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'''HoverRace''' is an [[open source]] game designed by [[GrokkSoft]]. Created in 1996 as shareware, the company self-proclaimed it as the first internet-based online multiplayer game. Later, HoverRace became branded as [[abandonware]] before the source code was released and the game became open source.

{{Short description|1996 video game}}

{{Infobox video game

|title = HoverRace

|image = HoverRace.gif

|developer = GrokkSoft

|publisher = GrokkSoft

|designer = GrokkSoft

|released = 1996<small> (shareware)</small><br/>February 7, 1997<small> (full)</small><ref>{{Cite web |date=1997-02-27 |title=Online Gaming Review |url=http://www.ogr.com/news/news0297.html |access-date=2023-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970227065532/http://www.ogr.com/news/news0297.html |archive-date=1997-02-27}}</ref>

|genre = [[Racing video game]]

|modes = [[Single-player]], [[Multiplayer video game|multiplayer]]

|platforms = [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]

}}

'''''HoverRace''''' is a [[racing video game]] created by GrokkSoft in 1996 as [[shareware]]. GrokkSoft claimed it was the first internet-based [[Multiplayer online game|online multiplayer game]]. The [[source code]] was released to the public in 2006 and HoverRace.com maintains a version which is still under active development. [[Software license|License]] of the [[source code]] forbids commercial use.<ref>https://raw.github.com/HoverRace/HoverRace/master/license.txt {{Bare URL plain text|date=March 2022}}</ref>

[[Image:HR_Basic_Craft.gif|frame|The "Basic" HoverCraft: One of the several playable crafts in the game]]

== Gameplay ==

''HoverRace'' allows players around the world to race against each other in a 3D environment. The player choosescan choose one of severalfour hovercraftshovercraft before the startrace of the racebegins and then competes against others on a track created either by GrokkSoft or a track created by other registered users. The game supports [[Dial-up Internet access|dial-up]] connections and does not require a [[Server (computing)|server]] for races. Instead, upUp to 810 players can connect directly, through their IP address. However,but users can connectgo to the in-game chat server called the Internet Meeting Room (IMR) where they can schedule racesrace and chat with others. While racing, players are able to send messages to everyone, shoot missiles, drop landmines, and use speed boosters placed in the race track.

In addition, sports tracks have been made. In some of these tracks a stationary player is used as a ball or puck and other players must hit it where they need it to go. Missiles and other items are very rarely allowed in these games.

HoverRace allows players around the world to race against each other in a 3D environment. The player chooses one of several hovercrafts before the start of the race and then competes against others on a track created either by GrokkSoft or a track created by other registered users. The game supports dial-up connections and does not require a server for races. Instead, up to 8 players connect directly through their IP address. However, users can connect to the in-game chat server called the Internet Meeting Room (IMR) where they can schedule races and chat with others. While racing, players are able to send messages to everyone, shoot missiles, drop landmines, and use speed boosters placed in the race track.

== History ==

In addition, sports tracks have been made. In some of these tracks a stationary player is used as a ball or puck and other players must hit it where they need it to go. Missiles and other items are very rarely allowed in these games.

=== ''HoverRace'' as shareware ===

''HoverRace'' was created in 1996 though there are some pieces of information cached on the internet that suggests it may have origins in 1995. It was designed by GrokkSoft with Richard Langlois as its most well-knownprincipal programmer and [http://www.imediaconnection.com/bios/bio.aspx?id=1153 John Ferber] who was believed to be responsible for the company's marketing and advertising of the game.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.joabj.com/Balt/StartMeUp.html|archive-url The= gamehttps://web.archive.org/web/20030826110213/http://www.joabj.com/Balt/StartMeUp.html|archive-date was= free2003-08-26|title for= everyone.Start Me However,up}}</ref> freeIn the shareware version of the game users could only race with the basic hovercraft and userace three of the company's three free tracks to race. Users who bought a registration key for $16 could race with all hovercraftshovercraft, play any track, and/or even create their own.

To boost popularity, GrokkSoft advertised ''HoverRace'' on newsgroups and had a HoverRewards program to pay people who referred new players. GrokksoftGrokkSoft also gained affiliations with MBnet, and E-onOn. The Theseaffiliation affiliationswith E-On werewas short-lived and as a result the company had to release a new version which removed the E-onOn (fourth) hovercraft and the MBnet IMR.

== HoverRace as shareware ==

In 1998 GrokkSoft stopped selling registration keys. Many players had their own websites with tracks and information about ''HoverRace''. The IMR rooms hosted on GrokkSoft worked until the end of 1999 when GrokkSoft decommissioned the server due to Daniel Young's use of [[Social engineering (security)|social engineering]], where he was able to acquire the source code for the IMR. After the GrokkSoft server went down, the community quickly eroded, and eventually the MBNet IMR went down as well. However, the game was able to live on with Evan Byl hosting the IMR, and a group of others hex editing and resource hacking the game executables. The game was also reviewed by [[GamePro]] in 1999.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gamepro.com/exclusives/ex_274.html |title=GamePro Online: Exclusives |website=www.gamepro.com |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991006041032/http://www.gamepro.com/exclusives/ex_274.html |archive-date=6 October 1999 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Since 2001, the activity of the ''HoverRace'' community has been somewhat sinusoidal; there are periods of long activity followed by relatively quiet times.

HoverRace was created in 1996 though there are some pieces of information cached on the internet that suggests it may have origins in 1995. It was designed by GrokkSoft with Richard Langlois as its most well-known programmer and [http://www.imediaconnection.com/bios/bio.aspx?id=1153 John Ferber] who was believed to be responsible for the company's marketing and advertising of the game. The game was free for everyone. However, free users could only race with the basic hovercraft and use the company's three free tracks to race. Users who bought a registration key for $16 could race with all hovercrafts, play any track, or even create their own.

=== As orphaned work ===

To boost popularity, GrokkSoft advertised HoverRace on newsgroups and had a HoverRewards program to pay people who referred new players. Grokksoft also gained affiliations with MBnet, and E-on. These affiliations were short-lived and as a result the company had to release a new version which removed the E-on hovercraft and the MBnet IMR.

{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2009}}

As there was [[Orphaned work|no official support by the developer anymore]], the game-community took up the fixing and patching efforts themselves.<ref>{{Citation |title=HoverRace/HoverRace |date=2024-10-16 |url=https://github.com/HoverRace/HoverRace |access-date=2025-02-06 |publisher=HoverRace}}</ref> The game, hosted by several sites, was [[Hex editor|hex-edit]]ed and resource hacked to enable free use for all users, allowing racing of up to 10 players (instead of 8 as before), to use the illegally acquired IMR, and was modified to allow racing with the E-On craft again. Popular management of the game switched hands many times. Former websites that managed the game include hoverrace.com (whose ownership has switched hands several times as well), hoverrace.ds98.com, and mydan.com.

To compensate for the game's aging graphics and interface, attempts have beenwere made to entice new players. Various Improvingimprovements were made to the stolen IMR source code, modernizingwhile webothers pagesmodernized websites, implementingimplemented forums, designingdesigned anreplacement interactive scoreserverscoreservers, interactive room bots, and alternate controlled hacked versions with cheats, which were all attempts to maintain the number of current players as well as bringing in new ones.

In 1998, GrokkSoft stopped selling registration keys. The reason for this was not mentioned by GrokkSoft. The community, however, still remained strong. Many novice players had their own websites with tracks and information about HoverRace and were usually part of [[webrings]] that linked to others. The IMR rooms hosted on GrokkSoft worked until the end of 1999 when Grokksoft decided to pull down the server due to security issues. After the Grokksoft server went down, the community quickly eroded until it was brought back in mid-2000 by a group of former players that had the source code for the IMR server and hacked the game files. The source code for the server was stolen illegally. Since 2001, the activity of the HoverRace community has been somewhat sinusoidal; there are periods of long activity followed by relatively quiet times. Most of the time the only thing that keeps the community alive are constant flamewars.

In August 2006, Ryan Curtin received the [[source code]] from Richard Langlois,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://hoverrace.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=42 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2007-01-22 |archive-date=2006-10-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061030122139/http://www.hoverrace.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=42 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and published it, allowing full public access. The original license, written in 2006, was temporary, expiring in 2009, but in November 2008, Langlois removed the expiration date.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://hoverrace.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=765 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-01-05 |archive-date=2011-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110712224011/http://hoverrace.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=765 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The full original source code is still available to the public.<ref>[http://www.hoverrace.com/devel/download/source-1.01.zip source-1.01.zip] source code from the version 1.01</ref>

== HoverRace as abandonware ==

From 2006 to summer 2008, little development was done on the source code. Without an active [[source code repository]] and [[Bug tracker|bug-tracking]] website, and without motivated coders, nothing happened. Then, in summer 2008, a subversion repository was set up and development began. In addition to this version, managed by HoverRace.com, another member of the HoverRace community started ''HoverRace Plus'', intending to fork the original ''HoverRace'' source code. ''HoverRace Plus'' is now defunct, as a new fork called ''OpenHover'' has similar goals, and made an alpha release in December 2008. ''OpenHover'' is a fork of HoverRace.com's ''HoverRace'' 1.23, with some changes such as chat sounds, various [[bug fix]]es, and the distinction between non-registered users, and registered monitors.

The game, now currently hosted by HoverRace.com is free to all users, allows racing of up to 10 (instead of 8 as before), and is modified to allow racing of the E-on craft. Management of the game has switched hands many times. Former websites that managed the game include hoverrace.com (whose ownership has switched hands several times as well), hoverrace.ds98.com, mydan.com, and bapinney.com.

2009 saw the release of ''HoverX'', a clone of the original ''HoverRace''. Although fully functional it saw little support from the remaining community and became little more than a demo for its unique low latency engine which is now open source.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sites.google.com/site/hoverxdevblog/|title = Hoverx Devlog}}</ref>

To compensate for the game's aging graphics and interface, attempts have been made to entice new players. Improving the IMR source code, modernizing web pages, implementing forums, designing an interactive scoreserver, interactive room bots, and alternate controlled hacked versions with cheats were all attempts to maintain the number of current players as well as bringing in new ones.

=== HoverRace.com as open-source software ===

In November 2008, HoverRace.com released ''HoverRace'' 1.23, based on the original ''HoverRace'' source code. A number of improvements were made, including higher supported resolutions (up to 1600x1200), more gameplay options (weapons, mines, and speed cans can be disabled), misspellings were fixed, a revamp of network code for better working with NATs, and several other changes that help make ''HoverRace'' playable under [[Windows Vista]] and [[Windows XP]] without requiring the use of 8-bit color and VPN tools to play online. The current version, 1.23.3, still requires the user to modify router settings to enable port forwarding.

HoverRace.com had plans for ''HoverRace'', including the re-introduction of the E-On craft, more detailed craft meshes, rewritten network code, and several gameplay bug fixes, as well as porting the game to [[Linux]] using [[OpenGL]] and [[OpenAL]] for graphics and audio respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://svn.igglybob.com/hoverrace/roadmap |title=Roadmap – HoverRace – Trac |access-date=2009-01-05 |archive-date=2008-11-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121053606/http://svn.igglybob.com/hoverrace/roadmap |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In August 2006, Ryan Curtin (known as Igglybob) [http://hoverrace.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=42 obtained the source code from Richard Langlois]. The process was preceded by an exchange of emails that took place over nine months. Previously, other attempts to contact Langlois for the code were made but were unsuccessful. The [http://devel.hoverrace.com/download.php source code license] is temporary and Langlois is expected to have created a permanent license to replace it before 2009 when the temporary license expires. The source code is available to the public on the game's main website.

=== HoverNet ===

A number of modifications have been made since the obtainment of the source code. These include:

''HoverNet'' was originally a third party add-on for ''HoverRace''. It offered and extra Internet Meeting room for when the official version of the game was offline, bots, alerts a track downloader and news.

* Higher supported resolutions (up to 1600x1200)

* More gameplay options; weapons, mines, and speed cans can be disabled

* Fixed misspellings

After the original source code was released the developer of ''HoverNet'' decided to fork an early version of the HoverRace.com fork of the game as a personal hobby project. This project was originally called ''Open Hover'' but later became known as ''HoverNet NG''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.mccourt3/hover/ |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2015-12-18 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222173047/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.mccourt3/hover/ |archivedate=2015-12-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hoverrace.co.uk/ |title=Home |website=hoverrace.co.uk |access-date=2022-08-08 |archive-date=2020-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805071201/https://hoverrace.co.uk/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Other modifications which are planned include a revamping of the network infrastructure, more textures that can be used in track creation, and a rewrite of the graphics engine.

==ExternalSee linksalso==

* ''[[Hover!]]''

* [http://www.hoverrace.com/ HoverRace website]

* [http://www.igglybob.com/hoverrace/wiki/ HoverRace Development Wiki]

== References ==

[[Category:Multiplayer computer games]]

{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==

* [http://www.hoverrace.com/ HoverRace website.com]

* [https://github.com/HoverRace/HoverRace HoverRace.com's development website]

* [http://www.hoverrace.co.uk HoverNet NG] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222110814/http://www.hoverrace.co.uk/|date=2015-12-22}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoverrace}}

[[Category:1996 video games]]

[[Category:WindowsCommercial video games with freely available source code]]

[[Category:RacingFormerly videoproprietary gamessoftware]]

[[Category:Freeware games]]

[[Category:Open sourceLinux games]]

[[Category:OpenMultiplayer sourceand racingsingle-player video games]]

[[Category:MultiplayerRacing computervideo games]]

[[Category:Shareware games]]

[[Category:Video games developed in the United States]]

[[Category:Watercraft racing video games]]

[[Category:Windows games]]