Overview
Affectionately declaring itself "The Mother of All Games," Scorched Earth has no story—only destruction. Up to ten players (human or AI) are dropped onto a randomly generated, destructible 2D mountain range, each controlling a single, stationary tank. Players take turns adjusting their turret angle and power, accounting for shifting wind speeds, to lob artillery shells at their opponents.
The true brilliance of the game lies in its economy. Winning a round earns you cash, which is spent between rounds in a shop interface. Players can upgrade their basic missiles into a terrifying arsenal of destructive ordinance, including Napalm, MIRVs, Rollers, and the legendary "Death's Head" nuke. Defensive upgrades like magnetic shields, parachutes, and auto-defense lasers turn the simple artillery formula into an incredibly deep game of economic strategy.
Visual Archive
Behind The Scenes
A Shareware Masterpiece Built in Spare Time
Wendell Hicken wrote Scorched Earth entirely in his spare time using Borland C++, wanting to create a more robust PC version of classic artillery games like Artillery Duel. He uploaded it to a few bulletin board systems (BBS) and it spread like wildfire. By the mid-90s, the game was installed on virtually every university network and middle school computer lab in existence. Because it could handle up to ten players in a "hot-seat" multiplayer mode (where friends just passed the keyboard back and forth), it was the ultimate social game of the era.
Pioneering AI Personality
Long before advanced machine learning, Hicken coded distinct behavioral personalities into his AI opponents. The "Moron" AI would shoot wildly at random, the "Shooter" would dial in precision strikes based on advanced parabolic math, and the "Cyanide" bot would intentionally nuke the ground beneath its own tracks just to take out anyone standing too close. These behaviors, combined with the game's brutal, geography-destroying physics, directly inspired later blockbuster franchises like Team17's Worms.