Strategic Studies Group (SSG) is an Australian software development company that makes primarily strategy wargames. The company was founded by strategy game enthusiasts Ian Trout and Roger Keating. Trout was proprietor of a military books store and Keating had had several of his games published by

Strategic Simulations Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) was a video game developer and publisher of over 100 games from its founding in 1979 to its dissolution in 1994 (though the brand was in use until around 2002). The company focused on computer wargames then lat ...

. The game that launched the company was ''Reach for the Stars'' (1983). It is credited for having "effectively launched the genre of 4-X space games - explore, expand, exploit, exterminate". Its success was followed by a string of other, mostly historical military games published throughout the 1980s for

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

, Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, and IBM PC compatibles. SSG games include ''Reach for the Stars (video game), Reach for the Stars'', ''Battlefront (1986 video game), Battlefront'', ''Battles in Normandy'', '' Halls of Montezuma: A Battle History of the U.S. Marine Corps'', ''Europe Ablaze'', '' MacArthur's War: Battles for Korea'', '' Carriers at War'', (in three volumes), ''Rommel'', '' Gold of the Americas'', and ''Decisive Battles of the American Civil War'' (in three volumes, with the first being '' Bull Run to Chancellorsville''). Several of these titles were also released for 16-bit platforms including the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

Apple IIGS The Apple IIGS (styled as II) is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Inc., Apple Computer beginning in September 1986. It is the fifth and most powerful model of the Apple II family. The "GS" in the name stands for "Graphics and Sound" ...

and

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

during the late 1980s. For a time SSG published a tie-in magazine, ''Run 5'', that included articles on historical background to the games, game design, game play and data for setting up new or variant scenarios. Subscribers received a disk with the scenario files already created. Published mostly quarterly it ran for 25 issues. In 1989, SSG published '' Fire King'' an action role-playing game developed by Micro Forté, another Australian games developer. SSG also produced the '' Warlords'' series of fantasy turn-based games. In a mutually friendly decision in 2003, ''Warlords'' designer Steve Fawkner broke away from Strategic Studies Group and started Infinite Interactive to publish further ''Warlords'' games. Co-founder Ian Trout died of cancer on 3 August 2011, which left Roger Keating as CEO of the company. On 19 and 20 June 2014 Roger Keating and Gregor Whiley of SSG attended the Born Digital and Cultural Heritage Conference in Melbourne. Two academic papers were presented at the conference, outlining the contribution of SSG to video gaming history in Australia. Helen Stuckey examined the contribution of the Run 5 magazine to the gaming community, while Dr Fiona Chatteur outlined the development of computer graphics through the lens of Strategic Studies Group.

Games

References

External links

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Strategic Studies Group
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

{{Warlords series Video game companies of Australia Video game development companies Video game publishers