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RobotWar

Robowars · RAWG · Courtesy of RAWG

EntityQ4048361· pop 6· linked from 18 articles

RobotWar is a programming game written by Silas Warner. This game, along with the companion program RobotWrite, was originally developed in the TUTOR programming language on the PLATO system in the 1970s. Later the game was commercialized and adapted for the Apple II and published by Muse Software in 1981. The premise is that in the distant future of 2002, war was declared hazardous to human health, and now countries settled their differences in a battle arena full of combat robots. As the manual states, "The task set before you is: to program a robot, that no other robot can destroy!"

Game data

Released
2014-10-24
User rating
2.21 / 5
Genres
Strategy, Indie, Action
Platforms
PC

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Game details · IGDB

RobotWar is a strategy/puzzle/simulation hybrid by Silas Warner, creator of Castle Wolfenstein for MUSE Software. The game is best described as a cross between two later games: Origin's OMEGA and Maxis' RoboSport. Your task is to design robots, and program them to win fights in the arena. Using a language similar to BASIC, the game offers a surprisingly large number of commands you can use, a wide variety of robots.

Released
1981
Genres
Puzzle, Simulator, Strategy
Platforms
Apple II
Publisher
Muse Software

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Robotwar

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Wikidata facts

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publication date
1981-00-00
Sources (5)

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~4 min read

Article

5 sections
Contents
  • Robot programming
  • Reception
  • See also
  • References
  • External links

RobotWar is a programming game written by Silas Warner. This game, along with the companion program RobotWrite, was originally developed in the TUTOR programming language on the PLATO system in the 1970s. Later the game was commercialized and adapted for the Apple II and published by Muse Software in 1981. The premise is that in the distant future of 2002, war was declared hazardous to human health, and now countries settled their differences in a battle arena full of combat robots. As the manual states, "The task set before you is: to program a robot, that no other robot can destroy!"

The main activity of the game is to write a computer program that operates a (simulated) robot. The player selects multiple robots which do battle in an arena until only one is left standing. The robots do not have direct knowledge of the location or velocity of any of the other robots; they only use radar pulses to deduce distance, and perhaps use clever programming techniques to deduce velocity. There is no way for the player to actually take part in the battle.

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