R Jason Valentine writes
"Before Ogg was an encoding standard it was a verb. Before the internet enabled the masses to play against each other in Quake and Ultima Online, there was a cross-platform multiple player interactive online game called Netrek. Netrek can trace its history back to 1972. It's an interesting, though incomplete, read, that includes travels through places like Berkeley's XCF. Netrek generally peaked in play in the early 90's, from about 1992 to 1995 or so, and was popular enough to even get an article in Wired. With this
explosion of players, several variations on the original style, called Bronco, emerged. These were Chaos (similar to bronco), Paradise, and Hockey. The Chaos and Paradise variants are all but dead, mostly due to lack of players and an expired Paradise-capable client for Windows. A Bronco pick-up game still occurs daily, and usually once or twice a week, there is a hockey game. League games still exist, and this is the 10th year of league play, with around 200 players registered for the
2002 draft league."
Valentine continues: "Though the graphics are subspectacular, gameplay is enveloping. Like chess, the rules are simple and comprehendable within the
first hour of play, yet the game is difficult to master. After a 5 year hiatus, I returned to the game and found play still
engaging with a healthy, though small, active community. The clients haven't had a major upgrade in years, and recent rebuild attempts remain unfinished. The development slowdown can be
attributed to a decrease in interest and the aging of the original programmers, who now hold steady jobs and don't have an itch
to update stable clients. If you've played before, but not in a long time, the game is worth revisiting. If you've never played, and don't have the latest greatest hardware to play the
latest installment of the tired FPS genre, check out Netrek. Minimum system requirements are a graphics card that can do 256 colors
at 1024x768 and an internet connection."
Slashdot Mirror
I now know a lot about Nethack, Netrek, and others. What other kinds of early, innovative games that are still going on are there?
People in Soviet Russia, however, appear to be afflicted with amusing juxtapositions of the aforementioned situation
and is there a macosx client?
I haven't played in YEARS... ugh... I wonder if my old tcl bot code is still around somewhere...
blog
I remember countless hours spent playing NetTrek.... I was never much good but there were people in those matches that rocked.
Played it during the same era that I was heavily involved in MUDs.
Both prove a point, namely, good gameplay is more important than flashy graphics.
It would be worthwhile to update the client.....
any volunteers?
Bueller? Bueller? anyone?
Fly Fish? Participate in our forum
Don't mind me, just burning off some karma. Nothing to see here.
CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
Netrek was the reason I installed Linux back in 1996. It looked like a really fun game, but the players were a bunch of elitists who didn't care too much for newcomers. And so I stopped trying to play. Hmm, I didn't even realize that anyone was still playing it anymore.
256 colors? I was very happy playing it on monochrome (yes, simple black or white, no grey in between) monitors of Sun ELCs and IBM RS/6000s. Many a mis-spent hour of youth...
Wow. I totally forgot about Netrek...
So now who's up for a game of Bolo?
Multiplayer angband?
Ah, the classics...
W
-------------------
This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
I remember much time wasted after-hours in the workstation room (we just had dumb ASCII terminals on our desks in those days) at work back in early 1987, when Xtrek was I guess about a year old. A lot more fun when your opponents are in the same room. That was X10 in those days. And I think mostly on DEC GPX's (something like a MicroVAX) because we didn't get Suns until later.
I briefly tried porting it to X11 when the company upgraded, but there were to many real-work projects going on and no time.
-- Alastair
After doing a little searching, here's a link to a Windows client on another page on the netrek.org site that actually works. The ftp server they list doesn't work properly
http://www.netrek.org/cow/
A Bronco pick-up game still occurs daily
This is the game where one white ship travels across the board doing the speed limit, while 50 other ships pursue it.
Objects in the blog are closer then they ap
I remember coming in on HOLIDAYS so I could play. I missed entire days worth of classes to play. Netrek was so engrossing, even if you were only mediocre.
I always liked Paradise the best, though. You had high warp engines, better ships (does anyone else remember the Assault Base?) really well maintained statistics (I was the Kamikaze champ for about 6 months running, mostly due to my inability to pass up ogging opportunities) and far more interesting game play dynamics because of the system layout (ie. Suns and solar systems and whatnot.) Splashing a Jumpship or a Warbase was always the high point of a game, and I was one of those crazies that would ogg the base in just about anything. Scout, DD, BB...it didn't matter. Warp drives to full, and drop that torp load!
When Paradise died, I basically stopped playing. I occasionally miss it. If you've ever played a network FPS and liked it, check out Netrek, ESPECIALLY you Tribes fans out there.
I never played netrek but I do remember playing Tradewars 2002 game "door" on a couple local bulletin boards. It was a role playing game where one was a space trader. You had to trade fuel Ore, organics and equipment to try and become as successful as possible. Different sectors could be warped in and out of, with any one sector possibly having warps to a number of other sectors. Anyone else remember this?
Netrek has had quite a bit of history and influence on many. Not only has had a long history since Empire as listed in the above history link, it has had many of its programmers and players go on to bigger and brighter things.
For example, Kevin Smith, one of the 2 original writers of the modern netrek client now works at TiVo, and Dave Taylor (of id, Crack.com and now Transmeta) did a lot of borg writing.
Netrek has also been used as a model for other games. Most recent was when Quake was opened up and people were trying how to prevent cheaters. A few groups came to the Netrek community to ask about our "blessed client" models. And Netrek was even used as prior art to convice a stupid patent holder that they shouldn't pursue litigation. Dave Ahn and I (as current developers) consulted with the defendants on a case where somebody tried to patent client/server game communication with information hiding.
I've been playing Netrek since Summer of 1990. I discovered Xtank and Netrek at the same time, but Netrek had the staying power. Its a game with so many levels, from deep strategy, to mindless fun, all in the same session. Although I never got into Paradise or Chaos, I found ample time to waste on Bronco and Hockey.
There are 2 active leagues(INL, WNL), 1 draft league, and 2 leagues on hiatus (A hockey league and a Euro leage). Games usually have players from all around the world.
Its a fun game! You should all try! Just be patient enough to get over the initial learning curve. For more info go to www.netrek.org or rec.games.netrek.
--Carlos V.
Continuum, almost 7 years in development if you include sniper and subpsace as its parents.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
<plug mode>
You can read more and download the software from my web page for Paradise 2000, the ultimate Linux netrek client.
It has a nice sound system and can use IBM's ViaVoice for linux to do speech synthesis of messages and macros. Getting the IBM ViaVoice TTS package for linux is hard now, maybe /. should do a story on that.
</plug mode>
One problem Netrek has right now is lack of servers. The one popular server is often full. It also has had bad lag for most people recently, since it is a redhat and openoffice mirror, both which have released major new versions.
Sorry to break it to you, but Ogg is not an encoding standard. Merriam Webster defines a standard as (3) something established by authority, custom, or general consent as a model or example. Or (4) : something set up and established by authority as a rule for the measure of quantity, weight, extent, value, or quality.
Note; I didn't say it was useless, unloved or without redeeming value, but it's hardly the measuring stick my which every other audio format is judged. And as for mass acceptance, you tell me the ratio of Ogg to MP3 on Bearshare, Kazaa and the others. I would submit that while our humble writer is obviously an Ogg fan, MP3 is the benchmark by which the other formats are judged, including Ogg.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
I also think I've seen someone playing with Paradise 2.99 for Darwin, but I don't see the binary anywhere. As far as I know, no one has ported COW or BRMH to MacOS.
Steve's server seems to be a bit flakey at the moment (imminent /.?) so I've mirrored it on mine for now.
Installation is as simple as unzipping. Once you connect to a server, "h" brings up a list of commands. There are a LOT, but to get started you need the speed (warp) commands (numbers 1-0 are enough to start with), set-course (right mouse button) and fire (left & middle buttons).
Enjoy the addiction. :)
After 5 years of playing Netrek, it is now my sole computer recreation. Netrek liberated me from any desire to play other video games such as Civilization, Warcraft II, etc.
In my opinion, the primary reason why Netrek hasn't grown in the past 5 years is simple: nobody has written a comprehensive tutorial to the game (a useful one that actually answers the correct questions). It could be easy to learn, but the casual newcomer will inevitably hit a learning roadblock. Consequently, everyone who plays now was introduced by a mentor.
The main activity during play is "visual planning". You look at a strategic map that overviews the positions of all players and planets. Then you surround and trap enemy ships. Or you set a screen for a friendly ship to pass through (much like basketball). Or you escort a fellow ship through enemy space. The best strategy depends on the particular circumstances of the situation. Unlike most computer games, it is never redundant.
The combat system rewards the first person to the action, so anticipation is crucial. The combat itself is minimalist, but fun. For example, there are tractors and pressors that push and pull ships in an equal and opposite reaction. Push your enemy into your teammate's torpedos, or pull a friend out of harm's way. Or push a friendly ship from behind to speed his progress.
Player's personalities are remarkably transparent. e.g. there are selfish players, and there are cooperative ones. The friendly players are the ones who win games.
NetTrek was one of three games I fondly recall from my undergrad days.
:)
The other two were "dogfight" and "bztank". I'm told that "bztank" is still popular, but as far as I can tell the only incarnation of "dogfight" that exists is a binary-only package that runs on SGI machines.
Are either of these games still being maintained? Are either of these games distributed as source? If so, where?
[Google didn't help, before you ask.]
Netrek taught me all of the basics, and some not-so-basics, of network game programming:
:-) as well as a little bit back to the Vanilla server (if you look for CLOAKER_MAXWARP, that's my invention. It's why you don't ever see incorrectly cloaked or uncloaked ships on modern netrek clients/servers. The FEATURE_PACKETS system that let us do that without breaking older clients was also my idea, but to give proper credit, Tedd Hadley helped write it too.)
Sockets
TCP
UDP
Client-server network models
Dealing with packet loss
and more.
I can honestly say, and have said before, that I owe my career to Netrek more than anything else. I work professionally as a game programmer, primarily writing network code. Without Netrek, I don't know what I would have wound up doing, but probably not that.
I wrote a large chunk of code for the Amiga client eons ago. I wasn't the original author of that port (that would be Randall Jesup, who worked for Commodore) but I did spend far too much time in which I probably should have been studying (though in retrospect, it was probably the right thing to have been doing with my time after all!), poking and prodding at that thing until I knew basically all there was to know about it. I eventually wound up porting the Paradise version of the client to the Amiga, and contributing code back to the main Paradise branch (Please note however: Paradise was for twinks. I just ported it because I wanted to see it for myself.
Maybe twice a year I'll still get on a netrek kick for a couple of days. It's still just about the best internet team game out there, however graphically primitive it might look compared to modern games. It is not primitive at all under the surface, and was way ahead of its time in many ways.
-Ogre
I didn't even say MP3 was better. It's just the standard. Ogg, like betamax, is destined for that gravyard of niche products, regardless of how good it is.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
here
I'll just throw in a quick plug for my Windows client... NetrekXP(sort of a play on words, which I'll probably get sued for) available at http://www.sodablue.org/netrek.
:)
I've been doing some work with it recently trying to address known bugs, and finish some of my todo items. This will probably be the last time I work on it, and if someone is interested in maintaining it... I'm trying to finish build instructions and wrap up the source to put up for download.
But yes, maintenance of the game code has been sidetracked by real jobs, Starcraft and recently Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
... Star Fleet Command, LOVED that game and still have a lot of books, SSD's, maps, scenarios, custom ships, etc around. It was neat when they made Star Fleet Battles, very similar to SFC too... one thing that catches my eye is that these two (at least computer versions) seem a LOT alike. Mind you I have not taken up nethack and tried it, something I will now have to look at. But these games rock, I just wish they had more of a following... AND does anyone know what happened to the MMORPG version of Wing Commander Privateer? I WANTED that game to come out SOOOOOO badly, Wing Commander rocked, and I loved having matches with people in Armada, tons of fun!
It has since been totally re-written for Windows by an Australian fan. With permission of the original author he uses the original graphics (which if you know your history originated on a BBC Micro)
I used to play Bolo forever on my Mac now I can do the same with Winbolo
There also is a dedicated Linux server version and the Linux client is supposed to be any day soon (but that was Feb 02 ;)
Cheers VikingBrad
> Minimum system requirements are a graphics card
;)
;)
> that can do 256 colors at 1024x768 and an internet
> connection.
These are the EXACT same requirements to play you needed ten years ago.
Problem being I only had a 486 at the time (bit less than 10 years ago I guess) and it simply wasn't capable of pushing 1024x768. The sheer amount of jockeying I had to do with the interface to squeeze all the important stuff into 800x600 was near epic.
I couldn't understand why anyone made the game like that, because at the time, that kind of resolution was unimagineable to me.
Then a few months later I got my foot into the IT industry, sat at my first Sparc station, and learned why.
Works fine in Mac OS X under Classic, but a native port in much needed. Pretty popular game in some circles, at least a few dozen in my (rather small) city.
netrek has NOTHING to do with SFC _or_ nethack.
The greatest of all computer games has to be Netrek. I was first introduced to it at my first co-op job. Lunch breaks consisted of about 30 mins of Netrek, than 45 mins, then 90 mins, then 2 hrs of Netrek, followed by another half hour of "debriefing" where both teams discussed strategies and conquests. I still remember the "cloak" tactic that I developed when I realized you could sit quietly off on the side of the screen in an cloaked assault boat and wait for the other team to forget about you...only to sneak in and bomb the hell out of their home planet.
Alias, our old Netrek days came to an abrupt end when we "invited" a local university crew to the office to have an all out "Netrek" fest. Late that night we snuck a bunch into the office, and preceeded to beat the pants off of them. Lucky for us the next day when management found out about it we all weren't fired.
the nights of the summer of 1995. It was *FUN*. Simple and immensely playable.
The next summer, I had a gf I was living with...had better things to do. lol.
Then came Warcraft 2...Red Alert (summer 1997, ah, yes...that was crazy in the computer labs til too damn early in the morning...) Then Total Annihilation taht fall...and then Starcraft.
A prinkling of Diablo in there too.
Wow. Time flies...All started with netrek: Go Team NMSU. Desroyer captian Ranma here! Woo!
Do you know why the road less traveled by is littered with the bones of the unwary?
Memories to back in the tiny, almost experimental UNIX lab with Sun IPCs and IPXs...
Of course we all sucked..
Simple Answer: it's both a history lesson and a recruiting drive :)
:)
:)
And netrek is still the best game ever - or do you know another game you play for 10+ years straight.
I dont't
The problem is: netrek has a steep learning curve and ugly, ugly GFX, so people tend to walk away after their first session.
But anyone who ever played in a lab with 16 players sitting in front of their computers and screaming through the whole lab will never ever stop playing trek
Part of the addictiveness of the game stems from the fact that it is easy to learn; yet it takes a while to become proficient it it. The second really cool feature was that it allowed you to play against other humans (or robots) in real time. These days that's nothing special, but back then most multi-player games were turn based (one other notable exception to this (from memory) is/was xtank).
A few years later, when Linux showed up, I was delighted to find that Nettrek compiled out the box (actually, some minor Makefile changes were needed, if I remember correctly) and worked very well on my then brand-new 486-33. Unfortunately I wasn't connected to a university network (or any other network for that fact), so the human competition/element was missing for me.
While looking very dated (no 3D graphics, no colors, simple graphics), I think nettrek underscores the point that if your gameplay is good, the graphics are secondary. If you've never tried nettrek, check it out sometime; it's quite cool, especially when seen in historic context.
Nothing affected my course work (read poor results) more thean the Paradise version of netrek.
Happy days - now to find a windows (ahem) binary to try it out again.
To me FPS games (Quake, HL, etc.)only caught up with the multiplayer intensity a few years back.
/. test
I am wanting to develop a client / server type game system (possibly in VB) over the summer. I would like for it to look simular to Final Fantasy 2 (US) / Final Fantasy 6 (Japan) . Reading about the whole nethack, netrak has only further inspired me to write some code and try to develop some form of basic networked gameserver. I know this might be off topic, but if anyone is interested in helping or being involved in such a project, give me mail > craigc@spis.net.
I ran the 1994 International Netrek Leaguge (as a 7 round Swiss), which was a success and I think one of the best INL years. (I still think Swiss scheduling is better than a divisional system, as it produces more games between balanced sides.)
And I've played a few INL games this year with the Golden Bears, having fun passive scout-bombing over a 28k modem in the wrong hemisphere...
Danny (netrek handle "ICMP Redirect", used to be "the best base in the southern hemisphere).
I have written over 900 book reviews
defiant.theo-physik.uni-kiel.de
The European Paradise server! Those were the times. Greetings, Emperor Achim!
Kristian
There's an account by John Daleske of the origin of Netrek within my account of PLATO's Empire as the original multiplayer game that inspired the first 3D multiplayer first person shooter game.
Seastead this.
It isn't just a 'lack of players' that has lead to
netrek's demise. The gameplay has become
monotonous and static -- all the remaining
servers have exactly the same gameplay.
Boring.......
(BTW -- just a year or two ago, somebody
launched a netrek server with different play
rules and robot players. It was fun. It soon
became the most popular netrek server and
the number of players was increasing for the
first time in ages. The 'old-guard' netrek
players saw this as a threat. They got so
upset by it, that one of them launched some
kind of computer attacks against it, and it was
closed. Facists. Netrek pretty much deserves
to die at this point. Long live Half-life....)
My most memorable session was the following. We were playing Xtrek in a newly equipped Sun lab (with Sun 3/60s and fancy grayscale displays) in fall of 1989. There were some guys from UC Berkeley also playing. Suddenly, we saw lines like "Did you feel that?" and "I think its an earthquake!" scroll by. Turned out it was the earthquake that hit the Bay area in Oct 1989! It almost felt like we were there, witnessing the earthquake firsthand.
Thanks for posting this. I never got into playing nettrek much, but did play original xtrek quite a bit. By the way, Conquest did eventually get ported to Unix in 1999, by Jon Trulson. I've played it, and it's a very close rendition of the VMS version. You can fetch it here.
Rogerborg got a response: "fucking twink, he was out of fuel fuck off and get a clue". While that is certainly a rude thing to say, there is also some truth to it. The opposing player probably was out of fuel, since he had just dropped a load of torps. Shooting your own torps over the planet doesn't help your carrier -- even if the bad guy lived through the volley, the torps exploding on his hull would hurt the carrier.
The opposing player was probably thinking, "Oh fuck, I just blew my wad and missed him, I'm out of fule/at the torp limit and totally helpless... Wait here comes R3 at warp 9, and thank god he's firing torps! det-det-det, eck++". There is nothing worse than sitting there with an empty fuel tank while the carrier takes the planet. Except when he uncloaks after taking and finishes you off.
You have to let people talk, because otherwise you never learn. If the guys talking want to be assholes, then that's their problem. But you have to let them talk.
-Mike
yo
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
Too bad its dead. I'd be willing to revive it with some slashdotters if anyone's interested...(is there still a good Linux Paradise client out there?).
-Turkey
-Turkey
Let's talk about cheeseplant's house...
What server?
Linux - Because Mommy taught me to Share.
Bolo was another great networked game from the Dark Ages, and unlike netrek and xtank, originated on the BBC Micro and migrated to the Macintosh. Still IMHO the single best multiplayer arcade-style game for a personal computer. I have PC using cousins who played it half a decade ago and still talk about it--it was that good!
I played HUNT a lot in my college days ('88-90 something) and constantly find myself describing playing a real-time multiplayer game on an 80x24 screen with a 300 baud connection, and loving it. Eventually had to compile the source myself to keep it on our GOULD.
Hunt Rocked. Couse it sucks now, but then, it was great.
And then my wife to be found Wolfstien...
Krispy Cream is people
Oh the memories...I first played netrek in 1994, and have probably logged a few thousand CA hours since then, and a few hundred in other ships (yeah, I'm still a newbie).
;)
Anyway, although I grew tired of netrek a year or so ago and moved on to more other things, I still haven't found a game that I like better, nor have fellow netrekkers been able to point me to any game they like better. The intense teamwork, strategy, tactics, and action that netrek offers is something I have yet to see anywhere else.
Someone said the dogfighting system is simple, but I think it is quite a delicate and complex masterpiece, especially when compared to alternative 2D space combat. It takes years to become a decent dogfighter - it is almost a virtual martial art. In no other game I've played do you have to aim and fire torps, phaser, dodge, pressor/tractor, change speed, det, keep track of enemy damage (to cripple) all at the same time. And even if you can do those 7 tricky things at once, you will help your team to get genocided if you do not also pay attention to the big picture and read messages, pay attention to the galactic map, and the strategic importance and status of 15 ships besides your own.
I challenge anyone who thinks dogfighting is simple to see if they still think the same after 10 dogfights with me
As for netrek as a whole, it is more of a sport than a game.
When its players aren't being "old farts" or "arrogant children", netrek also has quite a strong social aspect to it. In many games, there are so many people that it is difficult to play with people and get to know them, or there is no real point in talking. But in a sport like netrek, you build trust among your teammates - you learn their escort style, their capabilities, their personality/loyalty to you and your team, and factor all of this into the many strategic decisions you have to make. (And then you must also know your enemy.)
There is also psychological warfare (which is easier to manipulate in pickup), and almost always a need for leaders who know how to direct and encourage the team.
Anyway... the question I want to pose is: why haven't the superior aspects of netrek's gameplay been recognized and incorporated into modern computer games? I have played games like Subspace, Infantry, Cosmic Rift, etc., and although they have thriving communities, I found them very lacking compared to netrek's gameplay. And in 3D space combat and FPS games, gameplay on the same level as netrek doesn't seem feasible. Has the advancement of 3D technology been so seductive that the majority gamemakers have lost sight of the fact that gameplay is the biggest factor in what makes games fun? Perhaps the problem is that the commercial interests who govern what games are made are posing the question 'what makes games sell?' Perhaps there has to be another serious grassroots game production that is by gamers, for gamers (who enjoy gameplay), as opposed to the masses of casual/unintelligent gamers who are just looking for a cool even if mindless way to waste time.
For about 7 years now, about as long as I have known about netrek, I have thought about creating a modern and extensible successor to netrek. Although the developer base for netrek has largely seemed to have grown up and moved on, I believe that there is a younger untapped volunteer coding/development talent out there that would be willing to revamp netrek for the 21st century. I have seen and been a part of other large scale projects that accomplished some really substantial things. I think the biggest root cause of netrek's dwindling health is a lack of enthusiasm among netrek server/client developers and especially would-be developers.
I have recently begun some initial technical design and coding on a new endeavour, and I am curious whether there are any serious gameplay loving gamers out there who have seen the light in netrek and also have something to offer to a for-real development project. I'm not talking about a interactive tutorial, hacking the client to make it look pretty, or providing a better netrekrc file. Nor am I talking about making a 3D version of netrek in visual basic or a 'learning how to program in C++' experiment. I'm talking about a new and committed professional but grassroots movement with new momentum to create a modern bronco netrek based upon a highly extensible and maintainable client/server framework.
In 4-12 months or so I intend to formally launch a new project to take on this endeavour. If anyone thinks they may be interested in being a part of such a project (especially visionary gameplay designers and architectural design experts at this point) or wants to be kept informed of the project's development, should it get off the ground, feel free to drop me a note at mawen@thirsk.yi.org.
Peace out,
Mahalalel - (aka jared, Hyperphase, -Classified-, Mifiq)