The history of VGA Planets:

I try to save the history of Planets. Here is what i have found:
See Stefan Reuthers timeline for detailed host 3.0 and phost data.

Timetable

Planets history extracted from "The -H- Files"

source: http://www.xs4all.nl/~donovan/strategy/h-files.txt 
	by Luc Projean buck@cedep.com

======0.2============================ The History of VGAP =============

VGA PLANETS has been written by Tim Wisseman, who can be reached at 
cocomax@aol.com.

Before I started this project, I didn't know the history of VGA PLANETS 
very well. I hope this section will be as informative to you as it was to 
me, the information I'm about to give you has been taken from a discussion 
with Tim Wisseman himself.

There was a version 1.0 of VGAP, how many copies did it sell? 13.

The 13 copies were all sold to Sierra Online people, and after playing it 
they began working on a clone called 'Outpost'. Halfway into writing 
'Outpost' they decided it would be a bad idea, so they brought in a NASA 
person to add details. Outpost changed completely into an all new game that 
ended up looking nothing like VGA PLANETS. Some of you probably know what 
was the result of Outpost game released by Sierra...

Tim knew the Sierra people because the Sierra office at the time was only 
20 miles from Tim's house, and many of them shared the same BBS.

Version 1 was released the same day LA burned in the riots. Tim remembers 
sending it to the first BBS while watching LA burn.

Version 2.0 came 5 months later, it was kicked off of CompuServe for having 
a Darth Vader(tm) picture included (which was homemade). It was changed to 
a Gorby Picture and all the race names were changed, it then became version 
2.1.

About 500 copies of version 2.0 were sold.

Later version 3 was released on April 1 in 1993, we also have to give 
credit to Tim for making this version since it sold over 50K copies by the 
time I'm writing this article (November 13, 1996).

I wish this section of the -H- Files interested you, since I'm sure many of 
you didn't know these things. 

It has been a long road to get to were we are today. VGA Planets was written 
back in 1990. Back then the VGA video card was the newest video display tech 
and most people were still using EGA graphics. When I first release VGA Planets
there was an outcry for a version for the EGA display. That project never happened.
There was also an outcry for a Amiga version of the game, that project never
happened either. Back in 1996 when the designing for version 4 started it 
was decided to make it for windows 32 only... which lead to the biggest 
outpouring of concern to date, the claim was made that most people would 
be sticking with Windows version 3.1 and not be moving to the new 32 bit 
versions for years to come...

When VGA Planets 1 was designed it was meant for BBS systems, one phone line 
BBS systems. A game that many people could play in a single game even though 
only one person could log onto the system at once. This was just a few years 
before the internet became popular. When the internet came VGA Planets had to 
change as well. Things got better. It was easier to find games and send messages.
It became easier for people around the world to play in the same game. Who 
know that in 1990 when VGA Planets first appeared that it would end up on big
global network.

VGA Planets has been played under the oceans in US Submarines, on the aircraft
carrier USS Enterprise. At the south pole. In the mountains of Spain in places 
so remote that the RST files were sent out by packet radio.

Version 4 is a giant project, it has over 1 million lines of source code, it 
took years to build and will still be continued to improved on for years to come. 
We have no idea were it will lead or what will come next after version 4. 
We will all just have to wait and see.

Tim Wissman

A note on VGAP V1 on www.gamespot.com:

source: http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/pc/history_spaceempire/p2_03.html

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.

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. 





A post from Tim in the newsgroup, 2003-04-18:
The source code for Version 4.00 DOS was lost in 1996 at the same time the
source code to version 3.00 DOS was lost. I has back ups for everything else
saved away in a safe place.

  The viris / tojan was a custom job targeting just VGA Planets / me.

  It the install program for the program was named PKUNZIP.EXE and it was in a
zip file with a group of nested zip files. 

  When I unzipped the first set of files it unzipped a group of zip files that
were suppose to be game files for me to look at, when I unzipped the nested zip
files it ran the trojan PKUNZIP and  installed the viris and then unzipped the
zip files that I wanted to look at.

   The viris sat on my computer for 6 months before I discovered it. What it
did was scan my system slowly and find .BAS files that have sat untouched for
more than 30 days and randomly change some of the bytes in the file. 

  I did monthly backups of all my files, but I only had 4 months of backups for
the version 4 DOS program and the version 3 DOS programs. .  and the backups
ended up corrupted as well as the files on my main computer.

   I happen to have a set of floppies with most of the code for Winplan and
version 3 host and other important programs.

  The one that sent me the viris and later took great pleasure in what it did
went by the names of  "Mike M." aka  "Mike Horn" aka "Mike McBride"  

  Now a days I just burn CDRs as backups and hide the disks far away from my
house in a fire safe in the mountains.





Registered players in all countrys (2004-01-11):
USA
Germany (16,000 players) 
UK
Canada
Austria
Denmark
Spain
New Zealand
Mexico
Brazil
Austrialia
Holland
Norway
Finland
Iceland (151 players)
South Africa
Cuba
Russia
Japan
United Arab Emerits
Belgium
Sweden
Falkland Islands
USS Enterprise (CVN 65) (11 players)
Korea
USS Thorn (DD 988)
USS Ohio (SSBN 726)
Midway Island
Romania
Hungery
Libya
France (3 players)
Antarctica (2 players)




VGAP 2.1 - a review by Matt Bakaitis , 1992-12-15
source: http://www.xs4all.nl/~donovan/related/vgap21review.htm

First, a quick note before I launch into an actual review of the game: VGA Planets is a game written exclusively for MS-Dos machines. 
Because of the method used to transfer data, you need the programs to decode the binary data files. From what I've heard however, there 
are no plans by the author to port the game to any other platforms or tell anyone how he has set up his data files. So, for the moment, 
MS-Dos is required to play the game.

VGA Planets is a pretty sister of Russell Wallace's Galaxy game. However, as you get to know the game, it turns out that Galaxy may be 
the better choice in the long run. The game is based around a classic theme: each player starts off on a home planet, invests in 
technology, builds ships, colonizes other planets, and meets with (and kills) the other players. It's a simple premise, and one that 
can't really be screwed up, thankfully. In these areas, the game shows great promise. The rules for each are very simple and easily grasped.

The best part of the game is the player's VGA graphic turn processor. Instead of using text file reports, the moderator mails out binary 
data files. The player's program then chews up this file and reports the turn results through a set of screens - one each for ships, 
planets, and starbases. The combination of menus, mouse directed data, and graphs allow the player to slide through a turn with relative ease.
Essentially, imagine this program to be a collection of the Galaxy utilities bound together by a VGA interface. A great idea, and one that 
works rather well.

But not perfectly. The things I don't like about the game (and will soon drive me away from it) can be divided up into two sections: bugs and rules quirks.

First, there are enough bugs in the game to make it frustrating. The worst part is that they are documented in the rules included in 
the compressed master file. They even claim to have fixed them, though we keep running into them. The funniest, one that actually seems 
to have been fixed, is reported as a new _feature_. The author fixed a program crashing bug and claimed it was a FEATURE! OK, so I'm a 
little excited about this. I guess that the fact that the program works _is_ some sort of a feature if you look at it the right way.

Second, there are rules quirks. Tens. Hundreds, even. Just to be fair, I'll report a few that were universal to every player in the 
game I've been running the last six weeks.

The most costly deals with constructing a new starbase. The game allows a player to construct a starbase at a planet where one already 
exists. However, when construction is complete, it never shows up. The player is charged for money and materials, but no base. This is 
probably more a bug than a quirk.

The rest of the major ones deal with the initial setup of the game. The map is fixed, it never changes from game to game. That's one. 
To make things worse, this fixed map has huge gaps between planets in some places and huge clusters in others. The distribution is crazy. That's two.

When the players are placed, each player's planet is different. Fine, but there doesn't seem to be a minimum requirement of materials. 
Thus, in this game we are playing, I landed on a planet, in a huge void of space, with _no_ fuel and almost no other minerals. 
My planet was barren. Another player, after about twenty processed turns, still has a planet rich with fuel. I've been out since turn two. 
This situation is repeated in different ways - players placed in an empty area of the map, or placed on a poor planet. The game was 
essentially decided at setup. That's three.

Finally, the fourth gripe, the one that "wins" the contest: Players may only build specified types of ships. There is no individual 
design possible. The problem lies with the fact that each race has a different set of ships that they may build. There is no attempt 
made to give some of the races a fighting chance. One race, the Lizards, might as well not be played in an aggressive game. 
If hostilities erupt, they have a hard time simply defending. Don't even think about an offensive. Another, the Evil Empire, 
is stocked with a full range of cargo ships and warships. If placed near the Evil Empire, either become good friends or start building 
guns the first turn.

VGA Planets has a ton of potential. It even makes a good game to play for a short time. However, I doubt that it will survive in its current
incarnation. Promises of a new version don't seem too promising, considering that the author states that he is "very pleased" with the current copy.

My recommendation would be to get a copy (ftp to "ftp.ucsc.edu" and look in the "/PC/vgaplanets-2.1" directory) and play with it. 
You may like it, and will probably play it. We do. But, I doubt we will be any more games once this one is finished.