Joe Maruschak, a former Dynamix employee, works at his desk in GarageGames headquarters. The building is less than two miles from where Dynamix set up shop.

GarageGames was founded by four former Employees of Dynamix, a video games development studio. Jeff Turnell started Dynamix in Eugene, Ore., in 1984, and the company produced many acclaimed games including simulations such as “MechWarrior,” puzzles such as “The Incredible Machine” and first-person shooters such as “Starsiege: Tribes.”

Dynamix was purchased by Sierra Entertainment in 1990 and kept as a distinct entity. Sierra itself was bought and sold repeatedly. In 1997, its parent company, CUC International, merged with another conglomerate, HFS Inc. Within a year, the newly formed conglomerate of conglomerates revealed that CUC’s financial records had been falsified, inflating the worth of the company by more than $500 million.

The president of CUC was convicted of 14 counts of fraud and sentenced to 10 years in prison. At the same time, many corporate levels lower, Sierra came under new mangagement. Because of the massive financial hardship of its parent company, Sierra reorganized into five divisions. Four were “Sierra Something,” and the fifth was the enduring Dynamix.

The subdivision of a subsidiary of a massive, struggling business empire survived another reorganization in 1999, but in 2001 Sierra closed Dynamix. Four former employees of Dynamix were the original members of GarageGames: Mark Frohnmayer, Tim Gift, Rick Overman and Jeff Turnell. An artist, Joe Maruschak, was also employed by Dynamix when it closed. He later returned to Garage Games as a project manager.