How College Students Influenced Gaming A look into Games that evolved in Colleges

Overview The aim of this presentation is to provide a chronological overview of games written in Colleges from the early ’50s to the early ’80s

The aim of this presentation is to provide a chronological overview of games written in Colleges from the early ’50s to the early ’80s

The Management Game 1950 Developed at the Tepper Business School at Carnegie Mellon University by students and faculty. Simulated the ’50s detergent industry Allowed students to take role of companies to compete against one another Used a Bendix G-15 computer and 3000 punched cards needed to be fed every week to run the simulation More production and research modules added in ’61 and ’62 to expand the game making it a truly interactive simulation

Developed at the Tepper Business School at Carnegie Mellon University by students and faculty.

Simulated the ’50s detergent industry

Allowed students to take role of companies to compete against one another

Used a Bendix G-15 computer and 3000 punched cards needed to be fed every week to run the simulation

More production and research modules added in ’61 and ’62 to expand the game making it a truly interactive simulation

The Bendix G-15

Bendix Tape Units

The PLATO I Network 1960 Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Applications (PLATO) Developed at U. Illinois –Urbana Champaign by Donald Bitzer a PhD student and lab assistant at the time. Was to be a computerized learning system Ran on the locally-built ILLIAC I computer Two users at a time

Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Applications (PLATO)

Developed at U. Illinois –Urbana Champaign by Donald Bitzer a PhD student and lab assistant at the time.

Was to be a computerized learning system

Ran on the locally-built ILLIAC I computer

Two users at a time

DECUS 1961 Digital Equipment Computer User Society Owned by DEC but run by volunteers Was to be a channel to communicating with DEC customers DECUS USA ran a lot of special interest groups and groups were formed in other countries. Programs exchanged through magnetic tape PLATO performed same function on CDC computers.

Digital Equipment Computer User Society

Owned by DEC but run by volunteers

Was to be a channel to communicating with DEC customers

DECUS USA ran a lot of special interest groups and groups were formed in other countries.

Programs exchanged through magnetic tape

PLATO performed same function on CDC computers.

Why are we talking about PLATO and DECUS? Even though PLATO and DECUS were started out for educational and customer support reasons respectively, they became a hotbed for game development! They allowed students to share games they had written with other users on these networks This led to improvements and additions in each game.

Even though PLATO and DECUS were started out for educational and customer support reasons respectively, they became a hotbed for game development!

They allowed students to share games they had written with other users on these networks

This led to improvements and additions in each game.

And now Spacewar!.....

Spacewar! 1962

Spacewar 1962 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-Tech Model Radio Club Written by Steve Russell, Martin Graetz ,Wayne Wiitanen and others. Written for the DEC PDP-1 Beginning of ‘hacker’ culture Was distributed across different Universities

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-Tech Model Radio Club

Written by Steve Russell, Martin Graetz ,Wayne Wiitanen and others.

Written for the DEC PDP-1

Beginning of ‘hacker’ culture

Was distributed across different Universities

PDP 1

PDP 1

Spacewar! 1962 Spacewar was a major influence on many games such as Computer Space by Nutting Associates(1971) Galaxy Game at the Stanford University (1971) Space Wars by Cinematronics (1977) All of which were commercial hits

Spacewar was a major influence on many games such as

Computer Space by Nutting Associates(1971)

Galaxy Game at the Stanford University (1971)

Space Wars by Cinematronics (1977)

All of which were commercial hits

Spacewar was a major influence and games were written as other Universities in the tradition of Spacewar…

But first lets have a look an important development happened in 1970

PLATO IV University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign A multiuser system that evolved from PLATO I / II / III that could support upto 1000 users This was good for gaming!

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

A multiuser system that evolved from PLATO I / II / III that could support upto 1000 users

This was good for gaming!

Making serious use of PLATO!

PLATO Homelink

PLATO Cartridge for the ATARI

The Games In Chronological Order

Baseball 1971 First ever baseball game Pomona College Written by a student named Don Daglow Game distrbuted over DECUS Game is documented in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown,NY Evolved into Tony La Russa series and Intellivision World Series Baseball .

First ever baseball game

Pomona College

Written by a student named Don Daglow

Game distrbuted over DECUS

Game is documented in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown,NY

Evolved into Tony La Russa series and Intellivision World Series Baseball .

Baseball Screenshot Courtesy- Dan Daglow

Courtesy- Dan Daglow

Don Daglow Founded Stormfront Studios in 1988.Its an independent game developer in San Rafael ,CA. Currently its President and CEO

Founded Stormfront Studios in 1988.Its an independent game developer in San Rafael ,CA.

Currently its President and CEO

Star Trek 1971 UC Irvine Written by Mike Mayfield a senior that year Probably the first ever Star Trek game Mike was inpsired after playing Spacewar! Taught himself BASIC Text only HP liked the game and distributed it over DECUS after asking Mike to write the code in HP BASIC again

UC Irvine

Written by Mike Mayfield a senior that year

Probably the first ever Star Trek game

Mike was inpsired after playing Spacewar!

Taught himself BASIC

Text only

HP liked the game and distributed it over DECUS after asking Mike to write the code in HP BASIC again

Star Trek

This seem familiar?

The mainframe that ran the game: SDS Sigma 7

Hunt the Wumpus 1972 University of Dartmouth Written by student named Gregory Yob Wanted to make a hide and seek game without a grid Written in BASIC Was a huge hit with players and was ported to different personal computers Released commercially as a cartridge by TI for their 99-4A PC.

University of Dartmouth

Written by student named Gregory Yob

Wanted to make a hide and seek game without a grid

Written in BASIC

Was a huge hit with players and was ported to different personal computers

Released commercially as a cartridge by TI for their 99-4A PC.

Hunt the Wumpus

Star Trek at Pomona 1972 Written by Don Daglow Written for the PDP-10 Distributed widely on DECUS Don got a huge amount of fan mail as this free game became a huge hit Source code widely published

Written by Don Daglow

Written for the PDP-10

Distributed widely on DECUS

Don got a huge amount of fan mail as this free game became a huge hit

Source code widely published

An interesting page from the manual

Dogfight 1973 Appeared on the PLATO network in 1972 One of the first 2 D games involving airplanes

Appeared on the PLATO network in 1972

One of the first 2 D games involving airplanes

Empire 1973 Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts John Daleske and Silas Warner Silas was a student at Indiana University Probably the first networked multiplayer arena shooter style game Supported 32 players at once! Was a huge hit and an influence for years to come.

Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts

John Daleske and Silas Warner

Silas was a student at Indiana University

Probably the first networked multiplayer arena shooter style game

Supported 32 players at once!

Was a huge hit and an influence for years to come.

Silas Warner If Silas’ name rings a bell to some of you, its because he is best know for being the author of Castle Wolfenstein on the Apple II He was the co founder of Muse Software

If Silas’ name rings a bell to some of you, its because he is best know for being the author of Castle Wolfenstein on the Apple II

He was the co founder of Muse Software

SPASIM 1974 University of Iowa Written by Jim Bowery Got help from John Daleske and Charles Miller 32 player game with Star Trek theme Probably the first FPS 3D Multiplayer networked game

University of Iowa

Written by Jim Bowery

Got help from John Daleske and Charles Miller

32 player game with Star Trek theme

Probably the first FPS 3D Multiplayer networked game

REWARD $500 Jim Bowery is offering $500 to anyone who can document an example of a multi-player 3D virtual reality game prior to "Spasim".

Jim Bowery is offering $500 to anyone who can document an example of a multi-player 3D virtual reality game prior to "Spasim".

Dungeon 1975 Claremont Graduate University Written by Don Daglow Unlicensed implementation of Dungeons and Dragons Text Only but probably the first game to use line of sight graphics displays. Top down dungeon maps

Claremont Graduate University

Written by Don Daglow

Unlicensed implementation of Dungeons and Dragons

Text Only but probably the first game to use line of sight graphics displays.

Top down dungeon maps

Dungeon 1975

Airace 1975 Indiana University Written By Silas Warner Modified SPASIM code First 3D Flight simulator Showed a 3D cockpit view of the horizon Bigger hit than SPASIM Flight Simulators have evolved into a genre

Indiana University

Written By Silas Warner

Modified SPASIM code

First 3D Flight simulator

Showed a 3D cockpit view of the horizon

Bigger hit than SPASIM

Flight Simulators have evolved into a genre

Airfight 1975 University of Illinois Written by Kevin Gorey after being playing Dogfight(’73) and Warner’s Airace In the fashion of 2D game Dogfight 3D real time flight simulator with 3D views of the horizon, airport and enemy

University of Illinois

Written by Kevin Gorey after being playing Dogfight(’73) and Warner’s Airace

In the fashion of 2D game Dogfight

3D real time flight simulator with 3D views of the horizon, airport and enemy

CG Dynamic Flight Display 1975 University of Illinois Written by Bruce Artwick as a part of his thesis after playing Airfight Written for 6800 based micro computer First such simulator on a microcomputer

University of Illinois

Written by Bruce Artwick as a part of his thesis after playing Airfight

Written for 6800 based micro computer

First such simulator on a microcomputer

Why is Bruce an important person? By 1978 Bruce and others from the U of Illinois had formed a company called SubLOGIC They released a 6502 based version of his flight simulator One company bought his idea in the early 80s and is still making a lot of money off it.

By 1978 Bruce and others from the U of Illinois had formed a company called SubLOGIC

They released a 6502 based version of his flight simulator

One company bought his idea in the early 80s and is still making a lot of money off it.

That company is

And the software is

Here’s Bruce! 1970s Why did I sell my idea?

Bruce’s Flight Sim

Microsoft’s first box cover

Panther 1975 Northwestern University Written by John Edo Haefeli when he was 19 A PLATO game Was the inspiration for ATARIs BattleZone which grossed many many millions of dollars Was described in IEEE magazines and created and interest in military simulators

Northwestern University

Written by John Edo Haefeli when he was 19

A PLATO game

Was the inspiration for ATARIs BattleZone which grossed many many millions of dollars

Was described in IEEE magazines and created and interest in military simulators

Panther 1975

BattleZone Released in 1980 by ATARI Looks similar to Panther! Probably a coincidence that ATARI had a PLATO account

Released in 1980 by ATARI

Looks similar to Panther!

Probably a coincidence that ATARI had a PLATO account

Adventure 1976 Stanford AI Lab Don Woods saw a game called ADVENT written by Will Crowther ADVENT was a massive cave adventure game Text Only Will sent him the code Don improved the game tremendously and released it on the ARPANET Crowther/Woods version becomes the standard Adventure 2.0

Stanford AI Lab

Don Woods saw a game called ADVENT written by Will Crowther

ADVENT was a massive cave adventure game

Text Only

Will sent him the code

Don improved the game tremendously and released it on the ARPANET

Crowther/Woods version becomes the standard Adventure 2.0

Crowther and Woods

A screenshot literally…

ZORK 1977 Masschusetts Institute of Technology Written by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling Members of MIT Dynamic Modelling Group Written on DEC PDP-10 Test based and descended from Adventure Set in an underground labyrinth

Masschusetts Institute of Technology

Written by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling

Members of MIT Dynamic Modelling Group

Written on DEC PDP-10

Test based and descended from Adventure

Set in an underground labyrinth

ZORK 1977 Three of the Zork programmers founded Infocom in 1979 They released the Zork I-III trilogy

Three of the Zork programmers founded Infocom in 1979

They released the Zork I-III trilogy

Screenshots

Acheton 1978 Cambridge University ,UK Written by students Jon Thackray, David Seal,Jonathan Parrington Made for the IBM 370 Mainframe Inspired by Adventure Huge game having more than 400 rooms Commercially released by Acornsoft

Cambridge University ,UK

Written by students Jon Thackray, David Seal,Jonathan Parrington

Made for the IBM 370 Mainframe

Inspired by Adventure

Huge game having more than 400 rooms

Commercially released by Acornsoft

Acheton 1978 Probably the first adventure game written outside the US

Probably the first adventure game written outside the US

Some Canadian text games The University of Waterloo games were written in a language called F (for Fantasy) which was locally created by Mark Niemiec. The F language is based on B (the ancestor of C) and is completely non-portable

The University of Waterloo games were written in a language called F (for Fantasy) which was locally created by Mark Niemiec. The F language is based on B (the ancestor of C) and is completely non-portable

Martian Adventure 1979 University of Waterloo,Canada Written by Brad Templeton and Kieran Carroll Written for the Honeywell Level 66 mainframe Text Only Has a puzzle where there are some keys, and you can't pick them up -- it turns out they are keys on a keyboard and you have to "type keys"

University of Waterloo,Canada

Written by Brad Templeton and Kieran Carroll

Written for the Honeywell Level 66 mainframe

Text Only

Has a puzzle where there are some keys, and you can't pick them up -- it turns out they are keys on a keyboard and you have to "type keys"

New Adventure 1979 University of Waterloo Written by Mark Niemiec Written for the Honeywell Level 66 mainframe Text Only

University of Waterloo

Written by Mark Niemiec

Written for the Honeywell Level 66 mainframe

Text Only

Warp 1979 Stanford University Text Based Written for the HP 300 Had an advanced interpreter for text.

Stanford University

Text Based

Written for the HP 300

Had an advanced interpreter for text.

Haunt 1980 Carnegie Mellon University Written by John Laird Inspired by Adventure Written while doing research on rule based systems Written in a Lisp like language called Was available at USC in 1984

Carnegie Mellon University

Written by John Laird

Inspired by Adventure

Written while doing research on rule based systems

Written in a Lisp like language called

Was available at USC in 1984

John E. Laird Currently the Director of UMich’s AI Lab in Ann Arbor, MI. Gave some great inputs for this presentation

Currently the Director of UMich’s AI Lab in Ann Arbor, MI.

Gave some great inputs for this presentation

Hezarin 1980 Cambridge University Written by Steve Tinney,Alex Ship and Jon Thackray Once again like Adventure Released by Topologika Ltd.

Cambridge University

Written by Steve Tinney,Alex Ship and Jon Thackray

Once again like Adventure

Released by Topologika Ltd.

Kingdom of Hamil 1980 Cambridge University Written by John Partington for the IBM 370 mainframe Released by Acornsoft Text based and like Adventure

Cambridge University

Written by John Partington for the IBM 370 mainframe

Released by Acornsoft

Text based and like Adventure

LORD 1981 Helsinki Institute of Technology Written by Olli J. Paavola Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s books Text Only Non commercial and extremely large

Helsinki Institute of Technology

Written by Olli J. Paavola

Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s books

Text Only

Non commercial and extremely large

FisK 1982 Stanford University Written by an Richard Beigel an undergraduate A Zork like game Played in a large house with rooms full of treasures and bad guys

Stanford University

Written by an Richard Beigel an undergraduate

A Zork like game

Played in a large house with rooms full of treasures and bad guys

A Timeline

How everythings connected

To Summarize Students had a huge impact on many of the games and genres we play today Colleges could have promoted development and helped students with marketing of games Protecting intellectual property is essential, students at that time may not have had resources to do that.

Students had a huge impact on many of the games and genres we play today

Colleges could have promoted development and helped students with marketing of games

Protecting intellectual property is essential, students at that time may not have had resources to do that.

Thanks!