Star Trader was one of the original computer games of interstellar trading. Seemingly based on Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series of novels, Star Trader presents a star map of the galaxy in which the players move about and make money from trading and establishing trading routes. The players travel about the star map buying and selling six types of merchandise: uranium, metals, gems, software, heavy equipment, and medicine.
Star Trader was written by Dave Kaufman in the BASIC programming language. It was published by the People's Computer Company in Volume 2, Number 3 of its newsletter in January 1974.
A few years later, the game was reprinted in What to do after you hit RETURN, A computer games book from People's Computer Company, Hayden Book Company, Inc., Rochelle Park, New Jersey, ISBN 0-8104-5476-9. It contained a reprint of the BASIC source code listings for Star Trader. This book can still be found at rare book stores, web sites and on-line auctions.
The Star Trader code evolved into Trade Wars, making it the ancestor of many modern space trader games, including Eve Online.
Famous quotes containing the word star:
“You’re not a star until they can spell your name in Karachi.”
—Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957)