Simutronics is an American online games company whose products include ''

GemStone IV ''GemStone IV'' is a multiplayer text-based online role-playing video game (often known as a MUD) produced by Simutronics. Players control characters in a High Fantasy game world named "Elanthia". The first playable version of the game was kn ...

'' and ''DragonRealms''. It was founded in 1987 by

David Whatley David Whatley (born 1966) is the president and CEO of Simutronics Corporation, a multiplayer game company in St. Charles, Missouri. He was the co-founder of the company in 1987, and has been a key developer on all of the company's products, inclu ...

, with husband and wife Tom & Susan Zelinski. The company is located in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. It became part of the

Stillfront Group Stillfront Group is a Sweden-based company specialized in the acquisition and management of mobile and browser game studios. History Stillfront was founded in 2010 by Jörgen Larsson, a Swedish entrepreneur, although it didn't start operating ...

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 to 1988. ''GemStone'' was originally accessed through

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...

GEnie Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...

, later becoming accessible through

AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017� ...

Prodigy Prodigy, Prodigies or The Prodigy may refer to: * Child prodigy, a child who produces meaningful output to the level of an adult expert performer ** Chess prodigy, a child who can beat experienced adult players at chess Arts, entertainment, and ...

, and

CompuServe CompuServe (CompuServe Information Service, also known by its initialism CIS) was an American online service provider, the first major commercial one in the world – described in 1994 as "the oldest of the Big Three information services (the oth ...

before Simutronics finally moved all their games to their own domain in 1997.

Simutronics products

Multiplayer online games

* ''

'', 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 A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-bas ...

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 ''CyberStrike'' is a futuristic 3D combat online game by Simutronics, involving team combat between customizable mechs, each of which is controlled by a different player. Initially exclusive to the GEnie online service, it opened in February 1 ...

'', 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 computer game magazine 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 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

magazine in 1993. * ''Dragons of Elanthia'' (currently in Beta), a multiplayer third-person shooter in which players select different dragons and riders, each with unique abilities, to fight each other.

Mobile games

* '' Tiny Heroes,'' a

tower defense Tower defense (TD) is a subgenre of strategy games where the goal is to defend a player's territories or possessions by obstructing the enemy attackers or by stopping enemies from reaching the exits, usually achieved by placing defensive struc ...

game for iPhone and

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...

, released in 2011 * ''One Epic Knight,'' an endless runner game, released in 2012 for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

devices and in 2013 for Android

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'' - 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

Simutronics profile
from

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

Simutronics profile
from

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game 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 distri ...

Simutronics profile
from

Giant Bomb ''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news, and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by ''Time'' mag ...

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