Tsunami Games (or Tsunami Media, Inc.) was an American

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 Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

founded in 1991 by former employees of

Sierra Entertainment Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genre, ...

(then known as Sierra On-Line). The company was based in

Oakhurst, California Oakhurst (formerly Fresno Flats) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Madera County, California, Madera County, California, United States, south of the entrance to Yosemite National Park, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. At the 2020 censu ...

, which at the time was also the home of Sierra. Between 1992 and 1996 Tsunami published several games, most notably

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...

s and

interactive movie Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

s, before becoming defunct.

History

Tsunami Games was formed in 1991 by Edmond Heinbockel, former

chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

of Sierra On-Line. Its early games were point-and-click

s including '' Ringworld: Revenge of The Patriarch'', which was based on the

Ringworld ''Ringworld'' is a 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. ''Ringworld'' tells the story of Louis Wu and his companions on a mission to the Ringworld, a ...

novels by

Larry Niven Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His best-known works are ''Ringworld'' (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards, and, with Jerry Pournelle, ''The Mote in God's Eye'' ...

. ''

Blue Force ''Blue Force'' is an adventure game for MS-DOS released in 1993 by former ''Police Quest'' designer Jim Walls. Gameplay The game has certain similarities to ''Police Quest'', but has a constant inventory menu and points counter at the bottom, a ...

'', a police procedural adventure game, was designed by Jim Walls, the former designer of the ''

Police Quest ''Police Quest'' (or ''SWAT'') is a series of police simulation video games produced and published by Sierra On-Line between 1987 and 1998. The first five were adventure simulation games, the first three of which were designed by former police ...

'' series at Sierra. Also notable was '' Protostar: War on the Frontier'' (1993), a space exploration and adventure game in the style of ''

Starflight ''Starflight'' is a space exploration, combat, and trading role-playing video game created by Binary Systems and published by Electronic Arts in 1986. Originally developed for IBM PC compatibles, it was later ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, Mac ...

''.

Interactive movies

Tsunami made three interactive movies. '' Flash Traffic: City of Angels'' (1994) and '' Silent Steel'' (1995) are full-motion video-based games in which the player watches video clips and is asked to choose one of three options approximately every 15 seconds. These choices generally affect the game's story. '' Silent Steel'' was reportedly honored by ''PC Entertainment Magazine'' for "Best Use of Live-Action Footage" in a CD-ROM game. The third "interactive movie" is ''Man Enough'', a dating sim which includes ostensibly "sexy" live-action video sequences.

List of games

*'' Wacky Funsters! The Geekwad's Guide to Gaming'' (1992, re-released on CD in 1993) *'' The Geekwad: Games of The Galaxy'' (1992, re-released on CD in 1993) *'' Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch'' (1993) *''

'' (1993) *'' Protostar: War on the Frontier'' (1993) *'' Man Enough'' (1993) *'' Return to Ringworld'' (1994) *'' Flash Traffic: City of Angels'' (1994) *'' Silent Steel'' (1995) *''

Free Enterprise In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ...

'' (or ''Free Enterpri$e'') (1996)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Tsunami Media, Inc.
at

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 ...

Home of the Underdog's company profile on Tsunami Games.
Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game companies established in 1991 Video game development companies Video game publishers 1991 establishments in California