HeroEngine Energizes Massively Multiplayer Game Business; Halves Time-to-Market for Developers.

GAITHERSBURG, Md. -- Simutronics announced today that it is shipping version 1.0 of its HeroEngine, a complete turnkey platform for development and operation of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games.

HeroEngine represents a major breakthrough for game developers, allowing developers to skip two years of technology development and get right into game design and world building, halving development time which typically takes up to four years for major MMO game projects.

The global market for MMO games has exploded over the past few years and now exceeds $1 billion dollars. Hundreds of developers are hard at work on new games to meet the surging demand. Games in North America, Europe, China and South Korea have millions of subscribers and developers are working feverishly to keep up with surging demand for new games.

"We first created HeroEngine for our own needs as MMO game developers," said Neil Harris, Simutronics Executive Vice President. "When we began showing early versions of our game last year, we discovered that our toolset was regarded as a huge leap forward and we were bombarded with requests. Using HeroEngine reduces risk and lets developers focus on making games fun."

HeroEngine is the only completely integrated development environment on the market for MMO games. The entire team, artists, game designers, and programmers, work together in a single online real-time environment to create the world and the game systems that drive play. Development teams can watch each other build the game world graphically in the same online environment where players will soon live. The engine includes extensive project management capabilities to keep the team organized.

"HeroEngine was created for developers by developers," says David Whatley, Simutronics founder and CEO. "All the features mesh together because of our 18 years of experience in creating online games. We know what developers need to create MMO games that work."

HeroEngine includes HeroScript, a unique scripting language that enables all aspects of game play to be controlled simply and to be adjusted and enhanced as needed by the developers and designers. The developer can even interact with players online by manipulating the game world while they are playing and by taking control of monsters and other inhabitants of the world.

Developers can use Simutronics extensive back-office system, used by the company for its own games, including billing, customer service, and tracking systems for marketing programs. The billing system supports all major payment methods and supports subscriptions and one-time transactions.

About Simutronics

Simutronics Corp. is a leading creator of advanced technology platform for developers in the billion dollar global market for massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. Our HeroEngine platform reduces time to market by 1-2 years with a full feature set in an integrated turnkey solution. The company also offers a proprietary catalog of MMO games. Founded in 1987 and known as the original master of online games, the firm has innovated in the multiplayer online game world with popular titles like GemStone, DragonRealms, and CyberStrike, all of which are still played by avid fans on the Play dot Net website. Simutronics has offices in St. Charles, MO and Gaithersburg, MD. HeroEngine and Hero's Journey are trademarks of Simutronics Corp., all rights reserved.