Game History

BBS Origins

What Was a BBS Door Game?

Before the internet, computer enthusiasts connected to Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) — servers you dialed into with a modem over a phone line. BBS operators (“sysops”) ran software that let callers post messages, share files, and play games.

“Door games” were multiplayer text-based games that ran on these bulletin boards. Players took turns each day — you’d dial in, play your daily turns, then hang up. Other players on the same BBS would play their turns later. It was asynchronous multiplayer gaming a decade before the web made it mainstream.

The early 1990s were the golden age of BBS door games. Hundreds of titles competed for sysops’ attention, distributed as shareware — free to try, with paid registration unlocking customization features.

Seth Robinson and Robinson Technologies

Seth Robinson (also known as Seth Able) was one of the most successful BBS door game authors of the era. Operating through his company Robinson Technologies, he created two landmark titles:

Legend of the Red Dragon (LORD) — A fantasy RPG that became one of the most popular BBS door games ever made. Players fought monsters, flirted with barmaids, and leveled up in a medieval setting.
Planets: The Exploration of Space (TEOS) — Robinson’s second major title, a space trading and combat game. He later admitted to being a TradeWars addict who wanted to create a simpler, more accessible version of that game. He also cited Starflight (Sega Genesis) and Psi-5 Trading Company (Commodore 64) as inspirations.

Robinson’s design philosophy was to “never do the same thing twice technically or thematically” — hence the leap from fantasy RPG to sci-fi trading game.

Development and Release

Planets: TEOS was developed in Pascal beginning around 1992. Version 1.0 launched in January 1993. The game featured 26 planets, interplanetary trading, ship upgrades, NPC encounters, faction warfare, and planet conquest — all rendered in ANSI text art on terminal screens.

Robinson continued developing the game for years. Version 2.0 testing began in February 1996, adding new ANSI graphics and in-game module support. A Computer Currents reviewer called it “one of the shareware standouts of the year.” Despite the praise, Planets was always overshadowed by Legend of the Red Dragon’s massive popularity.

In 1998, Robinson sold both Planets and Legend of the Red Dragon to Metropolis Gameport. Gameport contracted developer Michael Preslar for continued work, but progress stalled — Robinson’s Pascal source code had been lost in a hard drive crash, making substantial changes nearly impossible.

The Game Universe

The Alliance and the Rise of Carnage

The game’s story is set in a galaxy where Earth matured the quickest of all the planets and was the first to make contact with another world. Earth’s technology leaped forward for 48 years, then leveled out. Earth formed The Alliance, and because they had the most power, no one disputed it.

Then, a man named Carnage killed an Alliance representative, stole his ship and cargo. He became rich and outspoken. Carnage plundered over 38 planets before the Alliance found out. By then it was too late — hundreds of planets began creating illegal weapons for self-defense, and some for piracy.

Carnage goaded many small planets into following him, or scared ships into paying tribute. He invented a strange device — witnesses swore he could completely disable ships without firing a single shot. Fear became his deadliest weapon.

The Man Behind the Name

Carnage’s real name was Jerard Knolfer — winner of an 8-planet science fair at age eight, recognized as a genius by 15. Then he fell in love with someone who wasn’t interested. She invited him to her wedding. In the middle of the ceremony, he stalked out. Ten minutes later, the entire building was reduced to ashes — his first weapon.

His last words to his home planet, Endora: “I don’t need my family, and don’t need friends. I am Carnage.” Then his ship released a warhead of his own design, and the entire planet exploded. His followers became the Maraken — built on fear, goading small planets into service or scaring ships into paying tribute.

The Conflict

Every player who logs in is greeted with this premise:

The universe has changed a lot in the last twenty years. The Alliance no longer controls every planet. A new and evil power has encroached itself across the galaxy — they call themselves the Maraken. They are led by an old man known as Carnage. His infamous name has recruited millions into flying under his banner. Will you be next? Or will you choose to help The Alliance? The choice is up to you.

Players can join The Alliance (headquartered on Earth), the Maraken (headquartered on Norhaven), or remain freelance. The faction conflict drives the game’s combat, diplomacy, and planet conquest systems.

The Schoolor Library

On Schooloria (Planet 22), the planet of learning, players can visit the Schoolor Library and read the full in-game lore:

History of the Universe — How Earth formed The Alliance and how Carnage’s rise shattered galactic order
The Story Behind Carnage — The personal history of Jerard Knolfer, from child genius to galactic terrorist
Medieval Times — A mysterious cross-dimensional text referencing the world of Legend of the Red Dragon
Heroes of Today — Tales of the galaxy’s current champions

The Web Revival

Planets: TEOS has been reimplemented as a browser-based game — faithful to the original 1992 gameplay but accessible to anyone with a web browser. No modem required.

What Was Preserved

The revival maintains every detail of the original game:

All 26 planets with their original names, trade centers, shopkeepers, and descriptions
45 NPCs with their original dialogue, ship names, and personalities
The 16-color ANSI palette — the same colors that lit up BBS terminals in the 1990s
Box-drawing UI frames using the double-line characters (╔═╗║╚╝) that defined the BBS aesthetic
Shareware-era pop culture references — Star Trek parodies (Captain Picard, the Borge Collective), Calvin & Hobbes characters (Spaceman Spiff, Susie Derkins, Moe), Beverly Hills 90210’s Jennie, and even George H.W. Bush as an NPC flying a Quietus
Period-accurate details — including the Borge’s intentional typo (“Resistance is futil.”) preserved exactly as it appeared in the original game

Sources and Inspiration

The revival drew heavily from the original Planets TEOS fansite at planetsteos.20m.com, which preserved detailed game data, mechanics, and planet information from the BBS era. A snapshot of the original game state — planet_defense_1997.json — captures the exact faction ownership, populations, and army fighter counts for all 26 planets as they existed in the original BBS game, serving as a reference for faithful recreation.

Timeline

Year	Event
~1992	Seth Robinson begins developing Planets: TEOS in Pascal
January 1993	Version 1.0 released as shareware for BBS sysops
February 1996	Version 2.0 testing begins with new ANSI graphics and module support
1996	Computer Currents praises v2 as “one of the shareware standouts of the year”
1998	Robinson sells Planets and Legend of the Red Dragon to Metropolis Gameport
Post-1998	Development stalls after Pascal source code lost in hard drive crash
Present	Web revival brings the game to modern browsers, faithful to the original