''NetWars'' is an

IPX Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) is the network layer protocol in the IPX/SPX protocol suite. IPX is derived from Xerox Network Systems' IDP. It also has the ability to act as a transport layer protocol. The IPX/SPX protocol suite was very po ...

-based 3D vector-graphics

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

released by

Novell Novell, Inc. was an American software and services company headquartered in Provo, Utah, that existed from 1980 until 2014. Its most significant product was the multi-platform network operating system known as Novell NetWare. Under the lead ...

in 1993 for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

compatible operating systems to demonstrate

NetWare NetWare is a discontinued computer network operating system developed by Novell, Inc. It initially used cooperative multitasking to run various services on a personal computer, using the IPX network protocol. The original NetWare product in 19 ...

capabilities. It was written by Edward N. Hill, Jr., one of Novell's engineers in its European Development Centre in Hungerford, UK. Development started in 1989.

Release

''NetWars'' 2.06 came bundled with

Novell DOS 7 DR-DOS (written as DR DOS, without a hyphen, in versions up to and including 6.0) is a disk operating system for IBM PC compatibles. Upon its introduction in 1988, it was the first DOS attempting to be compatible with IBM PC DOS and MS-D ...

and Personal NetWare 1.0, replacing the text-based ''

Snipes Snipes may refer to: * Snipe, a wading bird * Snipes (surname) * ''Snipes'' (film), a 2001 film * ''Snipes'' (video game), a 1983 text-mode networked computer game * Snipes Mountain AVA Snipes Mountain AVA is an American Viticultural Area l ...

'' that came with NetWare Lite 1.1 since 1991, a newer implementation of the original ''

'', that traditionally came with Novell

Legacy

Since 1997, a much improved version 3 named ''Advanced NetWars'' shipped with

Caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

OpenDOS 7.01 DR-DOS (written as DR DOS, without a hyphen, in versions up to and including 6.0) is a disk operating system for IBM PC compatibles. Upon its introduction in 1988, it was the first DOS attempting to be compatible with IBM PC DOS and MS-D ...

DR-DOS 7.02 DR-DOS (written as DR DOS, without a hyphen, in versions up to and including 6.0) is a disk operating system for IBM PC compatibles. Upon its introduction in 1988, it was the first DOS attempting to be compatible with IBM PC DOS and MS-D ...

and

DR-DOS 7.03 DR-DOS (written as DR DOS, without a hyphen, in versions up to and including 6.0) is a disk operating system for IBM PC compatibles. Upon its introduction in 1988, it was the first DOS attempting to be compatible with IBM PC DOS and MS-D ...

. It added support for

SoundBlaster Sound Blaster is a family of sound cards designed by Singaporean technology company Creative Technology (known in the US as Creative Labs). Sound Blaster sound cards were the de facto standard for consumer audio on the IBM PC compatible system pl ...

sound, Joystick control, up to six players in multi-player mode, missiles and computer-controlled ships in multi-player mode, and it featured a new multi-player shoot-out mode, an improved

single-player mode A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...

, an external view mode, as well as a shape editor NWDRAW to design own space-ships. Despite all these additions, the executable maintained a file size of less than 77 KB. ''NetWars'' and ''Advanced NetWars'' inspired the development of clones such as Ingmar Frank's ''NetWarsGL'' for Win32 platforms with

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve hardwa ...

in 2002 to 2004, or the Botolib-based ''NetWorst''.

References

External links

*
A video of Advanced NetWars gameplay
{{Novell 1993 video games DOS games DOS-only games Multiplayer online games Novell software Shoot 'em ups Video games developed in the United Kingdom