![]() It's important to note that all of this happened before the first home computers were even invented. Leedom enhanced the mechanics, improved the map, changed the original numeric commands into something more comprehensible such as NAV, PHA, COM, and added some occasional feedback from Spock, Uhura, Sulu, Scotty, and more. This computer had 32K of RAM, so he decided to expand and improve the code. In 1974, a Westinghouse employee, Bob Leedom, ported the game to a Data General Nova 800. Ahl, the founder of Creative Computing magazine, published a BASIC-PLUS version of this program, calling it Space War, in his 1973 book BASIC COMPUTER GAMES. Since the code was public, everyone was free to change it, or adapt it, so several versions emerged during the years.ĭavid H. ![]() This version is what people consider the "standard" Star Trek game. In 1972, Mayfield rewrote the game in HP BASIC, and one year later, the code became "public domain" when it was put to several HP data center machines. How cool is that? A version of the original Star Trek (1971) for the Sigma 7 You could play it with a teleprinter machine: you enter the command after the prompt, and the game was printing some lines in return. The program didn't even require a screen. ![]() The story of the gameĪccording to Games of Fame, Mike Mayfield wrote the initial Star Trek game in 1971 for the Sigma 7 mainframe. In fact, as you will see later, I played it a lot. It's simple but addictive like all good games should be. All of them are nice, but my preference goes to the classic 1978 version. There are literally thousands of versions out there. Since the code was public domain, during the years, it was changed and improved many times. Super Star Trek is probably the most famous early text-only game ever created - or at least as famous as The Oregon Trail or Zork - and it inspired many other videogames. The legendary Starship Enterprise NCC-1701 All of this, rendered with a few characters on screen and a lot of imagination. You will have to manage the ship energy carefully, use phasers and torpedoes to destroy the Klingons, and find starbases to repair damages and replenish your energy. In this game, you are the captain of the starship Enterprise, and your mission is to scout the federation space and eliminate all the invading Klingon ships. Super Star Trek is an old text-only game, an early example of a turn-based space strategy sim, written in BASIC. This is the story of one of the most famous titles, a game that made history. Only lucky people had the chance to enjoy them. They didn't have graphics and were programmed and played on mainframes. Before home computers were even invented, there were people programming games.
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