Empire is a turn-based 4X wargame, where players command armies of units which they use to explore the game world, control territory, and attack opponents.
Control of these sectors grants the player a variety of raw and manufactured materials, which they may use to construct dozens of unit types.
[2] Between 1972 and 1974, Langston expanded on the game, with additions by Ben Norton, Chuck Douglas, Mike Rainwater, and several others.
[3] Around that time, he gave the source code to a group including Dave Pare, who was attempting to reverse engineer the game.
[3][6] In 2003, the game was ported to the C++ programming language for the Linux operating system, and a subsequent Java client/server version was produced.