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The History Of Silicon Knights

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Knights in Shining Armor: The History and Heritage of Silicon Knights

Written by: Steve Kupisch

"I liken Silicon Knights to a guild, an organization of individuals working together toward one common goal; a group that shares internal resources collectively but also guards its inside knowledge from the outside world. What they used to do in guilds was teach things that nobody else knew how to create. And they also did things differently than anybody else out there. It was a very open environment with knowledge inside the company, but that knowledge could never be let outside. So we bring people in here at Silicon Knights and believe it or not most of them dont have any previous experience making games, and we prefer to have it that way. Well bring people in here with no experience and well train them just like a guild would; well train them in our craft, because thats what we believe game development is, much more than a science."

~ Denis Dyack - President of Silicon Knights
Silicon Knights did not have its start by some egg-head nerd, geek, or dweeb. As a matter of fact, Silicon Knights was started by a jock. Denis Dyack was well on his way to joining the ranks of physical education teachers everywhere. He had an undergraduate degree in Physical Education at Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario Canada. Wrestling was his sport of choice in school and in his personal life he studied tae kwon do. Dyack immersed himself in his martial art and even once became the Canadian champion. He in time realized that he did not want to be a physical education teacher. Dyack had a bigger dream; a higher brass ring to reach for.

He decides to change his direction and his major from Physical Education to Computer Science. While still attending Brock University, Dyack had met Rick Goertz whose major was also Computer Science and he shared Dyacks love of video games. They banded together and started to create a game called Cybernetics. Dyack decided to continue with schooling and enrolled for his Masters degree at Guelph (pronounced gwelf) University. Halfway through his Masters at Guelph, Dyack and Goertz started Silicon Knights. They founded the company with goals of not riches and status, but of quality and dreams.

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Cyber Empires (a.k.a. Steel Empire) released March 1992




Dyack and Goertzs first game was Cyber Empires a.k.a. Steel Empire. Cyber Empires was published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. in the (US) and Steel Empire was published by Millenium in the (UK) in 1992. It was designed to play on the Atari ST, Amiga, and IBM PC.

Cyber Empires is considered to be the first game to integrate strategy with arcade action on a global scale. It was designed to be played with 1-5 people or computer opponents, something virtually unheard of in its time. This game was no push-over to play; you need to have firmly based strategy on building and commanding your cyborg armies, fast reflexes and motor skills in order to win skirmishes. Cyber Empires integrates three war options into a single game.

In the Strategy Campaign, you immerse yourself in a struggle for global domination. You begin your campaign in a single country by building factories, armies, and fortifications. With each victory you expand into other countries. Victory is achieved by defeating all of the opposing forces and taking control of the countries that they once occupied using the forces you have amassed.

The Complete Campaign is the main option of Cyber Empires. This mode of game play features arcade action battles. Not only do you plan and build your armies, but when battle occurs, you are put into the cockpit and can fight using your joystick.

Battle Practice rounds off the features of this game. Just as the name implies, this mode allows you to practice your skills in constructing armies, commanding your armies, and in one-on-one fighting.

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In 1992 shortly after their publishing deal and the Cyber Empires release, Dennis Dyack and Rick Goertz incorporated Silicon Knights. With the company consisting of only four people, they started the sequel to its first title called Fantasy Empires.

Fantasy Empires released October 1993, January 1994 (CD-Enhanced)




Fantasy Empires was a Dungeons and Dragons licensed game. Just like Cyber Empires, Fantasy Empires had incorporated up to 5 humans and/or computer opponents in this Real Time Strategy game. Unlike the cyborg armies of their previous game, Fantasy Empires had the player develop armories, upgradeable castles, and many other options. As the player, you could choose which race you would play as; human, dwarf, elf or orc each with their own unique talents. It was hailed as a game that expanded and improved upon its interface, graphics and artificial intelligence. Silicon Knights was definitely making a name for themselves.

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Silicon Knights was now trying to find a way to top themselves. With computer gaming taking off and the internet becoming a viable medium to play games over, they went on and started to create their next game. With a team now of only eight people, Silicon Knights brought into existence Dark Legions.

Dark Legions released April 1994




Yet another Real Time Strategy game, Dark Legions was a two player game either against a human or computer player. The storyline has and always will be important in Silicon Knights eyes and in this game there is a hint of what is to come.

The Balance of power in the dark realm of Tahr Carog is broken. One of the two twin power orbs is lost, and the realm is in chaos. As the holder of one of the orbs, you must combat our opponent- the holder of the second power orb- until one of you loses his orb and the other prevails. The holder of the two orbs will be granted immense power and immortality.

While Dark Legions yet again improves on many game elements over its predecessors, the main improvement is the implementation of modem connection. It does not seem like a big deal now, but at the time, many games did not have the ability to play over the modem. Games were primarily hot-seat games requiring every player to be at the same computer. This addition to PC game play pushed this title over the top and PC Gamer gave it the Editors Choice Award.

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It was just three short years ago that Silicon Knights had incorporated. In the time it takes some companies to create one good game, they had created three critically acclaimed games and put themselves on the gaming map. It was no surprise to see the company growing steadily. People had seen the care and quality that Silicon Knights put into their games and people wanted to be a part of the magic, the company now consisted of 22 people.

The Sony Playstation was selling successfully around the world by this time and everyone marveled at what this system could do. Being the first successful CD-based system opened Sony to many developers. Silicon Knights was one such company.

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain released November 1996



Blood Omen was actually first conceived in 1993 while Silicon Knights was wrapping up Dark Legions. They wanted to develop a game that would be set apart from games of its time. So eager to start this project, Silicon Knights actually worked on the game design for six-to-eight months without a particular hardware platform in mind. Soon after Playstation was announced they immediately knew that this was the platform for their game. Blood Omen boasted incredible graphics, a mature story line, detailed level design, and much more.

Combining action, adventure and RPG elements into one game, players found themselves controlling Kain who has returned from the grave as a blood-sucking vampire to avenge his death. Solving puzzles, gaining new abilities like metamorphosis, and just all out fighting action made this game a complete hit for Playstation. In a period when nearly all RPGs came from Japan, Blood Omen proved that westernized companies could hold their own in this genre.

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