Quotethis is a compleát, chronological list of gunbound variations, predecessors and the ballistics games genre in general. feel free to fill in missing info, mention errors, or give feedback if you have time. NOTE: most thumbs will open into screenies when clicked.
THANKS to ybom for the swell idea, zelieth for the key contributions, and athiest fury for all the help and other contributions.
(http://www.gb64.com/Screenshots/A/Artillery_Duel.gif)
ARTILLERY DUEL (1983)- AFAIK the
very first home computer game of this type. i'm guessing there were mainframe versions in the 70's, but this is the first time the average gamer got to try out the concept. even in this first version there was a lot of humor, atmosphere and an easter egg included (hint- it involves the soldiers). here is gamebase's entry and download of the C64 version:
http://www.gamebase64.com/game.php?id=432&d=18&h=0 (http://www.gamebase64.com/game.php?id=432&d=18&h=0)
(http://telcontar.net/Misc/Gorillas/pics/p-explosion.png) (http://telcontar.net/Misc/Gorillas/pics/explosion.png)
GORILLAS.BAS (late 1980's?)- the original king kong, banana-flinging classic written in QBASIC shipped with PC-DOS on x86 machines. here is an open-source remake:
http://telcontar.net/Misc/Gorillas/ (http://telcontar.net/Misc/Gorillas/)
(http://chaos2.org/xscorch/screenshots/napalm1_t.png) (http://chaos2.org/xscorch/screenshots/napalm1.png)
SCORCHED EARTH (1995)- the game that gave a major popularity boost to the genre. loads of new options including multiple players, all kinds of fun weapons and new maps. current official page is here. requires DOS to run: (note that there are other remakes named after this classic not necessarily mentioned here)
http://www.classicgaming.com/scorch/ (http://www.classicgaming.com/scorch/)
(http://www.team17.com/images/screenshots/worms_united_budget_03sm.jpg) (http://www.team17.com/images/screenshots/worms_united_budget_03bg.jpg)
WORMS SERIES (1995-2004)- sort of an intermediate game between scorched earth and GB. worms also gave a huge boost to the genre, adding multiple-screen arenas, increased characterisation in a cartoony style, and lively fun feel. the current flagship game
WORMS WORLD PARTY is arguably a strong competitor to gunbound, offering online play, many scenerio options, and a more stable game engine. the manufacturer site is here and abandonware sites can get you the first few versions:
http://www.team17.com/whatsnew.html (http://www.team17.com/whatsnew.html)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9d/Liero.png)
MOLEZ (1997) / LIERO (1998)- DOS-based alternative to WORMS with the groundbreaking feature of
real-time play, formerly unheard of in this type of game. altho there is no official site, wikiP is a good place to start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liero (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liero)
(http://www.blitwise.com/ptanks/pt_spiderthumb.gif) (http://www.blitwise.com/ptanks/pt_spider.jpg)
POCKET TANKS (2001)- scorched earth-inspired remake. features moving tanks and weapon pack upgrades, altho it's only a two-player game(?)
http://www.blitwise.com/ptanks.html (http://www.blitwise.com/ptanks.html)
(http://www.scorched3d.co.uk/screenshots/38/city-38-small.jpg) (http://www.scorched3d.co.uk/screenshots/38/city-38.jpg)
SCORCHED EARTH 3D (2001)- 3D, modern, multiplayer, networkable version of the classic. amazing idea and implementation; debatable how much fun it really is to play:
http://www.scorched3d.co.uk/ (http://www.scorched3d.co.uk/)
(http://www.freegames365.com/game-photo/224.jpg)
DEATH STAR BATTLES (2001)- hilarious, ingenious, addicting open-space java game. this is arguably the true next evolution of the ballistics games genre:
http://www.arcadetown.com/dstarbattle/playgame.asp (http://www.arcadetown.com/dstarbattle/playgame.asp)
(http://lieroxtreme.thegaminguniverse.com/screens/sm_rope.jpg) (http://lieroxtreme.thegaminguniverse.com/screens/lg_rope.jpg)
LIERO XTREME (2003?) - the most popular modern version of liero, adding all kinds of new options and online multiplayer support. "In it's current edition featuring Ninja Rope it's insanely fast and crazy" according to an inside industry source.
http://lieroxtreme.thegaminguniverse.com/ (http://lieroxtreme.thegaminguniverse.com/)
(http://www.isotope244.com/games/acp/i/pc/tn/shot0846.jpg) (http://www.isotope244.com/games/acp/i/pc/shot0846.jpg)
ATOMIC CANNON (2003?)- scorched earth-inspired remake, upgrading the graphics weapons and basically bringing it to the modern windows platform. free demo is here:
http://www.isotope244.com/atomic_cannon.html (http://www.isotope244.com/atomic_cannon.html)
hmmm... interesting
I think we should make a single thread with someone updating it with all of the gb alternatives
Hmmm... It might be a nice idea. But then, we have a "Gaming & Movie Forum", too :P
This Atomic Cannon reminds me of Pocket Tanks (http://www.blitwise.com/ptanks.html). The gamplay id funny but then for some reason it gets boring realy soon, or so I think at least (and I've tried a full vrsion with 2 weaponpacks).
Also, there is always Scorched 3D (http://www.scorched3d.co.uk/), an OpenGL 3D remake of the super cool (for it's time) Scorched Earth.
Oh my, I remember playing Scorched Earth on my 486DX (40 MHz processor, 4 MB of RAM, a huge HDD of 210 MB... Those were the days).
if you don't mind the craziness of it, Death Star Battles is alot of fun.
http://www.arcadetown.com/dstarbattle/playgame.asp (http://www.arcadetown.com/dstarbattle/playgame.asp)
Blackholes and White Dwarfs are crazy.
-------
Edit:
Oh, and athiest, check the site. There's about 7 or 8 weapon packs out. Some are 5, some are 15 i believe. If you need any of them, let me know on AIM, Valien22.
Quoteif you don't mind the craziness of it, Death Star Battles is alot of fun.
Rotfl, this game is fun!
Check out this trajectories:
(http://www.venustus.neostrada.pl/gbgl/trajectory.PNG)
(http://www.venustus.neostrada.pl/gbgl/trajectory2.PNG)
and a full-power shotgun attempt :lol:
(http://www.venustus.neostrada.pl/gbgl/trajectory3.PNG)
And it's only my second and fourth game, dog only knows what more crazy stuff awaits :lol:
(http://img129.echo.cx/img129/7375/sexors8yo.jpg) (http://www.imageshack.us)
ProudnesS!
Told ya wormholes were crazy. This is with 2 players, microstations, 6 stations per player.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b361/Zel...zywormholes.jpg (http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b361/Zelieth/crazywormholes.jpg)
Just did this one:
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b361/Zel...ndwormholes.jpg (http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b361/Zelieth/dwarfsandwormholes.jpg)
white dwarfs with wormholes. That's a shot from a single station by the way.. :wacko:
First: ain't blackholes fun also? :lol:
(http://www.venustus.neostrada.pl/gbgl/trajectory4.PNG)
EDIT:
Pro shot > Shotgun :lol:
(http://www.venustus.neostrada.pl/gbgl/trajectory5.PNG)
Now for the Pap's first post rewritten: I guess I'll pin it and we'll see if it's indeed popular.
Some notes:
- Scorched Earth 1.5 (that's the version I use) works under WinXP
EDIT:
- Are you sure Death Star Battles date back to 2004? The online version I just play is ©2001
Also I'll add another milestone, so you can add it to your first post Pap (or not, up to you):
MOLEZ (1997) / LIERO (1998) - the first real-time based version of Worms. In it's current edition featuring Ninja Rope it's insanely fast and crazy :)
Liero Extreme (http://lieroxtreme.thegaminguniverse.com/)
EDIT 2: After giving it a thought I have to admit Liero is not really a ballistics game :): but it's fun nevertheless.
As for the true ballistics games, there was another FREE game in the genre I played not long ago (pretty recent one I think). It was like Worms only the aiming was turn-based and the moving/shooting phase was simultaneous (and replayable). Maybe you know the game? I can't find it just now, it features a Pola Bear, a Seal and a Penguin, each having a different set of weapons. Another distinguishing feature is the ability to see the shot trajectory (parabola) and make adjusments to it seeing it all the time :):
zelieth- huge enormous thanks for posting deathstar battles. i haven't seen a crazy cool game like this for a long time. battling 5-6 deathstars with mixed objects, heavy on the whiteholes, blackholes and wormholes is endless fun. :D:
man it would be great great if someone did an open-source version, the biggest features being online play and game acceleration so you don't have to wait around on those rare occasions you get killed, hehe.
um, pap. you forgot..
TANKWARS!!! How could anyone forget tank wars @@;;;; it was an old old old ms dos game that ran on a 286 machine or less I believe.
Quotezelieth- huge enormous thanks for posting deathstar battles. i haven't seen a crazy cool game like this for a long time. battling 5-6 deathstars with mixed objects, heavy on the whiteholes, blackholes and wormholes is endless fun. :D:
Exactly!
Quoteman it would be great great if someone did an open-source version, the biggest features being online play and game acceleration so you don't have to wait around on those rare occasions you get killed, hehe.
Exactly!
The waiting is bad but what pisses me off even more is the stupid interface! I mean, come on! Clicking buttons 100 times to set your settings?
I feel like writing my own version when I have some spare time :P
Bang Bang (can't find it online, it's an old 2 player dos game)
3D Bang Bang (http://www.caiman.us/scripts/fw/f1614.html)
Soldat (http://www.soldat.prv.pl/)
Battle Position (http://battleposition.e-games.com.my/)
I know Soldat, it's basically a Liero with nicer graphics and a rocket backpack instead of a ninja ropie :):
Molez, Liero and Soldat are arguable as Ballistics games if you think about it :P They are more like platform shoters or 2D FPP ;):
Edit:
Decompiled sourcecode of Death Star Battles is about 4700 lines of Java code. Is anyone interested?
Ha, bigger = more fun!
I put the game on my site and made a super-simple form for setting the desired size (include buttons in yer calculations)!
The address is:
http://profane.zidev.com/starbattle/ (http://profane.zidev.com/starbattle/)
And the blown-up game (with station sizes set to tiny!) looks like:
Nah, too big to post, you'll gotta click :P (http://www.venustus.neostrada.pl/gbgl/trajectory6.PNG)
also, check this screen for my SUPER-PRO 2.5 circle kill :o::o::o::blink::o:
2.5 cycles of a shot in a binary system B): (http://www.venustus.neostrada.pl/gbgl/superpro.PNG)
Hope you like it more in big size, I know I do :D:
EDIT:QuoteAs for the true ballistics games, there was another FREE game in the genre I played not long ago (pretty recent one I think). It was like Worms only the aiming was turn-based and the moving/shooting phase was simultaneous (and replayable). Maybe you know the game? I can't find it just now, it features a Pola Bear, a Seal and a Penguin, each having a different set of weapons. Another distinguishing feature is the ability to see the shot trajectory (parabola) and make adjusments to it seeing it all the time :):
Yeah, I found it again!
Pap, feel free to put it in your list:
(http://www.digipen.edu/programs/gallery/games/websites/icewars/images/screenshots/thumb_ss4.jpg) (http://www.digipen.edu/programs/gallery/games/websites/icewars/images/screenshots/ss4.jpg)
ICE WARS (2003/2004)- A game very similar to Worms; Every turn consists of a turn-based aiming phase (moving and selecting weapon costs action points) and simultaneous, replayable shooting phase. In aiming phase the shot trajectory is drawn allowing you to fine-tune it.
http://www.digipen.edu/programs/gallery/ga...rs/gameplay.htm (http://www.digipen.edu/programs/gallery/games/websites/icewars/gameplay.htm)
Another edit(post something FFS, I'm tired of this editing :rolleyes: ):
(http://www.venustus.neostrada.pl/gbgl/wtflololololol.PNG)
QuoteWORMS SERIES (1995-2004)- sort of an intermediate game between scorched earth and GB. worms also gave a huge boost to the genre, adding multiple-screen arenas, increased characterisation in a cartoony style, and lively fun feel. the current flagship game WORMS WORLD PARTY is arguably a strong competitor to gunbound, offering online play, many scenerio options, and a more stable game engine. the manufacturer site is here and abandonware sites can get you the first few versions:
http://www.team17.com/whatsnew.html (http://www.team17.com/whatsnew.html)
Worms 3D is the new flagship. Worms : Forts Under Siege did like crap. And change the date to 2005 because Mayhem is coming soon.
Latimer... YEAH!$@!@#!# I was gonna post about tankwars but you already did.
http://www.students.dsu.edu/shearerp/tank_wars.htm (http://www.students.dsu.edu/shearerp/tank_wars.htm) (this is not the version I remember but it's very close)
Lots of bankshots.
The earth destruction bomb was cool too, after making weird holes (shown in the screenshots) the land would fill in and sink. Falling a bit made you lose life, but it takes a big drop to kill.
I wish I could find the original game that I played in the early 90's, or at least screenshots of it. The game I remember had nice looking horizontal and circular gradiant color backgrounds (like fades from red to purple etc). Some backgrounds were kind of psychedelic, and others had nice twinkling stars. The weapons including various nukes and the MIRV (sort of an early version of kalsiddon shot 2). The version shown above doesn't have these things :(
If anyone has the original, tell me.
god i love these games :^_^:
glade to see you guys are enjoying deathstar battles too
QuoteI wish I could find the original game that I played in the early 90's, or at least screenshots of it. The game I remember had nice looking horizontal and circular gradiant color backgrounds (like fades from red to purple etc). Some backgrounds were kind of psychedelic, and others had nice twinkling stars. The weapons including various nukes and the MIRV (sort of an early version of kalsiddon shot 2). The version shown above doesn't have these things :(
If anyone has the original, tell me.
What you describe is exactly Scorched Earth, mother of all games :D:
I played A LOT of it in the '90s.
So, once again, chcek the first Pap's post -- it's there. I also keep it on my PC, for over 10 years now :wub: :wub: :wub:
I didn't see Hogs of War mentioned anywhere. A 3D ballistics game featuring Hogs at war with each other for control of the worlds supply of swill. This is a hilarious game for both PC and Playstation, made by Atari. It even has a 'Risk-like' story mode where you have to take over the world with your army by conquering the other counties one at a time. Each country has it's own army and accent. There's Sushi Swine (China), Piggystroika (Russia), Uncle Ham's Hogs (USA) for army names (to name a few), and the coutry names are equally funny. You can change your teams names and your pigs have a set number of lives and their ranks can be upgraded as you play giving them more weapons and lives. if one of your pigs dies permenantly they are replaced with a new recruit. I tried to find a site for it, but it came out in 1990, and even Atari's site doesn't make mention of it anymore. There was an Official Site, but it seems I've lost track of it, or it's gone. It really is a great game, but I would reccommend getting it for PC because there are bugs in the Playstation version that can't be fixed, for obvious reasons, and the PC version has online capability. It's a shame they never made a Hogs of War 2, it would do well I think. I will post a link if I can track down a website for it, but you can find reviews at most gaming sites, and I bet you could get a hold of the game on ebay, if nothing else!
Fury: It's weird... scorched earth has all the stuff I remember - mirvs, nukes, dirt bombs, ground disruptors... and the graphics are very similar from the screenshots I'm seeing... but I distinctly remember a "tank wars" title screen. Also the scorched earth graphics are a little better, I see some shots where the green land is different colors and in some cases mapped with a photo of rock. I don't remember any backgrounds with a sun, and the tanks didn't have wheels, they were all one solid color. In the game I remember the land was always green. Did some early version of scorched earth look like this?
Maybe the game I'm thinking of is a clone of SE or vice-versa. The game I'm thinking of was popular with my friend and I around the time commander keen was released (ID released it in 1990 I'm reading). I also remember us playing king's quest V when it was new, so that was also 1990. Apparently scorched earth first came out in 91. So it's possible it's what I'm remembering.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v33/m0untaindew4u/olololololp.png)
>_> this game rulez
EDIT:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v33/m0untaindew4u/lololololo8.png)
God i hate this game.
QuoteFury: It's weird... scorched earth has all the stuff I remember - mirvs, nukes, dirt bombs, ground disruptors... and the graphics are very similar from the screenshots I'm seeing... but I distinctly remember a "tank wars" title screen. Also the scorched earth graphics are a little better, I see some shots where the green land is different colors and in some cases mapped with a photo of rock. I don't remember any backgrounds with a sun, and the tanks didn't have wheels, they were all one solid color. In the game I remember the land was always green. Did some early version of scorched earth look like this?
I think the backgrounds were first introduced in version 1.5, I might be wrong though.
The first version I played (1.1 or 1.2, not sure here either) also had green (or at least solild-colored) land only and no cave mode (terrain above + below). I believe the tanks had wheels back then (only everyone used the tank without them for it was the only one that could fly :P).
As for title screen, the title itself ("Scorched Earth" + "The Mother of All Games") was stored as plain text and even I at the time was able to change it to something different.
So, it might be the same game, only in early version and changed title.
Maybe you could remeber if the Options menu was the same/similar and also invoked with F1? That would be a strong hint :^_^:
rofl, nice
...and softnyx sez: "that mean it average game"
fury - can't remember. I'm trying to remember more about the details but I just remember the shooting and the backgrounds and the little dashed trailers from your shots. I think I remember a shot that bounced off walls floor and ceiling for a while before blowing up, but I could be crazy. I remember being able to wipe away the dirt by rotating your turret after a dirtbomb nailed you.
How I have been looking for GunBound alternatives. Thankyuu~<3
Off-Topic: Am I the only one that gets a headache from Creedo's sig? :D
Quotefury - can't remember. I'm trying to remember more about the details but I just remember the shooting and the backgrounds and the little dashed trailers from your shots. I think I remember a shot that bounced off walls floor and ceiling for a while before blowing up, but I could be crazy. I remember being able to wipe away the dirt by rotating your turret after a dirtbomb nailed you.
still sounds exactly like SE to me, creedo. you should try it out and put the issue to rest- the game is mainly the same as the classic version AFAIK.
wow i didnt know a game could make my hed hurt like that