| 1987 |
GemStone (I) demoed to GEnie under Simutronics' pre-incorporation name "Crystal Blade" |
| October 23, 1987 | Simutronics incorporated in Virginia |
| April 1988 |
GemStone ][ opens on GEnie |
| September 1988 |
Orb Wars contract with GEnie signed |
1989
|
Imagi*Nation chat environment opens on GEnie, using Simutronics Interactive Fiction Engine (same engine that runs GemStone)
| |
| December 1, 1989 |
GemStone III Open Beta on GEnie |
| February 1, 1990 |
GemStone III officially launches on GEnie |
| August, 1990 |
GemCon (I) in St. Louis |
| August, 1992 |
CyberStrike demoed to GEnie |
| February, 1993 |
CyberStrike opens on GEnie |
| June, 1993 |
(related news) GEnie drops prices |
| 1993 |
CyberStrike wins award for first "Online Game of the Year" from Computer Gaming World magazine |
| Simutronics signs with Time Warner for Modus Operandi |
|
| Development of GSIV (later renamed to DragonRealms) begins |
|
| June, 1993 |
GEnie's peak as online service (115K total customers, 2000 simultaneous users) |
| March, 1994 |
Simutronics moves into new office at 800 First Capitol Drive |
| 1994 |
GemStone III converted from Mark III to UNIX |
| Simutronics signs contract with Microprose to do online version of Magic: The Gathering |
|
| November, 1994 |
CyberStrike offered retail via Microprose |
| June 1, 1995 |
Modus Operandi goes into beta on GEnie |
| Fall 1995 |
Magic contract with Microprose goes *poof* |
| GemStone III De-ICEd, opens on AOL |
|
| February 1, 1996 |
DragonRealms opens on Genie |
| May 1, 1996 |
Simutronics moves to new office: 1500 Wall Street |
| June 3, 1996 |
DragonRealms Open Beta on AOL |
| July 2, 1996 |
Simutronics signs contract with CompuServe |
| July 25, 1996 |
DragonRealms live on AOL |
| October 15, 1996 |
DragonRealms opens on Prodigy |
| December 1, 1996 |
AOL switches to flat-rate pricing |
| Simutronics customers' hours per month go from 750,000 -> 2 Million! |
|
| December, 1996 |
GemStone III and DragonRealms are the top two titles (hours/month) in industry |
| GemStone III does over 1.4 Million hours in one month, with over 2000 simultaneous users |
|
| May 29, 1997 |
SimuCon ][ convention takes place near St. Louis airport |
| July 3, 1997 |
Simutronics website opens: http://www.play.net |
| September 4, 1997 |
Simutronics & Universal announce Hercules & Xena game |
| November 1997 |
Sony & Simutronics announce CyberStrike 2 |
| April 1998 |
Hercules & Xena: Alliance of Heroes goes live |
| July 1998 |
|
| December 1998 |
CyberStrike 2 opens |
| January 25, 1999 | DragonRealms Province IV released (Maritime Expansion) |
| September 1999 |
SimuCon 99 at King Henry VIII Hotel |
| September 25, 1999 |
First GS3 Radio Broadcast |
| October 1, 1999 |
(related news) Prodigy Classic online service shuts down |
| Fall 99 |
GS3 portal on CompuServe shut down |
| October 15, 1999 |
Simutronics listed as #295 on Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies in the country |
| December 27, 1999 |
(related news) Genie closes its doors |
| January 2000 |
First GS3 character portrait pack goes into the game (Werlin, Thuunk, Crenshaw, Dazee, Declanne, Dorren, Miah, Witcheaven, Jadow, Iscikella) |
| February 1, 2000 |
GemStone III's 10-year anniversary |
| February 3, 2000 |
First DragonRealms character portrait goes into the game |
| June 15, 2000 |
|
| August 28, 2000 |
Simutronics opens Stratics IRC chat rooms |
| September 1, 2000 |
BloodLust opens in DR Platinum |
| October 23, 2000 |
(related news) ex-partner Iron Crown Enterprises files for bankruptcy |
| January 20, 2001 |
VegasCon 2001. Fan-organized, about 400 attendees! |
| June 7-10, 2001 |
SimuCon 2001 at St. Louis Airport Hilton |
| September 5, 2001 |
eScape Web FE goes beta in all IFE games |
| September 11, 2001 |
WTC & Pentagon Attacks |
| September 12, 2001 |
Simutronics Crisis Center Launched |
| October 1, 2001 |
Web 2.0 & eScape go live |
| October 18, 2001 |
Platinum prices drop from $50 to $10 extra |
| February 25, 2002 |
DragonRealms Fallen goes live ($5 added subscription, or free for Platinum) |
| February 28, 2002 |
Announcement goes out that base price will go up from $9.95 to $12.95 in April. (affects all games except CyberStrike Classic) |
| June 2002 |
SimuCon 2002 at the Hilton, first year with a live band and dancing |
| June 5-8, 2003 |
SimuCon 2003 at the Westport Sheraton, first year with karaoke, Radio Free SimuCon and wireless access. New and improved Hero's Journey engine is demoed to the attendees, and betatest applications distributed |
| June 10, 2003 |
GemStone IV goes into alpha testing |
| July 23, 2003 | "Hercules & Xena: Alliance of Heroes" game officially changes name to "Alliance of Heroes" |
| September 15, 2003 | GemStone IV begins first phase of beta testing |
| October 6, 2003 | GemStone IV goes into open beta |
| November 21, 2003 |
GemStone IV officially launches, along with new version of play.net website and new StormFront Front End. |
| June 2004 | SimuCon 2004 at the Westport Sheraton |
| November 2004 | GemStone IV Paladin Expansion |
| June 2005 | SimuCon 2005 at Westport Sheraton |
| March 2006 | New HeroEngine product announced at GDC |
| May 2006 | Hero's Journey demo-ed at E-3 |
| June 2006 | "UnofficialCon" aka SimuCon-Lite, at Westport Sheraton |
| August 2006 |
Bioware becomes first licensee for HeroEngine |
| March 2007 | Three more HeroEngine licensees: Virgin/Trianit, Colony Studios, and Stray Bullet Games |
| July 26-29, 2007 | SimuCon 2007 at Doubletree St. Louis Westport |
| February 2008 | IT Territory licenses HeroEngine for new MMORPG |
| August 8-10, 2008 | SimuCon 2008 at Westport Sheraton |
| June 23-28, 2009 |
SimuCon 2009, Westport Plaza Chalet |
| July 7-11, 2010 |
SimuCon 2010, Westport Plaza Chalet |
| October 19, 2010 |
Fantasy University opens on Facebook |
| February 2011 |
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