Alto Trek
Encyclopedia
Alto Trek is a computer game, developed by Gene Ball
and Rick Rashid for the Xerox Alto
while they were graduate students at the University of Rochester
during the late 1970s. It's one of the first networked multiplayer games.
Alto Trek is a multiplayer game where each player uses their own Alto workstation to control a starship. The objective of the game is to destroy the enemy without being destroyed. A player can choose between of being a Klingon
, Romulan
, or Terran
. The game can be played by one player, but there will be no enemy to destroy.
The manual for version 2.1 is dated August 1979 and authored by Allen Wells, Bob Baldwin, and Steve Quarterman. It confirms that the game was authored primarily by Ball.
Around 1997, while a vice president at Microsoft
, Rashid began to reimplement the game as a way to teach himself to use the DirectX
programming API
. This resulted in the development of Microsoft Allegiance
.
Gene Ball
Gene Ball is a computer science researcher and computer programmer.Ball obtained a bachelors degree from the University of Oklahoma, and attended graduate school at the University of Rochester, completing a masters degree and finishing his doctorate in 1982...
and Rick Rashid for the Xerox Alto
Xerox Alto
The Xerox Alto was one of the first computers designed for individual use , making it arguably what is now called a personal computer. It was developed at Xerox PARC in 1973...
while they were graduate students at the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
during the late 1970s. It's one of the first networked multiplayer games.
Alto Trek is a multiplayer game where each player uses their own Alto workstation to control a starship. The objective of the game is to destroy the enemy without being destroyed. A player can choose between of being a Klingon
Klingon
Klingons are a fictional warrior race in the Star Trek universe.Klingons are recurring villains in the 1960s television show Star Trek: The Original Series, and have appeared in all five spin-off series and eight feature films...
, Romulan
Romulan
The Romulans are a fictional alien race in the Star Trek universe. First appearing in the original Star Trek series in the 1966 episode "Balance of Terror", they have since made appearances in all the main later Star Trek series: The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager...
, or Terran
Starfleet
In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Starfleet or the Federation Starfleet is the deep-space exploratory, peacekeeping and military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets . It is the principal means by which the Federation conducts its exploration, defense, diplomacy and research...
. The game can be played by one player, but there will be no enemy to destroy.
The manual for version 2.1 is dated August 1979 and authored by Allen Wells, Bob Baldwin, and Steve Quarterman. It confirms that the game was authored primarily by Ball.
Around 1997, while a vice president at Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, Rashid began to reimplement the game as a way to teach himself to use the DirectX
DirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,...
programming API
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
. This resulted in the development of Microsoft Allegiance
Allegiance (computer game)
Allegiance is a multiplayer online game providing a mix of real-time strategy and player piloted space combat gameplay. Initially developed by Microsoft Research, the game was later released under a shared source license in 2004 and is now maintained and developed by volunteers.The story in which...
.