Hammerfight

Hammerfight, previously known as Hammerfall, is a 2-dimensional physics-based video game published by Kranx Productions and 1C for Windows in 2009.

Hammerfight
Hammerfight logo as seen on Steam
Developer(s)Konstantin Koshutin (aka Gkosh)
Publisher(s)Kranx Productions, 1C
Designer(s)Konstantin Koshutin
EngineHaaf's game engine
Platform(s)Linux, Windows, PSP, Mac OS X
Release
  • RU: September 19, 2009
  • WW: October 29, 2009
Genre(s)Combat
Mode(s)Single-player
Hammerfight screenshot showing one of the later levels.

It was re-released as a cross-platform game in the third Humble Indie Bundle in 2011, at which time the underlying engine, Haaf's Game Engine was made cross-platform and open-sourced.[1][2]

Plot

The player is a member of a tribe called the Gaiars, a strong race who have battled with large bugs to survive. When the player's tribe is destroyed, he is taken prisoner and turned into a slave. As the player is discovered to be the last living human Gaiar, he is forced to battle in the arena. In battle, a man recognizes the player as the son of a friend, and together they plot the downfall of the Emperor who ordered the destruction of the Gaiars.

Gameplay

In the physics-based gameplay, the player swings large melee weapons and relies on centripetal force to give the object enough kinetic energy to destroy enemies. The demo release had six main types of weapons - four melee and two ranged.

The different weapon types offer a certain variety. To be a slow, but well-armored powerhouse using hammers or maces to deliver slow, but crushing blows, or a nimble, but poorly protected sword-wielder, delivering quick, but weak attacks, is entirely up to the player. The game also contains a few different play modes, such as a hunt on worms or a Hammerball game.

The equipped weapon is connected to the player's hovering vehicle, and has physically realistic inertia. By moving the vehicle in circles, it is possible to swing the weapon in circles. Keeping the weapon spinning, getting it to solidly connect with foes, and avoiding their own weapons and other threats is one of the main challenges of the game. Weapon type must also be taken into consideration, with blades more effective against unarmored crafts, and heavier blunt weapons causing more damage to armor. Two weapons can be used simultaneously, and a player can experiment with different weights and types to find a pair of weapons that complement each other, or the player's play style.

Development

The game was developed by Konstantin Koshutin in 2009. The game was initially released by Kranx Productions and 1C for Windows only.

Humble Indie bundle re-release

In 2011 the game became part of the successful third Humble Indie Bundle.[1][2]

Haaf's Game Engine: open-sourced

For the bundle, Ryan C. Gordon ported the game and the underlying game engine, Haaf's Game Engine (HGE), to Linux and Mac OS X. Following that, Relish Games and Ryan Gordon released the source code of their versions of the engine under the zlib free software license in August/September 2011.[3][4][5][6]

Reception

References
  1. McLaughlin, Ryan (3 August 2011). "Humble Indie Bundle Sells Lots, Windows Users Still Cheap". HotHardware. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  2. HGE-comes-to-Mac-and-Linux-guest-post-from-Ryan-Gordon on wolfire.com (August 2011)
  3. Ryan Gordon Ports HGE To Linux, Then Releases Code on Phoronix by Michael Larabel (August 07, 2011)
  4. hge-unix on icculus.org "August 7th, 2011: Source code released to the world!" (August 2011)
  5. license.txt on hg.icculus.org/icculus/hge-unix
  6. hge - DX8.1 and 9.0 on github.com
  7. "Hammerfight for PC". GameRankings. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  8. "Hammerfight". GamesRadar. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
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