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Games Entertainment

Scorched Island 3D 113

Posted by Hemos from the it's-baacckkkk dept.
kost writes: " There is clone of popular DOS game called Scorched Earth but this one is in three dimensions (very good concept). It is called Scorched Island 3D and you can download it here from FTP server or you can see some screenshots. It is a game where you try to shoot your opponent over the hill with different weapons and such. Disadvantages of the game include lack of sound and network play. " Ah, Scorched Earth. I spent a lot of quality time perfecting my angles to play the crap out of my friends and neighbors. It's good to see this game back. (michael: Enemy has rubber shield (the purple one), and is in a depression. Solution: napalm, contact triggers, fire shot that hits shield and immediately goes into the dirt next to him. Napalm pours out, fills up, and pours into the tiny hole in the rubber shield created by the shot hitting it. A single sweet second where the entire inside of his shield is full of napalm, held in by the shield, then, FOOM! Toasty.)
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Scorched Island 3D More

Scorched Island 3D

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  • Re:NeTrek (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Its trivial to fake the signature... just send the "right" one when the server asks...

  • Re:COOL! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Hahaha! You're so lame! Hahahahahahaha

  • Re:COOL! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Hahahaha! Great post! Hahahahaha
  • I've got a port of scorch for palmOS.. I even loved the game so much, that a long time ago, in a land far away... I wrote a mini clone of the game for my TI-85 graphing calculator.. 1 player vs computer, it was in graphic mode, had some cool math involved, and even played fast.. (for being written in TI-BASIC.. written before zshell existed) the whole thing was only 2k of code (2000 characters of code, TI byte-compiled basic was fairly nasty to code in)
  • random pot-shots.. untill it saw damage.. then it just kept firing.. kinda lame.. but it worked.. and the random windspeed I added made things interesting.


  • Go to this site [scorch2000.com], and you can download the best and most accurate port of Scorched Earth, and, if you like to waste time at w/o/r/k/ the computer, you can play on-line against either robots, or other people on-line. Written in Java, it should work on any PC with a JAVA port.

    ttyl

    Farrell

  • ...still gotta be Sopwith [sopwith.org].
  • Scorched Earth for DOS (runs under Windows 2000 in a DOS window as well, just perfect) is still available - you can get it at http://www.happypuppy.com/win/demos/scorchedea1.ht ml [happypuppy.com].
  • I dunno which one is elder...but Ballerburg on the Atari ST was one of the best games made ever...grin Though not much gfx or snd, it was just great!

  • Since all three of your referenced articles were talking about 3D GUI's or similar projects, I'm not sure your point is really valid.
  • A similar game came out waaaay long ago for Windows.. called Blast Doors [ffiends.com] Its incredibly fun, so I suggest you go download it now.

    ---
  • This is the best use of 3D in a resurrected game I've ever seen :D
  • OK, so I hit the space bar to fire a shell arching through the air in the general direction of my opponent, disintegrating in a ball of flame and lethal shrapnel splinters much to the annoyance of local mountain goats.

    However, nothing happens.

    Either the code is bust, some improvement in the instructions is required, or I tried to fire a dud.

    Vik :v)
  • hey, your link there dosen't work. :(

  • Strange (Score:1)

    by jrs ( 27486 )
    I just downloaded Scorched Earth from an abondonware site yesterday. Havn't played it in years. Very very strange :)
  • Wow, just the other day my best friend was like "Yo, we should play Scorched Earth again (we used to play it lots in DOS era). I was like "Cool!" and began searching for Scorched Earth clones for Linux... Nice timing.

  • xscorch (Score:1)

    by taso ( 31477 )
    There is also a game called xscorch. Website at http://chaos2.org/xscorch/ [chaos2.org] (currently appears to be down). While not 3D, this one has network play in development.
  • Hrmm wouldn't another disadvantage be that this is for linux only?

    I'm a big fan of scorched earth, and I'm pissed that I can't play this game. Guess this is how you linux people feel when something comes out that interests you that runs on Windows only.

    ----------
  • Download here [classicgaming.com]

    I dunno if someone else posted this yet, but I did a google search for "scorched earth" and got that link. Been playing it for a while now. Go get it.

    ----------
  • A while ago, I was looking into making a 3D version of the awesome QBASIC game, gorillas. Now I can just use this and change the weapons into bananas!
  • A 3d 'tribute' to scorched earth was made a few years ago called 'Blast Doors'. It has network play as well. Only runs on directX.

    check it out
    http://www.fiends.com/Blast.stm
  • Not so fast, whippersnapper! This old coot can still frag the best of the under-15 crowd...
  • You can pick up the original scorch here:

    http://www.classicgaming.com/scorch/

    Current Version is 1.5

    They still have the 1.2 version as well.
  • Heh, I just retrieved this golden oldie a couple weeks ago, and thank GOD!! Not only is it now freeware, but the new version doesn't crash on my PII400 box!
    ------------------------
  • The source is available. If you want a DOS/Amiga/Mac/whatever version, port it yourself.

    Why do people always expect to have things done for them, for free? Don't be so greedy.
    Cheers,

    Rick Kirkland
  • Um... Non-commercial games for Linux are about the same as for Windows, some are decent, some suck graphicswise...
  • How about releasing a windows version? God, it's like those game developers don't even know we exist!!!
  • The only use I EVER found for them was that ONCE I used them to make sure I would hit the hill above my opponent before I used my roller. If I had used the baby missiles it would have damaged the mountain and my roller would have been useless. But, the tracers saved the day and I reigned victorious, as always. On the right map, heavy rollers are king...

    Justin Dubs
  • This isn't the only 3d interpretation of scorch, there's also 3d scorch [mediaone.net]...
    Glen Murphy
  • Seems like the still unparalleled Mac game, Bolo, didn't have much of this problem in spite of its significant network play (in fact, the only reason for playing).

    Sure, you'd have people firing up Bots, but a cheater in Bolo would quickly got bored.

    I'm still terribly surprised that noone has taken up a Linux Bolo... (and given the amount of work I've got this winter, somewhat thankful I don't have that addiction to contend with!)

    Hohoho everyone...

    *scoove*

  • I remember this in the dark ages of 1994. Our high school were still teaching pascal on old crusty IBM PS/2 model 25. (basically the original PC in a small package) man it crawled on those machines, espically version 4.5 (I think)

    We used to get pissed when someone would shoot deathheads when there was no land left (we played with erratic land) it would take 5-10 mins before all the bombs would explode.

    There were also hacks that you could do to give basically unlimited cash. so everyone could load up on max ammo and junk. I gotta find this again when I get home!!
  • While we're discussing brought-back DOS games, take a gander at lord.nuklear.org [nuklear.org]. It's a web based version of Legend Of the Red Dragon.

    Runs on Linux with DosEmu too :)
  • Actually, Poolshark was the AI that did really accurate straight-line shots. Cyborg was the one that could hit practically anything. =)
  • The only kind of game that can stand up to bots are games where a user can see all information that the program is storing. In other words, if users are supposed to have something hidden from them (map, for example), there must be a server which only gives out appropriate information. This of course involves the players having to trust the server.

    If there is no obscurity needed, you can have a completely client-to-client game. However, eventually computer AIs will surpass human gaming ability, and you won't be able to automatically trust anyone. As it is, an AI in a non-strategic game, where aim or reflexes or such things are a factor, can easily kick human butt.

    And by the way, hiding source code just makes it a little bit harder to cheat.

  • We sometimes played a game where baby missiles was not allowed, and we only had a limited amount of money, which forced us to use tracers..
  • Congrats! Your www-scorch is awesome!!! very addictive... I just spent 30 minutes on it, I can get hits in 1-2 shots now :-)

    Andre
  • Ooh, you may be right. Certainly an excellent game. Though NIBBLES.BAS was pretty good, too.

    -J
  • Leave it to the Croatians to release this. Right on, dudes.
  • Hear Hear! Those of us under 20 can't be in this competition of who played the oldest game. But at least we can take pleasure that we can all BEAT THE FSCKING CRAP out of you old schoolers at quake 3/Unreal Tournament/Counterstrike/TFC/Diablo II/etc.

    After all, what's seen as "old" for me is Wolfinstein3d.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Hemos writes:

    ...but this one is in three dimensions (very good concept).

    A lot of people complain that Slashdot tends to mimic Freshmeat when things are slow ... like the "Night Before Chrsitmas"(tm). But we all know the real issue is that the plaintiffs never got their software mentioned.

    Take a hint from Hemos: if you can use three dimensions (doesn't matter which three, I suppose) at a time, you'll get a mention. Trust me, there is a lot [slashdot.org] of precedents [slashdot.org] for this [slashdot.org].

    Happy Holidays!

  • In freeciv it is not a problem as the server simply only sends the client whatever info should be available to the player.
    Yes, I know that is not relevant to your problem, but I though I would mention it, because it is such a clean and obvious solution in some cases.
  • > Why do people always expect to have things done for them, for free? Don't be so greedy.
    For some reason, I find it utterly hilarious to find that on Slashdot.
    In any case, many people don't have the skills to port things. I certainly don't. But I also don't have any interest in porting, since there are alternatives available for DOS/Windows :)
  • Actually there are quite a few linux gaming project that are quite similar to worms. Bomb squad [nbci.com] seem to be a regular clone. Clanmecha [sourceforge.net] and nil [sourceforge.net] aren't turnbased. Pingus [seul.org] is a lemmings clone (featuring penguins.. Isn't that cute?), but they want to make a worms mode as well.
  • The source to Quake3 is available too, yet I haven't seen any hacks for IT yet. They implemented the "pure server" feature, and while I don't know everything about it, I think it compares the client and server's executables and if they aren't the same, rejects the connection.
  • I do not recall the relevant articles or links, but there have been several interesting threads here from JohnC (yes, that JohnC) and others speaking of this subject w/ repsect to the release of the Quake I codebase.

    A quick search might guide you to their discussions as I myself, do not have an elegant solution for this common problem.

    -- RLJ

  • Hey... (Score:1)

    by wedg ( 145806 )
    ...wasn't there a game similar to scorched earth released a long time ago. It was 3d. DOS based if I remember right. I think it was called Genocide or something to that effect. Does anyone have any idea what I'm talking about?

    I've been looking for MONTHS for this game. If you do, I'd love to know where I can find it.

    - Wedg

  • Scorched Earth is only apt-get --install xscorch away and is networkable. Not everything is implimented yet (rollers:--)

  • it can be such a pain in the ass to go through other people's code sometimes. While this code (i'm sure) is better than the code that I've graded when I was a TA for a Java class, but as long as the person doesn't write in the same style as you...it's going to be a pain. Oh...and who needs comments?
  • Well...so I might have spelled that wrong, but I remember when Populous came out with it's 3D version...I couldn't wait to play it. It was good, but I think I spent about 20 minutes on it because I got bored out of my mind. Yeah, it was networked, yeah it had sound and a real motive...besides destroy the other side.

    To end this comment...I feel as if all the companies, or free-folk alike, have created these games (I have not tried Scorched 3D yet, but I did love the original) have created the games with graphics in mind. Did you ever have to "LOOK" at the 3D surroundings in the original Zelda to figure out what the hell you were doing. Because now (and yes...about 12 hours ago) I was sitting there searching high, low, left, and right for a stupid thing that I missed. While Zelda being a piss-poor example, but it gives out the general idea that 3D has taken the place of game-play. Yes it enhances it, but it also takes away from it...sometimes. The enhancement is great in Zelda (so far the first N64 one is better), and things like Diablo (if you want to call that 3D), or Quake (while Kung Fu for the NES was a great game, the 3D realm is better...).

    So, with all that said, I hope that games like this will not lose its original intent like Populous did.
  • That depends on why you play the game. It'd be obvious if someone hit the first time all the time.

    I want network play to be able to play with my friends on a LAN party or something... not to get a huge internet community of scorched island-addicted people. I'll trust my pals on that LAN to not calculate the right angle. It'd take the fun out of it for everyone.

    Doing network play isnt impossible, getting rid of all the cheating morons is... I still want the network play though.

  • Here [eidosnet.co.uk] you go.

    Now aren't you glad I downloaded that for you in the first place, all those years ago?

  • If I remember right, there is or was a 3D windoze version of nibbles (Nibbles was the snake game right?) called BoaBite 3D. Problem is, I think it was full of seriously friggin anoying sound samples from some nobwit who really did think he was funny. It's non-free too, so yeah... A liberated-source 3D nibbles would be fun.
  • There's XScorch for *nix, too. Can't remember where to get it, check your favourite mirror.

    --
  • Are they making a game about my vegatable garden? whoa.

  • I guess I was a little too late to get the download...anyone feel like mirroring that file? I would like it...:)

  • You are the Officer-In-Charge, giving orders to the gun crew, telling them the degrees of elevation you estimate will place the projectile on target. A hit within 100 yards of the target will destroy it. take more than 5 shots, and the enemy will destroy you!

    MAXIMUM RANGE OF YOUR GUN IS 46500 YARDS.

    DISTANCE TO THE TARGET IS 41757 YARDS.....

    ELEVATION:? 35
    OVER TARGET BY 1937 YARDS.

    ELEVATION:? 33
    OVER TARGET BY 721 YARDS.

    ELEVATION:? 31.8
    SHORT OF TARGET BY 108 YARDS.

    ELEVATION:? 31.9
    ***TARGET DESTROYED*** 4 ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION EXPENDED

    THE FORWARD OBSERVER HAS SIGHTED MORE ENEMY ACTIVITY.

    DISTANCE TO THE TARGET IS 21460 YARDS.....

    Is there any way to override the "lameness filter" that won't allow this post to be displayed in its proper "look and feel" of all-caps? Sigh.

  • What was the name of this text based game?
    Any web ports available?

    E.
  • "This screen ain't big enough for the both of us."
    I loved this game, and a new 3D version it's just cool, but what i really want to know is if the tanks can still talk!
    Mmmmh can't wait for the download to end...
  • I remember playing "Bombs Away" on the TRS-80 in grade school in the mid 80's. No destructible terrain and only one weapon, but it was pretty juch the same game.
  • I wrote a version for my TI-81 in high school, filled almost all of its memory and used every available variable. It was two player though. How did you do the computer player's logic? I never could think of a fair way to do that.
  • Simply traced where your fire would go. So you could get cheap precision before you shot off your big heavy (and expensive) ammo for a miss.
  • I used to play a game called genocide several years ago that was much like the feature of this article.

    Go here [leo.org] and get genocide.zip. It's a lot of fun.

    ---

  • there was one for dos called genocide that was released 4 or 5 years ago.

    ---
  • I think genocide [leo.org], written for dos about 5 years ago is the best of the 3d artillery games I've played.

    ---
  • Spacebar doesn't fire? Concept in the game is that first round nobody can't shoot. In first round you find strategy place from where it can be suitable to shoot your opponet (those MP and AP points means something in the top of the screen). As of the crashing - it crashes (for me) when I run it as root... dunno why. Anyone knows?
  • Hi! One disadvantage minus. I have made port of Scorched Island 3D to DOS. You can find it at official homepage [linux.hr]. Or you can download here from FTP [linux.hr] or HTTP [linux.hr]. Good luck playing DOS/WINDOWS users!
  • c'mon why? who really cares?
  • Stuart Chesire...bleh what a dirtbag, he shutdown 8 diffrent projects that looked a little like bolo on windows, because he wouldn't get royalties...friggin dirtbag

  • NiL (Score:2)

    by CrusadeR ( 555 )
    There's an open-source game similar to Worms, except for the fact that's it real-time as opposed to turn-based:

    http://nil.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]
  • You can use a binary frontend to encrypt the protocol so as to not to allow proxies that alter the gameplay after the actual protocol has been reverse engineered from the source. However, it would be a simple matter in a game like this to make a computationally inexpensive calculation that gives the angle and velocity for the bullet, while compensating for the wind.

    Scorched Earth had some pretty tough AI that basically did just this. (Poolshark, was it?)

  • When presented with a client, there is more one can do than 'play a game'. One person created an aimbot for Quake 3 and distributed it across the Internet because of a political agenda to 'destroy' the game online, because he thought the entire scene had become too 'commercialised' and he missed the days when people just played Quake 2 for fun.

    Sad mentality, but it's a special case that any programmer needs to address, in my opinion.

  • > You can use a binary frontend to encrypt the protocol

    Who has to decrypt it? That's right, the client. Or else the frontend has to pass unencrypted instructions to the (hacked or not) client. Cryptography cannot be used to hide information from its intended recipient.

    --
  • Silly me... just searched and found both LinBolo and WinBolo. Santa's early!

    http://www.irchelp.org/winbolo/

    *scoove*

  • Wow.

    I got the static binary tarball. Unpacked and tried it on SuSE 7.0.

    Game runs; looks good. Spacebar for fire doesn't work. Hmm... Two minutes into play, X just dies and kdm restarts it. Hmm...

    Same thing happens next time, except it's not just X. The machine spontaneously reboots. Wow. I've never been able to do that on my linux machines, no matter how many flailing pointers I've dereferenced. :-)

    I may try this later, when someone else finds a stable configuration.

    Steve

  • The point is, that he trusts his friends not to use aim-bots.

    "Multi-player" doesn't have to mean "Play with complete strangers."

    -Andy

  • I remember this in the dark ages of 2000 when the 'IT' teacher was teaching Pascal on the NT4 boxes littered around my high school.

    She has been trying to learn Visual Basic, so I'm sure that'll be a big improvement *sarcasm*

    My school's computer teachers sucked. I got told off for using ping to see if the network was up last year. Of course, to do that requires me to use the evils of DOS! Ironic, if they don't want me to use the command prompt on an NT box, why is it in my Start Menu? But then, they are the same people that tried to convince me that a mouse was a GUI, so who know what the hell is going on in their minds.

    I am fucking happy that part of my life is over.

    (Look at what one idle comment about Pascal can do to me now... ;)

  • Disadvantages of the game include lack of sound and network play.

    Not to mention lack of a DOS version.

    -J
  • I'm not sure it's greed. Laziness, perhaps.

    The main thing is, I don't know enough C++ to be comfortable porting it myself. I think maybe I'm too used to the roguelike community, which is port-crazy. It's made me lazy.

    -J
  • Now, was that directed at myself, or Rix?

    I think one of the main points of releasing the source with a program is that anyone can do whatever they want with it - including port it to their system.
    However, I do think it's a bit unfair to expect someone to be able to do something like port a program. We aren't all C++ programmers, here...

    I'm not gonna touch the "nerd" comment.

    -J
  • For some reason, I find it utterly hilarious to find that on Slashdot.
    Heh, I see the humor there, now that you point it out.

    As I said in my repsonse to Rix's comment, I'm used to the roguelike community, in which every release is accompanied swiftly if not immediately by a DOS/Windows port. Many games are developed in Windows. I don't have much interest in porting, either, in addition to lacking the skills. But I think Rix does have a point to a limited extent: the source is there to be played around with, and that inlcudes portation (ok, not a word, sue me ;-) ). Someone could and maybe should port this to DOS. It just needn't - it won't - be me

    -J
  • Hmm. Sounds like that might have potential for a first-person shooter spin-off...

    Alternatively, when do we get Nibbles 3D? Or has that been done?

    -J
  • I was bumbling around with usenet a week or two ago, and stumbled across a group called "wsoft" which is based at the University of Michigan (which I happen to be a freshm'n at), and was startled to see that one of their projects is "Scorch", a 3d version of scorched earth. While its not complete yet (I think they mention its approx 50%-60% done), there is a downloadable demo which lets you drive around and fire a standard missile. Take a look, and try not falling into the big watery pits you make in the world. That little gun can displace a lot of dirt when you hold down fire. http://people.mw.mediaone.net/alive/index.htm [mediaone.net]

  • Solar Wars [zyx.com] is a clone of Scorched Earth for your NES. The developers (Chris Covell and friends) have released the full source and binaries for download RIGHT HERE! [zyx.com] (You'll need an NES emulator; get it for Linux86 [simplenet.com], DOS [zophar.net], or Windows [zophar.net].)

    Of course, you could also scorch your brain at Goats.com [goats.com] (not Goatse.cx!)
    Tetris on drugs, NES music, and GNOME vs. KDE Bingo [pineight.com].

  • There was a simple way to always hit other tanks when the borders were set to bounce: fire at 100% and put your angle to 99 degrees. That way you'd always hit the tank right next to you. The next time you fired the same shot it would bounce on to hit the next tank, or you could put your angle to 98 degrees, in which case you'd immediately hit the next one.

    After a while I figured out a way to almost always score perfect when the bouncing walls came around (most people play(ed) with walltype at random.) If only it weren't for those mountains...

  • DR dos in a vmware window... :)

    There's also x-scorch... but it lacks a little right now.
  • This uses Allegro. A great gaming library, and it's quite possible and very easy to write code using it that compiles under Linux, DOS, BeOS, Macs, and Win9x with only one or two very simple changes... In fact, years ago I wrote a Quake fun-name utility using Allegro, and about a year ago I tried to compile it under Linux, and it worked PERFECT with only ONE change and that was just a small change to the Allegro API (which is otherwise rock solid, and not a moving target). Not long after I was also able to get it to compile under Windows 95 with NO changes. It's a great lib. I think a 3 year old could probably do the port to DOS. ;D

  • There is actually a real, licensed sequal to the game in development right now. It's called Scorched Worlds, being developed by Magic Lantern. [mlantern.com] Two of the people working on it are good friends of mine, which would be how I know.

  • Network play (Score:3)

    by Sludge ( 1234 ) <slashdot@@@tossed...org> on Sunday December 24, 2000 @01:52PM (#540981) Homepage
    It would be impossible to implement network play on a game with the source available like this, where you cannot trust the other party. The correct moves can be very quickly mathematically derived. It's actually a question I submitted to Ask Slashdot some years back, if anyone had an ingenious way to get around it.

    An important note to anyone who is working on a free software project that might get posted on slashdot: Have the infrastructure set up to harvest volunteer programmers who would like to commit some time and effort to the project! Don't let this free talent slip through your fingers.

  • play it in javascript (Score:3)

    by FrenZon ( 65408 ) on Sunday December 24, 2000 @02:30PM (#540982) Homepage
    http://kaput.org [kaput.org] has scorched earth done in crossbrowser DHTML, with destructible terrain, wind, etc.

    DISCLAIMER: kaput.org is one of my sites
    Glen Murphy

  • Don't forget the Palm version (Score:3)

    by JoeShmoe ( 90109 ) <askjoeshmoe@hotmail.com> on Sunday December 24, 2000 @02:15PM (#540983)
    It's been out for well over a year. Still not as feature-packed as the original but certainly enough to keep yourself interested during that boring meeting.

    Just make sure the sound is off. The sound options for this program overrides your system preferences (ie, off). Be warned.

    You can check it out here:

    http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cf m? prodID=3856

    Or for the cut-and-paste impaired, here [palmgear.com].

    - JoeShmoe
  • As cool as the screenshots looks, the gameplay is dissapointing. The calculations are slow, targeting is poor, the game make "invisible walls" that prevent you from going uphill in some places, and the program eats processor time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to see a 3-D remake, but this one still needs some heavy work on the actually coding...

    It would be nice if somebody could help him out to make the program better, it is really nice. I'd do it myself, but I don't know C...

    It's all about the Karma Points...
    Moderators: Read from the bottom up!

  • Yeah, that's right - my calculator. I think you can still get the instructions for it from www.ticalc.org [ticalc.org]. You'll need at least a TI-80 to play it. It's called cannon [ticalc.org].

    I also have a friend who had this on his Mac. Pretty cool. It think it's awesome to see it in 3-D now.

    It's all about the Karma Points...
    Moderators: Read from the bottom up!

  • COOL! (Score:3)

    by zeromusmog ( 260817 ) <zeromusmog.gmail@com> on Sunday December 24, 2000 @01:51PM (#540986) Homepage
    A sequal to Scorched Earth?! Woah, wait, what the hell am I doing posting on the message board... I gotta go download this sucker!

  • Re:Network play (Score:4)

    by Sludge ( 1234 ) <slashdot@@@tossed...org> on Sunday December 24, 2000 @02:16PM (#540987) Homepage

    ESR touched on this issue after Carmack commented on the binary-only frontend. The truth is that Quake is written to rely on security through obsurity (obscurity being the binary where the renderer and networking protocols resides).

    The truth is, if Quake had been written in such a way that there was zero trust for the client, it would not have ran as efficiently. Entity positions are sent to the client when they are supposedly in line of sight. In theory, this sounds good. However, the PVS (potentially visible set) has, with my visual estimate, about 10%-20% overdraw. Because of this, a number of cracks can be employed, such as a wrapper for your OpenGL library that will draw all surfaces with an opacity of 0.5f, making characters pop up behind walls before they get to see you.

    The fact of the matter is that if the entity's data was sent to the client at the moment that it appeared on the screen, it would pop up because of network latency. In very lagged situations, you can even see this happen.

    This is just one example of why networking security in games require different philosophies than that of normal application client/server design.

    If there is no obscurity needed, you can have a completely client-to-client game.

    The idea of a client to client game as you call it, or peer-to-peer, suffers from having to send all data to all players at all times. Doom required approximately four times the data as Quake did for the same number of players in the game. (Perhaps that's why Quake originally had 4*4 the number of players as Doom did when it initially shipped.)

  • Re:Network play (Score:4)

    by JabberWokky ( 19442 ) <slashdot.com@timewarp.org> on Sunday December 24, 2000 @02:02PM (#540988) Homepage Journal
    It would be impossible to implement network play on a game with the source available like this, where you cannot trust the other party.

    BS. I have friends who cheat at closed source network games by looking over at my monitor, and I have friends who I would trust with my root password and keys to may house, let alone trusting that they won't cheat at a game.

    For that matter, I play D&D where people roll dice in front of themselves and call out numbers that could save or kill their characters, and nobody checks, or worries that there is no system of checks in place. For another good example of "honor" based sports (where the reward is great and pressure is high) look into SCA combat and how they choose their king.

    There are human factors involved in games that surmount any technical consideration. It's a darn shame when people forget that humans play the game, and just worry about 17 million filled polygons and 128 bit encryption.

    --
    Evan (Oh, and Merry Christmas!)

  • I Mirrored All The Files.. (Score:4)

    by citizenc ( 60589 ) <cary&glidedesign,ca> on Sunday December 24, 2000 @02:15PM (#540989) Journal
    I got here early, and, as the old saying goes, mirrored early and often. You can thank me with karma points, even though I'm at 50 already. *GRIN*

    si3d-1.1.1.tar.gz [fileplanet.com]
    si3d-1.1.1-1mdk.src.rpm [fileplanet.com]
    si3d-dynamic-1.1.1-1mdk.i586.rpm [fileplanet.com]
    si3d-static-1.1.1.tar.gz [fileplanet.com]
    si3d-static-1.1.1-1mdk.i586.rpm [fileplanet.com]


    ------------
    CitizenC

  • Jesus guys, worms (Score:4)

    by wuice ( 71668 ) on Sunday December 24, 2000 @02:01PM (#540990) Homepage
    Why don't you guys all go out and buy copies of Worms, or Worms 2, or Worms Armageddon? We've evolved past tanks; the future is worms. Seriously, the last time I found an old copy of scorch kickin it on one of my disks, i fired it up, and it made me wanna play Worms.

  • I remember when my friend said... (Score:5)

    by X-Dopple ( 213116 ) on Sunday December 24, 2000 @02:11PM (#540991)
    "Death's Head? DEATH'S HEAD?" You're insane! You'll kill us all!"

    And I said:

    "Exactly. See you in hell, punk"

    ..and then my tank got zapped by lightning, and the wind was blowing MY direction, so of course I winded up blowing myself up.

    Does anyone know what good the Tracer did?

  • So... (Score:5)

    by AKAImBatman ( 238306 ) <akaimbatman@ g m a i l . com> on Sunday December 24, 2000 @02:49PM (#540992) Homepage Journal
    When do we get Gorilla's! 3D? I have an urge to chuck some bananas man! :-P

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