Hello all! I will be hosting a livestream to celebrate the 30th anniversary of one of my favorite classic Mac games, Avara!
The stream will be on Saturday, September 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time at
https://twitch.tv/scarletswordfish
It will feature the game's creator Juri Munkki as a special guest, as well as discussions about recent development, player memories from the classic days, and of course plenty of gameplay.
If you're not familiar with Avara, it was a unique mecha shooter published by Ambrosia Software in 1996. It featured full 3D polygonal graphics, online play over AppleTalk or the internet, and the ability for users to create levels with a simple drawing program and ResEdit. It had a minimalist, flat-shaded, low-poly graphical style but that meant it could play smoothly on Macs as old as Quadras. It was not a big success, but has maintained a small cult following over the years. It was responsible for introducing me to the wider world of online gaming and communities, and sparked my imagination for many years.
Ten years ago I hosted a 20th anniversary stream, and shortly after that, Juri publicly released the games source code. Since then, the talented programmers in the Avara community have created a modern port which you can now play on macOS, Windows, and Linux!
You can get the game here: https://github.com/avaraline/Avara
Join the community Discord: https://discord.avara.dev/
Share on bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/scarletswordfish.bsky.social/post/3mvds7ox4fc27
The stream will be on Saturday, September 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time at
https://twitch.tv/scarletswordfish
It will feature the game's creator Juri Munkki as a special guest, as well as discussions about recent development, player memories from the classic days, and of course plenty of gameplay.
If you're not familiar with Avara, it was a unique mecha shooter published by Ambrosia Software in 1996. It featured full 3D polygonal graphics, online play over AppleTalk or the internet, and the ability for users to create levels with a simple drawing program and ResEdit. It had a minimalist, flat-shaded, low-poly graphical style but that meant it could play smoothly on Macs as old as Quadras. It was not a big success, but has maintained a small cult following over the years. It was responsible for introducing me to the wider world of online gaming and communities, and sparked my imagination for many years.
Ten years ago I hosted a 20th anniversary stream, and shortly after that, Juri publicly released the games source code. Since then, the talented programmers in the Avara community have created a modern port which you can now play on macOS, Windows, and Linux!
You can get the game here: https://github.com/avaraline/Avara
Join the community Discord: https://discord.avara.dev/
Share on bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/scarletswordfish.bsky.social/post/3mvds7ox4fc27
