''Bos Wars'' is an open source,

cross-platform In computing, cross-platform software (also called multi-platform software, platform-agnostic software, or platform-independent software) is computer software that is designed to work in several computing platforms. Some cross-platform software ...

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to p ...

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 ...

. The game's engine is based on the open-source Stratagus engine, and is set in the future. The game allows the player to develop a war economy, managing

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

and

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natural sa ...

as resources, in order to build an army to combat their enemies.

History

The project was started by Tina Petersen, as . When Petersen died in 2003, François Beerten became the project's leader. The first v1.0 public release was in March 2004. In June 2007, the Stratagus game engine was merged with BOS and the game became known as . There have been two releases in the last ten years, the most recent in 2023.

Gameplay

The game map initially starts with a

fog of war The fog of war (german: links=no, Nebel des Krieges) is the uncertainty in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one's own capability, adversary capability, ...

covering all areas which is not covered by the player's units range of view. As the units explore the map, the darkness is removed. Revealed areas which are not in view range are again darkened to hide enemy unit movement on those areas. All players have the same buildings and units. There is no research in the game so you can instantly build new buildings, aircraft, land vehicles and troops after you have collected enough resources to build them. The resources in the game are magma and energy. Magma is gathered by engineers or harvesters from rocks or manufactured by magma pumps from hot spots. Energy is gathered by engineers or harvesters from trees or morels, or manufactured by power plants. There are three types of structures: basic, unit, and defense. The basic structures are power plants, magma pumps, radar, cameras, and vaults. The unit structures are training camps, vehicle factories, hospitals and aircraft factories. Lastly, the defensive buildings are gun turrets, cannons, and missile silos.

Technical features

The game is written in

C++ C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...

and

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with the SDL library. The game uses a game engine based on the Stratagus engine. Originally the game data structure was separated from the graphical engine, but it was merged into the game in 2007, and the Stratagus project was merged into the Bos Wars project shortly after the engine change. Although an official central server has not been created yet, Bos Wars supports multiplayer online play provided that users are able to obtain the

IP address An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.. Updated by . An IP address serves two main functions: network interface ident ...

es of potential opponents. Certain websites allow users to swap

es easily.

Reception and impact

was on LinuxLinks "42 More of the Best Free Linux Games" list as well as their later top one hundred list.

PC Advisor ''Tech Advisor'', previously known as ''PC Advisor'', is a consumer tech website and digital magazine published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc, which also produces ''Macworld, PCWorld'' and ''TechHive.'' IDG Inc was acquired by Blackstone in 2 ...

wrote in 2010: . Amiga Future concluded that Bos War is a bit lethargic. It contains no background music and only limited sound. The art style has aged, animations are sparse and there is no attention to detail. The gameplay while easy to understand doesn't give satisfaction.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links