Star Trek (text game)

Star Trek (text game)

"Star Trek" is a text-only computer game that originated within the BASIC programming language hacker culture of the 1970s. It is thought to have been created by Mike Mayfield in 1971 on a SDS Sigma 7, then ported to the HP_Time-Shared_BASIC (TSB) dialect for Hewlett-Packard minicomputers. The original game spawned many ports and variants. In addition to being tied to the Star Trek subculture popular with computer experts and programmers, "Star Trek" is itself a piece of hacker lore. The original game was not licensed by Paramount, owners of the Star Trek franchise.

The format of this game is often credited as being the progenitor of many 1980s outer space themed video games,Fact|date=November 2007 of which Atari's "Star Raiders" is most notable and was itself cloned extensively. Atari also produced a version of this game directly in the Sears-only release "Stellar Track".

Game rules

The rules to the game are fairly simple. You are the commander of the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) and have the obligation of eliminating the Klingon menace so democracy in the galaxy can be maintained. The original game existed within an 8-by-8 grid of the galaxy. The entire galaxy contains 64 quadrants and each quadrant contains 64 sectors. The starship can move either between sectors or between entire quadrants using text commands. The ship has a maximum number of energy units, which are used to move the ship, power the ship's shields, and fire phasers. The object of the game is to destroy all the Klingon ships within the galaxy without the Enterprise itself being destroyed.

Navigation

The Enterprise has both long-range and short-range sensors. Long-range sensors show the area immediately surrounding the current quadrant, including any enemy ships and Starfleet bases. Short-range sensors allow the ship to map itself within the quadrant the ship is in, but does not show information outside of the present quadrant.

The computer can display a high level chart of the entire universe, but cannot show complete information on unvisited quadrants.

tars and Starfleet bases

The Enterprise should avoid stars, as they contain no natural resources and are simply obstacles to traveling throughout the galaxy and within galactic quadrants. Starfleet bases are the Enterprise's lifeline when it has sustained damage or has been depleted of energy. A Starfleet base can be located via signaling using the ship's communication systems.

Combat

The Enterprise can destroy Klingon ships within the same quadrant using phasers and photon torpedoes.

With phasers, the player must choose how many units of energy are to be fired. The distance between ships determines how many units of energy are required.

The Enterprise has a limited capacity of photon torpedoes but can resupply at Federation starbases. The player must enter a trajectory for the torpedo to hit Klingon ships. Torpedoes can also hit stars, planets and Federation starbases.

Platforms and language used

The following is a list of known ports of the game to different computer language and hardware platforms:

BASIC versions

*TRS-80 version. You can play it online [http://www.vavasour.ca/jeff/level1/entry6_preview.html here] .
*Commodore BASIC 2.0
*DEC BASIC
*DEC BASIC-PLUS
*IBM 5100 BASIC
*OS-8 BASIC - (PDP-8)
*TSS-8 BASIC - (PDP-8)
*RSTS/e BASIC (DEC)
*Altair BASIC
*Palo Alto Tiny BASIC
*Intellec MDS
*CDC 6000 (mainframe)
*PR1ME BASIC/VM
*BASIC-80 CP/M (Microsoft BASIC)
*INTEGER BASIC (Apple II)
*MS-DOS GW-BASIC. One version available [http://www.geocities.com/dos11basic/index.htm here] .
*Tandy Color Computer Color BASIC
*BBC BASIC
*AcornSoft (BBC Micro)
*Exidy Sorcerer BASIC
*HP 2000 BASIC
*TRS-80 Level II BASIC
*TI-99/4 TI Basic as TI-TREK

Non-BASIC versions

*C version (Unix)
*DEC FORTRAN-IV
*CDC FORTRAN
*VAX/VMS Pascal
*Apple UCSD Pascal
*COBOL
*IBM System/370 Assembler for MVS (Versions for VTAM, TSO and ISPF)
*Tandem

Variants

"EGA Trek" is a shareware, turn-based combat game set in the Star Trek universe. "EGA Trek" is a graphical version of the original text-only "Star Trek". Early versions of the game used traditional Star Trek terms like "phaser" and "Klingon", but were later replaced.

ee also

*"Galaxy Trek"
*"Netrek"
*"Star Fleet" (game series)
*"Star Trek" (script game)
*"Super Star Trek"
*"Trek73"
*"Star Trek Galactic Conquest"

External links

* [http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/startrek/ Pete Turnbull's Star Trek game ports page]
* [http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/star_trek.html Maury Markowitz's Star Trek game history page]
* [http://outserv.cactus.org/~nystrom/startrek.html Chris Nystrom's Classic Computer Game: Star Trek page]
* [http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=GameMuseum.Detail&id=73 "EGA Trek" at Classic Gaming]
* [http://www.retrobits.net/atari/aitrek.shtml "Star Trek 3.5" manual]
* [http://www.gamespot.com/features/startrek_hs/ GameSpot's History of Star Trek PC Games]
* [http://www.codeproject.com/KB/game/StarTrekGalacticConquest.aspx "Star Trek Galactic Conquest"]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Star Trek (script game) — Star Trek was a text based mainframe computer game written by Don Daglow on a PDP 10 timesharing computer at Pomona College in 1972, and upgraded periodically through 1974, including contributions by Jonathan Osser. The game was picked up by the… …   Wikipedia

  • Star Trek games — The enduring popularity of the Star Trek science fiction franchise has led to numerous games in many different formats, beginning in 1967 with a board game based on . Board games * Star Trek game, ages 4 10, produced by Hasbro (early 1970 s) *… …   Wikipedia

  • Star Trek spin-off fiction — The Star Trek franchise has produced a large number of novels, comic books, video games, and other materials, which are generally considered non canon. Contents 1 The Animated Series 2 Continuity 3 Technical and reference manuals …   Wikipedia

  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Fallen — Developer(s) The Collective, Inc. Publisher(s) …   Wikipedia

  • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country — Theatrical release poster by John Alvin Directed by Nicholas Meyer …   Wikipedia

  • Super Star Trek — is a computer game from the 1970s. It was written in FORTRAN and assumed a teletype style interface. The game was originally written by David Matuszek and Paul Reynolds, with modifications by Don Smith. According to the documentation, it was… …   Wikipedia

  • Star Trek Simulation Forum — The Star Trek Simulation Forum (abbreviated STSF) is a Star Trek simming organization that provides numerous online text based role playing games. It was created in July 2002, and has served as the forum of the official Star Trek website operated …   Wikipedia

  • Star Trek (role-playing game) — A Star Trek RPG or Star Trek Role Playing Game is a role playing game that is set in the Star Trek fictional universe.Specific Star Trek role playing games include:* The FASA Star Trek RPG (1982) * The Prime Directive RPG edited by Task Force… …   Wikipedia

  • Star Trek Gamers — Infobox Website name = Star Trek Gamers favicon = caption = The front page as of August 21st, 2007 url = http://www.startrek gamers.com commercial = type = Gaming Fan Site registration = owner = Victor Mullin author = Victor Mullin, Katherine… …   Wikipedia

  • Borg (Star Trek) — The Borg A Borg insignia, designed by Rick Sternbach (first appeared in the episode Q Who)[n 1] Founded Before the 15th century Base of operations Delta Quadrant …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”