Star Trader
Some games are called "roguelikes" (whatever that may mean) and sometimes, mostly in jest, "ponglikes". Another line of evolution originates more or less with "Top Management Decision Simulation" (1957) and from that "Trade Wars", "EVE Online", etc. "EVE Online" is therefore both a ponglike and a tradelike, as it has aspects of both trade and navigating some widget about the screen. Between these games lies Star Trader (1974) of which various versions exist.
Star Traders is a simple text-based game of interstellar trading, where the objective is to create companies, buy and sell shares, borrow and repay money, in order to become the wealthiest player (the winner).
The game is simple, and eight players is probably too many (the board filled up and there wasn't any stock to buy after 25 turns or so) and two too few (not enough competition). The game did originate in 1974 so there's only so much complexity one can stuff into a game that old without requiring too many resources or the whole project sort of going sideways. Luck is clearly a factor, as you might get a good central location for your first company, or the game could end up playing out elsewhere. Probably there's tactics I'm mostly ignorant of having not played the game much and not being very interested in making the most money. I've got enough, why would I want more? Multiplayer with this version would be tricky given the shared screen, maybe passwords and no peeking could help isolate the different players, or some version invented that uses host or network communication to isolate the players. Also not all information is shown all the time, so players would need to copy screens out for easier reference to their assets, and that of the other players, in the event there's any out-of-game coordination or horse trading going on, given that player E can cause a merger between two companies owned by two other players by linking up their networks, or can extend some other company's network and thus affect the share price in maybe not a beneficial way to anyone involved.
The lower case letters are potential moves, and the upper case letters established companies:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Player: Re Turn: 3 │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ a . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * │ │ . . . . . . d . . . * . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . │ │ . * . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s . . . . . . . * │ │ * . . . . . e . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . * . . . . . * . . . . . . * . │ │ . . * * . . . . . . . . C C . . . . . . . n . p . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ │ . . . . . . * . . . . . . . l . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . * . * │ │ . . . + . . . . . . . . . j . . . . . . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . │ │ . . . . . . . f . . . i . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . * . . . . . . * . │ │ * . . * . . . . . . g * . * . . . . . . . . . q . . * . + . . . . . . . . . │ │ B * . . . c . . . * h . . * . . . . . . . . . . . r . . . . * . . . . . * . │ │ * . b * . . . . . . . . * . . * . m . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . * . . . │ │ . . . . . . . + . . A * . . . D . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . │ │ . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . │ │ . . . * . . . . . * . . . k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . t . . │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Select move [a-t/1-3/<CTRL><C>]: │ │ <1> Display stock portfolio <3> Save and end the game │ │ <2> Declare bankruptcy <CTRL><C> Quit the game │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
And on a different screen:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Stock Portfolio │ │ Player: Re │ │ │ │ Price per Return Holdings Ownership │ │ Company share ($) (%) (shares) (%) │ │ Altair Starways 286.71 5.00 3 5.66 │ │ Betelgeuse, Ltd 1029.96 5.00 12 92.31 │ │ Capella Freight Co 121.96 7.77 0 0.00 │ │ Denebola Shippers 389.40 5.00 0 0.00 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Current cash: $247.55 │ │ │ │ Total value: $13467.22 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ [ Press <SPACE> to continue ] │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
And yet another screen:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Interstellar Stock Exchange │ │ Player: Re │ │ │ │ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Interstellar Trading Bank │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Current cash: $3.70 │ │ │ │ Current debt: $0.00 │ │ │ │ Interest rate: 15.68% │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Credit limit: $37309.18 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ └─│ Enter selection [1-3]: │─┘ │ │ │ <1> Borrow money │ │ <2> Repay debt │ │ <3> Exit from the Bank │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
I guess you're supposed to be going into debt to buy stuff up when that makes sense, maybe? Or if you're into risky "all or nothing" sort of plays?
Anyways there are some things to learn here, the learning curve isn't too steep, and there are probably ideas to be had for more complicated games starting from this more simple version of a trade program.
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