Scorched3D

Scorched 3D project is a game based loosely (or actually quite heavily now) on the classic DOS game Scorched Earth "The Mother Of All Games". Scorched 3D adds amongst other new features a 3D island environment and LAN and internet play. Scorched 3D is totally free and is available for both Microsoft Windows and Unix (Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, Solaris etc.) operating systems.

You can pick up the game and begin playing very quickly. Then, when/if you are interested, you can poke in the dimmer recesses of the game and get into the strategy (or just ignore it altogether!).

At its lowest level, Scorched 3D is just an artillery game with two+ tanks taking turns to destroy opponents in an arena. Choose the angle, direction and power of each shot, launch your weapon, and try to blow up other tanks. That's basically it.

But Scorched 3D can be a lot more complex than that, if you want it to be. You can earn money from successful battles and use it to invest in additional weapons and accessories. You can play with up to twenty four other players at a time, mixing computer players with humans.

There's a variety of changing environmental conditions and terrains to be dealt with. After the end of each round (which ends when everybody dies or there's only one person left), you get to buy stuff using the prize money you won from previous matches.

What is new in this release:

• This version fixes some bugs in the previous release, including client/server syncing issues, network dialog sizes, and camera modes.

What is new in version 43.2:

• Fixed an issue with invalidly encoded characters throwing up a dialog box
• Added read-only view of the online chat
• Updated in-game versions for 43.2 release
• Fixed square looking scorch textures
• Fixed countdown sound continuing after shots played
• Finished UPnP support to automatically add port mappings when running server
• Gentoo Bug #339745
• Added start of UPnP support
• Changed network dialog to remove key entry and enter key connecting - ready for lobby chat
• Removed lengthy description texts from the option entries
• Updated avatar license to align with actual agreement
• Fixed bug in team selector in player dialog
• Score dialog only shows others player's money when not buying
• Added delayed defence for shields to the new game engine
• Fixed similar colours in the colour selector dialog
• Fixed incorrect alpha value being used for some pine trees
• Fixed wall obscuring clouds
• Added height collision for projectiles for "air bursts"
• Implemented max turns on the new game engine
• Items can only be bought when the player is in the buying state
• Changed installed to support installation directories based on the product name
• Fixed tank/ai names not being recycled correctly when starting a new game
• Fixed group name ordering for targets
• Updated tank icons
• Fixed transparent tank icon for client window
• Fixed tank model store not clearing between games
• Updated installer to add s3l file extension
• Updated scorched3d icon
• Updated distribution for VC10 deployment
• Updated version for beta release
• Updated player icons in chat to have a better template.
• Boids camera angle
• Sticky rollers (on shields)
• Fixed tanks resigning again after a resign/death
• Residual player information updated as soon as player connects
• Fixed mac address fetching under DARWIN
• Fixed unix scripts to cope with Visual studio 10 files
• Moved round time from the OSD to the score dialog
• Add tool tip to the shot timer
• Fixed some tool tips not displaying for some UI elements
• Updated player dialog to have explicit spectator and cancel buttons
• Split combat messages into separate log window
• Different deform types for roof and ground
• Updated connection code to log unqiueid/suid when banned client connects
• Fixed some fixed point maths so it deals with very large numbers
• Fixed snprintf implementation so it deals with very large numbers
• Started work on deforming options (solid, file, deform) for landscape and cavern roof
• Fixed player/rules dialog not having a key binding when just connected to server
• Added an optional penalty for tanks becoming spectators when alive
• Players can now enter and leave spectator mode at any time
• Players can change their name/color/team/tank at any time
• Players are moved to spectator mode when they exceed the maximum number of missed moves
• Fixed tank color drop down not working on some graphics cards
• Fixed tank model not updating correctly under some conditions
• Updated AnimatedBackdropDialog to load land faster
• Client now closes connections when disconnectAllClients called
• Mod files cleaned up before new mod files are loaded
• More changes to allow reconnection
• More updates to remove singletons from the server code
• More updates to allow people to quit/restart games
• GLTextureReference
• More re-factoring of images to allow them to be loaded via ImageIDs
• Paths to models changed to be relative to the mod root
• Update image to reference count data to prevent copying (should also allow image resource management)
• Tanks position indicators are drawn during the buying phase
• Players get a larger skill change when killing lower skilled players
• Roof can now be deformed via explosions
• Cavern roof rendered using LOD and visibility quads
• Fixed assertion in network dialog
• Updated project to Visual studio version 10
• Changed VC project to support multiple processor building
• Fixed tank circle indicator being misplaced when target reflections are on
• Fixed Tank color selector on radeon graphics cards
• Fixed Tank color drop down texture
• Added no channel sound and count down sound options to sound dialog
• Fixed server and client calculating auto balance differently.
• Money formatting changed so larger numbers are easier to read
• Added AI logging to enable AI debugging
• Camera mode is not reset between rounds when only AIs are playing
• Count down sound for shot timer
• Made text sound less obtrusive
• Followed shots now don't flicker when being followed
• Tank/shield health not shown in some of the camera views

What is new in version 43.1b:

• Changed ambient sounds levels to change better with the sound slider
• Lowered the default sound levels for some of the louder ambient sounds
• Changed shot camera so it always follows the shot regardless of what else is happening.
• If there are shots from the current player it follows the shots
• If there are no shots but the player is alive it views from the gun
• If the player is dead it views other peoples shots
• If there are no shots it views from the spectator angle
• Added new aim camera that always views from the players gun regardless of what else is happening
• Added key bindings for aim and explosion cameras
• Fixed old sight position not working
• Fixed new visible sight not being aligned with the gun
• Fixed new AIs not getting the correct unique ids
• Fixed auto defence not working
• Fixed gifting money not working

What is new in version 43:

• The main emphasis for this release is to streamline and improve the playing experience. The upshot is that the game can play like a RTS in some of the game modes. In general the game play has been sped up with less waiting around.

What is new in version 42.1:

• A few small issues were fixed. This included an altered skill formula with fewer fluctuations, changes for 64-bit and GCC compilers, and Windows quick launching.

What is new in version 42:

• This release has many updates including an optimized engine to better use hardware, large landscape support, localization, and LAN timeout fixes.