Synergistic Software

Synergistic Software was a video game developer based in Seattle. Founded in 1978, the company published some of the earliest available games and applications for the Apple II family of computers. They continued developing games for various platforms into the late 1990s.

History
Synergistic was founded in 1978 by Robert Clardy and Ann Dickens Clardy. One of the earliest successful third-party software developers for the Apple II platform, they are most well known for their Dungeons & Dragons-inspired Dungeon Campaign / Wilderness Campaign game, which was later expanded and repackaged as Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure. Dungeon Campaign / Wilderness Campaign is one of the earliest D&D-like games that is epic in scope (compared to the more commonplace "dungeon crawl" games, such as Temple of Apshai.

Synergistic also published a number of business applications, including a word processor and a simple database program.

Unlike many other companies that could or did not make the jump to other platforms, Synergistic continued as an independent developer as the IBM PC DOS platform became dominant. Possibly the most successful titles they ported during this period were Thexder, a side-scrolling shooter game, and Silpheed, a 2D shooter (developed by Game Arts and published by Sega for the Sega CD console).

Synergistic was acquired by Sierra On-Line in 1996. They maintained their identity as an independent development group within Sierra for several years. However, the studio was closed on February 22, 1999.

Games

 * Dungeon Campaign / Wilderness Campaign (1979)
 * Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure (1980)
 * Higher Text II (1980)
 * Data Reporter (1981)
 * Apventure to Atlantis (1982)
 * Bolo (1982)
 * Crisis Mountain (1982)
 * Escape from Arcturus (1982)
 * Microbe (1983)
 * The Fool's Errand (1986) (as publishers of DOS port)
 * Pitstop II (1984)
 * Thexder (1985)
 * Rockford (1987)
 * Sidewinder (1988)
 * Silpheed (1988)
 * J.R.R. Tolkien's War in Middle Earth (1988)
 * Spirit of Excalibur (1990)
 * Vengeance of Excalibur (1991)
 * Conan: The Cimmerian (1991)
 * Spectre (1994)
 * Triple Play '97 (1996)
 * Birthright - The Gorgon's Alliance (1996)
 * Diablo: Hellfire (1997)