Hardwar (video game)

Last updated
Hardwar
Hardwar cover.png
European cover art
Developer(s) The Software Refinery
Publisher(s)
Producer(s) Adrian Carless
Designer(s) Mark Griffiths
Ciaran Gultnieks
Ian Martin
Programmer(s) Tim Heaton
Artist(s) Les Spink
Writer(s) Adrian Carless
Alan Coltman
Platform(s) PC (Windows/DirectX 5)
ReleaseSeptember 11, 1998 [1]
Genre(s) Flight simulation
Mode(s) Single-player
Multiplayer over serial, TCP/IP or DirectPlay

Hardwar (sometimes stylized HardW[a]r or given the full name Hardwar: The Future Is Greedy) is a 1998 science fiction flight simulation computer game developed by The Software Refinery and published by Gremlin Interactive. In the US, the game was distributed by Interplay under license. The box artwork and styling for game was created by The Designers Republic, who also worked on the Wipeout series. The soundtrack was provided by artists signed to the Warp Records label. Funbox Media digitally re-released Hardwar via ZOOM-Platform.com on September 17, 2021. [2] Funbox Media and Jordan Freeman Group, the aforementioned ZOOM-Platform.com, would team up again to release a Steam (service) version on February 15, 2023. The Steam (service) edition remained DRM-Free. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

The game's plot involves warring power groups on Titan, and the player character's eventual escape. The world is set inside craters on the moon's surface, joined together by a network of tunnels.

Story

Hardwar places the player in the role of a freelance "Moth" pilot in the city of Misplaced Optimism, a space colony located on Saturn's moon, Titan. The colony was once a profitable mining outpost, but the major corporations backed out, leaving the inhabitants without the capability of space travel and a slowly but steadily crumbling infrastructure. During two hundred years of isolation, the remaining corporations became effectively organised crime gangs, with the corrupt and inefficient police force maintaining little law and order.

Things change when an unidentified, apparently alien, ship crash lands in the defunct Port district, causing the two largest corporations - Klamp-G and Lazarus - to rush to take advantage. The player finds themself thrust in to the situation, eventually managing to outrace both corporations to help the aliens repair their ship in return for passage off Titan, to an uncertain, but hopefully better, future.

Gameplay

It is at the discretion of the players as to how they will earn their living on Titan. They can trade honestly, having to be wary of pirates. They can choose to hunt Titan's outlaws, collecting bounties from the various police stations. Players may also be lowly scavengers like many artificial intelligence (AI) moths, picking at the dropped cargo of panicked traders, or players can become pirates themselves.

Many AI moths flit about with valuable cargo, should the players decide to take this path; however, stolen cargo in the players' hands can be confiscated by the police, or they could become the target of other outlaws now that they are carrying valuable cargo. Players may attract the unwelcome attention of one of the main factions in the game due to their piracy.

Players are able to buy many of the available hangars around Titan, making storage of goods and repairs much simpler. This also allows them to store extra "Moths" safely in one location, to set up trade facilities in different craters, and purchase and install Clones, to ensure the players' continuance should they meet an untimely demise in the skies.

Alternatively, players can use a public hangar, such as one of the various businesses around the city to trade and repair their moths.

Players are able to trade goods from their hangar(s), and based on market forces such as supply and demand, as well as distance to the supply, players can set their own prices. Based on how good a deal the players make, AI moths will line up in droves to purchase goods, or fly on by for a better deal elsewhere.

Players can set up manufacturing facilities in their hangars with the purchase of relevant equipment, to turn scrap metal into ship parts, to turn water and chemicals into alcohol, or any number of other products.

Development

Hardwar was originally scheduled for a 1996 release. [6] Hardwar was developed by The Software Refinery and published in 1998 by Gremlin Interactive. In the US, the game was distributed by Interplay. The box artwork and styling for game was created by The Designers Republic, who also worked on the Wipeout series. The music was provided by artists signed to Warp Records. Gremlin's Mark Mattocks said that it was not a coincidence that Gremlin, Warp, and The Designer's Republic were all companies based in Sheffield: "The angle is that this is a collaboration between Sheffield, U.K. companies that are at the top of their industries. We've wanted to work with Warp for a long time, so we looked at two or three projects and picked Hardwar." [7]

Software Refinery was located in the north of England at Leeds, and several locations in the game were named after actual buildings near the company's offices. Hardwar's designer and producer, Ade Carless, plays the Police "uber-clerk" in several FMV clips, with the GMTV presenter Ben Shephard playing the important role of "Syd".

In reference to the movie Hackers , four of the pilots on the police wanted list are called "Zero Cool", "Acid Burn", "Lord Nikon" and "Crash Override". [8]

As The Software Refinery went into voluntary liquidation in 2002, Hardwar is no longer officially supported by its developers and the game has not been officially patched or modified since. However, Ian Martin, one of the game's developers, did release a series of unofficial patches to the fan community to add additional features and bug fixes not present in the final official release. [9]

Reception

Ed Lomas of Computer and Video Games summarized: "Hardwar has a brilliant atmosphere, lots to do, and a great sense of freedom. Just make sure you can put up with the first few slow hours." [10]

Paul Presley of PC Zone said: "In many ways, Hardwar is half a game. Or to be precise, half of another, much larger game. If this were the engine driving the ground-based sections of something like, for want of a more recent example, Elite , then we'd probably be looking at the ultimate game here." [12]

Related Research Articles

<i>Descent</i> (video game) 1995 first-person shooter game

Descent is a first-person shooter (FPS) game developed by Parallax Software and released by Interplay Productions in 1995 for MS-DOS, and later for Macintosh, PlayStation, and RISC OS. It popularized a subgenre of FPS games employing six degrees of freedom and was the first FPS to feature entirely true-3D graphics. The player is cast as a mercenary hired to eliminate the threat of a mysterious extraterrestrial computer virus infecting off-world mining robots. In a series of mines throughout the Solar System, the protagonist pilots a spaceship and must locate and destroy the mine's power reactor and escape before being caught in the mine's self-destruction, defeating opposing robots along the way. Players can play online and compete in either deathmatches or cooperate to take on the robots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interplay Entertainment</span> American video game developer and publisher

Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca Heineman, as well as investor Chris Wells. As a developer, Interplay is best known as the creator of the Fallout series and as a publisher for the Baldur's Gate and Descent series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Designers Republic</span> British graphic design studio

The Designers Republic is a British graphic design studio based in Sheffield, England, founded in 1986 by Ian Anderson and Nick Phillips. They are best known for electronic music logos, album artwork, and anti-establishment aesthetics, embracing "brash consumerism and the uniform style of corporate brands". Work by tDR is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

<i>Age of Empires II</i> 1999 real-time strategy video game

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh in 2001, it is the second game in the Age of Empires series. The Age of Kings is set in the Middle Ages and contains thirteen playable civilizations. Players aim to gather resources, which they use to build towns, create armies, and defeat their enemies. There are five historically based campaigns, which conscript the player to specialized and story-backed conditions, as well as three additional single-player game modes; multiplayer is also supported.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenTTD</span> Open-source business simulation game

OpenTTD is a business simulation game in which players try to earn money by transporting passengers, minerals and goods via road, rail, water and air. It is an open-source remake and expansion of the 1995 Chris Sawyer video game Transport Tycoon Deluxe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gremlin Interactive</span> British software developer

Gremlin Graphics Software Limited, later Gremlin Interactive Limited and ultimately Infogrames Studios Limited was a British software house based in Sheffield, working mostly in the home computer market. Like many software houses established in the 1980s, their primary market was the 8-bit range of computers such as the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Commodore 16 and Commodore 64. The company was acquired by French video game publisher Infogrames in 1999 and was renamed Infogrames Studios in 2000. Infogrames Studios closed down in 2003.

<i>Slipstream 5000</i> 1995 video game

Slipstream 5000 is a 3D airplane combat/racing video game developed by The Software Refinery and published by Gremlin Interactive for IBM PC compatible computers in July 1995.

18 Wheels of Steel is a series of trucking simulators developed by SCS Software and published by ValuSoft from 2002 to 2011, as a spin-off of Hard Truck, with the first game becoming the third Hard Truck game released.

<i>Age of Empires</i> Real-time strategy video game series

Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. The first game was Age of Empires, released in 1997. Nine total games within the series have been released so far as of October 28, 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titus Interactive</span> Defunct French video game publisher

Titus Interactive SA, known as Titus France SA until March 1999, was a French software publisher that produced and published video games for various platforms. Its head office was located in Parc de l'Esplanade in Lagny sur Marne in Greater Paris. At one time, it was instead located in Montfermeil, also in Greater Paris.

<i>Descent 3</i> 1999 video game

Descent 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Outrage Entertainment and published by Interplay Entertainment. It was originally released for Microsoft Windows in North America on June 17, 1999. Descent 3 is the third game in the Descent video game series and a sequel to Descent II. The game takes place in a science fiction setting of the Solar System where the player is cast as Material Defender, a mercenary who must help an organization known as the Red Acropolis Research Team to stop robots infected by an alien virus.

<i>Rig n Roll</i> 2009 video game

Rig'n'Roll is an open world truck driving simulation and racing video game released on 27 November 2009 in Russia and during 2010 in the rest of the world. It simulates truck driving and management along with associated business strategic activities, and features North American trucks. The game takes place in California and Nevada, in the year 2014.

<i>Star Trek: Starfleet Academy</i> 1997 video game

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is a Star Trek PC simulation game developed and published by Interplay in 1997. The game simulates the life of a typical Starfleet cadet, with the player learning the basics of flying a starship and engaging in roleplaying with a crew of cadets, with the eventual goal of becoming captain of their own ship. The game included full motion video featuring William Shatner, Walter Koenig, and George Takei reprising their roles from the original television series and movies, and a multiplayer simulation mode allowing for up to 32 players.

<i>Sins of a Solar Empire</i> 2008 video game

Sins of a Solar Empire is a 2008 science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Ironclad Games and published by Stardock Entertainment for Microsoft Windows operating systems. It is a real-time strategy (RTS) game that incorporates some elements from 4X games; its makers describe it as "RT4X". Players are given control of a spacefaring empire in the distant future, and are tasked with conquering star systems using military, economic and diplomatic means.

<i>Descent to Undermountain</i> 1998 video game

Descent to Undermountain is a role-playing video game developed and published by Interplay in 1998. Based on the Dungeons & Dragons setting of Undermountain in the Forgotten Realms, it casts the player as an adventurer out to explore the treasure-filled recesses of the Undermountain dungeon. The "Descent" part of the name refers to the game's use of the 3D rendering engine from the 1995 game Descent.

Ciaran Eugene Gultnieks is a British computer game programmer, whose projects include Star Wars, Dogfight (1993), Slipstream 5000 (1995) and Hardwar (1998) for the PC. He is the founder of F-Droid and contributes to the microblogging platform GNU social.

<i>Vangers</i> 1998 video game

Vangers is a racing role-playing video game developed by K-D Lab, a Russian company. It was released in North America in June 29, 1998 after receiving positive responses at that year's E3. An updated re-release was made available on Steam and GOG.com in 2014. The re-release includes support for Mac OS X and Linux.

<i>Fragile Allegiance</i> 1996 real-time strategy video game

Fragile Allegiance is an open-ended 4X real-time strategy (RTS) game from Gremlin Interactive, released in 1996 for MS-DOS and Windows 95. The game begins on May 25, 2496, as the player begins their employment with TetraCorp who have set up a new asteroid mining franchise operation in the Fragmented Sectors. There are six alien races competing with Tetracorp for these resources. Beginning with one building and one million credits, the player is tasked with building up a successful mining operation to sell as much ore as possible to the Federation. Diplomacy is crucial to the success or failure of this franchise operation as the players' colonies begin to encroach on one another.

<i>Litil Divil</i> 1993 video game

Litil Divil is a video game released by Gremlin Graphics Software in 1993. The game stars Mutt, a dog-like devil in the Underworld whose goal is to obtain the "Mystical Pizza of Plenty" from the Labyrinth of Chaos. Litil Divil's release was delayed several times, and the game was initially advertised in magazines under the name Little Divil.

Space Engineers is a voxel-based sandbox game, developed and published by Czech independent developer Keen Software House. In 2013, the initial developmental release of the game joined the Steam early access program. During the following years of active development, Space Engineers sold over one million units. In total as of 2019 the game has sold over 3.5 million copies In May 2015, for approximately a year and a half, the game's source code was officially available and maintained by KSH to assist the modding community. On December 15, 2016, the game entered Beta and was later officially released on February 28, 2019.

References

  1. "Hardwar". Gremlin Interactive . Archived from the original on 20 February 1999. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  2. "Hardwar - PCGamingWiki PCGW - bugs, fixes, crashes, mods, guides and improvements for every PC game".
  3. Contributor, Sin Vega; Vega, Sin (22 February 2023). "The most interesting space trader is still one from 1998". Rock, Paper, Shotgun.{{cite web}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  4. "Hardwar Steam Launch!".
  5. "Hardwar on Steam".
  6. "Gremlin Declares HardWar". Gremlin Interactive . Archived from the original on 20 June 1997. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  7. "The Future Sound of Game Music". Next Generation . No. 24. Imagine Media. December 1996. p. 90.
  8. Archived 2011-06-18 at the Wayback Machine Ask Ian Martin Interview
  9. "Downloads Index".
  10. 1 2 Lomas, Ed (October 1998). "Review - Hardwar". Computer and Video Games . No. 203. EMAP. p. 64.
  11. Steinlechner, Peter (November 1998). "Test - Hardwar". GameStar (in German). Vol. 11/98. p. 156.
  12. 1 2 Presley, Paul (September 1998). "Reviews - Hardwar". PC Zone . No. 67. Dennis Publishing Ltd. pp. 90–91.
  13. Austinat, Roland (October 1998). "Spiele-test - Hardwar". PC Player (in German). Vol. 10/98. pp. 128–129.