 | |
| 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) |
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 .
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.
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.
| 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 |
Sierra Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genre, including the first such game, Mystery House. It is known for its graphical adventure game series King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Gabriel Knight, Leisure Suit Larry, and Quest for Glory, and as the original publisher of Valve's Half-Life series.
The Incredible Machine (TIM) is a series of video games in which players create a series of Rube Goldberg devices. They were originally designed and coded by Kevin Ryan and produced by Jeff Tunnell, the now-defunct Jeff Tunnell Productions, and published by Dynamix; the 1993 through 1995 versions had the same development team, but the later 2000–2001 games have different designers. All versions were published by Sierra Entertainment. The entire series and intellectual property were acquired by Jeff Tunnell-founded PushButton Labs in October 2009. PushButton Labs was later acquired by Playdom, itself a division of Disney Interactive, so as of now the rights are held by The Walt Disney Company.
Starsiege: Tribes is a first-person shooter video game. It is the first of the Tribes video game series and follows the story from Metaltech: Earthsiege and Starsiege. It was developed by Dynamix and published by Sierra On-Line in 1998. An expansion pack, Tribes Extreme, was cancelled; it was supposed to add single-player missions, multiplayer maps, and bot AI.
Tribes 2 is a first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Dynamix and published by Sierra On-Line in 2001 as a sequel to Starsiege: Tribes.
Tribes is a series of five science fiction first-person shooter video games released between 1998 and 2024. The game plot is set in the far future. The series includes Starsiege: Tribes, Tribes 2, Tribes: Aerial Assault, Tribes: Vengeance, Tribes: Ascend, and Tribes 3: Rivals. Tribes is a spin-off series from the mecha simulation series Metaltech.
Aces of the Deep is a World War II submarine simulator game developed by Dynamix for MS-DOS in 1994. The game was re-released by Sierra On-Line for Windows in 1995 as Command: Aces of the Deep. Aces of the Deep was the last installment of Dynamix's Aces series, which included the flight simulators Red Baron, Aces of the Pacific, and Aces Over Europe. However, unlike its predecessors, Aces of the Deep simulates a Kriegsmarine U-boat during World War II.
Red Baron is a combat flight simulation video game for MS-DOS created by Damon Slye at Dynamix. It was published by Sierra On-Line in 1990. The game was ported for Amiga and Macintosh computers in 1992.
Starsiege is a mecha-style vehicle simulation game developed by Dynamix and released in 1999. Starsiege is set in the Metaltech/Earthsiege universe, which contains its predecessors Earthsiege (1994), Battledrome (1994), and Earthsiege 2 (1996). This universe also includes action game Hunter Hunted (1996), strategy games Mission Force: Cyberstorm (1996) and Cyberstorm 2: Corporate Wars (1998). It also includes the sequelsStarsiege: Tribes and all subsequent Tribes titles. In 2015, this game and the rest of the Metaltech/Tribes series were released as freeware by Hi-Rez Studios, but Battledrome and the Cyberstorm series were not.
Torque Game Engine, or TGE, is an open-source cross-platform 3D computer game engine, developed by GarageGames and actively maintained under the current versions Torque 3D as well as Torque 2D. It was originally developed by Dynamix for the 2001 first-person shooter Tribes 2. In September 2012, GarageGames released Torque 3D as open-source software under the MIT License.
Red Baron II is a video game for the PC, developed by Dynamix and published by Sierra On-Line. It is the follow-up to the flight simulation Red Baron, released in 1990. Red Baron II was released in December 1997. A patch was released in 1998 that added support for 3D acceleration and renamed the game to Red Baron 3D. Red Baron 3D was also released as a retail product.
Jeffrey Tunnell is a video game producer, programmer and designer.
Aces of the Pacific is a combat flight simulation game developed by Dynamix for MS-DOS compatible operating systems and published by Sierra On-Line in 1992. The game takes place during World War II. Players can choose a single mission or a career path in United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, United States Marines, Imperial Japanese Army, or Imperial Japanese Navy. Dynamix followed-up the game with Aces Over Europe in 1993.
A-10 Tank Killer is a 1989 combat flight simulation video game for DOS developed and published by Dynamix. An Amiga version was released in 1990. The game features an A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft. Following the success of Red Baron, version 1.5 was released in 1991 which included Gulf War missions and improved graphics and sounds. Several mission packs were sold separately. A sequel published by Sierra, Silent Thunder: A-10 Tank Killer II, was released in 1996.
Red Baron is an arcade video game developed by Atari, Inc. and released in 1981. A first-person flight simulator game, the player takes the role of a World War I ace in a biplane fighting on the side of the Allies. The game is named after the nickname of Manfred von Richthofen, German flying ace. The game uses the same monochrome vector graphics and similar hardware as Atari's own Battlezone; both were developed at the same time. Like Battlezone, the player is presented with a first-person view of the action. Both Battlezone and Red Baron use additional hardware, an "Auxiliary" board, to perform the mathematical computations required for simulating a 3D environment.
Arcticfox is a science fiction tank simulation video game developed by Dynamix and published by Electronic Arts in 1986. It was published in Europe by Ariolasoft. A sequel to Dynamix's Stellar 7, it was released on Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MS-DOS, and Apple II. A third game was released in the series in 1991 titled Nova 9: The Return of Gir Draxon.
Damon Slye is a computer game designer, director, and programmer. In 1984 he founded Dynamix with Jeff Tunnell in Eugene, Oregon. He is best known for creating the historic flight simulations Red Baron, A-10 Tank Killer, and Aces of the Pacific.
Knights of the Sky is a World War I combat flight simulator designed by Jeff Briggs and published by MicroProse in 1990 for MS-DOS. Ports to the Amiga and Atari ST followed in 1991.
The Incredible Machine is a puzzle video game released in 1993, and the first release in The Incredible Machine video game series. The objective of the game is to create Rube Goldberg machines by arranging collections of objects in a complex fashion, so as to perform some simple task. The Even More Incredible Machine was an extended version of the original, also released in 1993; it had 160 levels, about twice the number of levels in the original game, and had more parts to use in the contraptions.
Mark Frohnmayer is a software and electric vehicle entrepreneur. He was the lead programmer of Starsiege: Tribes and Tribes 2 at Dynamix before leaving to co-found GarageGames, where he helped architect the Torque Game Engine and led the development of Zap! The Game, Marble Blast Gold and Marble Blast Ultra.
Sierra Pro Pilot 98: The Complete Flight Simulator is a 1997 video game developed by Dynamix and published by Sierra On Line. Two other games in the Pro Pilot series were released in 1998: Pro Pilot USA and Pro Pilot 99.
