Final Frontier
| Final Frontier | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Jon Radoff, Ichiro Lambe |
Final Frontier is a turn-based multi-player strategy door game for Atari ST bulletin board systems. In Final Frontier, the player is a trader trying to gain control of a region of the galaxy called the "Outer Rim." This is accomplished by exploring, colonizing planets, trading resources, and using the money earned to upgrade the player's fleets and defenses.
Players can fight each in other in combat; they can also make alliances and work together as a team. In addition to human opponents, there is an AI opponent known as the Satharian Armada.
Like many other BBS door games, Final Frontier is asynchronous[1]; players do not need to play all together at the same time. Gameplay is turn-based, with a set number of turns (or moves) available to play each day.
Jon Radoff created Final Frontier for the Atari ST [2] together with Ichiro Lambe in 1988.[3][4]
Radoff said he named the game "Final Frontier" from the opening words of the TV show "Star Trek: The Next Generation," which aired at the time. Final Frontier was inspired by the BBS door game Trade Wars, but Radoff said he designed his game to focus more on exploration. He was also keen to bring it to Atari ST BBS platforms, which at the time had no similar games.[5]
Sysops were allowed to try the software for free, but were expected to register the game for $25. Much of the money Radoff earned from Space Empire Elite and Final Frontier later became seed capital which he used to start the company NovaLink.[5]
Final Frontier was updated by Jeff Bath around 1989-90.[6] Marc Ferrari and Adra Loghry developed a sequel called "Final Frontier II" for the Atari ST in 1994-95. [7]
Break Into Chat blog articles
- Jon Radoff, creator of Final Frontier (interview)
See also
References
- ↑
Radoff, Jon (24 May 2010). "History of Social Games". Jon Radoff's Internet Wonderland. Archived from the original on 29 May 2010. Retrieved 9 Jan 2013.
Meanwhile, many people were looking to engage in asynchronous games that wouldn't require groups to gather at set points in time, giving rise to play-by-mail games. The earliest implementations of online PBM games ... were BBS "Door" games.
- ↑ "Jon Radoff bio". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 27 February 2008. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
- ↑ Lambe, Ichiro. "Ichiro Lambe (résumé)". Archived from the original on 18 February 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
- ↑
Lambe, Ichiro (3 April 2012). "WeAreA a collection of indie game developers banding together at PAX East as the Indie MEGABOOTH. Ask us anything". Reddit. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
Around '88, I co-wrote a game called Final Frontier, which was the first thing I ever got proper money for.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1
Radoff, Jon (2 February 2016). "Jon Radoff, creator of Space Empire Elite and Final Frontier". Break Into Chat. Interviewed by Renaud, Josh. self-published. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
{{cite web}}: More than one of|author=and|last=specified (help) - ↑ Bath, Jeff. "Final Frontier v1.53 documentation". Retrieved 21 August 2025.
- ↑
Final Frontier II documentation.
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