The story of Bungie is the archetypal story of the American computer industry: a talented young man graduates from college and, in lieu of getting a real job, decides to publish a game he had made for his own amusement. In May of 1991, Alexander Seropian founded Bungie Software and published Operation Desert Storm, a meticulously researched tank-combat game. Shortly afterwards he teamed up with another gamer and computer junkie he met in an artificial intelligence class, Jason Jones, to publish his game, Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete.
With boxes assembled in Alexander's basement apartment, Bungie's first games were sold at trade shows and gradually gained access to distribution channels. Minotaur , released in February 1992, established a pattern of innovation for Bungie that would make it prominent among companies writing software for the Macintosh. Minotaur was the first Mac game designed solely as groupware, which can only be played by two or more people connected via modem or an AppleTalk network. This unconventional approach was rewarded with the development of a hard-core Minotaur following and can locate each other via a nationwide Users Directory maintained by Bungie.
The next game, Pathways Into Darkness, was the creative leap that put Bungie on the computer-gaming map. Pathways was the first game for the Macintosh to use texture-mapping in real time. The game achieved a smooth, continuous-motion 3-D effect with richly detailed, high-res graphics, which combines with active-panning stereo sound effects to surround the player with its fantasy setting. Upon its release in August 1993, Pathways received rave reviews and won numerous awards, including MacWorld's Game Hall of Fame, the MacUser 100, and Inside Mac Games' Adventure Game of the Year. It is available in 15 countries around the world, and continues to sell heavily. It was also one of the first games to be written native to the RISC-based Power Macintosh platform. Pathways success brought Bungie its first office and a small, hardworking staff.
Marathon, Bungie's next game, was a milestone not only for the company but for the Macintosh itself. The game pre-sold tens of thousands of copies and dominated online message boards many months before its release in December 1994. Players were thrilled with the game's high speed action, unprecedented freedom of movement and stunningly detailed graphics, and office networks the world over blazed with multiplayer Marathon contests. Winner of the Macworld World Class Award, MacUser Editors Choice, GAMES 100 and others, Marathon has attracted the attention of filmmakers, authors and numerous software developers hoping to use its technology not to mention legions of hackers who make programs to edit, modify and otherwise expand the scope of the game.
Following Marathon's success, Bungie realized that a sequel was necessary, both because of the many additional features and enhancements the programmers had in mind and overwhelming public demand. Marathon 2: Durandal was released in November 1995, and far from being a cheap rehash of the Marathon story, distinguished itself by being a new game in its own right. A faster engine, enhanced graphics and sounds, full networkability and network game scenarios like King of the Hill made the game a unique multiplayer experience. Marathon 2 has outdone Marathon's own impressive sales over a comparable period, is available in English, French and Japanese and has followed its predecessor onto the hard drives of gamers in the remotest corners of the Earth.
The year 1996 will see the most fundamental and sweeping developments for Bungie since its inception. Now with more artists, programmers, tech support and marketing staff, and a war chest stuffed by nearly 500% sales growth, Bungie is prepared to make the leap from Mac-only to multiplatform, and from one to multiple titles per year. The Marathon saga continues with Marathon Infinity, a game that puts the Bungie's own scenario-building tools into the customers hands. Marathon 2 has just been released for Windows 95, while a new publishing and licensing program spreads Bungie's brand name and technologies to other software companies and games. Innovative marketing schemes utilizing Bungie's website, cybercafes, user groups and other venues have been initiated, all with the goal of making this post-collegiate experiment in self-employment a major force in the electronic gaming industry.
