Dynamix's innovative ways continue with the revolutionary Tribes 2. Dynamix has been a mainstay in the Eugene, Oregon software development market since the mid-eighties. As a division of Sierra On-line, Dynamix has brought the computer entertainment world many of its favorite titles, including recent classics such as the 3-D Ultra Line, the Trophy Bass fishing simulators, flight simulators such as Aces and Red Baron series and the Tribes Universe.

A seasoned veteran in the gaming industry, Dave brings over eleven years of bleeding-edge game design and development experience to Dynamix. He's the Man on Tribes 2, which means he oversees the entire team, leads and coordinates the design of the game, steering development toward a more deeply immersive experience. As time goes on, team members are confident Dave will learn how to disk-jump with the best of them.

Mark handles networking code, engine development, in-game and shell design, tools, and keeping track of the Tribes 2 programmers. He also oversees AI development. Mark was one of core guys responsible for building the Tribes engine, and has coded cutting-edge programs for several years. Mark's office serves as the Beer Depot for all the wonderful gifts Tribes fans send the team. Aside from all that, Mark is a wicked Tribes player with a gift for well-timed taunts. Mark's favorite beer is Deschutes Brewery's Obsidian Stout.

Craig is in charge of the "look and feel" aspect of Tribes 2 and runs herd on the Tribes 2 art team. One of the lead artists on Tribes, he brings awesome experience in conceptualizing environments and architecture to the T2 dev team. Aside from being a talented artist, Craig continues to prove himself a leader in pushing Tribes gameplay to the next level. He takes enormous pride in working with such a creative group of artists and problem-solvers. His favorite beer is Rogue Brewery's Mocha Porter.

One of the most recently married members of the dev team, John works on "a little of everything," but especially weather effects. His favorite parts of Tribes 2 are the missile launcher and the visuals of water splashes (though not necessarily together). Though he admits to a fondness for Black Butte Porter, he's a homebrew aficionado who prefers his own beer. When he's not at work on Tribes, he practices being married, owning a home, and playing the arcade games he's acquired.

A very important component of the Tribes 2 dev team, Kelly is in charge of building the backend database and interface for the T2 community feature. Unsurprisingly, the best parts of Tribes 2 for him are the expansive and highly integrated community components, which he calls "revolutionary." His beer of choice is, uh, Trader Joe's Café Blend Coffee. When not at work, Kelly plays bass guitar blues and spends time with his family. One of his favorite activities is watching his two boys practice karate.

An 11-year Dynamix veteran, Robert handles concept and production art, shell art, textures, design of vehicles, warriors, and weapons. In addition, he is known for dramatic kung-fu moves in the halls and an addiction to Scottish accents. He plays the soundtrack to "Gladiator" when he plays Tribes; his favorite beer is Henry Weinhard's ROOT Beer, thank you very much. The lights of his life are wife Belle and brand-new daughter Erin.

A veteran of the Starsiege team, Ian does interiors and WorldCraft work for Tribes 2. He handled the grayblocks and finishes for the Badlands, Iceworld, and Volcanic texture sets. His favorite beers are any IPA and Guinness on tap. His faves in Tribes 2 are the expansive subterranean interiors. Even though he enjoys the huge outdoors, he describes himself as a "reformed Quake rat" who's more comfortable in confined spaces. Outside of work, Ian works on illustration and collecting a mondo number of toys. Check his website at www.ianchristy.com.

Jade works on the appearance of landforms, trees, rocks, packs, and miscellaneous gear. A veteran of the Tribes 1 team, he has become an avid Hunters fanatic and anticipates some major Hunting action on Tribes 2. He's also a notorious Nexus camper, so be wary. His fave brew is Widmer Hefeweizen. Outside of Tribes work, he studies martial arts -- currently Wing Chun and Wushu - and reads voraciously like the self-described media junkie he is.

Clark was responsible for the rendering and animation code for characters and static shapes in Tribes 2. He also coded the shadows for those shapes. His favorite features in Tribes 2 are the water and lava effects and the new gameplay they add. He thinks players will love the new vehicles and AI. Favorite beer? "I'm a 49er fan -- I drink wine." Lately he finds himself entranced by Shogun: Total War (great game). Aside from computer gaming, he plays volleyball and rides the Stairmaster. After Tribes 2 ships, he plans to ride his Stairmaster across the country to celebrate.

John's the tools programmer on the dev team, but he also carries the flag on the audio, the Command Circuit, game coding, and the mission editor. He likes to describe himself as "miscellaneous man." A Tribes vet, his favorite Tribes 2 features are the community elements - communicating with buddies, organizing games, and making contacts all from within the game. His favorite "sophisticated adult beverage" is Mirror Pond Pale Ale. Unique among all the team members, he claims to have superpowers. The first is the uncanny ability to simulate a personality, and the second is an immunity to "all things swank."

Brad (whose stature fits his nick) is the go-to guy for the shell, video platform, and input code. His favorite part of Tribes 2, unsurprisingly, is the shell, because "it's just so darn sexy." Not the most enthusiastic of beer consumers, his resolute favorite is Corona. Outside the office, he plays Diablo 2 (the barbarian is ready for the final throwdown as soon as Tribes 2 permits) and lives for a good game of basketball on a sunny day.

A former attorney who escaped the practice of law, Blake handles the text and story-oriented components of the game, including voice, backstory, the manual, creative marketing words, in-house team interviews, and creative web content. The most exciting aspect of Tribes 2 for him is the new vehicle physics, especially flying the turbogravs. Blake's beverage of choice is a nice, dark double espresso (or a quad on those really rough days). When not in the office, he's either running, writing, or spending time with his wife, baby daughter, and seven (!!!) cats.

A man who brings a distinctive gravitas to the dev team, Lincoln keeps busy working on Tribes 2's AI navigation system. When indulging, he prefers Black Butte Porter to other brews. A Tribes veteran, his comment on Tribes 2 is simply, "What's not to like? It's a complete game package: graphics, AI, action, community, awesome gameplay, good sounds." Outside of Tribes life, Lincoln is a "pianophile" who prefers the three B's of Bach, Beethoven, and Bob Dylan. He knows Dylan isn't a piano composer, but it sounds cooler to have three B's than two B's.

Greg assists Lincoln in the programming for the bots and AI navigation in Tribes 2, a task made even more daunting by the game's trademark jetpacks. Greg prefers the beverages of diet Coke, Obsidian Stout, and Shakespeare Stout. His favorite part of Tribes 2 is the vehicles, especially the flying ones. "They're just so much fun to fly through a firefight." His personal life outside of development revolves around programming and playing computer games, especially authentic, turn-based military sims such as Close Combat and Western Front.

Eric designs and builds multiplayer missions, assists in game-type scripting, and frequently invites himself to meetings. Eric's favorite part of Tribes 2 how the new environments are so immersive: "Wow! That really felt like I just got blown to pieces!" When Eric isn't working on Tribes, he plays Tribes with a passion. The only other game that hits his radar screen is Age of Empires II, in which he favors the Goths.

A huge factor in Tribes 2 geometry production, "Kaz" is the team's highly esteemed "animal." When not out capping the flag on Tribes servers, he handles character animation and modeling for Tribes 2. He also models the various vehicles and does other design support work. He prefers cold beer over the other kinds, especially while watching the new Tribes 2 vehicles in action. "There's nothing like seeing my work speeding over ridgelines," he says. Jon is deep into following the latest tech trends, especially in video game technology. Tribes is by far and away his all-time favorite game.

A relative newcomer to the team but a long-timer in the industry, Dave's provides support for the art team and works on textures, HUD, shell design, and icons. His favorite part of Tribes 2 is simply the sheer beauty of the game. He raves about the rich lighting, gorgeous textures, and the huge, immersive worlds. Since he's an avid fisherman, Dave would love to be out "dry-flying on the Mackenzie" with his wife and two kids when he's not juggling art tasks. Beer of choice? San Miguel Dark.

Dave describes his role on the team as the Mission Building Guru and Teller of Bad Jokes. He's responsible for multiplayer mission design and testing, and is a solid Tribes veteran. His favorite part of Tribes 2 involves coming over a hill in a bomber and carpet-bombing the daylights out of his opponents. His favorite brew is Deschutes Brewery's Mirror Pond Pale Ale. He says if he weren't a game designer, he'd be "El Serpiente de Cascabel," the terror of the Mexican pro wrestling circuit. He still needs a date for the Dynamix Christmas party.

Dave works on collision, interior tools, the rendering engine, weapon mechanics, and "pretty much anything else they want to throw at me." A Tribes 1 veteran, his favorite part of Tribes 2 is simply the graphics: "There's just so much more of everything that it's like a completely new game." Hop-laden beverages of choice include Obsidian Stout, Black Butte Porter, and McMenamin's "Rubinator." When he's not slaving over Tribes 2, he's either working on his house or reading science fiction novels.

Daryl's duties include managing outside contractors, licensing, and "other duties as assigned". His favorite part of Tribes 2 is the BioDerms, from their attitude to bestial appearance. Drink of choice is Sobe's Lizard Blizzard. Outside of work, he spends his time with his wife SaraJane, historical miniatures wargaming, scuba diving, and martial arts (Ninjutsu). He is also a Major with the Army Reserve. Finally, Daryl asks any tribals considering sending beer donate instead in the name of "Tribes 2" to the International Snow Leopard Trust Foundation at http://www.serv.net/islt/home2.html (it's an endangered species action group).

Brian is the eye candy point man responsible for coding the special effects of Tribes 2, including water, weapon effects, explosions, and dust. A relative newcomer to the dev team, he relishes the entire Tribes 2 experience, describing it as a "dream job." His favorite beer is Bass Ale, and he has a lot of personal goals he plans to pursue once the Tribes 2 development frenzy levels off, including studying photography and learning to fly. He stays sane listening to trance music while he writes code.

Paul loves his job so much he commutes an hour each way every day. In Tribes 2, he lends his talents to almost all interior texture tiles, some exteriors, and the 3D shapes for vehicles, weapons, and packs. He's especially fond of his vehicle textures. His favorite adult beverage is Black Butte Porter. The best part of Tribes 2 for him is the sheer immersiveness, plus the lack of gibbage. On his own time, he recharges by playing the drums, building models, and hiking in Oregon's backcountry with his wife Heather and 11-month old son Hayden.

Matt is responsible for finish work on WorldCraft shapes and clean-up work on the architecture. A man of many talents, Matt came to the dev team via a long series of jobs, including loading docks, hanging billboards, and farming. His beer of choice is Black Butte Porter. The part of Tribes 2 that sets him on fire is the graphics, especially the Iceworld set. When he's not in the office tribing away, he likes to hang out, write fiction, draw fantasy and sci-fi illustrations, and test out the latest RPGs.

Jesse is the Man on single-player mission design, but he also works on various other scripting tasks. He likens his job to cutting up chunks of raw meat for use in a movie scene that the director reshoots every day. A Starsiege veteran, Jesse finds Tribes 2 incredibly cool because it offers so many new features over the original Tribes. He likes any dark beer, but prefers Black Butte Porter or Anchor Porter. Outside of Tribes work, he is a rabid, slavering Denver Broncos fan and all-around football junkie.

Connor is responsible for coordinating QA activities, hardware compatability, some localization issues, and basic testing. He enjoys the new Tribes 2 bots and AI, since they're sharp enough to give him a run for his money when he plays around, though he finds them far more obnoxious than human players. His fave brew is Hefeweizen, and when not on Tribes 2, he studies martial arts. So far, Connor has worked on Wing Chun Kung Fu, Ju Jitsu, Judo, Sambo (Russian Judo variant used by Spetznaz), Shotokan Karate, and Escrima. Other dev team members avoid slap fights with Connor.

Mitch writes the scripts that run most packs, mission types, and some weapons behavior, as well as various HUD and vehicle behaviors. His favorite beer is root beer. The most enthralling part of Tribes 2 for him is the graphics, which he describes as causing "simian excitement" at the sight of the gorgeous explosions and lushly detailed terrains. When not on Tribes 2 tasks, he says he's "not really a monkey, but plays one on TV."

Tinman (yes, that's his real name) is the man to blame after you've finished a bot match where the pesky AIs have handed you your armored head, as his area of responsibility is AI behavior. He likes Rogue Brewery's Dead Guy Ale, appropriately enough. His favorite part of Tribes 2 is "da Bots," though as the creator of Hunters, he loves them best in that game. Outside of dev work, Tinman pursues a passion for movies. His absolute favorite is "The Godfather," though he also claims "Dead Alive" is the "most underrated flick of all time."

One of the true old-timers on the team with over 25 projects under his belt, Tom has hung with Dynamix for over 10 years. His responsibilities on Tribes 2 include interior design and herding the kittens of the interior creation process. He brings his experience from Tribes 1 and a lifetime of video game geek skillz to his job. A long-time roleplayer (in addition to Tribes, of course), he's excited to see the RPG surge in the industry. His favorite part of Tribes is the huge community feature and the many tribal friends he has met since Tribes was released. His favorite beer is Mirror Pond… "lately."

Drew is the team's QA analyst. He worked on determining how Quality Assurance should approach testing, and his current duties revolve around leading the Dynamix Core QA team. His favorite beer is Mirror Pond Pale Ale, "the Budweiser of the Tribes 2 team." The aspect of Tribes 2 that excites him the most is the totally immersive art, since the different terrains and buildings now integrate seamlessly to produce a definitive feel for each world. When not working on Tribes 2, he spends time with his 14-month old daughter Gwen. Among his other interests, he cites mods and scripting new stuff for Tribes 2. Any plans for that? He responds with an evil grin: "Wait and see."