cctalk Digest, Vol 61, Issue 17

[Dr Iain Maoileoin]

Paul - I had a quick look at PLATO.
I dont think it was like that.
In this game when you set a movement direction and velocity you moved through the universe in that direction “forever”.
There was not concept of “moves” or “turns”, it was very dynamic.
Spasim looks much closer - but was that “vector graphics”?  The game I was using was just 24 x 80 characters.  For the year and the 
WYSE terminals (etc) it was great.

> 
> I wonder if this is a port of the PLATO game by the same name, which goes back to 1976 or so.  PLATO had lots of multi-user games with various levels of graphics sophistication.  Space war games included "conquest", "empire", and "spasim" -- that last actually had 3d graphics, which was quite a stretch for 1977.  Then there was "airfight" (the inspiration for Microsoft Flight Simulator) as well as a boatload of "dungeon & dragons" games.
> 
> 	paul
> ------------------------------
> 
> Was it in use at Berkeley?  I might have it stashed away in some of my
> BSD-related tapes.
> 
Chuck, I am Scottish, I have never been to Berkeley!  I just cant remember the history.  I remember playing the game with a bunch of post-graduates.
I was either a post-grad or perhaps an early lecturer in the Uni.  That places it square in the mid-80s.    I did spend most of my time researching.
The games would have appeared on tapes from other places…..  I am hunting around amongst the post-grads to see if any of them can tell me
where it came from.

I knew the game as “search” in that that is what you typed in to start it.  To keep the undergrads out if it we had to put both passwords and time-locks in
the code….

Iain
> --Chuck