Avara — walking tanks and level design Runs here
1996 · Ambrosia Software · Mac OS 8 · SheepShaver (Power Macintosh 9500) · 800×600 at 8-bit colour
Guide updated September 2026
You drive a walking tank through angular, brightly coloured rooms, and the whole thing renders in flat-shaded polygons that look like nothing else from 1996. It was built for network play between Macs in an office or a lab, and it came with a level editor that people used hard.
Avara is one of the stranger things Ambrosia published, and one of the best.
Boots Mac OS 8.6 and opens Avara by itself. It is unregistered shareware, so it greets you with Ambrosia's notice first — click "Not Yet" and you are in.
Controls
| Mouse | Aim and turn |
| Arrow keys | Walk, strafe |
| Space | Fire |
| Tab | Jump |
| Game menu | Choose a level set — Berserkir Fury and Net Levels are both installed |
Avara is Ambrosia Software shareware, and its licence says in terms that "non-profit distribution of the software is acceptable without prior written notice, providing that the software is not modified in any way, and the complete works of the software are included in the distribution package." Both conditions are met here: the copy is exactly what the installer produced, documentation and extras included, and nothing has been patched or pre-registered. It is unregistered, so it shows Ambrosia's shareware notice when it starts — that notice is part of the software and is deliberately left alone. Full reasoning is in notices/avara.md.
Source and archives
- Avara's source — released by its author, Juri Munkki, in 2017.
- Internet Archive — the Ambrosia installer this copy was produced from.
How it works & what to expect
| Machine | Power Macintosh 9500, 800×600 in colour |
|---|---|
| System | Mac OS 8.6, shared with every other title of this era |
| Emulator | SheepShaver, compiled to WebAssembly |
| Version | 1.0.1, as the Ambrosia installer produced it |
| Saves | Inside the emulated Mac, in your browser. |
This is the first title here that does not carry its own operating system. Mac OS 8.6 is mounted from one shared disk image, identical for every title of this era, and Avara sits on a small disk of its own beside it — so the operating system is downloaded once and the next Mac OS 8 title costs only its own few megabytes.
It is demanding. Avara renders its polygons in software on an emulated PowerPC, and the machine occasionally runs out of room and stops — if it does, reload the page and it starts again.
The shareware notice on startup is part of the software. Ambrosia's licence allows this to be distributed only unmodified, which means the notice stays exactly where it is. Click "Not Yet".
What makes it unusual
It is built around network play. Avara expected several Macs on the same network, each driving a hector — the bipedal machine you pilot — through a shared level. Single player works and ships with level sets, but the design points outward.
The rendering is flat-shaded polygons at a time when Mac action games were overwhelmingly sprites. No textures, strong colours, hard edges, and a readability that a lot of textured 3D from the same years lost.
The levels are a description language. Avara's levels are written rather than drawn, in a text format the game compiles, which is why the community produced so many of them. "Net Levels" and "Berserkir Fury" are both installed here.
Movement has weight. The hector walks, and turning, walking and aiming are separate things you do at once. It takes a few minutes and then it is the point.
Ambrosia, and where Avara went
Ambrosia Software was the great Macintosh shareware house: Maelstrom, Apeiron, Escape Velocity, SketchFighter, and a distribution model where you downloaded the whole game, played it, and paid if you kept it. Avara was written by Juri Munkki and published by Ambrosia in 1996.
In 2017 Munkki released Avara's source code, and a community port now runs it natively on modern machines with proper network play. What runs on this page is the original 1996 Macintosh application rather than that port — the thing as it shipped, nag screen and all.
Ambrosia itself wound down in 2017. Maelstrom, which is also on this site, is from the same house and under the same kind of licence.
Questions people ask
Is this free?
It is shareware, which is not the same thing. Ambrosia's licence permits non-profit distribution of the unmodified software, which is what this is, and the game is fully playable on a trial basis. It is not registered, so it shows the shareware notice at startup.
Why does it ask me to register?
Because it is unregistered shareware and that notice is part of the program. The licence only permits redistribution if the software is unmodified, so removing it is not an option. Click "Not Yet".
It stopped and the screen went blank.
Avara is demanding — software-rendered polygons on an emulated PowerPC — and the emulator occasionally runs out of memory. Reload the page and it starts again.
Can I play against other people?
No. Avara's network play needs a real network between machines, and the emulated Mac has no connection. The installed level sets are for single play.
Is there a modern version?
Yes — Juri Munkki released the source in 2017 and a community port runs natively with working network play. This page is the 1996 Macintosh original.
Why does it take so long to start?
It boots a whole Mac OS 8.6 system first. That image is shared with every other title of this era, so once you have loaded it, the next one starts much faster.
