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Dynamix

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Dynamix (disambiguation).
Dynamix, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded1984; 40 years ago (1984)
FounderJeff Tunnell
Damon Slye
DefunctAugust 14, 2001 (2001-08-14);[1][2] 23 years ago
Headquarters
Eugene, Oregon
,
U.S.
OwnerSierra On-Line (1990–2001)
Websitedynamix.com (archived)

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.

History

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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

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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 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

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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

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  1. ^ "Sierra shifts course".
  2. ^ "Sierra reorganizes its operations".
  3. ^ a b Basham, Tom (May 1994). "Ace Over The PC". Computer Gaming World (interview). pp. 72–76.
  4. ^ "A Civilian Flight Simulator For Everyone". dynamix.com. December 5, 1997. Archived from the original on June 27, 1998. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
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