Spacewar!: 5 Open Source Clones Compared
Of the listed clones, only the kanaka Spacewar supports true multiplayer, letting up to four players compete at once directly in a browser with no download required. SolarConflict is a single-player clone written in Perl with SDL and distributed as a CPAN module, while Spacewars is a from-scratch remake built in Rust with the Amethyst engine that must be built from source or run as a downloaded AppImage (Linux) or Windows build. All three of these are inactive, halted projects.
Comparison table
Availability
- Status
- Playable
- Platforms
- Web
- Play in browser
- Mobile
- No
Project health
- Development status
- Halted
- Last updated
- 10y ago
- Stars
- 14
- Contributors
- 1
- License
- —
- Engine
- —
Compatibility
- Requires original assets
- NoMulti-player game with its own assets and implementation based on the original Spacewar!
- Multiplayer
- Multiplayer
Availability
- Status
- Playable
- Platforms
- Windows, Linux
- Play in browser
- No
- Mobile
- No
Project health
- Development status
- Halted
- Last updated
- 6y ago
- Stars
- 6
- Contributors
- 1
- License
- GPL-3.0
- Engine
- SDL2
Compatibility
- Requires original assets
- NoOriginal Spacewar! remake built in Rust using the Amethyst game engine.
- Multiplayer
- —
Availability
- Status
- Playable
- Platforms
- None
- Play in browser
- No
- Mobile
- No
Project health
- Development status
- Halted
- Last updated
- 14y ago
- Stars
- 1
- Contributors
- 1
- License
- —
- Engine
- SDL2
Compatibility
- Requires original assets
- —
- Multiplayer
- —
Availability
- Status
- Playable
- Platforms
- Windows, Linux
- Play in browser
- No
- Mobile
- No
Project health
- Development status
- Not tracked
- Last updated
- Not tracked
- Stars
- Not tracked
- Contributors
- Not tracked
- License
- Not tracked
- Engine
- Not tracked
Compatibility
- Requires original assets
- —
- Multiplayer
- —
Availability
- Status
- Playable
- Platforms
- Web
- Play in browser
- YesPlay in Browser
- Mobile
- No
Project health
- Development status
- Not tracked
- Last updated
- Not tracked
- Stars
- Not tracked
- Contributors
- Not tracked
- License
- Not tracked
- Engine
- Not tracked
Compatibility
- Requires original assets
- —
- Multiplayer
- —
| Title | Spacewar | Spacewars | SolarConflict | spacewar-sdl | Spacewar! |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Status | Playable | Playable | Playable | Playable | Playable |
| Platforms | Web | Windows, Linux | None | Windows, Linux | Web |
| Play in browser | No | No | No | YesPlay in Browser | |
| Mobile | No | No | No | No | No |
| Project health | |||||
| Development status | Halted | Halted | Halted | Not tracked | Not tracked |
| Last updated | 10y ago | 6y ago | 14y ago | Not tracked | Not tracked |
| Stars | 14 | 6 | 1 | Not tracked | Not tracked |
| Contributors | 1 | 1 | 1 | Not tracked | Not tracked |
| License | — | GPL-3.0 | — | Not tracked | Not tracked |
| Engine | — | SDL2 | SDL2 | Not tracked | Not tracked |
| Compatibility | |||||
| Requires original assets | NoMulti-player game with its own assets and implementation based on the original Spacewar! | NoOriginal Spacewar! remake built in Rust using the Amethyst game engine. | — | — | — |
| Multiplayer | Multiplayer | — | — | — | — |
| Preview | | |
Frequently asked questions
Are the Spacewar! clones on this page open source?
Yes — every clone catalogued here is an open-source project. Availability, license, and development-status details for each one are listed in the comparison table above.
What license do these Spacewar! clones use?
Spacewars (GPL-3.0).
Do I need to own the original Spacewar! to play these clones?
Spacewar and Spacewars run standalone, no original files needed.
Can I play any of these Spacewar! clones directly in a browser?
Yes — Spacewar and Spacewar! have a browser-playable build linked in the comparison table above, no install required.
See the full write-up for each clone, or go back to Spacewar!.