Hardwar
Encyclopedia
Hardwar is a 1998
science fiction
flight simulation
computer game developed by The Software Refinery
and published by Gremlin Interactive
. In the USA, 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 music was created by artists signed to the Warp Records
label.
'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. During two hundred years of isolation, neo-feudal systems took precedent on Titan, with a corrupt and inefficient police force maintaining little law and order.
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 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 even attract the unwelcome attention of one of the main factions in the game due to their piracy.
Gameplay is against the backdrop of a plot involving the warring power groups on Titan, including the large factions of Klamp-G and Lazarus, and the player's eventual escape. The world is set inside craters on the moon's surface, joined together by a network of tunnels.
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 even 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 even 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.
The atmosphere of the game is furtive, as the players' solar-powered "Moth" craft hovers underneath an energy well to recharge, the players must quickly plan the next leg of their route. Even when on the side of the law, players must be wary of enemies made along the way...and the ultralight moths are definitely not meant for long flights whilst being under Laser fire, Missile attack and other special weapons.
Individuals can set up home server
s so that client
players can play together in a single environment, and there are multiple persistent online games that are being run by members of the community.
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".
records.
, the former CEO of Software Refinery and makers of Hardwar. They discussed the possibility of open sourcing
the game. It is unknown who owns the original copyright on the game's source code making it impossible to release.
version of the game.
1998 in video gaming
-Events:*Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 1st Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo to the AIAS Hall of Fame*British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosts the 1st annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
flight simulation
Flight simulator
A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and various aspects of the flight environment. This includes the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of their controls and other aircraft systems, and how they react to the external...
computer game developed by The Software Refinery
The Software Refinery
The Software Refinery was a United Kingdom-based computer game development company formed by Ciaran Gultnieks, Ian Martin and Mark Griffiths. The company was based in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire....
and published by Gremlin Interactive
Gremlin Interactive
Gremlin Interactive was a British software house based in Sheffield and working mostly in the home computer market.- History :...
. In the USA, the game was distributed by Interplay
Interplay Entertainment
Interplay Entertainment Corporation is an American video game developer and publisher, founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by Brian Fargo. The company had been a quality developer until they started publishing their own games in 1988, like Neuromancer and Battle Chess. The company was renamed...
under license. The box artwork and styling for game was created by The Designers Republic
The Designers Republic
The Designers Republic was a graphic design studio, founded on 14 July 1986 by Ian Anderson, and based in Sheffield, England. It was known for its anti-establishment aesthetics, while simultaneously embracing brash consumerism and the uniform style of corporate brands, such as Orange and Coca-Cola...
, who also worked on the Wipeout
Wipeout (video game series)
Wipeout is a series of futuristic anti-gravity racing games developed by SCE Studio Liverpool. The series is well-known for its fast-paced gameplay and high-quality 3D visual design, as well as its association with electronica and electronic dance music.-Gameplay:Wipeout is a racing series that...
series. The music was created by artists signed to the Warp Records
Warp Records
Warp, commonly referred to as Warp Records, is a pioneering independent British record label, founded in Sheffield in 1989, notable for discovering some of the more enduring artists in electronic music....
label.
Overview
Hardwar places the player in the role of a freelance "Moth" pilot in the city of Misplaced Optimism, a space colony located on SaturnSaturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
's moon, Titan
Titan (moon)
Titan , or Saturn VI, is the largest moon of Saturn, the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found....
. The colony was once a profitable mining outpost, but the major corporations backed out, leaving the inhabitants without the capability of space travel. During two hundred years of isolation, neo-feudal systems took precedent on Titan, with a corrupt and inefficient police force maintaining little law and order.
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 AI moths, picking at the dropped cargo of panicked traders, or players can become pirates themselves.
Many AI
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
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 even attract the unwelcome attention of one of the main factions in the game due to their piracy.
Gameplay is against the backdrop of a plot involving the warring power groups on Titan, including the large factions of Klamp-G and Lazarus, and the player's eventual escape. The world is set inside craters on the moon's surface, joined together by a network of tunnels.
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 even 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 even 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.
The atmosphere of the game is furtive, as the players' solar-powered "Moth" craft hovers underneath an energy well to recharge, the players must quickly plan the next leg of their route. Even when on the side of the law, players must be wary of enemies made along the way...and the ultralight moths are definitely not meant for long flights whilst being under Laser fire, Missile attack and other special weapons.
Individuals can set up home server
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
s so that client
Client (computing)
A client is an application or system that accesses a service made available by a server. The server is often on another computer system, in which case the client accesses the service by way of a network....
players can play together in a single environment, and there are multiple persistent online games that are being run by members of the community.
Trivia
The Software Refinery was located in the north of EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
at Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, 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
Full motion video
Full motion video based games are video games that rely upon pre-recorded TV-quality movie or animation rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models to display action in the game. In the early 1990s a diverse set of games utilized this format...
clips, with the GMTV
GMTV
GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...
presenter Ben Shephard
Ben Shephard
Benjamin Peter "Ben" Shephard, also known as "Sheps" is an English television presenter who currently works for Sky Sports, as well as ITV.-Personal life:...
playing the important role of "Syd".
In reference to the movie Hackers
Hackers (film)
Hackers is a 1995 American thriller film directed by Iain Softley and starring Angelina Jolie, Jonny Lee Miller, Renoly Santiago, Matthew Lillard, Lorraine Bracco and Fisher Stevens...
, four of the pilots on the police wanted list are called "Zero Cool", "Acid Burn", "Lord Nikon" and "Crash Override".
Bankruptcy
In 2002, The Software Refinery went into voluntary liquidation. Hardwar is no longer officially supported by its developers, and the game has not been patched or modified except by fans of the game. The Software Refinery has now been formally dissolved, as indicated by Companies HouseCompanies House
Companies House is the United Kingdom Registrar of Companies and is an Executive Agency of the United Kingdom Government Department for Business, Innovation and Skills . All forms of companies are incorporated and registered with Companies House and file specific details as required by the...
records.
Community
Even though development on the game has ceased a community still exists for the game. In November 2004, a member of the original team began communicating with this community. He began making patches for the game that corrected some of the bugs that still existed in the game.Source Code
In 2004, Andrew Fenn got in touch with Ciaran GultnieksCiaran Gultnieks
Ciaran Gultnieks was born in 1970. He is perhaps most notable for his work as a computer game programmer. His best known projects include Star Wars in 1988 for home computers and Dogfight , Slipstream 5000 and Hardwar for the PC.- Biography :He was the first employee at Vektor Grafix, later...
, the former CEO of Software Refinery and makers of Hardwar. They discussed the possibility of open sourcing
Open-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
the game. It is unknown who owns the original copyright on the game's source code making it impossible to release.
Remakes
In February 2007, after all possibilities to release the code were exhausted, a project was started to make an open sourceOpen-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
version of the game.