Dynamix

For other uses, see Dynamix (disambiguation).
Dynamix, Inc.
Defunct
Industry Interactive entertainment
Founded 1984 (1984)
Defunct August 14, 2001 (2001-08-14)
Headquarters Eugene, Oregon, U.S.
Key people
Jeff Tunnell and Damon Slye (Founders)
Website www.dynamix.com (Defunct)

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, the acclaimed Betrayal at Krondor, and their online multiplayer game Tribes.

History

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 re-released 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 Electronic Arts, including one of the first games for the Commodore 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.

Once part of Sierra, Dynamix created some of their most famous games, including a line of adventures and flight simulations 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.

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 its parent company Sierra Entertainment on August 14, 2001, as part of Sierra's restructuring under Vivendi Universal. Several veterans of the studio (including Tunnell), however, stayed in Eugene and founded a new studio / electronic publisher, GarageGames.

After several years at GarageGames, Dynamix co-founder Jeff Tunnell and long-time Dynamix employee Rick Overman have founded PushButton Labs[1] in Eugene, with the intent to further develop web-based video games.[2]

After over 10 years of retirement, Dynamix co-founder and game designer Damon Slye returned to the games industry to start Mad Otter Games in Eugene, Oregon in 2007 alongside several other key ex-Dynamix employees.[3] Mad Otter Games released the online World War II dogfighting game Ace of Aces[4] in 2008 on the web portal InstantAction, though after InstantAction was shut down the company revealed they would be re-releasing the game on their own website (as of August 2012 the game has not been re-released).[5] They are currently developing an online MMORPG called A Mystical Land, which was released in 2011.[6] On October 22, 2013, a Kickstarter campaign was started to fund a re-release of Red Baron.[7]

Torque Game Engine

Main article: Torque Game Engine

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 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


TitleYear of ReleasePlatform(s)Genre
Stellar 7 1983 Commodore 64, Apple II Action, Vehicle Simulation
Skyfox 1984 only Amiga and Macintosh ports Action, Vehicle Simulation
Championship Baseball 1986 Atari ST, ZX Spectrum Sports
Arctic Fox 1986 Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, ZX Spectrum Action, Vehicle Simulation
GBA Championship Basketball: Two-on-Two 1986 Amiga Sports
Skyfox II: The Cygnus Conflict 1987 Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS Action
The Train: Escape to Normandy 1988 DOS Action, Vehicle Simulation
Abrams Battle Tank 1988 DOS Vehicle Simulation
Pete Rose Pennant Fever 1988 DOS Sports
Caveman Ugh-Lympics 1988 Commodore 64, DOS, NES Sports
F-14 Tomcat 1988 Commodore 64, DOS Action, Vehicle Simulation
Motocross 1989 DOS Racing/Driving, Vehicle Simulation
MechWarrior 1989 DOS Action, Vehicle Simulation
A-10 Tank Killer 1989 Amiga, DOS Vehicle Simulation
Ghostbusters II 1989 DOS Action
Deathtrack 1989 DOS Action, Racing/Driving
Die Hard 1989 Commodore 64, DOS Action, Adventure
David Wolf: Secret Agent 1989 DOS Action, Racing/Driving
Project Firestart 1989 Commodore 64 Action, Adventure
Stellar 7 (re-release) 1990 Amiga, DOS Action, Vehicle Simulation
Red Baron 1990 Amiga, DOS, Macintosh Vehicle Simulation
Rise of the Dragon 1990 Amiga, DOS, Sega CD, Macintosh Adventure
The Adventures of Willy Beamish 1991 Amiga, DOS, Sega CD Adventure
Nova 9: The Return of Gir Draxon 1991 Amiga, DOS Action
Heart of China 1991 Amiga, DOS Action, Adventure
Red Baron: Mission Builder 1991 DOS Vehicle Simulation
WWII: 1946 1992 DOS, Windows 3.x Vehicle Simulation
Aces of the Pacific 1992 DOS, Windows 3.x Vehicle Simulation
The Incredible Machine 1992 3DO, DOS Strategy
Stellar-Fire 1993 Sega CD Action, Vehicle Simulation
Sid & Al's Incredible Toons 1993 DOS Strategy
Classic Power Compilation 1993 DOS Adventure, Strategy
Betrayal at Krondor 1993 DOS Adventure, Role-playing video game
Alien Legacy 1993 DOS Adventure, Strategy
Space Quest V: The Next Mutation 1993 DOS Adventure
Front Page Sports: Football 1993 DOS Sports
Front Page Sports: Football Pro 1993 DOS Sports
Aces Over Europe 1993 DOS Action, Vehicle Simulation
Take a Break! Pinball 1993 Windows 3.x Pinball
Metaltech: Earthsiege Speech Pack 1994 DOS Vehicle Simulation
Metaltech: Earthsiege Speech Pack 1994 DOS Vehicle Simulation
Front Page Sports: Baseball '94 1994 DOS Sports
Bouncers 1994 Sega CD Action, Sports
Metaltech: Battledrome 1995 DOS Vehicle Simulation
3-D Ultra Pinball 1995 Windows 95, Windows 3.x Pinball
Command: Aces of the Deep 1995 Windows 95 Action, Vehicle Simulation, Strategy
Aces: The Complete Collector's Edition 1995 Windows 95, Windows 3.x, DOS Vehicle Simulation
The Incredible Machine 3 1995 Windows 95, Windows 3.x Puzzle
Earthsiege 2 1995 Windows 95, Windows 3.x Action, Vehicle Simulation
Aces of the Deep Expansion Disk 1995 Windows 95, Windows 3.x, DOS Vehicle Simulation
Silent Thunder 1996 Windows 95, Windows 3.x Action, Vehicle Simulation
MissionForce: CyberStorm 1996 Windows 95 Turn-based Tactics
Front Page Sports: Trophy Bass 2 1996 Windows 95, Windows 3.x Sports
3-D Ultra Pinball: Creep Night 1996 Windows 95, Windows 3.x Pinball
Front Page Sports: Trophy Bass 2 - Northern Lakes 1997 Windows 95, Windows 3.x Sports
3-D Ultra Pinball: The Lost Continent 1997 Windows 95, Windows 3.x Pinball
Red Baron II 1997 Windows 95 Vehicle Simulation
Front Page Sports: Trophy Rivers 1997 Windows 95, Windows 3.x Educational, Sports
Front Page Sports: Ski Racing 1997 Windows 95 Sports
Aces: Collection Series 1997 Windows 95, Windows 3.x, DOS Action, Vehicle Simulation
Red Baron With Mission Builder 1997 DOS Vehicle Simulation
Outpost 2: Divided Destiny 1997 Windows Strategy
Sierra Pro Pilot 1997 Windows Vehicle Simulation
3-D Ultra NASCAR Pinball 1998 Windows Pinball
Starsiege 1998 Windows Action, Vehicle Simulation
Starsiege: Tribes 1998 Windows Action
CyberStorm 2: Corporate Wars 1998 Windows Strategy
Pro Pilot '99 1998 Windows Vehicle Simulation
Red Baron 3-D 1998 Windows Vehicle Simulation
Field & Stream: Trophy Bass 3D 1999 Windows Sports
Tribes Action Pack 1999 Windows Action
Curse You! Red Baron 1999 Windows Vehicle Simulation
3-D Ultra Cool Pool 1999 Windows Billiards
RC Racers II 2000 Windows Racing/Driving
3D Ultra Lionel Traintown Deluxe 2000 Windows Vehicle Simulation
Tribes 2 2001 Linux, Windows Action
The Incredible Machine: Even More Contraptions 2001 Windows Puzzle
Mini Golf Maniacs 2001 (Unreleased) Windows, PlayStation 2 Sports

See also

References

External links

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