Jeffrey Tunnell

Developer BIO

Formerly Executive Director of Dynamix, a game development division of Sierra On-Line and Vivendi-Universal Interactive. Tunnell co-founded Dynamix in Eugene, Oregon in 1984 with Damon Slye and guided the company from an independent game developer for Electronic Arts to an affiliated label of Activision, then sold the company to Sierra On-line, a publicly traded company in 1990.

His role at Dynamix was as product and technology visionary and creative spark, directing development of new game genres and on new platforms. Tunnell has either designed, produced, or directed more than 70 titles including Rise of the Dragon, The Incredible Machine, Starsiege, and Starsiege: Tribes (Online Game of the Year, AIAS). He has pioneered new game genres such as Outdoor Sports with Trophy Bass and Family Entertainment with the 3-D Ultra line of products that includes such mass-market titles as Pinball, Maximum Minigolf, and Cool Pool.

In 1999 Tunnell founded Monster Studios with long-time collaborator Chris Cole, but left the company early 2003. In 2000, he founded GarageGames with three of his Dynamix friends (Tim Gift, Rick Overman, and Mark Frohnmayer). GG is a game developer and an online community of independent developers, that also provides tools for the production of computer games and distributes the games made with those tools by independent developers.

In March 2008, the public beta release of GreatGamesExperiment.com went on line, a social networking site centered around gaming. GGE was created by Tunnell for developers and gamers, to promote, network, discover, download, and play games. On June 2, 2008, Tunnell left GarageGames to start a new company with another vision and a new set of promises. A few months later, on November 5th, 2008, his new startup Push Button Labs was announced.

Outside of games Tunnell started Furrer Farms in 2007, a 200 acre organic farm. For fun, he rides motorcycles (Yamaha FZ-1 and YZ250F), plays in a rock band Procrastinators, lifts Olympic weights, and spends a lot of time with his family. He and his wife Colleen have four kids (Heidi, Aaron, Jonathan, and Allison).

Also Known As

• Jeff Tunnell

Websites

• Jeff Tunnell's Rock and Roll Journey -- Jeff Tunnell's profile at the Procrastinators site (he is a member of the band)
• IMDb -- Jeff Tunnell at IMDb.
• Make It Big In Games -- Jeff Tunnell's blog.

Games Credited

Marble Blast (2002), GarageGames, Inc.
The Incredible Machine: Even More Contraptions (2001), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
3-D Ultra Lionel Train Town Deluxe (2000), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Return of the Incredible Machine: Contraptions (2000), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Starsiege (1998), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Starsiege: Tribes (1998), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
3-D Ultra Minigolf (1997), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
3-D Ultra Pinball: Creep Night (1996), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Hunter Hunted (1996), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Rama (1996), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
The Incredible Machine 3 (1995), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Lode Runner On-Line: The Mad Monks' Revenge (1995), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Alien Legacy (1994), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Bouncers (1994), SEGA Corporation
The Incredible Machine 2 (1994), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
The Incredible Toon Machine (1994), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Lode Runner: The Legend Returns (1994), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Betrayal at Krondor (1993), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
The Even More Incredible Machine (1993), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
The Incredible Machine (1993), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Sid & Al's Incredible Toons (1993), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Stellar 7: Draxon's Revenge (1993), Dynamix, Inc.
Mega Math (1992), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Quarky & Quaysoo's Turbo Science (1992), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Take a Break! Crosswords (1992), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
The Adventures of Willy Beamish (1991), Dynamix, Inc.
Heart of China (1991), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Red Baron (1990), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Rise of the Dragon (1990), Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Stellar 7 (1990), Dynamix, Inc.
A-10 Tank Killer (1989), Dynamix, Inc.
David Wolf: Secret Agent (1989), Dynamix, Inc.
Deathtrack (1989), Activision, Inc.
Ghostbusters II (1989), Activision, Inc.
Motocross (1989), Gamestar
Project Firestart (1989), Electronic Arts, Inc.
Caveman Ugh-Lympics (1988), Electronic Arts, Inc.
F-14 Tomcat (1988), Activision, Inc.
Skyfox II: The Cygnus Conflict (1987), Electronic Arts, Inc.
Arcticfox (1986), Electronic Arts, Inc.