Early history of video games
The history of video games spans a period of time between the invention of the first electronic games and today, covering a long period of invention and changes. Video gaming reached mainstream popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, when arcade video games, gaming consoles and home computer games were introduced to the general public. Since then, video gaming has become a popular form of entertainment and a part of modern culture in most parts of the world. The early history of video games, therefore, covers the period of time between the first interactive electronic game with an electronic display in 1947, the first true video games in the early 1950s, and the rise of early arcade video games in the 1970s ("Pong" and the beginning of the first generation of video game consoles with the Magnavox Odyssey, both in 1972). During this time there were a wide range of devices and inventions corresponding with large advances in computing technology, and the actual first video game is dependent on the definition of "video game" used.
Role-playing video game
One of the earliest role-playing video game on a microcomputer was "Dungeon n Dragons", written by Peter Trefonas and published by CLOAD (1980). This early game, published for a TRS-80 Model 1, was just 16K long and included a limited word parser command line, character generation, a store to purchase equipment, combat, traps to solve, and a dungeon to explore. Other contemporaneous CRPGs (Computer Role Playing Games) were "Temple of Apshai", "" and "", the precursor to "Ultima". Some early microcomputer RPGs (such as "Telengard" (1982) or "Sword of Fargoal") were based on their mainframe counterparts, while others (such as "Ultima" or "Wizardry", the most successful of the early CRPGs) were loose adaptations of "D&D". They also included both first-person displays and overhead views, sometimes in the same game ("Akalabeth", for example, used both perspectives). Most of the key features of RPGs were developed in this early period, prior to the release of "", one of the prime influences on both computer and console RPG development. For example, Wizardry featured menu-driven combat, "Tunnels of Doom" featured tactical combat on a special "combat screen", and "Dungeons of Daggorath" featured real-time combat which took place on the main dungeon map.