X-Wars
| X-Wars | |
|---|---|
| Publisher |
Tiscali Gameforge mediatainment |
| Senior Developer | Sebastian Lagemann, Nils Mitoussis |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
May 2002 |
| platform | Web browser , iOS |
| genre | Browser game , computer strategy game |
| control | Keyboard & mouse |
| language | German |
X-Wars was a free browser game where thousands of players met in real time. It was a massive multiplayer online game with elements of real-time strategy games and business simulations . The content of the game was to colonize and build planets, to design, manufacture and command spaceships, as well as to trade or fight with other players.
Among other things, X-Wars won the SBG Gold Award of 2005 in the category of the greatest games and was named the best free browser game by C't magazine .
Origin and history
X-Wars started as a leisure project by Sebastian Lagemann and Nils Mitoussis. In May 2002 the first playable version was published on its own server. In the same year a second beta followed, in which for the first time completely self-assembled spaceships and various fleet operations were possible.
At the beginning of 2003 the developers entered into negotiations with Tiscali Games for a sponsorship contract. The third beta started at the beginning of April 2003. With the move to Tiscali, X-Wars was first noticed by the mass media. X-Wars was mentioned in articles in the PC world and in the C't and was voted the best free browser game by these magazines.
For the fourth beta, a faction system was introduced to allow players to design the game more individually. Furthermore, a trading post was introduced where you could buy special ships.
Due to technical problems, server failures and poor accessibility of the game, the developers switched to gamigo AG servers at the end of 2004 . By quality-of-service clauses in the new contract should the availability of X-Wars be improved. A little later, at the beginning of 2005, so-called premium accounts were introduced which enable services such as an overview of all planets or any message folder for a monthly fee.
The fifth beta started at the end of 2004. One of the major new features was the carrier deck, which enables ships to be transported by other ships. One year later, in December 2005, round six started. Minor changes followed. The trading post lost its importance in round six, as the spaceships available there could not keep up with self-built ships except at the beginning of the game. On January 22, 2007, the sixth round ended and the seventh round started.
Shortly after the start of the fifth round, in early 2005, Sebastian Lagemann and Nils Mitoussis licensed X-Wars to Gameforge GmbH for operation outside of Germany. First a French version appeared, followed by an English , a Polish and a Spanish version.
X-Wars won the SBG Gold Award 2005. The award for massively multiplayer browser games is awarded after several evaluation phases by the jury and game communities. Then the two developers had the opportunity to present the game in an interview on GIGA TV (NBC).
With the start of the seventh beta, it was announced in early 2007 that the operation and development of X-Wars had been transferred to mediatainment GmbH. Since April 2012 the servers are no longer available. It is not known whether there will be a relaunch.
Features and special features
In X-Wars , the player could choose between four different races and seven factions at the beginning of the game, which, depending on the selection, gave him various bonuses and penalties for offensive weapons, defense components, espionage and counter-espionage. The technology tree comprised over two dozen building types and branches of research with a dependency system. There was the possibility to trade with other players, to join an alliance and to colonize other planets.
The game introduced innovative features for the genre. This included the possibility of constructing your own spaceships of various sizes on the drawing board from a number of ship components (2002). A corresponding combat system made it possible to fight any fleet from these own ships.
Further features were the so-called alliance hangar through which it was possible to launch attacks and other fleet actions from planets of allies. There was also a carrier deck that could be used to transport ships in the hull of other ships. This enabled them to be involved or camouflaged in attacks over great distances.
Community and IRC
The game had its own IRC network that could be reached at irc.xwars.de. The main channel was #xwars, in the channel #handel trade agreements took place and in #support volunteers were available to take care of the game and IRC.
In addition, alliances had the option of registering public and private channels.
Similar games
In 2017, Last War, a game that mimics some of the game concepts of X-Wars , was released.
Web links
- The enemy in the window. German multiplayer games based on browser ( Memento from December 4, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) Article in: c't 23/2003, p. 180
Individual evidence
- ↑ Special: General Super Browser Game 2005 ( Memento from February 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Special: General And the Oscar goes to ... ( Memento from February 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://de.mmofacts.com/magazin/x-wars-wechselelt-den-besitzer-2427
- ↑ c't 23/2003: Browser-oriented online multiplayer games ( Memento from December 4, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ https://last-war.de/