Dynamix

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Dynamix, Inc.
Type Defunct
Founded 1984
Headquarters Eugene, Oregon, United States
Key people Jeff Tunnell, Damon Slye: Founders
Industry Interactive entertainment
Website www.dynamix.com
This article is about Dynamix, a defunct video game developer. For the sport and recreational center in Poznań, Poland, see Dynamix (Poznan).

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 and their online multiplayer game, Tribes.

Contents

[edit] 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 in August 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.

[edit] 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). The source code for TGE, a professional-grade 3D engine, is available to nearly anyone for fees starting at USD$100.

[edit] List of games developed by Dynamix

"Stellar 7" 1990 re-release title screen
"Stellar 7" 1990 re-release title screen
Red Baron 3D boxart
Red Baron 3D boxart
Tribes 2 (2001) screenshot
Tribes 2 (2001) screenshot

[edit] External links

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Companies formerly based in Oregon