Simutronics
Simutronics is the online
games company responsible for
GemStone IV,
DragonRealms, and many other games. It was founded in 1987 by
David Whatley, with husband and wife Tom & Susan Zelinski. The company is located in
Saint Charles, Missouri, with additional offices in
Maryland.
The company's flagship product,
GemStone IV, has been running for around 15 years.
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, play.net, in 1997.
All of the following titles are multiplayer online games:
*
GemStone IV, Simutronics' flagship product, a text-based multiplayer fantasy game, which has seen over one million users over the years, and is the longest-running commercial
MUD in the world.
*
DragonRealms, set in the same fantasy world as
GemStone, only at a later place in time. Additional versions include DragonRealms Platinum, and DragonRealms: Fallen.
*
Modus Operandi RPG, a crime-solving MUD.
*
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, but is still running as a retooled "
tongue in cheek"
mythology MUD.
*
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.
*
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, which was the #1 game on the
GEnie service
*
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
*
Hero's Journey, an upcoming graphical
MMORPG, scheduled for 2006 release
Simutronics' products
GemStone IV,
DragonRealms,
Modus Operandi, and
Alliance of Heroes are text-based multiplayer games built on the proprietary Interactive Fiction Engine (IFE), which is written in the
C programming language. The IFE is responsible for managing the server's memory, interacting with the game's database, and communicating with the clients. It also includes an interpreter for the proprietary GemStone Scripting Language (GSL), a relatively simple language which abstracts away most of the complex details that the IFE handles.
The major advantage of the IFE, unlike most other game engines including those of many major graphical
MMOGs, is that it is constructed to allow the modification of all properties of the game except those implemented directly by the IFE without requiring a game restart. This includes the game's geography and all functions written in GSL. As a result of this, scheduled game
downtime tends to be infrequent and short. It also means that game releases tend to be incremental instead of gathered up into large
patches, and bug fixes can be applied immediately on completion instead of waiting for the next downtime.
Originally, many core game
commands (such as those relating to movement and inventory management) were implemented directly by the IFE. Over time, most of those have been migrated to GSL to allow for easier modification.
The upcoming title
Hero's Journey (game) will be based around a similar system, using the Hero Script Language (HSL).
Unlike most game developers, the majority of Simutronics employees are not full time staff housed in the corporate offices. The relatively small onsite staff includes mainly corporate officers, billing and legal staff,
product managers, and engine programmers. The day-to-day development and customer service staff of the games is comprised of part time offsite contractors, called
GameMasters, most of whom have full time jobs elsewhere. Whether this staff is paid varies. [
1][
2] As a result of their less central status, GameMasters do not have access to billing or personal information for customers or the engine code. All development work by GameMasters is done in GSL (for the IFE games) or HSL (for
Hero's Journey).
GameMasters are hired, trained, and perform their duties without ever setting foot in a corporate office. This employment practice provides wider options for hiring and a lower payroll to Simutronics, and a flexible work environment for the GameMasters.
The main avenue for customer-company communication is through the official Simutronics forums. Compared to the employees of other online game companies, GameMasters are relatively unrestricted in their discussions with customers. Most unusual is the ability of developers to discuss issues directly with customers, rather than through a community manager or other customer service employee.
*
GemStone was the first multiplayer game to achieve one million paid hours in a single month.
* Simutronics names often have a midword capital letter in them, such as in
GemStone,
DragonRealms,
CyberStrike, the client application
StormFront, the official title of GameMaster, and
StormHammer, the development name of
GemStone IV.
* The most common misspelling of "Simutronics" is "Simultronics".
* The company is commonly referred to with the shortened form "Simu".
*
Play.net, official Simutronics site*
Simutronics' History - Timeline maintained by
Elonka Dunin, Simutronics General Manager of Online Community
*
Amy Jo Kim,
Community Building on the Web, 2000, Peachpit Press. ISBN 0201874849
*
Dunin, Elonka (ed.). "
IGDA Online Games White Paper, 2nd Edition - March 2003". (PDF)
*
Richard Bartle,
Designing Virtual Worlds, 2003, New Riders Pub. ISBN 0131018167
*
Inc. Magazine, October 1999,
"Pure Internet Play",
"The Bright Side of the Force"*
St. Charles Journal, January 9, 1994, "Games People Play"
* Better Business Bureau report "http://www.stlouis.bbb.org/commonreport.html?compid=310013366"
