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{{short description|1971 video game}}
] command terminal. The ''Enterprise'', represented by the "-E-", is alone in a quadrant with four stars.]]
{{good article}}
{{use mdy dates |date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox video game
|title= Star Trek
|image= File:Star Trek text game.png
|caption= ''Star Trek'' running in a ] command terminal
|developer= Mike Mayfield, Bob Leedom
|platforms= ] (], ], ])<br/>] (multiple)
|released= '''Original'''<br/>1971 (Sigma 7)<br/>Oct 20, 1972 (HP 2000C)<br/>'''''Super Star Trek'''''<br/>1974 (Data General Nova)
|genre= ]
|modes = ]
}}
'''''Star Trek''''' is a ] ] based on the '']'' television series (1966–69) and originally released in 1971. In the game, the player commands the ] on a mission to hunt down and destroy an invading fleet of ] warships. The player travels through the 64 ] of ] to attack enemy ships with ] and ] in ] battles and refuel at ]s. The goal is to eliminate all enemies within a random time limit.


Mike Mayfield wrote the game in the ] programming language for the ] ] with the goal of creating a game like '']'' (1962) that could be played with a ] instead of a graphical display. He then rewrote it for the ] ] in 1972, and it was included in ]'s public domain software catalog the following year. It was picked up from there by ], who ] it with Mary Cole to ] and published the ] in the ] ''Edu'' newsletter. It was republished with other computer games in his best-selling '']'' book. Bob Leedom then expanded the game in 1974 into ''Super Star Trek''.
'''''Star Trek''''' is a text-based ] that puts the player in command of the ] on a mission to hunt down and destroy an invading fleet of ] warships. Written in ], it was widely copied to most ]s in the late 1970s when the '''''Super Star Trek''''' version was included in '']'', propelling its sales to become the first million-selling computer book. Versions for a wide variety of BASICs were available, as well as ports to different languages, platforms, and more recently, the replacement of the text-based display with a variety of graphical versions.


Ahl left DEC and started '']'' magazine in 1974. He began porting the games from ''101'' to ], with the exception of ''Star Trek'', where he ported Leedom's version rather than Mayfield's original. The result was released in 1978 under the new name ''BASIC Computer Games'', just as the first ]s able to run the game were coming to market. ''BASIC Computer Games'' went on to become the first million-selling computer book, and versions of the game were available for almost all ]s of the era. Additionally, dozens of variants and expansions were made for a variety of other systems, based either on Leedom's or the original Mayfield versions.
In addition to being tied to the ], popular with computer experts and programmers, ''Star Trek'' is itself a piece of hacker lore.


==Description== ==Gameplay==
''Star Trek'' is a ] ] based on the '']'' television series in which the player, controlling the ] starship, flies through the galaxy and hunts down ] warships within a time limit. The game starts with a short text description of the mission before allowing the player to enter commands. Each game starts with a different number of Klingons, friendly ]s, and stars spread throughout the galaxy. The galaxy is depicted as an 8-by-8 grid of "quadrants". Each quadrant is further divided into an 8-by-8 grid of "sectors". The number of stars, Klingons, and starbases in any one quadrant is set at the start of the game, but their exact position changes each time the player enters that quadrant.<ref name="Register"/><ref name="ahl_CC"/>
:''This description is based on the most common version, ''Super Star Trek''.''<ref></ref>


The player can view a text-based map of the current quadrant by issuing the short-range scan command. Stars, Klingon ships, starbases, and the ''Enterprise'' itself are shown as text-based figures in a square grid; the ''Enterprise'', for example, is represented with <code>-E-</code>. The player can also use the long-range scan to print out a map of the quadrants lying directly around the ''Enterprise'', with a list of the number of stars, Klingons, and starbases in each quadrant. The player moves between and within quadrants with the ].<ref name="Register"/><ref name="ahl_CC"/>
The game starts with a short text description of the mission, which required the Enterprise to fly through the galaxy and hunt down a number of Klingon ships within a certain time. Each game started with a different number of Klingons, friendly starbases and stars, arranged in an 8 by 8 grid of "quadrants". Each quadrant is further divided into an 8 by 8 grid of "sectors". The number of items in any one quadrant was fixed at the start of the game, but their exact position within it would change when the quadrant was left and re-entered.


Klingon ships can be attacked with either ] or ]. Phasers do not have to be aimed, but their power and therefore damage amount falls off with distance, and the player must select how much power to put into each shot. Torpedoes do not suffer this drop in power and will destroy a Klingon ship with a single hit, but have to be aimed using ].<ref name="Register"/><ref name="ahl_CC"/> Later versions of the game expanded on this combat system by adding features such as Klingon ships moving after each shot if not destroyed, enemy attacks damaging systems such as scanners or shields, stars absorbing torpedoes that hit them, and a calculator to help in determining the proper angle to fire the torpedoes.<ref name="ahl_CC"/><ref name="MayfieldInt"/> Combat is turn-based, and Klingon ships will fire back at the player in their turn.<ref name="ahl_CC"/>
The user guides the Enterprise from quadrant to quadrant using the ] (<code>WAR</code>), looking for the enemy. When the player enters a quadrant, they normally issue the short-range scan command (<code>SRS</code>), which prints a text-based map of the quadrant, including stars represented with a <code>*</code>, Klingon ships as a <code>+K+</code>, starbases as an <code><*></code>, and the Enterprise itself with an <code>-E-</code>. The user can also use the long-range scan (<code>LRS</code>) to print out an abbreviated map of the quadrants lying directly around the Enterprise, listing only the number of stars, Klingons and starbases.


Movement, combat, and shields all drain the energy supply of the ''Enterprise'', which can be restored by flying to a starbase.<ref name="ahl_CC"/> In some versions of the game, there are additional options for emergency situations, such as calling for help from a starbase, using the experimental Death Ray, loading raw dilithium crystals into the warp drive, or abandoning ship. Movement commands take up time depending on how far the player is moving.<ref name="MayfieldInt"/> The game ends when the ''Enterprise'' is destroyed, all Klingons are destroyed, or the time limit runs out. A score in the form of a ranking is presented at the end of the game based on energy usage, damage taken and inflicted, and any remaining time.<ref name="Register"/><ref name="ahl_CC"/>
Klingon ships can be attacked with either ]s or ]s. Phasers do not have to be aimed, but their power falls off with distance. Torpedoes do not suffer this drop in power, but have to be aimed using polar coordinates, so misses are possible. Klingon ships move after firing on the Enterprise, making re-aiming after every "turn" a chore. Most versions of the game included a calculator that will provide the proper angle, and as the torpedo is normally a one-hit-to-kill weapon, so in spite of the tedium of re-aiming it was commonly the primary weapon used. In most versions of the game, stars will absorb torpedoes and require the user to maneuver within the quadrant using the ] (<code>IMP</code>) to get a clear shot. Movement, combat and shields all drain the energy supply of the Enterprise, which can be topped up again by flying to a starbase.


==Development==
The game normally proceeds with the player eliminating any Klingons in the opening quadrant, if any. Then they use long-range scanners to look for nearby ships, selecting a new quadrant and moving there. They continue in this fashion until the Enterprise is low on energy or torpedoes, and then warp to a starbase to refuel and repair. Issuing command takes up some game time, closing on the limit imposed at the start of the game. A score in the form of a ranking is presented at the end of the game, based on energy usage, damage taken and inflicted, and any remaining time.


==History== ===''Star Trek''===
]]]
====Origins====
In 1971, Mike Mayfield, then in his final year of high school, frequented a computer lab at the ] while teaching himself how to program. The lab operated both a ] and a ] ]. The PDP-10 hosted a copy of '']'', a multiplayer space combat video game developed in 1962 in the ]. Mayfield had gained illicit access to the Sigma 7 at the lab and wanted to create his own version of the game for the system. ''Spacewar!'' required a ] display, however, and the Sigma 7 only had access to a non-graphical ] ASR ].<ref name="TCC243"/>
The original ''Star Trek'' developed out of a brainstorming session between Mike Mayfield and several high school friends in 1971. The ] had only recently ended and was still extremely popular. Mayfield and his "geek friends" wrote down a bunch of ideas for a game, and during the summer holidays he then started writing as many as he could on a ] that he had an account on at the ].<ref name=maury>{{Cite web |url=http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/star_trek.html |title=Star Trek - To boldly go... and then spawn a million offshoots - "History" |accessdate=20 May 2009 |work=Maury's Super-basic Home Page |publisher= |date=13 December 2000}}</ref> Later that summer he purchased an ] calculator and often visited the local ] sales office looking for help programming it. They mentioned that they would give him time on their ] ] if he would port ''Star Trek'' to it, an offer he readily accepted. HP later started distributing this version on their public domain tape library.<ref name=maury/>


Mayfield decided to create a game in the vein of ''Spacewar!'' that could be played on a teleprinter and brainstormed several ideas with his friends. As none of the group had much experience with computers, most of the ideas were unfeasible, but one concept he liked and thought was possible was a game based on ''Star Trek'', then in syndication on television. The concept included the game printing a map of the galaxy and a map of the local star system, and phaser weapons whose attack power declined over distance. Mayfield began to program the game, creating a ] of the game at the end of each programming session and loading it back into the computer the next day. He worked on the game through the rest of the school year and into the summer after graduating.<ref name="MayfieldInt"/>
] worked in ]'s education department, and as a hobby collected BASIC games and distributed them in a newsletter for DEC users. He found Mayfield's HP2000 version, ported it to DEC BASIC-PLUS and sent it out in the newsletter. This version rapidly proliferated through the large DEC community of the early 1970s. He later collected many of these games into a book, ''101 BASIC Games'', calling the DEC version ''SPACWR'' (as in ''Space War'').<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/startrek/ |title=Star Trek |accessdate=20 May 2009 |work=Pete Turnbull's website (Clara.net) |publisher= |date=26 March 2005}}</ref>


Later that summer, Mayfield purchased an ] calculator and often visited the local ] sales office. The staff there offered to let him use the ] ] at the office if he would create a version of his ''Star Trek'' game for it; as the version of the ] programming language on the computer was different from the Sigma 7, he elected to abandon the Sigma 7 version and rewrite the program from scratch. He completed it on October 20, 1972, and the game was added to the HP public domain Contributed Program library of software as ''STTR1'' in February 1973, with Mayfield attributing the game to Centerline Engineering, a company he was considering starting.<ref name="Register" /><ref name="MayfieldInt"/> It was also published in the ] newsletter, and republished in their collection book, ''What to Do After You Hit Return'' (1975).<ref name="Return"/>
====Super Star Trek====
In early 1974 Bob Leedom saw Ahl's DEC BASIC version and started porting it to the ] while working at ]. During the port he took the time to greatly clean up the interface, introducing the three-letter commands that all following versions used. He wrote a letter about this version in the '']'' magazine, offering a copy to anyone who wrote him.<ref name=maury/>


] was an employee in the education department of ] (DEC). He had begun the ''Edu'' newsletter where user-submitted games became a major draw. He and fellow employee Mary Cole ] ''STTR1'' to DEC's ] in the summer of 1973, with some additions, and he published this version in the newsletter. Ahl attributed the game to "Mike Mayfield of Centerline Engineering and/or Custom Data".<ref name="MayfieldInt"/> In late 1973, Ahl collected many of the game submissions in the book '']'', containing descriptions and the ] for many ]. ''101 BASIC Computer Games'' was a landmark title in computer games programming, and was a best-selling title with more than 10,000 copies sold &mdash; more copies than there were computers in existence at the time. As such, the BASIC ports of mainframe computer games included in the book were often more long-lived than their original versions or other mainframe computer games.<ref name="TIME"/> He included ''Star Trek'' in the book as ''SPACWR'', i.e. ''Space War''.<ref name="ahl_CC"/>
Ahl had recently left AT&T (where he worked after DEC) to start '']'' magazine, and saw Leedom's letter in the PCC. He obtained a copy and published it under the name ''Super Star Trek'' in ''Creative Computing'' with both of their names on it. It was republished in ''The Best of Creative Computing'' in early 1978. Later that year Ahl ported many of the games in the original ''101'' to ], which was rapidly becoming a standard in the ] market, and published the results as ''BASIC Computer Games''.<ref name=games>David Ahl and Mary Cole, , ''BASIC Computer Games'', 1978</ref>


===''Super Star Trek''===
This book was published right as the home computer revolution was really starting, and the game was easily ported to most of the platforms being released. Sales of the book, of which ''Super Star Trek'' was by far the largest game, reached one million copies by 1979, the first computer book to do so.<ref name=ahl>John Anderson, , ''Creative Computing'', Volume 10 Number 11 (November 1984), pg. 66</ref>
In early 1974, Bob Leedom saw Ahl's version of the game in ''101 BASIC Computer Games'' while working with a ] minicomputer at ] and, having never seen a ''Star Trek'' game before, started porting it to the system. After he got the game running, he began to expand it with suggestions from his friends. He changed the user interface, replacing the original game's numeric codes with three-letter commands and adding status reports from show characters and names for the galaxy quadrants, and overhauled the gameplay, adding moving Klingon ships, navigation and fire control options, and an expanded library computer. Once it was completed, he wrote a letter to the People's Computer Company newsletter describing the game.<ref name="MayfieldInt"/>


Ahl, who by then had left DEC to start '']'' magazine, saw Leedom's description in the newsletter and contacted him to publish the game in his magazine. Ahl ported it to ] and published the source code of the game as ''Super Star Trek'' to distinguish it from the original ''Star Trek'' game, calling it "by far the best" version. He later included it under that name in the 1976 anthology ''The Best of Creative Computing'' as well as the 1978 edition of ''101 BASIC Computer Games'', retitled ''BASIC Computer Games''. He added a note that he had permission from the rights holders to use the show's name in the title alongside a longer note written by Leedom explaining why the galaxy had 64 quadrants even though the term suggested there should only be four.<ref name="ahl_CC" /><ref name="MayfieldInt"/><ref name="ahl_STAR"/> ''BASIC Computer Games'' was the first million-selling computer book, giving Leedom's version a much wider audience than Mayfield and Ahl's original versions.<ref name="TIME"/>
Although the history is not recorded specifically, at some point during the game's evolution Ahl obtained permission to use the ''Star Trek'' name from ].<ref name=games/> ], one of Star Trek's writers, was featured in ''Creative Computing''' advertising.<ref>"Creative Computing" (advertisement), ''Popular Science'', February 1981, pg. 25</ref>


====Other versions==== ==Reception and legacy==
{{rquote|right|Everybody under the sun has been programming games based loosely on Star Trek.|''BYTE'', 1977<ref name="Price"/>}}
The original Sigma 7 version, and its descendants, were seen by many programmers and ported or copied to a wide variety of platforms. David Matuszek and Paul Reynolds wrote ''UT Super Star Trek'', a version written in ] that is unrelated to the ''Super'' version above. ] (of ]) ported this version to the ] to become ''BSD Trek'', and more recently, upgraded to become .
''Star Trek'', especially the ''Super Star Trek'' version, was immensely popular for the era.<ref name="GShistory"/><ref name="BOCC162"/> By 1975 it had spread to mainframes across the United States, and Ahl stated in 1978 in ''BASIC Computer Games'' that it was difficult to find a computer installation that did not contain a version of ''Star Trek''.<ref name="ahl_STAR"/><ref name="GShistory"/> By 1980, ''Star Trek'' was described by Mark Herro in '']'' magazine as "one of the most popular (if not the most popular) computer games around", with "literally scores of different versions of this game floating around".<ref name="Games_TEE"/> At least one published work of fiction that year mentioned the game, the short story "Another Game of Spacewar", published in an anthology by ''Creative Computing''.<ref name="35stories1980"/> A 2013 overview of the game and its myriad versions in '']'' by Tony Smith concluded that "like most games of the period it was fun to play once or twice, but it lacked staying power." Regardless, for the players of the time period when it was released, it was "a shiny new gateway to ']'".<ref name="Register"/>


The widespread popularity of the game, especially ''Super Star Trek'', along with the availability of the source code, led to numerous ports of both versions of the game for mainframe and ]s.<ref name="Register" /><ref name="MayfieldInt"/><ref name="Spacetrek"/> Alternate versions of the game were also produced, based on ''Star Trek'', ''Super Star Trek'', or both. David Matuszek and Paul Reynolds wrote an expanded ] version of the original game as ''UT Super Star Trek''; ] ported this version to the ] to become ''BSD Trek'', which is still included in the ] classic ] games package.<ref name="Register"/><ref name="Debian"/> '']'' published a BASIC version by David Price in March 1977 that used the original command system based on numbers.<ref name="Price"/> In 1983 ''BYTE'' columnist ] claimed to have written "the world's most complex ''Star Trek'' game" in ].<ref name="pournelle"/> A ] version for ], ''EGATrek'', was released in the late 1980s that replaced the original text-based screens with basic graphics that implemented a multi-paned display.<ref name="EGAtrek"/> In 2017, '']'' ranked ''EGATrek'' among the best ''Star Trek'' games.<ref name="PCGamer"/>
The original ''Super'' was later ported to ] and shipped as part of that distribution on all new ]s in the early 1980s. By this point the era of type-in programs was ending, and BASIC on the PC never had the same universality as it did on the 8-bit home computers. However, this version kept the game alive and under constant development due to the large installed base of machines. This led to the ] , which replaced the original text-based screens with basic graphics that implemented a multi-paned display.
]]]
Multiple commercial versions of the game were released in addition to the free ports. ] released a version for the ] called ''Apple Trek'' in 1979, and ] released a version for the ] as '']'' in 1980. The TRS-80 had at least three separate commercially available Star Trek games, including '']'' by ] (later retitled ''Invasion Force'') which added more interactivity and a number of new options incorporated from the unrelated '']'', a second '']'' by ], and ''Startrek 3.5'' from ].<ref name="Register"/><ref name="TRS80"/><ref name="DragonTrek80"/> ] released a version titled ''Galaxy'' for their computer systems, and ] released ''Space Trek'' for theirs.<ref name="Register"/> Yet another version was written in ] for the ] in 1982, '']''; written by ], it used numbers for most commands, like the earlier ''BYTE'' version.<ref name="videotrek"/> Apex Software released ''TI-Trek'' for the ] in 1983, which incorporates speech if the speech synthesizer is present.<ref name="TItrek"/> 1984's '']'' by Interstel was a variant released commercially for several computer systems. This game was successful enough to spawn a ].<ref name="sfleet"/>


Numerous hobby projects have continued to port the original game versions and enhanced variants to other languages and systems through to today.<ref name="Register"/><ref name="TimeExt"/> Additionally, some commercial games have been inspired by ''Star Trek'', such as '']'' (1980), which was initially designed as a real time, 3D version of the game.<ref name="SR1"/><ref name="SR2"/> As late as 1994, the collective ''Star Trek'' variants were still popular enough that '']'' claimed that the otherwise unrelated ''Stellar Explorer''{{'}}s gameplay was directly based on it, and that "anyone who remembers the old ''Trek'' games will know exactly what this game is all about".<ref name="cgw199405"/>
The original ''Super Star Trek'' game also served as the primary inspiration for former ] employee Doug Neubauer programming '']'' for the ] line of microcomputers in 1979. <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/star_raiders.html |title=Star Raiders - One of the best games ever. - "History" |accessdate=20 May 2009 |work=Maury's Super-basic Home Page |publisher= |date=1 January 2001}}</ref> Atari also produced an ] version of the original text-based game in the ]-only release '']''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/stellartrack/stellartrack.htm |title=Stellar Track |accessdate=20 May 2009 |work=Atari Protos.com - Atari 2600 Prototypes |publisher= |date=2002}}</ref>


==See also==
Another commercial offshoot was 1985's '']'', which was text-based and turn-based like the original, but greatly expanded detail in almost every part of the game. This game was successful enough to spawn a ]
*]


==References==
In the late 1990s, Tom Spreen wrote the ] game that was loosely based on the original ''Super''. Like ''Star Raiders'', ''Rescue!'' was real-time and fully graphical, although presented in 2D in a top-down fashion. Unlike ''Star Raiders'', or the original ''Super'', ''Rescue!'' had a much more in-depth mission outline and many more systems to operate (transporters, etc.) The goal in this game was to rescue a number of colonists on various planets and return them to a starbase, then strike out an eliminate the invasion fleet. ''Rescue!'' was written to take place in the ] universe; by this point in time, Paramount was aggressively defending its ], and the author was forced to re-release it with all of the ''Star Trek'' related names removed.
{{reflist|refs=


<ref name="MayfieldInt">{{cite web |url=https://gamesoffame.wordpress.com/star-trek/ |last1=Markowitz |first1=Maury |last2=Mayfield |first2=Mike |title=Star Trek |publisher=Games of Fame |date=2000 |access-date=2018-11-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106092235/https://gamesoffame.wordpress.com/star-trek/ |archive-date=2018-11-06 |url-status=live }}</ref>
====Unrelated games====
<ref name="Register">{{cite web |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/03/antique_code_show_star_trek/ |title=Star Trek: The original computer game |last=Smith |first=Tony |date=2013-05-03 |access-date=2018-11-28 |work=] |publisher=Situation Publishing |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428050531/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/03/antique_code_show_star_trek |archive-date=2018-04-28 |url-status=live }}</ref>
The popularity of the original ''Star Trek'' show in the early 1970s unsurprisingly generated a wide variety of games known as "Star Trek" or simply "Trek", but that are otherwise unrelated to the games discussed above. Examples include '']'', '']'' and others.
<ref name="Return">''What to Do After You Hit Return'', </ref>
<ref name="TIME">{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/69316/basic/ |title=Fifty Years of BASIC, the Programming Language That Made Computers Personal |magazine=] |last=McCracken |first=Harry |date=2014-04-29 |access-date=2016-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205214236/http://time.com/69316/basic/ |archive-date=2016-02-05 |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="ahl_CC">''The Best of Creative Computing Vol. 1'', </ref>
<ref name="TCC243">''They Create Worlds'', p. 243</ref>
<ref name="GShistory">{{cite web |url=http://www.gamespot.com/features/startrek_hs/p2.html |title=GameSpot's History of Star Trek PC Games |access-date=2018-11-28 |work=] |publisher=] |date=2000 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616040240/http://www.gamespot.com/features/startrek_hs/ |archive-date=2010-06-16}}</ref>
<ref name="ahl_STAR">''BASIC Computer Games'', </ref>
<ref name="Games_TEE">{{cite journal |title=The Electric Eye |last=Herro |first=Mark |journal=] |publisher=] |issue=38 |date=June 1980 |pages=52–54 |issn=0279-6848 |url=http://annarchive.com/files/Drmg038.pdf |access-date=2016-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714132616/http://annarchive.com/files/Drmg038.pdf |archive-date=2015-07-14 |url-status=live }}</ref>


<!-- LEGACY -->
==See also==
*'']''
*'']''
* ]
* ]


<ref name="BOCC162">''The Best of Creative Computing Vol. 2'', </ref>
== References ==
<ref name="35stories1980">{{cite book |last=Lockwood |first=Randal |title=Tales of the Marvelous Machine: 35 Stories of Computing |date=1980 |publisher=] |editor-last=Taylor |editor-first=Robert |pages=251–255 |chapter=Another Game of Spacewar |editor-last2=Green |editor-first2=Burchenal |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/Tales_of_The_Marvelous_Machine/page/n260/mode/1up |isbn=978-0-916688-05-9}}</ref>
{{reflist}}
<ref name="Spacetrek">{{cite web |url=http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/46983/Space-Trek/ |title=Space Trek |publisher=] |access-date=2018-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128212220/http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/46983/Space-Trek/ |archive-date=2018-11-28 |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="Debian">{{cite web |url=http://packages.debian.org/stable/games/bsdgames |title=Package: bsdgames |website=Debian Packages |publisher=] |access-date=2018-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106092341/https://packages.debian.org/stable/games/bsdgames |archive-date=2018-11-06 |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="Price">{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1977-03/1977_03_BYTE_02-03_Inexpensive_Joystick_Interfaces#page/n107/mode/2up |title=Flights of Fancy with the Enterprise |magazine=] |date=March 1977 |volume=2 |issue=3 |access-date=2013-10-16 |last=Price |first=David |pages=106–113 |publisher=] |issn=0360-5280 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325060940/https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1977-03/1977_03_BYTE_02-03_Inexpensive_Joystick_Interfaces#page/n107/mode/2up |archive-date=2016-03-25 |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="TRS80">{{Cite magazine |last=Mitchell |first=Scott |date=June 1981 |title=Startrek 4.0 and Startrek 3.5 |url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-06/1981_06_BYTE_06-06_Operating_Systems#page/n353/mode/2up |magazine=] |volume=6 |issue=6 |pages=352, 354 |publisher=] |issn=0360-5280 |access-date=2017-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927131816/https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1981-06/1981_06_BYTE_06-06_Operating_Systems#page/n353/mode/2up |archive-date=2013-09-27 |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="DragonTrek80">{{cite journal |title=The Electric Eye |last=Dodge |first=Michael |journal=] |publisher=] |issue=36 |date=April 1980 |page=65 |issn=0279-6848 |url=https://annarchive.com/files/Drmg036.pdf |access-date=2018-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321121810/http://annarchive.com/files/Drmg036.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-21 |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="pournelle">{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1983-12/1983_12_BYTE_08-12_Easy_Software#page/n59/mode/2up |title=Buddy, Can You Spare a Door Latch? |magazine=] |date=December 1983 |volume=8 |issue=12 |access-date=2013-10-20 |last=Pournelle |first=Jerry | pages=59 |publisher=] |issn=0360-5280}}</ref>
<ref name="videotrek">{{cite magazine |title=Video Trek 88 |magazine=] |publisher=] |volume=7 |issue=6 |date=June 1983 |page=14 |issn=0192-4575}}</ref>
<ref name="TItrek">{{cite web |url=http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/22138/Ti-Trek/ |title=Ti Trek |publisher=] |access-date=2018-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128212221/http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/22138/Ti-Trek/ |archive-date=2018-11-28 |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="sfleet">{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/stream/inCider_1986-09#page/n111/mode/2up |title=Game Room |magazine=InCider |date=September 1986 |volume=4 |issue=9 |access-date=2014-07-02 |last=Murphy |first=Brian J. |pages=113–114 |publisher=] |issn=0740-0101}}</ref>
<ref name="EGAtrek">{{cite web |url=http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=GameMuseum.Detail&id=73 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100428225647/http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=GameMuseum.Detail&id=73 |archive-date=2010-04-28 |title=EGATrek |last=Anderson |first=Kevin |work=] |publisher=] |access-date=2018-11-28}}</ref>
<ref name="PCGamer">{{cite web |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/the-best-star-trek-games/ |title=The best Star Trek games |last=Cobbett |first=Richard |date=2017-09-25 |website=] |publisher=] |access-date=2019-07-20}}</ref>
<ref name="TimeExt">{{cite web |last1=Yarwood |first1=Jack |title=Star Trek Fangame Adds Graphics To Classic Text-Based Strategy Game |url=https://www.timeextension.com/news/2023/02/star-trek-fangame-adds-graphics-to-classic-text-based-strategy-game |website=Time Extension |publisher=Hookshot Media |access-date=2023-02-22 |date=2023-02-22}}</ref>
<ref name="SR1">{{cite web |url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4127/the_history_of_star_raiders_.php |title=The History of Star Raiders: Taking Command |work=] |publisher=] |date=2009-09-08 |last1=Barton |first1=Matt |last2=Loguidice |first2=Bill |access-date=2019-01-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315212125/http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/132516/the_history_of_star_raiders_.php |archive-date=2016-03-15 |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="SR2">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.atarihq.com/othersec/library/neubauer.html |title=An Interview with Doug Neubauer |date=October 1986 |last=Pappas |first=Lee |author-link=Lee H. Pappas |magazine=] |issue=47 |issn=0744-9917 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105001712/http://www.atarihq.com/othersec/library/neubauer.html |archive-date=2019-01-05 |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="cgw199405">{{Cite magazine |date=May 1994 |title=Taking A Peek |url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=118 |magazine=] |issue=118 |pages=174–180 |issn=0744-6667 |access-date=2017-11-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703000430/http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=118 |archive-date=2014-07-03 |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |title=] |last=Ahl |first=David |author-link=David H. Ahl |edition=2nd |publisher=Workman Publishing |date=November 1978 |isbn=978-0-89480-052-8}}
* {{cite book |title=The Best of Creative Computing |volume=1 |last=Ahl |first=David |author-link=David H. Ahl |publisher=] |date=1976 |isbn=978-0-916688-01-1}}
* {{cite book |title=The Best of Creative Computing |volume=2 |last=Ahl |first=David |author-link=David H. Ahl |publisher=] |date=1977 |isbn=978-0-916688-03-5}}
* {{cite book |title=What to Do After You Hit Return |publisher=] |date=1975}}
* {{cite book |title=They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry |last=Smith |first=Alexander |publisher=] |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-138-38990-8}}


== External links == == External links ==
* for Mike Mayfield's ''STTR1'' version
* Online TRS-80 version: . This version has numerous changes, including three levels of "depth".
* * of ''Super Star Trek''
* * of ''Super Star Trek'' with audio effects
*Ports of ''Super Star Trek'' in , , , , , and
*
* * of the ''Star Trek 3.5'' TRS-80 port
*A of the source code of various Star Trek style games, including the original Mayfield version
*

*
{{Star Trek: The Original Series}}
*
{{Star Trek video games}}
{{Early history of video games}}
{{Authority control}}


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Latest revision as of 10:51, 17 November 2024

1971 video game

1971 video game
Star Trek
Star Trek running in a Linux command terminal
Developer(s)Mike Mayfield, Bob Leedom
Platform(s)Mainframe (Sigma 7, HP 2000C, Data General Nova)
PC (multiple)
ReleaseOriginal
1971 (Sigma 7)
Oct 20, 1972 (HP 2000C)
Super Star Trek
1974 (Data General Nova)
Genre(s)Strategy game
Mode(s)Single-player

Star Trek is a text-based strategy video game based on the Star Trek television series (1966–69) and originally released in 1971. In the game, the player commands the USS Enterprise on a mission to hunt down and destroy an invading fleet of Klingon warships. The player travels through the 64 quadrants of the galaxy to attack enemy ships with phasers and photon torpedoes in turn-based battles and refuel at starbases. The goal is to eliminate all enemies within a random time limit.

Mike Mayfield wrote the game in the BASIC programming language for the SDS Sigma 7 mainframe computer with the goal of creating a game like Spacewar! (1962) that could be played with a teleprinter instead of a graphical display. He then rewrote it for the HP 2000C minicomputer in 1972, and it was included in Hewlett-Packard's public domain software catalog the following year. It was picked up from there by David H. Ahl, who ported it with Mary Cole to BASIC-PLUS and published the source code in the Digital Equipment Corporation Edu newsletter. It was republished with other computer games in his best-selling 101 BASIC Computer Games book. Bob Leedom then expanded the game in 1974 into Super Star Trek.

Ahl left DEC and started Creative Computing magazine in 1974. He began porting the games from 101 to Microsoft BASIC, with the exception of Star Trek, where he ported Leedom's version rather than Mayfield's original. The result was released in 1978 under the new name BASIC Computer Games, just as the first microcomputers able to run the game were coming to market. BASIC Computer Games went on to become the first million-selling computer book, and versions of the game were available for almost all personal computers of the era. Additionally, dozens of variants and expansions were made for a variety of other systems, based either on Leedom's or the original Mayfield versions.

Gameplay

Star Trek is a text-based strategy video game based on the Star Trek television series in which the player, controlling the USS Enterprise starship, flies through the galaxy and hunts down Klingon warships within a time limit. The game starts with a short text description of the mission before allowing the player to enter commands. Each game starts with a different number of Klingons, friendly starbases, and stars spread throughout the galaxy. The galaxy is depicted as an 8-by-8 grid of "quadrants". Each quadrant is further divided into an 8-by-8 grid of "sectors". The number of stars, Klingons, and starbases in any one quadrant is set at the start of the game, but their exact position changes each time the player enters that quadrant.

The player can view a text-based map of the current quadrant by issuing the short-range scan command. Stars, Klingon ships, starbases, and the Enterprise itself are shown as text-based figures in a square grid; the Enterprise, for example, is represented with -E-. The player can also use the long-range scan to print out a map of the quadrants lying directly around the Enterprise, with a list of the number of stars, Klingons, and starbases in each quadrant. The player moves between and within quadrants with the warp drive.

Klingon ships can be attacked with either phasers or photon torpedoes. Phasers do not have to be aimed, but their power and therefore damage amount falls off with distance, and the player must select how much power to put into each shot. Torpedoes do not suffer this drop in power and will destroy a Klingon ship with a single hit, but have to be aimed using polar coordinates. Later versions of the game expanded on this combat system by adding features such as Klingon ships moving after each shot if not destroyed, enemy attacks damaging systems such as scanners or shields, stars absorbing torpedoes that hit them, and a calculator to help in determining the proper angle to fire the torpedoes. Combat is turn-based, and Klingon ships will fire back at the player in their turn.

Movement, combat, and shields all drain the energy supply of the Enterprise, which can be restored by flying to a starbase. In some versions of the game, there are additional options for emergency situations, such as calling for help from a starbase, using the experimental Death Ray, loading raw dilithium crystals into the warp drive, or abandoning ship. Movement commands take up time depending on how far the player is moving. The game ends when the Enterprise is destroyed, all Klingons are destroyed, or the time limit runs out. A score in the form of a ranking is presented at the end of the game based on energy usage, damage taken and inflicted, and any remaining time.

Development

Star Trek

ASR-33 teleprinter computer terminal

In 1971, Mike Mayfield, then in his final year of high school, frequented a computer lab at the University of California, Irvine while teaching himself how to program. The lab operated both a SDS Sigma 7 and a DEC PDP-10 mainframe computer. The PDP-10 hosted a copy of Spacewar!, a multiplayer space combat video game developed in 1962 in the early history of video games. Mayfield had gained illicit access to the Sigma 7 at the lab and wanted to create his own version of the game for the system. Spacewar! required a vector graphics display, however, and the Sigma 7 only had access to a non-graphical Teletype Model 33 ASR teleprinter.

Mayfield decided to create a game in the vein of Spacewar! that could be played on a teleprinter and brainstormed several ideas with his friends. As none of the group had much experience with computers, most of the ideas were unfeasible, but one concept he liked and thought was possible was a game based on Star Trek, then in syndication on television. The concept included the game printing a map of the galaxy and a map of the local star system, and phaser weapons whose attack power declined over distance. Mayfield began to program the game, creating a punched tape of the game at the end of each programming session and loading it back into the computer the next day. He worked on the game through the rest of the school year and into the summer after graduating.

Later that summer, Mayfield purchased an HP-35 calculator and often visited the local Hewlett-Packard sales office. The staff there offered to let him use the HP 2000C minicomputer at the office if he would create a version of his Star Trek game for it; as the version of the BASIC programming language on the computer was different from the Sigma 7, he elected to abandon the Sigma 7 version and rewrite the program from scratch. He completed it on October 20, 1972, and the game was added to the HP public domain Contributed Program library of software as STTR1 in February 1973, with Mayfield attributing the game to Centerline Engineering, a company he was considering starting. It was also published in the People's Computer Company newsletter, and republished in their collection book, What to Do After You Hit Return (1975).

David H. Ahl was an employee in the education department of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). He had begun the Edu newsletter where user-submitted games became a major draw. He and fellow employee Mary Cole ported STTR1 to DEC's BASIC-PLUS in the summer of 1973, with some additions, and he published this version in the newsletter. Ahl attributed the game to "Mike Mayfield of Centerline Engineering and/or Custom Data". In late 1973, Ahl collected many of the game submissions in the book 101 BASIC Computer Games, containing descriptions and the source code for many early mainframe games. 101 BASIC Computer Games was a landmark title in computer games programming, and was a best-selling title with more than 10,000 copies sold — more copies than there were computers in existence at the time. As such, the BASIC ports of mainframe computer games included in the book were often more long-lived than their original versions or other mainframe computer games. He included Star Trek in the book as SPACWR, i.e. Space War.

Super Star Trek

In early 1974, Bob Leedom saw Ahl's version of the game in 101 BASIC Computer Games while working with a Data General Nova 800 minicomputer at Westinghouse Electric Corporation and, having never seen a Star Trek game before, started porting it to the system. After he got the game running, he began to expand it with suggestions from his friends. He changed the user interface, replacing the original game's numeric codes with three-letter commands and adding status reports from show characters and names for the galaxy quadrants, and overhauled the gameplay, adding moving Klingon ships, navigation and fire control options, and an expanded library computer. Once it was completed, he wrote a letter to the People's Computer Company newsletter describing the game.

Ahl, who by then had left DEC to start Creative Computing magazine, saw Leedom's description in the newsletter and contacted him to publish the game in his magazine. Ahl ported it to Microsoft BASIC and published the source code of the game as Super Star Trek to distinguish it from the original Star Trek game, calling it "by far the best" version. He later included it under that name in the 1976 anthology The Best of Creative Computing as well as the 1978 edition of 101 BASIC Computer Games, retitled BASIC Computer Games. He added a note that he had permission from the rights holders to use the show's name in the title alongside a longer note written by Leedom explaining why the galaxy had 64 quadrants even though the term suggested there should only be four. BASIC Computer Games was the first million-selling computer book, giving Leedom's version a much wider audience than Mayfield and Ahl's original versions.

Reception and legacy

Everybody under the sun has been programming games based loosely on Star Trek.

— BYTE, 1977

Star Trek, especially the Super Star Trek version, was immensely popular for the era. By 1975 it had spread to mainframes across the United States, and Ahl stated in 1978 in BASIC Computer Games that it was difficult to find a computer installation that did not contain a version of Star Trek. By 1980, Star Trek was described by Mark Herro in The Dragon magazine as "one of the most popular (if not the most popular) computer games around", with "literally scores of different versions of this game floating around". At least one published work of fiction that year mentioned the game, the short story "Another Game of Spacewar", published in an anthology by Creative Computing. A 2013 overview of the game and its myriad versions in The Register by Tony Smith concluded that "like most games of the period it was fun to play once or twice, but it lacked staying power." Regardless, for the players of the time period when it was released, it was "a shiny new gateway to 'strange new worlds'".

The widespread popularity of the game, especially Super Star Trek, along with the availability of the source code, led to numerous ports of both versions of the game for mainframe and microcomputers. Alternate versions of the game were also produced, based on Star Trek, Super Star Trek, or both. David Matuszek and Paul Reynolds wrote an expanded Fortran version of the original game as UT Super Star Trek; Eric Allman ported this version to the C programming language to become BSD Trek, which is still included in the Debian classic Unix games package. BYTE published a BASIC version by David Price in March 1977 that used the original command system based on numbers. In 1983 BYTE columnist Jerry Pournelle claimed to have written "the world's most complex Star Trek game" in CBASIC. A shareware version for MS-DOS, EGATrek, was released in the late 1980s that replaced the original text-based screens with basic graphics that implemented a multi-paned display. In 2017, PC Gamer ranked EGATrek among the best Star Trek games.

A TRS-80 port of the game running at the Living Computers: Museum + Labs

Multiple commercial versions of the game were released in addition to the free ports. Apple Inc. released a version for the Apple II+ called Apple Trek in 1979, and Atari, Inc. released a version for the Atari 2600 as Stellar Track in 1980. The TRS-80 had at least three separate commercially available Star Trek games, including Trek-80 by Processor Technology (later retitled Invasion Force) which added more interactivity and a number of new options incorporated from the unrelated Trek73, a second Trek-80 by Judges Guild, and Startrek 3.5 from Adventure International. Acornsoft released a version titled Galaxy for their computer systems, and Tandy Computers released Space Trek for theirs. Yet another version was written in BASICA for the IBM Personal Computer in 1982, Video Trek 88; written by Windmill Software, it used numbers for most commands, like the earlier BYTE version. Apex Software released TI-Trek for the TI-99/4A in 1983, which incorporates speech if the speech synthesizer is present. 1984's Star Fleet I: The War Begins by Interstel was a variant released commercially for several computer systems. This game was successful enough to spawn a series.

Numerous hobby projects have continued to port the original game versions and enhanced variants to other languages and systems through to today. Additionally, some commercial games have been inspired by Star Trek, such as Star Raiders (1980), which was initially designed as a real time, 3D version of the game. As late as 1994, the collective Star Trek variants were still popular enough that Computer Gaming World claimed that the otherwise unrelated Stellar Explorer's gameplay was directly based on it, and that "anyone who remembers the old Trek games will know exactly what this game is all about".

See also

References

  1. ^ Smith, Tony (May 3, 2013). "Star Trek: The original computer game". The Register. Situation Publishing. Archived from the original on April 28, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  2. ^ The Best of Creative Computing Vol. 1, pp. 275–281
  3. ^ Markowitz, Maury; Mayfield, Mike (2000). "Star Trek". Games of Fame. Archived from the original on November 6, 2018. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  4. They Create Worlds, p. 243
  5. What to Do After You Hit Return, pp. 98–101
  6. ^ McCracken, Harry (April 29, 2014). "Fifty Years of BASIC, the Programming Language That Made Computers Personal". Time. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  7. ^ BASIC Computer Games, pp. 157–163
  8. ^ Price, David (March 1977). "Flights of Fancy with the Enterprise". BYTE. Vol. 2, no. 3. UBM. pp. 106–113. ISSN 0360-5280. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  9. ^ "GameSpot's History of Star Trek PC Games". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. 2000. Archived from the original on June 16, 2010. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  10. The Best of Creative Computing Vol. 2, p. 162
  11. Herro, Mark (June 1980). "The Electric Eye" (PDF). The Dragon (38). TSR: 52–54. ISSN 0279-6848. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 14, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
  12. Lockwood, Randal (1980). "Another Game of Spacewar". In Taylor, Robert; Green, Burchenal (eds.). Tales of the Marvelous Machine: 35 Stories of Computing. Creative Computing Press. pp. 251–255. ISBN 978-0-916688-05-9.
  13. "Space Trek". The Centre for Computing History. Archived from the original on November 28, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  14. "Package: bsdgames". Debian Packages. Software in the Public Interest. Archived from the original on November 6, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  15. Pournelle, Jerry (December 1983). "Buddy, Can You Spare a Door Latch?". BYTE. Vol. 8, no. 12. UBM. p. 59. ISSN 0360-5280. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  16. Anderson, Kevin. "EGATrek". GameSpy. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on April 28, 2010. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  17. Cobbett, Richard (September 25, 2017). "The best Star Trek games". PC Gamer. Future. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  18. Mitchell, Scott (June 1981). "Startrek 4.0 and Startrek 3.5". BYTE. Vol. 6, no. 6. UBM. pp. 352, 354. ISSN 0360-5280. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  19. Dodge, Michael (April 1980). "The Electric Eye" (PDF). The Dragon (36). TSR: 65. ISSN 0279-6848. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 21, 2016. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  20. "Video Trek 88". Kilobaud Microcomputing. Vol. 7, no. 6. Wayne Green. June 1983. p. 14. ISSN 0192-4575.
  21. "Ti Trek". The Centre for Computing History. Archived from the original on November 28, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  22. Murphy, Brian J. (September 1986). "Game Room". InCider. Vol. 4, no. 9. International Data Group. pp. 113–114. ISSN 0740-0101. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
  23. Yarwood, Jack (February 22, 2023). "Star Trek Fangame Adds Graphics To Classic Text-Based Strategy Game". Time Extension. Hookshot Media. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  24. Barton, Matt; Loguidice, Bill (September 8, 2009). "The History of Star Raiders: Taking Command". Gamasutra. UBM. Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved January 7, 2019.
  25. Pappas, Lee (October 1986). "An Interview with Doug Neubauer". ANALOG Computing. No. 47. ISSN 0744-9917. Archived from the original on January 5, 2019.
  26. "Taking A Peek". Computer Gaming World. No. 118. May 1994. pp. 174–180. ISSN 0744-6667. Archived from the original on July 3, 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2017.

Sources

External links

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