MegaWars III
Encyclopedia
MegaWars III was a massively multiplayer
empire building
game written by Kesmai
and run continuously on CompuServe
between 1984 and 1999. It was one of CompuServe's most popular games throughout its lifetime, and was only shut down because they switched to their web-based "CompuServe 2000" interface that would not cleanly support it. A modified version, Stellar Emperor ran for much of the same time period on GEnie
, also ending in 1999 when that service shut down by General Electric
. A new version of Stellar Emperor, sporting a new client-server GUI
, was run for a short period on GameStorm
.
4th year students Kelton Flinn and John Taylor started work on a game for the Hewlett-Packard HP 2000
F time sharing minicomputer
. Known simply as "S", the game supported up to eight players on directly connected 2400 baud terminals. Much of what would become MegaWars III was present in S, but greatly simplified. This included ship-to-ship combat, the galaxy layout and creation engine, and a simple planetary economics system. The game was much "smaller" however, supporting fewer players and a smaller 255-system "galaxy".
. In 1982 he purchased a version of DECWAR
and turned it over to the programmers at Kesmai
, who wrote many of CompuServe's games. While completing their doctorates, Flinn and Taylor started Kesmai
, a reference to their first commercial product, Islands of Kesmai
. They found that the copyright said nothing about commercial uses, and quickly produced a new version that removed any potentially lawsuit-friendly names from the Star Trek universe with more generic versions.
The new version, MegaWars, went live on CompuServe in 1983 and ran continuously until 1998, although there were a few times where they closed it down during that period only to revive it after receiving complaints from the players. Numerous additions were made during its run, notably different classes of ships, and later versions looked little like the original DECWAR.
In 1985 Louden left CompuServe to form GEnie
at General Electric
. Kesmai re-scrubbed the system for use on GEnie, producing Stellar Warrior. Like MegaWars, Stellar Warrior ran for years, and was finally killed when GEnie was shut down in 1999.
During the conversion, the game was greatly expanded. The maximum number of players was increased from eight to 100, and the galaxy contained 1000 systems. However, another feature was lost; in S the player could close with an enemy ship in space and attempt to take it over, taking that ship's cargo if they were successful.
Massively multiplayer online game
A massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...
empire building
4X
4X games are a genre of strategy video game in which players control an empire and "explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate." The term was first coined by Alan Emrich in his September 1993 preview of Master of Orion for Computer Gaming World...
game written by Kesmai
Kesmai
Kesmai was a pioneering game developer and online game publisher, founded in 1981 by Kelton Flinn and John Taylor. The company was best known for the combat flight sim Air Warrior on the GEnie online service, one of the first graphical MMOGs, launched in 1987...
and run continuously on CompuServe
CompuServe
CompuServe was the first major commercial online service in the United States. It dominated the field during the 1980s and remained a major player through the mid-1990s, when it was sidelined by the rise of services such as AOL with monthly subscriptions rather than hourly rates...
between 1984 and 1999. It was one of CompuServe's most popular games throughout its lifetime, and was only shut down because they switched to their web-based "CompuServe 2000" interface that would not cleanly support it. A modified version, Stellar Emperor ran for much of the same time period on GEnie
GEnie
GEnie was an online service created by a General Electric business - GEIS that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around 350,000 users. Peak simultaneous usage was around 10,000 users...
, also ending in 1999 when that service shut down by General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
. A new version of Stellar Emperor, sporting a new client-server GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
, was run for a short period on GameStorm
GameStorm
GameStorm was an online gaming service founded by Kesmai corporation in the 1990s. It offered several online video games at a flat monthly fee of $10 per month, a relatively radical payment system in the age of pay-by-hour online gaming...
.
S
In 1979 University of VirginiaUniversity of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
4th year students Kelton Flinn and John Taylor started work on a game for the Hewlett-Packard HP 2000
Hewlett-Packard HP 2000
Hewlett-Packard's HP 2000 was a family of time-sharing minicomputers introduced with the HP 2116A in 1966 and sold in a variety of upgraded models until June 1978. The HP 2000's were unique in that they used a modified version of the BASIC programming language as its basic system, in a fashion that...
F time sharing minicomputer
Minicomputer
A minicomputer is a class of multi-user computers that lies in the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the largest multi-user systems and the smallest single-user systems...
. Known simply as "S", the game supported up to eight players on directly connected 2400 baud terminals. Much of what would become MegaWars III was present in S, but greatly simplified. This included ship-to-ship combat, the galaxy layout and creation engine, and a simple planetary economics system. The game was much "smaller" however, supporting fewer players and a smaller 255-system "galaxy".
MegaWars
Bill Louden was in charge of games at CompuServeCompuServe
CompuServe was the first major commercial online service in the United States. It dominated the field during the 1980s and remained a major player through the mid-1990s, when it was sidelined by the rise of services such as AOL with monthly subscriptions rather than hourly rates...
. In 1982 he purchased a version of DECWAR
Decwar
DECWAR is a multiplayer computer game first written in 1978 at the University of Texas at Austin for the PDP-10. It was developed from an earlier two-player version, WAR, adding multi-terminal support for between one and eighteen players. WAR and DECWAR are essentially multiplayer versions of the...
and turned it over to the programmers at Kesmai
Kesmai
Kesmai was a pioneering game developer and online game publisher, founded in 1981 by Kelton Flinn and John Taylor. The company was best known for the combat flight sim Air Warrior on the GEnie online service, one of the first graphical MMOGs, launched in 1987...
, who wrote many of CompuServe's games. While completing their doctorates, Flinn and Taylor started Kesmai
Kesmai
Kesmai was a pioneering game developer and online game publisher, founded in 1981 by Kelton Flinn and John Taylor. The company was best known for the combat flight sim Air Warrior on the GEnie online service, one of the first graphical MMOGs, launched in 1987...
, a reference to their first commercial product, Islands of Kesmai
Islands of Kesmai
Island of Kesmai was an early commercial online game in the MUD genre, innovative in its use of roguelike pseudo-graphics. It is considered a major forerunner of modern MMORPGs.-Launch date:...
. They found that the copyright said nothing about commercial uses, and quickly produced a new version that removed any potentially lawsuit-friendly names from the Star Trek universe with more generic versions.
The new version, MegaWars, went live on CompuServe in 1983 and ran continuously until 1998, although there were a few times where they closed it down during that period only to revive it after receiving complaints from the players. Numerous additions were made during its run, notably different classes of ships, and later versions looked little like the original DECWAR.
In 1985 Louden left CompuServe to form GEnie
GEnie
GEnie was an online service created by a General Electric business - GEIS that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around 350,000 users. Peak simultaneous usage was around 10,000 users...
at General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
. Kesmai re-scrubbed the system for use on GEnie, producing Stellar Warrior. Like MegaWars, Stellar Warrior ran for years, and was finally killed when GEnie was shut down in 1999.
MegaWars III
Returning to S, CompuServe asked the game to be tied to MegaWars, which was a big hit, and the new version emerged as MegaWars III, II being a client-server version of the original MegaWars which was not released.During the conversion, the game was greatly expanded. The maximum number of players was increased from eight to 100, and the galaxy contained 1000 systems. However, another feature was lost; in S the player could close with an enemy ship in space and attempt to take it over, taking that ship's cargo if they were successful.
MegaWars III, The Rebirth
Mega Wars III, The Rebirth is a browser based reincarnation of Mega Wars 3 played on CompuServe and Stellar Emperor played on GEnie in the 1980s. Rebirth was created by David Baity, a well-known player of the original Mega Wars III. While following the same gameplay mechanics, the entire game has been recoded from scratch with modern programming standards. Greatly enhanced performance has eliminated all limitations to the number of players. Additionally, third party applications can easily be integrated into the game and several have been written. The initial release of Rebirth took place in 2010.External links
- MegaWars III, The Rebirth Official website
- Interactive Multi-User Computer Games Academic review