HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Simutronics 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. 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 General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...
's
internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...
GEnie GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) was an online service provider, online service created by a General Electric business, GEIS (now GXS Inc., GXS), that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around ...
, later becoming accessible through AOL, Prodigy, and
CompuServe CompuServe, Inc. (CompuServe Information Service, Inc., also known by its initialism CIS or later CSi) was an American Internet company that provided the first major commercial online service provider, online service. It opened in 1969 as a times ...
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. * ''DragonRealms'', a 1996 MUD set in ''GemStone'' Elanthia world, with popularity on online services AOL, Compuserve, and Prodigy. In comparison with ''GemStone'', ''DragonRealms'' has more skill-based gameplay. * '' 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 ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...
magazine in 1993.


Mobile games

* '' Tiny Heroes,'' a tower defense game for
iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...
and
iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...
, released in 2011 * ''One Epic Knight,'' an endless runner game, released in 2012 for iOS devices and in 2013 for Android * '' Lara Croft: Relic Run'', a spin-off sequel to the ''Lara Croft'' sub-series in the ''
Tomb Raider ''Tomb Raider'', known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an Action-adventure game, action-adventure video game series created by British video game developer Core Design. The franchise i ...
'' 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. * Siege: World War II, a wartime sequel to Siege: Titan Wars, launched on iOS and Android in 2018.


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 Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
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

HeroEngine is a game engine, 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. Simutronics sold the HeroEngine to Idea Fabrik, Plc. on August 5, 2010.


References


Sources

* * * *


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 MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

Simutronics profile
from
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

Simutronics profile
from Giant Bomb {{MUDs Companies based in St. Louis Companies established in 1987 MUD organizations Video game companies of the United States Mobile game companies