Dynamix

For other uses, see Dynamix (disambiguation).

Dynamix, Inc.

Type	Defunct
Industry	Interactive entertainment
Founded	1984
Headquarters	Eugene, Oregon, United States
Key people	Jeff Tunnell, Damon Slye: Founders
Website	www.dynamix.com (Defunct)

Dynamix, Inc. was an American developer of computer games from 1984 to 2001, best known for their flight simulator, Red Baron, the Front Page Sports series, 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, Arctic Fox. 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 Pages 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 computer 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 I dogfighting game Ace of Aces^[4] in 2008 on the web portal InstantAction, though after InstantAction was shutdown the company revealed they would be re-releasing the game on their own website.^[5] They are currently developing an online MMORPG called A Mystical Land, and will be starting closed beta testing in early 2011.^[6]

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). Initially 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 made publicly available under the GPL.

List of games developed by Dynamix

• Stellar 7 — (1982) (Action, Vehicle Simulation) (Amiga, DOS)
• Skyfox — (1984) (Action, Vehicle Simulation) (only Amiga and Macintosh ports)
• Championship Baseball — (1986) (Sports) (Atari ST, ZX Spectrum)
• Arctic Fox — (1986) (Action, Vehicle Simulation) (Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, ZX Spectrum)
• GBA Championship Basketball: Two-on-Two — (1986) (Sports) (Amiga)
• Skyfox II: The Cygnus Conflict — (1987) (Action) (Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS)
• The Train: Escape to Normandy — (1988) (Action, Vehicle Simulation) (DOS)
• Abrams Battle Tank — (1988) (Vehicle Simulation) (DOS)
• Pete Rose Pennant Fever — (1988) (Sports) (DOS)
• Caveman Ugh-Lympics — (1988) (Sports) (Commodore 64, DOS, NES)
• Motocross — (1989) (Racing/Driving, Vehicle Simulation) (DOS)
• MechWarrior — (1989) (Action, Vehicle Simulation) (DOS)
• A-10 Tank Killer — (1989) (Vehicle Simulation) (Amiga, DOS)
• Ghostbusters II — (1989) (Action) (DOS)
• Deathtrack — (1989) (Action, Racing / Driving) (DOS)
• Die Hard — (1989) (Action, Adventure) (Commodore 64, DOS)
• David Wolf: Secret Agent — (1989) (Action, Racing/Driving) (DOS)
• Project Firestart — (1989) (Action, Adventure) (Commodore 64)
• Red Baron — (1990) (Vehicle Simulation) (Amiga, DOS, Macintosh)
• Rise of the Dragon — (1990) (Adventure) (Amiga, DOS, Sega CD, Macintosh)
• The Adventures of Willy Beamish — (1991) (Adventure) (Amiga, DOS, Sega CD)
• Nova 9: Return of Gir Draxon — (1991) (Action) (Amiga, DOS)
• Heart of China — (1991) (Action, Adventure) (Amiga, DOS)
• Red Baron: Mission Builder — (1992) (Vehicle Simulation) (DOS)
• WWII: 1946 — (1992) (Vehicle Simulation) (DOS, Windows 3.x)
• Aces of the Pacific — (1992) (Vehicle Simulation) (DOS, Windows 3.x)
• Stellar-Fire — (1993) (Action, Vehicle Simulation) (Sega CD)
• Sid & Al's Incredible Toons — (1993) (Strategy) (DOS)
• The Incredible Machine — (1993) (Strategy) (3DO, DOS)
• Classic Power Compilation — (1993) (Adventure, Strategy) (DOS)
• Betrayal at Krondor — (1993) (Adventure, Role-Playing (RPG)) (DOS)
• Alien Legacy — (1993) (Adventure, Strategy) (DOS)
• Space Quest V: The Next Mutation — (1993) (Adventure) (DOS)
• Front Page Sports: Football — (1993) (Sports) (DOS)
• Front Page Sports: Football Pro — (1993) (Sports) (DOS)
• Aces Over Europe — (1993) (Action, Vehicle Simulation) (DOS)
• Take a Break! Pinball — (1993) (Pinball) (Windows 3.x)
• Metaltech: Earthsiege — (1994) (Vehicle Simulation) (DOS)
• Metaltech: Earthsiege Speech Pack — (1994) (Vehicle Simulation) (DOS)
• Front Page Sports: Baseball '94 — (1994) (Sports) (DOS)
• Bouncers — (1994) (Action, Sports) (Sega CD)
• Metaltech: Battledrome — (1995) (Vehicle Simulation) (DOS)
• 3-D Ultra Pinball — (1996) (Pinball) (Windows, Windows 3.x)
• Command: Aces of the Deep — (1995) (Action, Vehicle Simulation, Strategy) (Windows)
• Aces: The Complete Collector's Edition — (1995) (Vehicle Simulation) (DOS, Windows, Windows 3.x)
• The Incredible Machine 3 — (1995) (Puzzle) (Windows, Windows 3.x)
• Earthsiege 2 — (1995) (Action, Vehicle Simulation) (Windows, Windows 3.x)
• Aces of the Deep Expansion Disk — (1995) (Vehicle Simulation) (DOS, Windows, Windows 3.x)
• Silent Thunder — (1996) (Action, Vehicle Simulation) (Windows, Windows 3.x)
• Mission Force: Cyberstorm — (1996) (Turn-based Tactics) (Windows)
• Front Page Sports: Trophy Bass 2 — (1996) (Sports) (Windows, Windows 3.x)
• 3-D Ultra Pinball: Creep Night — (1996) (Pinball) (Windows, Windows 3.x)
• Front Page Sports: Trophy Bass 2 - Northern Lakes — (1997) (Sports) (Windows, Windows 3.x)
• 3-D Ultra Pinball: The Lost Continent — (1997) (Pinball) (Windows, Windows 3.x)
• Red Baron II — (1997) (Vehicle Simulation) (Windows)
• Front Page Sports: Trophy Rivers — (1997) (Educational, Sports) (Windows, Windows 3.x)
• Front Page Sports: Ski Racing — (1997) (Sports) (Windows)
• Aces: Collection Series — (1997) (Action, Vehicle Simulation) (DOS, Windows, Windows 3.x)
• Red Baron With Mission Builder — (1997) (Vehicle Simulation) (DOS)
• Outpost 2: Divided Destiny — (1997) (Strategy) (Windows)
• Sierra Pro Pilot — (1997) (Vehicle Simulation) (Windows)
• 3-D Ultra NASCAR Pinball — (1998) (Pinball) (Windows)
• Starsiege — (1998) (Action, Vehicle Simulation) (Windows)
• Starsiege: Tribes — (1998) (Action) (Windows)
• Cyberstorm 2: Corporate Wars — (1998) (Strategy) (Windows)
• Pro Pilot '99 — (1998) (Vehicle Simulation) (Windows)
• Red Baron 3-D — (1998) (Vehicle Simulation) (Windows)
• Field & Stream: Trophy Bass 3D — (1999) (Sports) (Windows)
• Tribes Action Pack — (1999) (Action) (Windows)
• Curse You! Red Baron — (1999) (Vehicle Simulation) (Windows)
• RC Racers II — (2000) (Racing/Driving) (Windows)
• 3D Ultra Lionel Traintown Deluxe — (2000) (Vehicle Simulation) (Windows)
• Tribes 2 — (2001) (Action) (Linux, Windows)
• The Incredible Machine: Even More Contraptions — (2001) (Puzzle) (Windows)

References

1. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
2. ^ "PushButton Labs". PushButton Labs. http://pushbuttonlabs.com/. Retrieved 2011-08-10. 
3. ^ http://www.madottergames.com/about/damon-slye/
4. ^ http://www.madottergames.com/games/ace-of-aces/
5. ^ Ace of Aces Website!
6. ^ We have discovered A Mystical Land!

External links

• Rap sheet at MobyGames
• Dynamix website