1988 · Real-time strategy · Shoot 'em up

Netrek

Released: 1988
Platforms: Linux Windows macOS
Genres: Real-time strategy Shoot 'em up Simulation Sports Strategy
Developers: —
Publishers: —
Modes: Multiplayer
Themes: Action
Country: United States

About

Netrek is an Internet game for up to 16 players, written almost entirely in cross-platform open-source code. It combines features of multi-directional shooters (such as Asteroids) and team-based real-time strategy games. Players attempt to disable or destroy their opponents' ships in real-time combat, while taking over enemy planets by bombing them and dropping off armies they pick up on friendly planets. The goal of the game is to capture all the opposing team's planets.

Developed as a successor to 1986's Xtrek, Netrek was first played in 1988. It was the third Internet game, the first Internet team game, and as of 2022 is the oldest Internet game still actively played. It pioneered many technologies used in later games and has been cited as prior art in patent disputes. Xtrek and Netrek are the oldest games of what is now called the MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) genre.

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Development

Netrek is largely derived from Empire, written for the PLATO mainframe system beginning in 1973. It shares many characteristics of that game; key differences include a different planet layout and a much different pace of play, as well as evolutionary factors such as the use of mice instead of keyboard commands, TCP/IP networking, and the inclusion of color and sound.

In 1982, UC Berkeley student David Davis began writing a UNIX game called trek82, based on what he remembered of Empire when he used the PLATO system while at the University of Hawaiʻi. This version emerged as trek82, using character graphics for display and a shared file to exchange data. Chris Guthrie joined Davis, and introduced him to Jef Poskanzer and Craig Leres, who were working on a more strategic offshoot of Empire called Conquest. They produced an updated version known as trek83.