Solar Realms Elite

SRE title screen

Solar Realms Elite or SRE is a multi-player bulletin board system strategy game[1] similar in design to its successor, Barren Realms Elite (BRE). SRE has been recognized as "advanced for its time" for offering players a range of strategy options "unseen in even most current titles in the genre." [2]

In Solar Realms Elite, players rule a solar empire. The goal is to become and remain the most powerful empire. Players gain strength by buying forces, and gain size by colonizing planets. Players start with several planets and a little bit of money. They must provide food and spend money to maintain the population, army, and planets, or suffer riots and civil unrest. New players are given a short period of protection, during which they cannot attack or be attacked. Players can forge alliances, interact with AI pirates, and wage war with competitors using conventional, guerrilla, nuclear, chemical, and covert attacks.

SRE was written by Amit Patel in 1990.[3] It started as a clone of Space Empire Elite (SEE),[4][5] an Atari ST BBS game written by Jon Radoff, and soon branched in new directions. A similar PC game also inspired by SEE called Space Dynasty by Hollie Satterfield was in circulation around the same time. The last version of SRE (0.994b) was released in 1994.

After SRE was released, the author's brother, Mehul Patel, wrote a similar game called Alpha Colony IV. Mehul then wrote BRE, Falcon's Eye, and The Arcadian Legends, the so-called "SRGAMES." This collection of games was sold to John Dailey Software, but SRE was not included in the deal because Amit lost the game's source code in 1996.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wolf, Mark J P (2012). Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming. ABC-CLIO. p. 568.
  2. ↑ Wolf, Mark J P (2007). The Video Game Explosion: A History from PONG to PlayStation and Beyond. ABC-CLIO. p. 155.
  3. ↑ Amit Patel. "Solar Realms Elite 0.995: Documentation". Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  4. ↑ "Solar Realms Elite" ((USENET)). Newsgroup: alt.bbs.doors. Usenet: 77p4rj$bgi$1@nntp.Stanford.EDU. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  5. ↑ Amit Patel. "SRE: Design Notes". Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  6. ↑ John Dailey. "John Dailey Software Frequently Asked Questions". John Dailey Software. Retrieved 19 October 2012.

External links