Peter Langston (born 1946) is a computer programmer who wrote and distributed for free several games for

Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and ot ...

systems in the 1970s, including one of the earliest text adventure video games '' Wander'', the original version of ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' and the program "Oracle" upon which the later net-wide

Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...

was modeled. He is also an experienced jazz, rock, and folk musician. In 1982, he was hired by the Computer Division of

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the ''Star Wars'' and ' ...

to start

Lucasfilm Games Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as part of a large ...

. He hired the programming and design teams and wrote the music for and contributed to the game design of Lucasfilm Games' first two releases, ''

Ballblazer ''Ballblazer'' is a futuristic sports game created by Lucasfilm Games and published in 1985 by Epyx. Along with ''Rescue on Fractalus!'', it was one of the initial pair of releases from Lucasfilm Games, ''Ballblazer'' was developed and first pu ...

'' and ''

Rescue on Fractalus! ''Rescue On Fractalus!'' is a 1985 first-person shooter computer game created by Lucasfilm Games. It was originally released for the Atari 8-bit family and the Atari 5200 games console. It was also ported to other popular platforms of the day, ...

''. In fact, for ''Ballblazer'', Langston created an

algorithmic composition Algorithmic composition is the technique of using algorithms to create music. Algorithms (or, at the very least, formal sets of rules) have been used to compose music for centuries; the procedures used to plot voice-leading in Western counterpoin ...

system, which allowed the game to improvise music (from an initial set of musical snippets contributed by famous musicians) based on what is happening in the game. Langston later left Lucasfilm Games for

Bellcore iconectiv is a supplier of network planning and network management services to telecommunications providers. Known as Bellcore after its establishment in the United States in 1983 as part of the break-up of the Bell System, the company's name ...

(now Telcordia Technologies). Langston retired in 1991 and is now consulting and running adult music camps.

External links

Peter Langston's Home Page
Musicians from Seattle American folk guitarists American male guitarists American rock guitarists Living people 1946 births Guitarists from Washington (state) Lucasfilm people 20th-century American guitarists {{Videogame-bio-stub