Prehistory V: Spacewar!

This is the fifth in a series of mini-articles on the early history of video games. The game featured here will not receive a review score, and thus will not appear on the Tier List.

Release Date: April, 1962

Platform: DEC PDP-1

Genre: Multidirectional Shooter / Space Combat Simulation

Developer(s): Steve Russell, Martin Graetz, Wayne Wiitanen, Bob Saunders, Steve Piner (and many more!)

Publisher(s): N/A

So now we come to Spacewar!, undoubtedly the most significant game of the Prehistory era, but also one of the most important and influential video games ever made. Spacewar! bears significant influence in the development of two of the three primary streams of video games (the three being computer/PC,  arcade, and console.) Spacewar! is one of, if not the first game to not be a "one pot wonder," so to speak, in that it did not stay on a single computer, but was ported and copied to several different computer systems and installations in universities all across America throughout the 1960s and early 70s. It was also almost solely responsible for the creation of arcade video games, as the first two, Galaxy Game and Computer Space, were entirely based off of the idea of creating a commercial version of Spacewar!

Spacewar! was originally the brainchild of the trio of Steve Russell, Martin Graetz and Wayne Wiitanen at MIT. The game concept was conceived in 1961 and, when the PDP-1 minicomputer was installed, Russell, along with assistance from other programmers at MIT, had the game working by early 1962. It became instantly popular with students at MIT, and would spread to universities all across the US over the following decade.

There's not much more for me to say from a historical perspective about Spacewar! apart from what's already been said about it, such is its importance, influence and whatnot. I think at this time, therefore, it's best to get into playing it a bit. Spacewar! is playable online via emulation developed by Norbert Landsteiner. Keep in mind that this is a two-player game only, and thus my time spent playing will be brief.

[Ed. This video was added later, and thus the following description of my playthrough will not match the video playthrough.]

This emulator gives us a few different builds of Spacewar! to play around with, ranging from the first public version seen in early 1962, to the final original build, plus some additional bonus versions and extras both old and new. What's neat is that it allows you to play all versions with USB gamepads.

So many choices...

As is custom with me, I have to try every version available here in chronological order. The earliest build is version 2B, which features "Minskytron Hyperspace." Funky name, but what it simply is is the nickname for Martin Graetz's original routine for the game's 'hyperspace' mechanic, before it was revised for later versions.

Slowly being sucked in by the star's gravity

The base format of all versions of Spacewar! are exactly the same: two starships determined to destroy each other. Not only must they contend with each other, but also the star in the centre of the screen, which functions as a gravity well that draws the ships into it, destroying them if they touch the star. The trick is to exploit the gravity to slingshot your ship across the screen instead of trying to fight it.

Curses! Just missed...

I continued to play around for a couple of minutes with the 2B version, before deciding it was time to move on and see what differences there are in the other versions of Spacewar! 

The 3.1 version is considered the "official" version, as it was the last build the original creators worked on. It has a few changes from the 2B version, mostly graphical, but the hyperspace mechanic was altered somewhat. The "Minskytron" routine allowed 3 hyperspace jumps maximum, whereas the 3.1 hyperspace has unlimited jumps, but there is always a chance your ship will simply blow up when you use it. This chance increases with each successive use.

Changes are relatively minor with each successive version of Spacewar!, therefore there really isn't anything else worth commenting on. Different versions have slightly different alterations you can make to gameplay, such as gravity strength, whether the star kills or whether your ships fire single-shot or salvos of missiles, but these don't impact gameplay a whole lot (well, they don't if you're playing alone like me.)

I think that, then, concludes my look at Spacewar!. I can only imagine what it would've been like to be in the university scene when this game appeared for the first time, it must have been massively exciting to see it. As for some trivia, apparently Spacewar! was the subject of the first official video game tournament (sponsored by Rolling Stone magazine, no less) - if Wikipedia is to be believed, that is. Spacewar! leaves a huge legacy, one that we will truly see blossom when the 1970s come around.

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