The Ancient Art of War The Ancient Art of War The Ancient Art of War is a computer game designed by Dave and Barry Murry, developed by Evryware, and originally published by Brøderbund in 1984. It is generally recognized as one of the first real-time strategy or real-time tactics games. A battlefield simulation, the game's title comes from the classic strategy text "The Art of War" written by Sun Tzu around 400 B.C. The objective of the game is to win a series of battles using four types of troops: Knights, Archers, Barbarians, and Spies. All four types are unmounted. It uses a rock-paper-scissors type
Sun Tzu most of the notable figures from the Spring and Autumn period. The name "Sun Wu" () does not appear in any text prior to the "Shiji", and may have been a made-up descriptive cognomen meaning "the fugitive warrior": the surname "Sun" can be glossed as the related term "fugitive" ("xùn" ), while "Wu" is the ancient Chinese virtue of "martial, valiant" ("wǔ" ), which corresponds to Sun Tzu's role as the hero's "doppelgänger" in the story of Wu Zixu. The only historical battle attributed to Sun Tzu, the Battle of Boju, has no record of him fighting in that battle.