Dynamix

Dynamix, Inc. was an American developer of video games and a subsidiary for Sierra On-Line. Dynamix was founded in March 1984,^[1] and it ran until August 14, 2001.^[2][3] They are best known for their 3Space engine that contributed to the simulation genre (Stellar 7, A-10 Tank Killer, Great War Planes, Red Baron, Aces and Front Page Sports), adventure games that used the Dynamix Game Development System (Rise of the Dragon, Heart of China, and The Adventures of Willy Beamish), and the The Incredible Machine series. They also created the MetalTech universe, which branch off into three different series: Earthsiege, Cyberstorm, and Tribes.

History

1984-1990: Dynamix

Software Entertainment Company was a publishing company founded in Eugene, Oregon on 1983 by Jeff Tunnell and Damon Slye, two graduates from the University of Oregon.^[4] The company's only self published title was Stellar 7, making roughly $4,000 before changing their business strategy.^[5] With Software Entertainment Company put to an end, Tunnell and Slye formed Dynamix Software Development on March 1984. Stellar 7 was later re-released by Penguin Software. 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 Commodore Amiga, Arcticfox. The game was a success, earning Dynamix the SPA's Gold Award. Arcticfox programmers Kevin Ryan and Richard Hicks then became owner-partners for the company. On September 1986, the company shortened their name to Dynamix.^[6] They made a number of games for the Commodore 64, among them Project Firestart, considered one of the most atmospheric titles for the system.

Despite the difficulties of creating Project Firestart, Dynamix were convinced enough to continue their pursuit for interactive entertainment.^[7] To achieve this, they decided build an image production studio that included photography and lighting facilities, color scanning and image processing capabilities, and a photo development lab.^[8] They also hired Sher Alltucker, who was put in charge of make-up, costume design, and casting actors.

After a short while of self-publishing their games (A-10 Tank Killer and David Wolf: Secret Agent),^[9] Despite Tunnell's confidence in Dynamix's financial status, the company needed to collect around $ 1.5 million to become a publisher and pay their own development. Tony Reyneke was brought in to help with the business end, and their 3Space technology was licensed to Sierra On-Line in August 1989 to obtain further funding.^[10][9] Dynamix got Mediagenic (formally Activision) to publish Deathtrack, MechWarrior, Die Hard within December of 1989. However, the sales for these titles were not enough to relieve Dynamix from financial difficulties. On March 27, 1990, Dynamix was bought for $1.5 million by Sierra On-Line,^[11][12] who were impressed by their library of simulation games. Before and during the acquisition of Dynamix, Red Baron had been in development.

1990-2001: Part of the Sierra Family

Released in December 19, 1990, Red Baron would be the first in Dynamix's "Great Warplanes" flight simulator series published by Sierra. Dynamix created some of their most famous line of adventures and simulators that include Rise of the Dragon, Stellar 7 Remake, Heart of China, Nova 9: The Return of Gir Draxon, The Adventures of Willy Beamish Red Baron: Mission Builder, Betrayal at Krondor, and Aces of the Pacific. 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.

About a year after finishing The Adventures of Willy Beamish in 1991, Jeff Tunnell decided to leave Dynamix to start his own company Jeff Tunnell Productions.^[13] It made very highly successful games for Sierra On-Line. This includes The Incredible Machine series (The Incredible Machine, The Even More! Incredible Machine, The Incredible Toon Machine, and The Incredible Machine 2) and the Turbo games (Quarky & Quaysoo's Turbo Science and Turbo Learning: Mega Math), which were released under the Sierra Discovery Series.

Expanding from around thirty people to more than a hundred in 1993, Dynamix had to relocate from Downtown Eugene to the UO’s Riverfront Research Park.^[14] Space Quest V: The Next Mutation was developed at Dynamix and later published under the Sierra brand. Dynamix also created the spinoff to The Incredible Machine called Sid & Al's Incredible Toons.

Damon Slye left Dynamix after completing Aces Over Europe in 1994, and took a hiatus from the gaming industry that would last until 2007. In a May 1994 interview with Computer Gaming World, he agreed with their statement that "when someone hears 'Dynamix' they immediately think 'flight simulator'".^[15]

Metaltech: Battledrome, the first game in the new MetalTech series, was released within that same year. A giant robot combat game with similarities to the BattleTech universe and games, the MetalTech series later spawned the Earthsiege, Cyberstorm, and Tribes series.

Shortly after Jeff Tunnell returned to Dynamix 1995, Sierra On-Line was sold by Ken Williams to CUC International in July 24, 1996. CUC then merged with HFS Incorporated on December 1997 to become Cendant Corporation, and was later discovered in March 1998 by Henry Silverman that CUC had been involved in a massive accounting fraud.^[16]

Though Dynamix continued to make successful simulation and action games, it couldn't survive the fallout from CUC's acquisition and the series of corporate take-overs that followed. A restructuring of Sierra On-Line in September 21, 1999 resulted in the end of Dynamix as a brand and a separate business entity, cancelling many of its upcoming titles.^[17][14] Two years later on Tuesday August 14, 2001,^[2][3] the Dynamix studio was shut down as part of Sierra's restructuring under Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing."^[18]

Aftermath

Several veterans of the studio (including Tunnell), however, stayed in Eugene and founded a new studio / electronic publisher, GarageGames.^[19][20] After several years at GarageGames, Dynamix co-founder Jeff Tunnell and long-time Dynamix employee Rick Overman have founded PushButton Labs in Eugene,^[21] with the intent to further develop web-based video games.

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.^[22] Mad Otter Games released the online World War II dogfighting game Ace of Aces 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). They are currently developing an online MMORPG called A Mystical Land, which was released in 2011. On October 22, 2013, a Kickstarter campaign was started to fund a re-release of Red Baron.

List of games developed by Dynamix

List of cancelled games

1989: V-22 Osprey 1992: Willy Beamish 2 1993: RAF in the Pacific 1994: Russian Forces 1996: Red Baron 64 1998: Aces: X-Fighters 1999: 3-D Ultra NFL Pinball 1999: Baseball Pro '99

1999: Aces of the Pacific II 1999: Aces Over Korea 1999: Desert Fighters 1999: Field & Stream: Trophy Marlin 1999: Tribes: Extreme 2001: Mini Golf Maniacs 2001: NHL Crosscheck

See Also

• 3Space Engine
• Dynamix Game Development System
• Darkstar Engine
• Torque Game Engine

External Links

Standard Links

• Wayback Machine, Dynamix's Official website - The old official website of Dynamix.
• Moby Games, Dynamix - The oldest, largest and most accurate video game database covering over 280 platforms from 1950 to date.
• Sierra Chest, Dynamix - A fan site, dedicated to preserving the legacy of the gaming giant Sierra through its many incarnations.
• Sierra Help - Keeping the Sierra classics alive on modern computers.
• Sierra Gamers - A fan site maintained by Ken Williams, founder of Sierra.
• GameFAQs, Dynamix - An archive of walkthroughs and game hints.
• The Cutting Room Floor, Category:Games developed by Dynamix - An archive of unused content.

Patches and Installations

• Github, juanitogan, RBXIT - Really Basic sÍerra paTches - Patches, installations, and troubleshooting for Sierra and Dynamix games to work on modern machines.
• Github, Open Siege - A tool for viewing and converting files found in games made by Dynamix and other games using their engines.
• Github, Open Siege wiki - A wiki that covers the various file formats used across various Dynamix games using the 3Space engine and its variants.
• Vogons, Sierra/Dynamix sound driver hacking - Community efforts to hack Sierra/Dynamix sound/music drivers to fix issues and add new features.

Dynamix Related Content

• Facebook, Dynamix - A Facebook group dedicated to Dynamix.
• Game-Nostalgia, Dynamix - Dynamix company history.
• The Digital Antiquarian, Dynamix - "The Dynamic Interactive Narratives of Dynamix"
• The Air Tactical Assault Group, Dynamix - Articles on Dynamix's simulation titles.

References