SCORCH WENT BONKERS

Introduction

What is it all about?

As the name suggests, Scorch Went Bonkers is a remake of the old PC classic. However, many things were changed and the type of fun delivered by the game is different. Where Scorched Earth put emphasis on tactics and careful calculations, SWB requires quick thinking, perfect timing and only one finger for controlling your tank. As you may have already noticed (if you ran the game before reading the manual, like most people do :), the game is real-time instead of turn based. Last on the field wins. Have fun.

Requirements

I haven't had the time to properly test SWB on multiple machines, so I can't give exact numbers. However, SWB sports a slick OpenGL engine to render its graphics, so you'd best equip yourself with a decent GPU. Everything else can be really crappy, the game doesn't care.

Installation

If you're reading this, you have probably installed the game already. All that you have to do is launch swb_setup.exe and follow the instructions on-screen. After that, you're set up. Just launch "swb.exe" and fire at will (or select SWB from the start menu, or even click the icon on the desktop, if you wanted it in the first place).

Interface

Operating menus

The game is meant to be accessible by using only one key from the keyboard (as to reasons why, see the end of the document). Because of that, the menus are set to "auto-cycle" mode by default. That means that the option selected will change by itself at regular intervals, and selecting a particular option is done by pressing any key on the keyboard (apart from Up, Down, and C). However, this behaviour is unfriendly to those who can use more than one key, so pressing Up or Down while any menu is active will disable auto-cycle and allow you to control your menus by Up, Down, and Space/Enter, in a traditional fashion. Pressing the C key while a menu is active will turn the auto-cycle back on.

Accessibility options

The game includes some options to make it easier to operate by the impaired. Of course there are multiple speed settings and many other tweaks in the Gameplay menus to make the game less difficult, however, there are special options in the Accessibility menu. First of them is "Menu cycle speed". This allows to adjust the pace at which the marker is cycling between the menu options. The other two are "Ingame tap threshold" and "Delay shooting". The first one is neccessary because the game involves tapping the key briefly, which causes shield activation. The notion of a brief tap may be different for the impaired, hence the setting. The "Delay shooting" option is connected with the previous one. When the threshold is set to one of the higher settings, enabling this option may be needed to allow shooting at little power even when the tap is long. When it is not needed, it is better left disabled - this allows more precise control over your shots.

Gameplay

General idea

Basically, this game is about blowing other objects to smithereens, whether they are other players' tanks, practice targets or something entirely different. You achieve this by firing bullets. Bullets can be fired from your gun at different angles and speeds. The bullet will then fly across the screen, obeying the basic mechanics laws like gravity and air friction, to finally fall down back to the ground, where it will spawn a nice and colorful explosion. If it explodes close to what you were trying to hit, good for you. Each destructible object on the playfield has its energy level. The closer the explosion is to the object, the more energy the object in question will lose. When the object's energy level reaches zero... boom.

In addition to attempts to destroy everything that moves (and many objects that do not), you will try to protect yourself. This can be achieved by skillfully using your shield. Unfortunately, the components your shield uses were made in Taiwan. Because of that, the shield can only be activated for short periods of time and drains a little of your energy level every time you engage it. However, if your timing is right, the shield will deflect any bullets that hit it. When the shield is fully activated, it will deflect the bullets at almost the same speed they had when they hit it, but if it is only partially active (not at the highest level of opacity), it will deflect them at much less speed - which can cause them to fall right back on your face.

Controls

Each player controls his tank by only one button on his controller. This controller can be a keyboard key (any key chosen by the player), a mouse button, or a button on one of the joysticks/gamepads connected to your computer.

When you start the game, you see your tank constantly changing the angle at which the bullets are fired, which is depicted by the rotating barrel and a moving crosshair. When you depress the button of your controller, the barrel stops moving and the firing angle is set. Now you can see the crosshair moving towards your tank. The closer the two are, the more speed the bullet fired will have. When you're satisfied with the power of the shot, you release the button and the bullet is fired. After the shot, you must wait a moment for the tank to restore its energy. During this period, you will not see your crosshair, which signifies that you cannot shoot.

Besides firing, you can also activate your shield by tapping your controller button briefly. The shield will quickly go up, and then, almost as quickly, disappear. You can activate your shield as many times as you like, and even if your crosshair is not visible. However, each activation of the shield costs you a little amount of energy, so beware.

In addition to players' controllers, there are also two special keys available in game. First of them is "P", which allows you to pause the game for a while (and listen to the music while you hold :). The other one is "ESC", which immediately returns to the main menu. Of course, those special keys can't be used as controller keys (along with "C" which is used in the menus).

Battle Mode

In Battle Mode, several opponents with different ideas about who should be alive meet on the field. The aim in each round is to be the last man standing, which is easily achieved by destroying all other players. After each round, the player who survived (if there is one ;) is awarded a point. The first one to gather a certain amount of points (chosen before the game), wins.

Target Mode

In Target Mode, a single player races with the clock. His tank sits firm in the middle of the playfield, and at any and every moment in the game, there are three targets visible. Hitting any of those targets will add precious seconds to the counter, and allow you to play a while longer. The game ends when the clock reaches zero.

Final words

Why only one button?

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