Unusually for the time of its release, the game utilizes untextured 3D polygon graphics, although most entities and objects in the game utilize simple cuboid-shaped bounding boxes, even if the underlying shape appears more complex. 'Avara' further differentiated itself from shooters of the time by combining mouse-look controls for the HECTOR's head with separate forward/backward/turn controls for the legs. HECTORs cannot strafe or sidestep, so players wishing to do so must instead turn profile to their target and move forward or back. The game also features optional an optional third-person camera that appears in-game as a helicopter-like drone called a scout.
The game's primary draw was its multiplayer for up to six players over a local area network or the internet (although the server tracker for the latter has been inoperable for some time). The typical goal is to simply eliminate all enemy players or teams, though custom or solo levels could change these rules up. Players can select from three hull types for their HECTOR, from light to heavy, with heavier hulls being able to take more damage and having more space for weapons, but turning and running more slowly and unable to jump as high. The game also features a small roster of computer-controlled entities that usually serve as enemies in solo levels.
The game initially released with a handful of multiplayer levels and a short solo campaign, but players could create new levels simply using vector-based drawing programs, with the ability to add assets like music, ambient sound, and models via ResEdit. The game supported a simple built-in scripting language that allowed managing variables and automatic triggers, so that creators could create customized goals, rules, and mechanics. Uses of these options led to levels ranging from basketball or soccer matches, King of the Hill and Capture the Flag modes, an in-game game of Battleship, races, and more.
Avara was ultimately not a great commercial success for Ambrosia, though registration codes continued to be sold up to the company's closure. The game is now considered abandonware. In 2000, group of fans created an updated version of the game called Avara: Aftershock, with Ambrosia's blessing. This project was thought lost for some time, but a working copy was eventually recovered from a player's hard drive, and it is now available at the Macintosh Garden
.
Tropes present:
- Abandon Ware: Since the closure of Ambrosia Software, there is no longer any way to purchase a registration code for the game, though as a shareware title, it's fully playable without one (minus a nag screen and one missing Easter Egg - see below).
- Awesome, but Impractical: Heavy hulls, and medium ones to a lesser extent. Light hulls were universally favored by players when Avara was active. Being able to quickly hit opponents with a hail of grenades, and avoid having the same done to you, were arguably the two most important skills in competitive play, and any slowdown actively worked against that.
- Chicken Walker: The body plan of the HECTORs: A bipedal frame that cannot move sideways, with a swiveling head.
- Diegetic Interface: The player's third-person camera actually exists as an entity in the game (the scout), which can be destroyed and interact with the environment. If a player's scout is destroyed, they can only place a stationary camera when switching to third person. It's also a critical part of an exploit called "scout surfing" (see
Good Bad Bugs on the YMMV page). - Easter Egg: If your copy of the game is registered, adding two spaces after your username will color your HECTOR black, or white with three spaces. This is a cosmetic change only, and has no effect on what color team you're on, but is visible to other players.
- Fan Sequel: Avara: Aftershock is a fan re-release of the game, with interface, audio, visual, and UI tweaks, as well as a Team Fortress Classic-inspired class system. It released with a set of new solo and multiplayer maps designed for it.
- Grenade Spam: Generally the optimal strategy for player-vs.-player combat.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Not only are players not immune to their own explosive weapons, but these explosives exist in the game while the player has them readied to fire, and can be shot by other players, triggering their explosion right in the user's face.
- Level Editor: Almost any vector graphics editor of the mid-1990s was functionally this for Avara, which would parse the text and shapes into a level upon loading.
- Mighty Glacier: The basic idea of heavy hulls, with their high capacity for boosters, missiles, and grenades, and their higher health. However: See Awesome, but Impractical
- Missile Lock-On: Missiles lock on to a target with a red mark visible only to the player, and will home in on it when launched. However, they turn very slowly and do not account for obstacles between them and their targets, and can be shot down en route.
- No Plot? No Problem!: Avara's manual provided little more setting detail than the names of the mecha, and the official solo missions, while vaguely alluding to some sort of military operation or conflict in some levels, provided no further details. While a few fanworks or fan-made levels tried to attach some sort of storyline to Avara, it's essentially a pure shooter.
- Plasma Cannon: A HECTOR's infinitely usable default weapon, with two barrels. Each barrel does reduced damage if fired before it's fully recharged. They drain the HECTOR's battery to recharge, and will charge much more slowly if the battery is low.
- Power Ups: Players have three additional armaments that can be restocked from pickups in-game.
- Boosters: A temporary power-up that, on activation, rapidly restores the player's shields and battery.
- Grenades: Explosives that launch in an arc. The most damaging weapon in the game but trickier to aim. More or less the cornerstone of high-tier multiplayer.
- Missiles: Ranged explosives with a smaller explosion than grenades. If a player points a missile toward a target before firing, it locks on, and will automatically (if clumsily) pursue that target. Some players would use customizable keybinds to launch missiles in rapid succession without locking on first.
- Some user-created levels also added power-ups for extra lives (or provided other benefits), though these were uncommonly used.
- Press X to Die: The game features a self-destruct button. Double-tapping it ends the game immediately.
- Regenerating Health: In the form of the HECTOR's shields. They recharge fairly slowly, and drain the HECTOR's battery in doing so, which can slow healing down further if it runs low. It regenerates much faster while a booster is in use.
- Scoring Points: There is a token score system in Avara, though it's usually ignored unless playing some sort of variant game.
- Share Ware: Avara was released as shareware, as was the norm for Ambrosia Software. The only formal limitation of an unregistered copy was not being able to use the black/white HECTOR easter egg, but players can see if other players have passed the requested timeframe for playing unregistered, and some online lobbies would kick such players on sight.
- Shout-Out: The HECTOR acronym is a reference to Ambrosia Software's mascot, an African Grey parrot named Hector D. Byrd.
