The twarp dev log begins

twarp is a faithful reimplementation of TradeWars 2002, built from the interactions up. This is the first entry in a running log of the build. Later entries will follow the engine, the protocol, and the client as they take shape, along with the reasoning and the source material behind each decision.

The name

twarp is the game's own slang for a TransWarp jump. The TW- prefix carries the lineage that the classic ecosystem's tools always used, from TWX Proxy to TW Assistant.

Why rebuild it

TradeWars 2002 served two audiences at once. Humans played at ANSI terminals. A scripting meta-game, including TWX Proxy and SWATH, read the same terminal stream by scraping it, because the game exposed no machine-readable layer. Automation had to pattern-match screens that were drawn for people.

twarp turns that arrangement around. A deterministic engine exposes a canonical, structured protocol, and every client speaks that protocol directly. A terminal client renders the CP437 and ANSI presentation. Bots, scripts, and visual applications read the same typed events and send the same typed commands. The protocol is the source of truth, and the classic terminal look is one of its consumers.

What we are aiming for

• Fidelity to the original. The same components, combat resolution, port economics, and rules, reconstructed from documentation, community-derived formulas, and open-source reimplementations.
• The protocol as the product. The schema is published and versioned, so automated play is a first-class feature with a real interface behind it. Where the original left bots to survive on screen scraping, twarp gives them a published contract.
• Terminal character preserved. CP437 and ANSI art render in a terminal client for players who want the original presentation.
• Sovereign identity. Player identity is a Nostr key the player holds, so it travels with them across clients.

Where things stand

twarp is in its design phase. The subsystem specification is written, and the engine and protocol architecture are settled. The next step is the protocol schema and its toolchain. This log will record that work as it happens, including the places where the historical record runs thin and a rule has to be reconstructed from play, from formulas, or from old source.

More soon.