Starflight

In the simplest definition Starflight is a computer game for the IBM PC developed by Binary Systems which started development in 1983, and was released in 1986 "after 15 man years" for the cutting edge video technologies of the time, namely black-and-white, Hercules monochrome, composite TV, 4-color CGA, and 16 color Tandy graphics. Later a second version was released with EGA graphics support and versions were ported to the C64, Amiga, Atari ST and the Sega Genesis platforms. Three years later two of the five original developers went on to create the sequel Starflight 2: Trade Routes of the Cloud Nebula.

But still this doesn't answer the question of "What is Starflight?" Starflight is an open ended space simulator of 269 star systems and roughly 800 planets. Is also a role-playing game considering your ships strengths are improved as you spend resources on crew training, equipment purchases, and obtain specialized artifacts. It is an adventure game set in space with a sophisticated artificial intelligence system, alien races with distinctive language traits, personalities, and behaviors. It is a simulator of a huge universe requiring greater and greater amount of fuel to travel to distant locations. It contains open-ended scripting with chains of hints leading players varied and different conclusions about meanings and histories and events.

Starflt.com

Starport Central, the official home of Starflight III: Mysteries of the Universe