Your history is about to be re-written...

Hello gaming world...

What if I told you that there is a game that you have probably never heard of before, and that your knowledge of the existence of this game and it's designer would literally re-write what you currently believe is the history of games?  Would you believe me?  What if I told you that there was a game so large, so massive, so detailed, and so complex that if you were to attempt to play the full campaign of all three interlocked games that create this monstrosity that any reasonable playtime estimate would be counted in decades?  Would you believe me?  What if I told you that the game that you know and love as "Master of Orion" was a blending of this game and "Civilization" and that in all these years nobody has ever even noticed  it...  Would you believe me?

What if I told you that it took about 250 designers over 30 years to make this game?  Would you believe me?  What if I told you that most of the founders of New World Computing were either members of this designer's staff, or known ace players, and that JVC himself was once known as... 1986 National Champion Jon "Top Phaser" Van Caneghem.  Would you believe me?

What if I told you that the designer of this game practically invented the process by which modern games are made today, and that he did it in 1978, and that you have probably never heard of him before?  Would you believe me?  What if I told you that this game has been more influential in the history of games than any game other than Dungeon & Dragons, by a long way, and you've probably never heard of it before?  Would you believe me?  What if I also told you that this game was a dominant game in the market right alongside D&D for nearly 20 years?  And you've never heard of it before.  Would you believe me?  What if I told you that many of you have actually made games that heavily borrow from this game and it's designers work, and you never even knew it... Would you believe me?

What if I told you that there was an entire episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that was a hidden tribute to this designer and his game, and you've still never heard of either of them before?  Would you believe me?  What if I told you that there are actually *two* episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation that were based on scenarios from his game?  Would you believe me?  What if I told you that the race that you know as the Zindi from Star Trek: Enterprise are actually from this unbelievable game that you have probably never heard of before, and that they are actually called The Interstellar Concordium?  Would you believe me?  And what if I told you that the original creator of the ISC, and by extension the Zindi, wasn't even the designer of this amazing game, but was actually a member of this designer's "staff" that is the original model of what you today call modern game design?  And you have still never heard any of this before...  Would you believe me???

What if I told you that after you have learned all of these things, that I sincerely believe that you will agree that this designer should rightfully be known as "the father of modern game design", and that his game is of a bygone era and likely to stand as the largest, most detailed, most massive, and most complex game ever made until the end of time...  And you have *STILL* never heard of any of this before???  Would you believe me???

All of these facts are true, they really are, and your history is about to be re-written by the legend of the Tom Clancy of the gaming world...  Stephen V. Cole, his Star Fleet Battles Staff,  and the unparalleled massive 3-way interlocking Star Fleet Universe game system that they created over a period of nearly 40 years.  Read the rest of this series (4 more articles) and see for yourself.

Click to follow the link">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Fleet_Universe

Marc "Kavik Kang" Michalik, Star Fleet Battles Staff (Retired)

Task Force Games (1990-1992)

IKNFL Mod for Sierra's FPS: Football (1995-1998, with "Indra")

THQ/GameFX, Sinistar: Unleashed (1998-1999)