Josh Renaud

In 2006, I made a screen capture of this nifty ANSI title screen from the BBS door game "Solar Realms Elite."

Seven years later, I realized this was a CUSTOM title screen, not SRE's default. Questions abounded: Where did it come from? Who had made it?

Well, a further 13 years on, I have finally solved the mystery! Join me on this voyage of retrocomputing discovery!

https://breakintochat.com/blog/2026/06/14/the-mystery-of-the-solar-realms-elite-title-screen/

#bbs #gamedev #gamehistory #history #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing #textmode #ansiart #ansi

Jun 15 at 1:33amWeb
Show threadgloriouscow1d ago

@kirkman The notability fight on Wikipedia really makes me sad. All that info could have been consolidated into a general BBS Door Games article instead of deleted.

Anyway, thank you for doing this sort of digital archaeology. This sort of effort isn't always explicitly recognized, so - from one nerd to another - thank you.

Show threadJosh Renaud1d ago

@gloriouscow Thanks so much for your kind words! I still think WP and its editors were wrong ... but I'm glad that it caused me to take a very hands-on approach to generating the sort of research and first-person accounts about BBS games that were missing.

My current SRE wiki article on Break Into Chat has come a long way from that old 2006 WP article. The references section now includes 22 sources.

Show threadRob Ricci1d ago
@kirkman oh man, I did some custom art for Tradewars on a couple BBSes, I wonder if that still exists somewhere
Show threadJosh Renaud19h ago
@ricci Do you remember any specifics? Names of the BBSes and cities?
Show threadRob Ricci13h ago
@kirkman They would have been in Salt Lake City; Fire in the Night, and Call of Cthuhlu . Both were very small, single line
Show threadxyhhx 1d ago
@kirkman when they ask what you do for work
Show threadJosh Renaud1d ago
@xyhhx I *wish* I did this for work! Best I can do is "unpaid hobby."
Show threadxyhhx 1d ago
@kirkman i meant like site reliability engineer lol
Show threadxyhhx 1d ago
@kirkman maybe a header image on a resume or something
Show threadJared1d ago
@kirkman Haven't read the article yet, but the image immediately made me think of TradeWars 2002. Looking forward to diving into the voyage you've recorded!
Show threadJosh Renaud1d ago
@ktnjared Hope you enjoy it! And, yes, the image does have a TradeWars-y vibe — but it's definitely not Drew Markham's work.
Show threadkaaswe1d ago
@kirkman
Best BBS game ever, I waited up to midnight to do a tactical attack by using my 5 turns a day in a row, to hit 10 times. But later learned to bring peace in the local solar system and attack other BBS was far more fun.
So many memories, thank you for reminding me
Show threadJosh Renaud1d ago

@kaaswe So glad you enjoyed it!

In the early 2000s, I also learned to use the before-and-after-midnight strategy. I would use AOL Instant Messenger too coordinate such attacks with my allies (and keep control of the game so our enemies couldn't get in until we had all played our turns and walloped them).