IntroductionThe Early Years 1980-1992The Modern Years 1993-Present

VGA Planets
Publisher: None
Developer: Tim Wisseman
Released: 1991

VGA Planets is one of the oldest continuously running 4X space game series. The first version of the game was released back in 1991, but the version that made it famous--version 3--debuted in 1993. Over the next three years, the game sold more than 50,000 copies. According to designer Tim Wisseman, he originally wrote the game with a single-phone-line BBS system in mind. "Back then, people had to wait for the current BBS user to log off before the next user could log on," said Wisseman. "I wanted to write a space game that was multiplayer--[that way] a player could log on, grab a file, and log off and play the game for hours offline so that more people could use the BBS system while he was playing." Multiplayer gaming certainly has come a long way since then.

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In many ways, VGA Planets can be considered the forerunner of most modern space empire games.
VGA Planets is still available and still played, and work is progressing on version 4, which is currently in the beta stage. Wisseman says that his design philosophy is driven by the fact that he "love[s] computer games, [especially] very complex games with lots of rules and richness and surprises that take a long time to play out and do not require me to sit and play in real time for five or six hours just to have the guy on the other end drop the game without warning." VGA Planets continues to serve the niche market that was once far more representative of computer gaming as a whole, and Wisseman and his brother (who does the art) appreciate the fact that "we are so small and do not have to answer to anyone, so we can still get by and feel very successful if VGA Planets 4 sells only 1,000 copies." Based on the previous sales success of the series, the new version should do better than that.

In many ways, VGA Planets can be considered the forerunner of most modern space empire games. The focus is squarely on micromanagement, and most of the games that follow in this history chose to develop this micromanagement aspect in various forms. In terms of game design, its diametrical opposite is Spaceward Ho. Most games from 1991 to the present can be traced back to one of these two games. The influence of VGA Planets, however, seems to have been far greater.

Spaceward Ho!
Publisher: New World Computing
Developer: Delta Tao
Released: 1991-1996

While the Windows version (called Spaceward Ho! IV) wasn't released until 1996, this game's genesis came way back in 1991 on the Macintosh. The Windows version was essentially a straight port, so in terms of game history, it really belongs with VGA Planets as one of the first of the "modern" games. What Spaceward Ho essentially did was distill the basic elements of space strategy, strap on a Wild West theme, and dispense with the frills.

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Spaceward Ho's genesis actually happened on the Macintosh in 1991.
With its emphasis on simplicity and cowboy hats (it is a frontier of one sort or another), Spaceward Ho might simply be taken as just a watered-down version of VGA Planets. But it most certainly isn't. What Spaceward Ho does is focus on overall strategy while using other game mechanics to focus your planning. For example, there's a substantial cost for designing a new class of ships, but purchasing additional ships of that class costs considerably less. Thus, there's a premium on designing effective ships and getting the most out of them. Furthermore, the metal that is used to construct ships is a finite resource, which requires even more care in planning your fleet. Technology is streamlined by simply being a series of increasingly powerful levels of a given ability rather than specific techs that have separate functions.

By focusing on macromanagement issues, Spaceward Ho succeeded in being a challenging game that was easy to get into but, at the same time, didn't feel overly simplistic. It also had a fairly good AI, probably due to the streamlined game design. I was a good game in both single-player and multiplayer modes, and while it didn't have all that much depth of gameplay, it took a long time to get stale. For some reason, not many games followed Spaceward Ho's example, choosing instead to refine the micromanagement of VGA Planets.
 

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