Habitat (video game)

Habitat
Developer(s)Lucasfilm Games
Quantum Link
Fujitsu
Publisher(s)Quantum Link
Fujitsu
Director(s)Chip Morningstar[3]
Producer(s)Steve Arnold[3]
Designer(s)Chip Morningstar[3]
Randy Farmer
Programmer(s)Chip Morningstar[3]
Randy Farmer[3]
Aric Wilmunder[3]
Janet Hunter[3]
Artist(s)Gary Winnick[3]
Platform(s)Commodore 64, FM Towns, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS
Release
  • NA: Club Caribe: Q2 1989
  • JP: Fujitsu Habitat: Q3 1990
  • NA: WorldsAway: September 1995
[citation needed]
Genre(s)Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Habitat is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by LucasArts. It is the first attempt at a large-scale commercial virtual community[4][5] that was graphic based. Initially created in 1985 by Randy Farmer, Chip Morningstar,[6] Aric Wilmunder and Janet Hunter, the game was made available as a beta test in 1986 by Quantum Link, an online service for the Commodore 64 computer and the corporate progenitor to AOL. Both Farmer and Morningstar were given a First Penguin Award at the 2001 Game Developers Choice Awards for their innovative work on Habitat. As a graphical MUD[7] it is considered a forerunner of modern MMORPGs unlike other online communities of the time (i.e. MUDs and massively multiplayer onlines with text-based interfaces). Habitat had a GUI and large user base of consumer-oriented users, and those elements in particular have made Habitat a much-cited project and acknowledged benchmark for the design of today's online communities that incorporate accelerated 3D computer graphics and immersive elements into their environments.

  1. ^ "The Lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat".
  2. ^ "The Game Archaeologist moves into Lucasfilm's Habitat: Part 1".
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Habitat (1987) Commodore 64 credits". MobyGames. Blue Flame Labs. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference mornf90 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Robinett, W. (1994). "Interactivity and Individual Viewpoint in Shared Virtual Worlds: The Big Screen vs. Networked Personal Displays". Computer Graphics, 28(2), 127e
  6. ^ Robert Rossney (June 1996). "Metaworlds". Wired. Vol. 4, no. 6. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  7. ^ Castronova, Edward (2006). Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games. University Of Chicago Press. pp. 291. ISBN 0-226-09627-0. ... established Habitat as a result. This is described as a 2D graphical MUD ...