Many years ago, I wrote a tank game called Howitzer. It had all sorts of features - animated mushroom clouds, dozens of types of ammo, computer-controlled tanks, etc. To run well on the computers of the day, some of which lacked math coprocessors, I wrote my own graphics, sound, memory management, and fixed point math libraries in a mix of hand-tuned C and assembly. The entire program rang in at around 35,000 lines of code.
I released Howitzer as shareware - $10, $5 for students, and just a postcard if you lived outside the USA. I still have a binder filled with all the postcards, from over 30 countries.
A few months ago, I started encouraging my older son Gavin to learn programming. He asked if it was possible to write a game, so I dug out Howitzer to show him that yes, it's possible. I was thrilled to discover that Howitzer runs nicely in DosBox, with the exception of the digital sound effects.
Howitzer's still a bunch of fun to play. If you'd like to give it a try, I've made a free version available for download here.
Hello Randall,
ReplyDeleteBack in 1993 I was just beginning high school. I can remember spending time in our brand new computer lab playing Howitzer with a buddy of mine. We loved the game so much that I took one of the weapons as my first email address. I have the .95 beta on DosBox and still break it out every now and again. Hope all is well with you.
"Autocannon"
Hiya Randall~
ReplyDeleteFirst off, thanks for making this game freeware. I remember playing the shareware version when it came out on a "Homeware" disk in the Netherlands. I'm thinking about sending you a Christmas card, as sort of compensation, because I've enjoyed this game so much. If you'd like one, send me your address at alex[dot]hofland[at]gmail[dot]com. ^_^
One question, how did Gavin get the game to run, as in what settings did he use for DosBox? It seems to get stuck on load after the nuke intro. I'm guessing I'm messing something up with the sound settings...
Alex
DosBox's soundblaster emulation isn't quite compatible with how I did the digital audio. Try running the game with the -B option to disable digital audio. Also see the howitzer.txt file for sound troubleshooting tips.
DeleteHi Randall, just an old fan of the shareware version dropping by to say hi! I first played Howitzer back in '95 when I got my first PC, a 386 running Windows 95. Got it off AOL games I think! Spent many high school summers with my little brother laughing our butts off playing this little gem. The game still resides on my harddrive today and in fact I'm firing it up on DosBox again and see if I can get it running to share this with my wife and daughter now. :)
ReplyDeleteFigured I'd do a google search just for the heck of it and see what're you've been doing since the past 21 years!
Thanks for making this game and hope you have a great rest of the year!
I spent many hours in my high school's computer lab playing Howitzer with friends. I'd love to see it ported over to Android, it would be a perfect on-the-go game!
ReplyDeleteI spent many hours in my high school's computer lab playing Howitzer with friends. I'd love to see it ported over to Android, it would be a perfect on-the-go game!
ReplyDeleteG'Day sir!Just wanted to say that I have played many similar types of games and I always return to this one. Of course Howitzer was the first game I played. I guess you can say that I return to my first love. Thank you for a engaging and entertaining game. I just wanted to say thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for making this game free!
ReplyDelete