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
Gamer24h Editor's Take
Put under the Gamer24h team's microscope, Alto Trek raises the bar considerably with both its storytelling and technical polish. Developer Richard Rashid, Gene Ball has done a remarkable job of drawing players into its world, earning our admiration with its attention to detail. Masterfully blending Space simulation/Real-time strategy/Action mechanics with modern standards, the game's fluid gameplay makes hours fly by unnoticed. All in all, the Gamer24h team stands firmly behind our rating. This is a unique journey you won't want to miss.