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GeezerVison is showing en.wikipedia.org — Simutronics - Wikipedia

Simutronics Corp.
TypePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded1987 (1987), in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
HeadquartersSt. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
OwnerStillfront Group[1] (55.06%)
Number of employees
30
Websitewww.play.net

Simutronics Corp. is an American online games company whose products include GemStone IV and DragonRealms. It was founded in 1987 by David Whatley, with husband and wife Tom & Susan Zelinski. The company is located in St. Louis, Missouri.[2] It became part of the Stillfront Group in 2016.

The company's flagship product is the text based game, GemStone IV, which went live in November 2003, with predecessor games running back in 1988. GemStone was originally accessed through General Electric's internet service provider GEnie, later becoming accessible through AOL, Prodigy, and CompuServe before Simutronics finally moved all their games to their own domain in 1997.

Simutronics products

Multiplayer online games

  • GemStone IV, Simutronics' flagship product, a text-based multiplayer fantasy game, which has seen over one million users over the years. It is the longest-lived commercial MUD game, followed by Avalon: The Legend Lives.[3][4]
  • DragonRealms, a 1996 MUD set in GemStone's Elanthia world, with popularity on online services AOL, Compuserve, and Prodigy. In comparison with GemStone, DragonRealms's has more skill-based gameplay.[5]
  • CyberStrike, also known as CyberStrike Classic, a graphical futuristic ship combat game. It won the first ever "Online Game of the Year" award from Computer Gaming World magazine in 1993.[6]

Mobile games

  • Tiny Heroes, a tower defense game for iPhone and iPad, released in 2011[7]
  • One Epic Knight, an endless runner game, released in 2012[8] for iOS devices and in 2013 for Android[9]
  • Lara Croft: Relic Run, a spin-off sequel to the Lara Croft sub-series in the Tomb Raider franchise and a mission-based runner released on iOS and Android in 2015.
  • Siege: Titan Wars, a 3D real-time PvP game that launched on iOS and Android in 2017.[10]
  • Siege: World War II, a wartime sequel to Siege: Titan Wars, launched on iOS and Android in 2018.[11]

Former games

  • Modus Operandi, a MUD set on a fictional Caribbean island, originally designed to encourage mystery-based roleplay, which closed on November 2, 2015.
  • Alliance of Heroes, formerly Hercules & Xena: Alliance of Heroes, this adventure-based MUD was set in the universe of the TV shows Hercules: The Legendary Journeys & Xena: Warrior Princess. In later years the game changed its license, and removed specific Hercules & Xena trademarks, and ran as a retooled "tongue in cheek" mythology MUD until its closure on November 2, 2015.
  • Orb Wars, (no longer available) an early graphical game involving team combat between wizards
  • GemStone ][ (no longer available), an early commercial text-based multiplayer fantasy game
  • GemStone III (morphed into GemStone IV), a text-based multiplayer game which was originally based on the Rolemaster rules from Iron Crown Enterprises
  • CyberStrike 2, a sequel to CyberStrike, released in 1998

HeroEngine

Main article: HeroEngine

HeroEngine is a 3D game engine and server technology platform developed specifically for building MMO-style games, based around a system similar to the IFE using the Hero Script Language (HSL). Originally developed for the company's own game Hero's Journey - vaporware which never made it to the testing stage - the engine has since been licensed by other companies.[12] Simutronics sold the HeroEngine to Idea Fabrik, Plc. on August 5, 2010.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Stillfront Group". 25 April 2024.
  2. ↑ McCrary, William S. (January 9, 1994). "Games People Play". St. Charles Journal.
  3. ↑ "Facts about early Avalon the Legend Lives".
  4. ↑ "Raph Koster's Timeline of Online Worlds". 13 January 2014.
  5. ↑ Olivetti, Justin (2011-04-19). "The Game Archaeologist plays with MUDs: The games". Massively. Archived from the original on 2011-05-07. Retrieved 2011-04-25.
  6. ↑ "CGW's Game of the Year Awards" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 111. October 1993. pp. 70–74.
  7. ↑ Campbell, Nissa (9 September 2011). "Tiny Heroes Review". Touch Arcade.
  8. ↑ "Run for Gold! One Epic Knight Launch Date Announced, Sprints for Free onto iOS Devices August 23". Gamasutra. 14 August 2012. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
  9. ↑ Ward, Brad (5 June 2013). "The 6 most underrated games for Android: May 2013 edition". Android Authority.
  10. ↑ Suckley, Matt (2017-07-06). "Simutronics on Siege: Titan Wars and 30 years of multiplayer gaming". pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
  11. ↑ Larsson, Jörgen (19 September 2018). "Stillfront Group AB: Simutronics announces "SIEGE: World War II"". stillfront.com.
  12. ↑ "BioWare Licenses Simutronics HeroEngine for MMO Game Project" (Press release). Austin Game Conference 2006: Business Wire. August 8, 2006.{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  13. ↑ Brand, Wolfgang (5 August 2010). "Idea Fabrik Plc purchases HeroEngine technologies".

Sources

  • Austin, Nancy K. (15 October 1999). "Pure Internet Play". Inc. Magazine.
  • Bartle, Richard (2003). Designing Virtual Worlds. New Riders. ISBN 0-13-101816-7.
  • Kim, Amy Jo (2000). Community Building on the Web. Peachpit Press. ISBN 0-201-87484-9.
  • "Recruiting Strategies: Motivation". Inc. Magazine. 15 October 1999. THE BRIGHT SIDE OF THE FORCE: With all the hype that surrounded the opening of Star Wars: Episode I --The Phantom Menace, it's no surprise that the film created a minor truancy problem for some companies. Like numerous other CEOs whose companies made this year's list, David Whatley of Simutronics Corp. (#295), in Rockville, Md., decided to do a preemptive strike. "I thought it would be more cost-effective to see the movie as a group," he says. "It was either that or have people call in sick for a week."

External links

  • Simutronics company website
  • Play.net, Simutronics on-line games website
  • One Epic Knight website
  • Siege: World War II website
  • Simutronics profile from MobyGames
  • Simutronics profile from IGN
  • Simutronics profile from Giant Bomb
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Simutronics&oldid=1376830349"
Categories:
  • Companies based in St. Louis
  • Companies established in 1987
  • MUD organizations
  • Video game companies of the United States
  • Mobile game companies
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