Monday, February 16, 2009

Scorhed3d 42 and VDrift Refactor Release

Scorched 3D version 42 is out (full changelog). New features include:




Scorched3D


  • Optimized graphics rendering to take better advantage of hardware

  • Scripting language support for weapons and server scripts

  • Much larger landscapes supported

  • Added multi-lingual support for chatting and player names

  • Added localization support for dialogs and messages

  • Some gameplay adjustments

  • Better LAN/Internet communications for less timeouts

  • Some new maps


For those who don't know, it's a 3D artillery game with destructible terrain and sumptuous graphics. One thing I always think when I look at Scorched3D; why hasn't somebody re-used the engine in a different type of game? Nice effects, destructible terrain, there's plenty of possibilities there.



VDrift has emerged from the other side of a ground up refactor/rewrite with release 2-15-09. This is quite good news as projects as big as VDrift rarely survive a rewrite. Author Joe Venzon describes the highlights of the release:



I think it's a big improvement over the last release. Although there aren't any new features, there are so many bug fixes, stability enhancements, and performance improvements it's hard to make a complete list. Most of the code has been rewritten, including the car physics. Ackermann steering has been added. The in-game HUD has a new look. Font rendering has been vastly improved. More graphical options are available. The new physics numerical integrator is more stable.


I think there's also some more cars and improved tracks in this release, although don't quote me on that one.



Oolite (space rpg game) update; 1.72.2 was released a couple of weeks ago. It's a bugfix for the 1.72 test release. I couldn't play it as autopackage no longer works on my system with some obscure error and I don't fancy compiling it.



MetalChaser is a 3d mech-inspired shooter. It's a bit basic, but could grow into something good. The website isn't very clear about it, but it is open source, with a Google-code project.



Angel Engine:



This is Angel, a 2D game prototyping engine based on OpenGL and C++.



Angel was originally made by a group of employees at Electronic Arts Los Angeles for use in a GameJam they were planning for April of 2008. The source was opened in January 2009.


Curious!

5 comments:

Jens Ayton said...

Hi, I’m curious as to whether you tested Oolite test release 1.72.2 in the last few days, or immediately after it was released. The Linux autopackage was replaced on 25 january due to packaging problems. I don’t believe we’ve had any problems reported for the updated package (oolite-1.72.2.x86.v2.package).

Charlie said...

I downloaded it just before I posted, but it is possible I tried the wrong package. I'll have a go with the one you've linked to. I think the problem is with Autopackage on my system - it looks like I've fubarred something related to it.

Jens Ayton said...

Thanks! It’d be great if you could post any errors you get, for instance in our forum.

Anonymous said...

Hi, recently I found a cool OS game. Thought I let you know about it (if you didn't knew it before). But seems to be pretty new. At least I never heard of it before. It can be found there:
http://sdl-ball.sourceforge.net/
Looks like it has a lot of potential (but it's already fully playable).

It's a break-out clone with some nice features and graphics. I also wrote something about it in my blog.

Anonymous said...

u have a real good blog.
and u spelled scorched3d wrong

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