Dynamix

Dynamix was an American video game developer based in Eugene, Oregon, founded in 1984 by Jeff Tunnell and Damon Slye. They started making games for the Commodore 64 and Amiga before building a reputation as one of PC gaming’s most versatile developers across flight simulators, puzzle games, sports management titles, and eventually the online multiplayer genre. In 1990 Dynamix was acquired by Sierra On-Line. The studio was closed on August 14, 2001 as part of Sierra’s restructuring under Vivendi Universal. Several Dynamix veterans, including Jeff Tunnell, remained in Eugene and founded GarageGames.

Dynamix Origin Story: From Eugene to Sierra

The Early Days

Tunnell and Slye founded the studio in Eugene, Oregon in 1984. Their first title, Stellar 7, predated the company’s formal founding and was later remade under the Dynamix name. Early work included action games for Penguin Software, Electronic Arts, and Activision across Commodore 64, Amiga, and Atari ST platforms. Project Firestart in 1989 was one of the more atmospheric games on the C64, a survival horror title before the term existed. The Adventures of Willy Beamish and the adventure game work showed range beyond simulation. By 1990 Sierra On-Line acquired the studio, which gave Dynamix the resources and distribution to build some of their most important work.

Dynamix Key Games

The Adventures of Willy Beamish (1990)

A game (the first game?) where what choices you make matter. Willy is a 9 year old who’s troublemaking has him close to being sent to military school. Your choices decide his fate. I had him sent off to military school so many times, growing up.

Red Baron (1990)

A World War I flight simulator published by Sierra On-Line that became the first game in Dynamix’s Great Warplanes series. Red Baron was critically acclaimed and established Dynamix as the leading developer of flight simulators on PC. By 1994 the connection between Dynamix and flight sims was so strong that Computer Gaming World noted the immediate association. A sequel, Red Baron II, followed in 1995.

The Incredible Machine (1992)

A physics-based puzzle game where you construct Rube Goldberg machines to accomplish simple tasks using a box of available parts. One of the more creative puzzle game concepts of the era and a major commercial success. It spawned several sequels and spinoffs including Sid and Al’s Incredible Toons. The Incredible Machine is one of Dynamix’s most fondly remembered titles and one of the more original puzzle games ever made.

I spent many nights trying to come up with more sophisticated ways to make a put a ball in a hole or a mouse in a basket.

Betrayal at Krondor (1993)

A role-playing game set in Raymond E. Feist’s Midkemia universe, co-written with Feist himself. One of the more story-rich RPGs of the early 1990s and considered one of the best games in the genre for its era. A significant departure from Dynamix’s simulation work that demonstrated creative range.

Front Page Sports Series (1992 to 1998)

A series of sports management simulations covering football, baseball, and golf designed by Pat Cook and Allen McPheeters. The Front Page Sports Football games were particularly well regarded in the sports simulation space and found a dedicated audience through multiple editions.

Metaltech: Earthsiege (1994) and the Robot Combat Universe

In 1994 Dynamix began building the Metaltech universe with Earthsiege, a mech combat simulation. Earthsiege 2 followed in 1996 along with strategy spinoffs in the Cyberstorm series. The Metaltech universe grew into one of Dynamix’s most ambitious creative projects and eventually produced their most significant game.

Starsiege: Tribes (1998)

Starsiege: Tribes launched December 23, 1998 as a side development of the Starsiege mech game, and it became the most important thing Dynamix ever made. A squad-based multiplayer online first-person shooter set in the 40th century, Tribes introduced jetpacks, diverse terrain that rewarded strategic movement, and the skiing mechanic, an exploit of the physics engine where players could chain momentum down slopes to achieve high speeds. Skiing was so central to how the game was played that Dynamix formalized it as an intentional feature in Tribes 2. The game won Best Online Game of the Year at IGN’s 1998 awards and received a PC Gamer special achievement award for rewriting the laws of online battle. It built a large cult following despite modest sales figures and its influence on multiplayer shooters is significant.

Starsiege (1999) and Tribes 2 (2001)

Starsiege, the mech game that the Tribes spinoff had originally grown from, launched in 1999 and sold poorly. Mark Asher at CNET called the numbers pitiful and noted that most of Dynamix was gone by that point. Tribes 2 released March 29, 2001 on a new engine and had a rough launch due to bugs, but sold over 200,000 units and found its audience through continuous updates. It was the last game Dynamix released. Sierra closed the studio five months after Tribes 2 shipped.

The Closure and Legacy

Sierra’s parent company Vivendi Universal restructured the publishing operation in 2001 and Dynamix was among the studios shut down. Jeff Tunnell and other veterans stayed in Eugene and founded GarageGames, an independent-friendly engine developer and publisher that later released the Torque engine. The Tribes franchise continued without Dynamix through Irrational Games and later Hi-Rez Studios, but the series never recaptured the specific feeling of the original two games. Tribes: Ascend in 2012 came closest. In 2015 Hi-Rez released the original Tribes games as freeware. The Incredible Machine remains one of the most creative puzzle game concepts ever built and Red Baron set a standard for flight simulation that held up for years. Dynamix made good games across a genuinely wide range of genres and the Eugene studio deserves more recognition than it gets.