers | 1997 (Windows, Windows 3.x) | Sierra On-Line |
| Front Page Sports: Ski Racing | 1997 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Red Baron With Mission Builder | 1997 (DOS, Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Outpost 2: Divided Destiny | 1997 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Sierra Pro Pilot 98: The Complete Flight Simulator | 1997 (Windows)[4] | Sierra On-Line |
| 3-D Ultra NASCAR Pinball | 1998 (Windows) 1999 (MacOS) |
Sierra On-Line |
| Starsiege | 1998 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Starsiege: Tribes | 1998 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| CyberStorm 2: Corporate Wars | 1998 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Pro Pilot '99 | 1998 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Red Baron 3-D | 1998 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Driver's Education '99 | 1998(Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Field & Stream: Trophy Bass 3D | 1999 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Curse You! Red Baron | 1999 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| 3D Ultra Lionel Traintown | 1999 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| 3-D Ultra Radio Control Racers | 1999 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| 3-D Ultra Cool Pool | 1999 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Field & Stream: Trophy Bass 4 | 2000 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Field & Stream: Trophy Hunting 4 | 2000 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Return of the Incredible Machine: Contraptions | 2000 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| RC Racers II | 2000 (Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Tribes 2 | 2001 (Linux, Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| The Incredible Machine: Even More Contraptions | 2001 (MacOS, Palm OS, Windows) | Sierra On-Line |
| Mini Golf Maniacs (Unreleased) | 2001 (Windows, PS2) | Sierra On-Line |
References edit
- ^ "Sierra shifts course".
- ^ "Sierra reorganizes its operations".
- ^ a b Basham, Tom (May 1994). "Ace Over The PC". Computer Gaming World (interview). pp. 72–76.
- ^ "A Civilian Flight Simulator For Everyone". dynamix.com. December 5, 1997. Archived from the original on June 27, 1998. Retrieved April 24, 2022.