The design basis for the game was created by Simutronics founder David Whatley, in response to a production request for a new game to open at the same time as the then-pending Ziff-Davis online service.
Dragon's Gate was originally developed by Mark Jacobs and Darrin Hyrup, who had joined AUSI from Simutronics where he had been a programmer on GemStone II and lead programmer on Orb Wars.
GemStone IV (or GemStone III), an online multiplayer game by Simutronics Corporation
In St. Louis, she had worked as a game designer for Simutronics, serving as lead designer on Hero's Journey and contributing to DragonRealms.