Synergy Inc., which went by the trade name Synergy Geometry Co., Ltd., was a Japanese

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

and publisher headquartered in

Shinjuku-ku is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Buildi ...

, Tokyo. The company is best known for its point-and-click adventure games, which employed pre-rendered

3D computer graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...

, including '' Alice: An Interactive Museum'' (1991) and '' Gadget: Invention, Travel & Adventure '' (1993), both of which were designed by Haruhiko Shono. The company also had an American branch named Synergy Interactive Co., based in

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ; ) is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough to the west, San Francisco Bay and Foster C ...

, which focused on video game localization, publishing and marketing for western audiences.

List of games

Cancelled projects

''Underworld: The Sands of Time''

''Underworld: The Sands of Time'', originally announced under the

tentative title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

of ''The Underground'', was a point-and-click interactive movie directed by Haruhiko Shono, following the development of ''Gadget: Past as Future''. A roughly 5 minute sneak peek for the game was included in ''Preview & Reprise'', an interactive

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

released on November 27, 1997.

''Woodcutters from Fiery Ships''

'' Woodcutters from Fiery Ships'' was announced in early 1998 as a collaboration between Synergy Inc. and

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

's interactive company SubStation, with a tentative release window of Fall 1999. In the press release, Lynch said: "I saw the work that Synergy did on ''Gadget'' – the way that the game delivered an immersive experience to the user. By collaborating with Synergy, I look forward to ''Woodcutters From Fiery Ships'' expanding existing forms in terms of story, characters and environment. I hope we will give people totally unexpected experiences." In a November 1999 interview with '' The Guardian'', Lynch stated that the project was "blocked from the get-go", as it was going to be "completely boring to game buffs".

Notes

References

{{Reflist Video game companies of Japan Video game development companies Video game publishers Video game companies established in 1986 Japanese companies established in 1986