This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2019) |
Industry | Video game industry |
---|---|
Founded | 1984 |
Defunct | 1992 |
Fate | Bankruptcy |
Headquarters | Spain |
Dinamic Software was a Spanish video game producer and publishing company. It was founded in 1984, and its activity ceased in 1992, comprising the Golden Era of Spanish Software. One year later, a part of its owners founded an independent company named Dinamic Multimedia. At the end of the 1980s, another company, Aventuras AD, who began to produce text adventures, was born from Dinamic Software.
At the beginning of the 1980s, young brothers Pablo, Nacho and Victor Ruiz had their first contact with computers. In the case of Victor Ruiz, he started with a Sinclair ZX81, creating some amateur self-made games. On their first attempt as a company, they created NCM, which would later become Dinamic. Their original idea was simply to create a team of programmers, as they never thought that it would start such an intense commercial activity.
On their first months, they created themselves all the code, recorded themselves the programs on tape, designed and printed boxes and manuals, and distributed them, as well as designing their ads to publish them on newspapers and magazines. Their official debut was Yenght , a text adventure with graphics for ZX Spectrum, and Artist, a graphic design program, both released in 1984, but their first commercial success would come with the release of Saimazoom, later in 1984, which would start a trilogy, followed by Babaliba and Abu Simbel Profanation.
In 1986, Victor Ruiz would create Camelot Warriors , and the same year he would start the "Moves" trilogy, with Army Moves in 1986, followed by Navy Moves in 1988. In 1991, Arctic Moves was designed to be published for the Atari ST, but this version was not released due to Dinamic's bankruptcy. The game would be redesigned for PC and published in 1995 by Dinamic Multimedia.
After Fernando Martin Basket Master became one of the most successful Spanish video games to date, they started a tradition to hire famous people, mainly sportsmen, to back their video games, something imitated by the rest of the Spanish companies at the time, and later by themselves, with the release of Aspar GP Master and Míchel Fútbol Master Super Skills.
1987 proved to be their most active year. They released one of the most commercially successful text adventures in Spain, Don Quijote, based on the cartoon series released at the time, both of which are based on the early 17th century novel by Miguel de Cervantes. With it they created the trademark Aventuras Dinamic which would be dedicated entirely on text adventures. However, text adventures, with or without graphics, eventually proved to be commercially unsuccessful in the Spanish market, and Aventuras Dinamic was bought by Andrés Samudio, so he could create Aventuras AD , on the condition that he would produce the games, but Dinamic had to distribute them, and so it was.
Other titles with massive Spanish and international distribution were Game Over , and Phantis (this one released in the United Kingdom as Game Over II). Their covers included girls with sexy corsets, which were heavily censored outside Spain. It is specially remembered in the case of Game Over where a nipple was visible, and was covered in the UK with the Dinamic logo, a screen capture or directly with a redrawn corset in subsequent editions. Other successful titles by Dinamic were Freddy Hardest (1987) and its sequel Freddy Hardest In South Manhattan (1989), Turbo Girl (1988), and After the War (1989).
During the Golden age of Spanish software, Dinamic distributed their own games in Spain, as well as the ones by Aventuras AD and other minor companies, becoming a rival to Erbe Software in this work, but with the change of decade and the migration to 16-bit platforms, sales of 8-bit computer games plummeted and after launching Narco Police (1991), Dinamic became unable to distribute their titles any longer. That year, Dinamic partnered with Imagine Software, a subsidiary of Ocean Software to distribute its titles outside of Spain, but the relationship was short-lived. [1]
Their last title, Risky Woods , could be released, exclusively for 16-bit platforms, thanks to co-production with Zeus Software, and distribution by Electronic Arts, since Dinamic Software was already immersed in an economical crisis that would lead to their closedown in bankruptcy in 1992. One year later, the Ruiz brothers, with Carlos Abril (one of the designers of Phantis) and the owner of HobbyPress, José Ignacio Gómez-Centurión, would create a new company, which was named Dinamic Multimedia in honor of the defunct company, but would only be owned on a 30% by the Ruiz Brothers.
Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the form of Interactive narratives or Interactive narrations. These works can also be understood as a form of video game, either in the form of an adventure game or role-playing game. In common usage, the term refers to text adventures, a type of adventure game where the entire interface can be "text-only", however, graphical text adventure games, where the text is accompanied by graphics still fall under the text adventure category if the main way to interact with the game is by typing text. Some users of the term distinguish between interactive fiction, known as "Puzzle-free", that focuses on narrative, and "text adventures" that focus on puzzles.
Dinamic Multimedia was a Spanish software house and publisher created in 1993 which was created after the bankruptcy of Dinamic Software in 1992 by some of its former members. After having released several titles, they filed for bankruptcy in September 2001.
Ocean Software Ltd was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and publishers of the 1980s and 1990s.
PC Fútbol was a series of football management simulation games developed by Spanish developers Dinamic Multimedia. It was one of the big successes in the Spanish PC market, spawning several titles from 1992 until the studio's closure in 2001. The series was later revived in 2004 by developers Gaelco and there were two more releases before the series final demise.
Game Over is an action video game developed by Dinamic Software and published by Imagine Software in 1987. It was released for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MSX, Thomson TO7, and ZX Spectrum. The game includes some adventure game elements. A prompted unrated sequel, Game Over II, was released in 1987.
Runaway: A Road Adventure is a 2001 graphic adventure game developed by the Spanish company Pendulo Studios and published by Dinamic Multimedia. It follows the story of Brian Basco, an American college student on the run after he unwittingly saves a murder witness named Gina Timmins from assassination by the New York Mafia. Searching for clues about a mysterious crucifix linked to the murder, Brian and Gina embark on a cross-country journey through the United States while pursued by two Mafia hitmen. The player assumes the role of Brian and explores the game world while collecting items, solving puzzles and conversing with non-player characters.
After The War is a side-scrolling beat 'em up video game published in 1989 by Dinamic Software, in which the player must navigate through a hostile post-apocalyptic city. Although the name of the city is not mentioned in the game itself, both official promotional and unreleased artwork by Luis Royo and Alfonso Azpiri suggest that it is a post-nuclear version of New York City.
DROsoft was a Spanish computer and video game software distributor headquartered in Madrid. The company was founded in 1985 out of DRO Records, Spain's first independent record label. It is considered to have played a part in the golden age of Spanish software, having been described as one of the "principal distributors" of the age.
Pendulo Studios S.L. is a Madrid-based video game developer founded in 1993 by Ramón Hernáez, Felipe Gómez Pinilla, Rafael Latiegui and Miguel Angel Ramos. Since the company's 1994 debut project, Igor: Objective Uikokahonia, it has specialized in graphic adventure games. Pendulo first achieved mainstream prominence in Spain via Hollywood Monsters (1997), which met with critical and commercial success in the country but was never released beyond Southern Europe.
Hollywood Monsters is a 1997 graphic adventure game developed by the Spanish company Pendulo Studios and published by Dinamic Multimedia. It takes place in an alternate-history 1950s, where the creatures from Golden Age monster movies are played by real monsters who lead otherwise normal lives. Controlling reporters Sue Bergman and Ron Ashman, the player seeks to unravel a mystery surrounding the murder of Frankenstein's monster. In the process, the player undertakes a globetrotting journey to locations like Transylvania and Egypt, while solving puzzles and interacting with characters such as Count Dracula, the Invisible Man and the Mummy.
Game Over II is a combination scrolling shooter and platform game developed and published by Dinamic Software in 1987 for the ZX Spectrum, MSX, MS-DOS, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and Atari ST.
Igor: Objective Uikokahonia is a 1994 graphic adventure game developed by the Spanish company Pendulo Studios and published by DROsoft. The game tells the story of Igor Parker, a university student in love with a classmate named Laura Wright. Hoping to win her affection, Igor surmounts a series of obstacles in an effort to join her on a field trip to the island paradise of Uikokahonia. The player assumes the role of Igor and navigates the campus while collecting items, solving puzzles and conversing with non-player characters.
The golden age of Spanish software was a time, between 1983 and 1992, when Spain became the second largest 8 bit computer entertainment software producer in Europe, only behind the United Kingdom. The disappearance of the 8 bit technology and its replacement by the 16 bit machines marked the end of this era, during which many software companies based in Spain launched their career: Dinamic Software, Topo Soft, Opera Soft, Made in Spain and Zigurat among others. The name Edad de oro del soft español was coined by specialized magazines of the time and has been used to refer to these years until nowadays.
Aventuras AD was a Spanish video game developer, one of the most popular in Spain during the Golden Era of Spanish Software in the 1980s, specialized in text adventure games. It was created as a seal split from Dinamic Software in 1987. They popularized the genre of aventura conversacional, and they would release games until 1992, when they, like the rest of the Spanish companies of the time, had to close on bankruptcy, unable to switch in time to 16 bit development. They would release their titles mainly for ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MSX, IBM PC, Amstrad PCW, and in the last years also Atari ST and Amiga.
3 Skulls of the Toltecs is a point-and-click graphic adventure game designed by Revistronic for IBM PC compatibles and published by Warner Interactive Europe in 1996. The game uses a 3rd-person perspective, inventory-based puzzle solving, and horizontally scrolling cartoon graphics. 3 Skulls of the Toltecs sold 200,000 copies throughout Europe and 25,000 copies in Spain.
FX Interactive is a Spanish video game publisher founded in 1999. It published Navy Moves, and FX Fútbol. The Ruiz brothers are important video game developers in Spain, having been the founders of Dinamic Software.
Dráscula: The Vampire Strikes Back is a 1996 graphic adventure game developed by Alcachofa Soft. It was created in Spain, and was the first adventure game released by Alcachofa. In 1999, Midas Interactive Entertainment released an English version of the game in the United Kingdom. Dráscula tells the story of John Hacker, a realtor who attempts to help "Count Drascula" sell real estate in Transylvania.
Yenght: La Fuente de la Juventud is a Spanish interactive fiction game published in 1984 by Dinamic Software for the ZX Spectrum. It is written in BASIC. Yenght is the first game from Dinamic Software and the first graphic adventure game published in the Spanish market.
The history of video gaming in Spain dates back to the 1970s, and by 2014 the country was the 10th-highest-grossing market for video games worldwide. In 2018, the Spanish video game market posted a revenue of €1.53 billion, up from €1.35 billion in 2017. The country's audience of game players was 16.8 million that year; demographically, it was 59% male and 41% female. Reportedly 80% of people aged 6-to-10 played video games, while 24% of those in the 45–64 age range did so.
Carlos Abril is a Spanish video game programmer, producer and designer best known for his work in the PC Fútbol franchise.