Remote Terminal and Networked Ancestors and Relatives of Netrek

Game

Year

Computer Type

Display

Info

Empire

1972

PLATO network

PLATO terminal; downloadable character sets, 512x512 monochrome display

Multi-player with 4 races, torps, phasers, armies and bombing, coups. Played over a nationwide network. Screen updates were manually called for by users, headings for ships and weapons were typed in using compass headings (0 thru 360 degrees).

Spasim

1974

PLATO network

PLATO terminal

Probably the first 3D first person perspective game; inspired by Empire. 32 players, 4 teams, torps and phasers, about 1 update/sec. Everything was rendered wireframe-style. First version (March 1974) was combat focused, second version (Nov 1974) was more economic/exploratory. Spasim inspired Airace, which in turn led to Battlezone and computer flight simulators.

Empire, Tournament Version

1981

PLATO Network

PLATO terminal (see above)

Enhanced to allow for tournaments, which were held annually

Conquest

1982

VAX/VMS

ASCII terminal; 80 characters by 24 lines of monochrome text

Ten updates per second. Had weapons and engine temp, velocity affected turning speed, max speed for orbiting, ban files. Had a planet eater.

Trek82

1982

unix

ASCII terminal (80x24 monochrome, curses package)

1700 lines of C using a shared file to communicate between players

Trek83

1983

unix

ASCII terminal (80x24 monochrome, curses package)

Evolved from Trek82

ROBOTREK

1984

unix

ASCII terminal (80x24 monochrome, curses package)

introduction of borgs (robot players). Evolved from Trek83.

Xtrek

1986

unix

X Windows, version 10 (X10), typically on a Sun 3/50

integrated Conquest and Trek83/ROBOTREK ideas. Borgs attacked anyone taking 3rd-space planets. Ships could have multiple operators, with different people handling phasers, torps, communication, and steering.

Xtrek III

1988

unix

X10

introduced player stats and ranks database and also transwarp, had 3 ship types plus design your own, limited galactic view, nukes (also tried in netrek circa 1992). Fuel/Wrench/Army bitmaps for netrek came from here.

Xtrek v. 5.4

?

unix

X11

a port of Xtrek to X11 that included the ability to limit different races to certain ship types, a feature from Empire.

Xtrek v. 6.0

1992

unix

X11

xtrek was fast going extinct (X11 having replaced X10, and netrek and xtrekIII being available) but the main xtrek author released this X11 port.

nettrek

Macintosh

MacOS graphics (quickdraw?)

not directly related to netrek; more of a cousin

Netrek (aka Xtrek II)

1988

unix

client-server with rendering left to the client. 500x500 tactical and galactic screens, many clients use color but mono operation still possible.

Introduced DI, T-Mode, still had copilots.

One and Two person Netrek Relatives: the Spacewar Ancestry

Space War

1962

DEC PDP-1

DEC Type 30 CRT display (vector based)

The fourth video game ever written, the second video game ever written for a computer, the first video game of which more than one example ever existed. Computer Joysticks were invented for this game. Invented the top-down 2D "directional shooter". Allowed two users to sit in front of it and dogfight.

The Galaxy Game

1971

?

?

Arcade game; a single-player Spacewar derivative; the first coin-operated videogame. Only one manufactured.

Computer Space

1971

custom made boards of TTL chips; no CPU

black and white TV CRT

Arcade game; a Spacewar derivative, the first mass-produced coin-operated videogame. 4 buttons for control. Done by Nolan Bushnell at Nutting Associates, before he founded Atari.

Space Wars

1977

Cinematronics Arcade platform

black and white vector display

Arcade game; a two-player Spacewar derivative. First vector display coin-op videogame. Has a pile of game options (gravity, wraparound galaxy, bouncing torps). Five buttons per player (left, right, thrust, shoot, hyperspace)

Asteroids

1979

Atari arcade platform

256x231 point monochrome vector display

Arcade game. Probably the most financially successful Spacewar derivative. Five button control. Introduced "high scores" to arcade games. A distant cousin; not very netrek at all.

Galactic Attack

1981

Apple II

280x192, six colors but game mostly used white on black

Derived from PLATO empire; one person dogfights against the computer.