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Alto Trek

๐Ÿข Richard Rashid, Gene Ball ๐Ÿ“… 01 Jan 1972
Before players coordinated vast tactical fleets in Star Citizen, embarked on interstellar missions in Star Trek: Bridge Commander, or engaged in tactical network skirmishes in Homeworld, the concept of real-time Ethernet-networked space combat was invented in 1973 with Alto Trek. Created at Xerox PARC and the University of Rochester, it was the first game in history to utilize Ethernet LAN networks, bitmapped GUI graphics, and mouse-driven tactical space navigation.

๐ŸŽฌ Deep Vision & Technical Analysis

๐ŸŒ† Atmosphere & Visual Direction

Pioneering monochromatic bitmapped GUI interface with real-time Ethernet network updates.

โšก Action Pacing & Physics Engine

Methodical tactical ship management punctuated by intense multi-terminal space battles.

๐ŸŽฏ Performance & Launch Trajectory

The foundational ancestor of all networked multiplayer tactical simulations.

Alto Trek is a computer game, developed by Gene Ball and Rick Rashid for the Xerox Alto while they were graduate students at the University of Rochester during the late 1970s. It is one of the first networked multiplayer games.

Gameplay

Alto Trek is a multiplayer game where each player uses their own Alto workstation to control a starship. The objective of the game is to destroy the enemy without being destroyed. A player can choose between being a Klingon, Romulan, or Terran. The game can be played by one player, but there will be no enemy to destroy.

There is no central server that maintains the game state. Each Alto “multicasts” its game information on the shared Ethernet that all players must be on. The “multicast” address on which to rendezvous is a function of the number of stellar systems in the game.

Development

The manual for version 2.1 is dated August 1979 and authored by Allen Wells, Bob Baldwin, and Steve Quarterman. It confirms that the game was authored primarily by Ball.

Around 1997, while a vice president at Microsoft, Rashid began to re-implement the game as a way to teach himself to use the DirectX programming API. This resulted in the development of Microsoft Allegiance.

References

External links

  • Internet Archive – Alto Trek 2.1 manual