Codex Gamicus
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Burn is a first-person shooter computer game released in 2007 developed by Destan Entertainment and produced by Teyon.

The player can choose between 13 arenas and 5 characters and fight in single-player and multi-player mode. The game provides two special modes: deathmatch, where the winner is the one who has collected given number of frags, and burn, where the winner is the one who has survived the competition. Each fight can be made with special modifiers like low gravity, weapon power up, timed competition, or sudden death.

League, the main single-player game mode, allows the players to fight on the arenas, gather points and eventually fight with a boss named Dark.

The maps in Burn contain a many bonuses and environment vulnerable to destruction. There are 7 different weapons available in the game, each with an alternative fire mode.

Story[ | ]

It is 2055. Dark, a mysterious character of unknown past, emerges in a world war. He's fighting only for hire and for each side of the conflict. Extreme power makes some people think that he's not a human. During the war he has never lost any battle. Now after the war is officially finished he still fights. No-one knows his reasons. Joint governments set up a reward for the one who'll kill Dark. Since recruits around the world don't want to split that money they have created a competition – League. Only the one who wins will have a possibility to beat Dark.

Weapons[ | ]

  • Pistol
  • Shotgun
  • Machinegun
  • Laser
  • rocket launcher
  • Flamer
  • Hand grenade

Maps[ | ]

The Chamber
In this small facility only four soldiers are allowed to fight. A player has to be really careful because enemies are always near and there's no place to hide. This facility was abandoned several years ago due to some serious acid leakage. Its exact chemical composition remains unknown but it can even kill.
The Lab
Armies used this place as a research facility. During world conflict it was severely damaged in the special forces op. There's a power generator in the heart of this place and two floor levels. Players hunting for powerful weapons in the generator room may be hunted themselves from observatory located in the upper floor. The elevator shaft is a great place for launching the surprise attack from above.
File:Burn Screen1.jpg

A gameplay screenshot of Burn presenting the gameplay and Sand Storm map.

Sand Storm
This place served as the army power supply. It is no longer used due to often sand storms. Move cautiously, enemy may hide practically everywhere. Large open places are good to manoeuvre between flying rockets and laser shots, but it's better to stay hidden.
Warehouse
It was a military warehouse. It is placed underground and connected to the cave originally planned as an additional room but work on this construction never ended. There are lots of platforms, ledges and places to hide that require extreme concentration – death can come from any side.
The Sewer
Very old sewer system. Places here are cramped and wet. In the pipes may be found many useful resources like 'damage amplifier'. Long corridors favour ranged weapons, a player must be always prepared for quick side-jump to dodge incoming missile.
Factory
Because of the world conflict this factory was never finished. No one knows why it was built and what it was meant to produce. Now it's a perfect place to fight.
Shaft
This place is a huge constantly rotating shaft. It was adapted as a training facility for soldiers. The ability to fight in unusual conditions is tested here. The platforms placed high above the ground give possibility to bombard unexpecting players. Many of the platforms have teleport out on them, so using "teleport the grenade" ability could easily take the camper out.
The Sphere
Facility found after the war. It is not known who built it. This place has a shape of the sphere. Inside there's a lot of platforms where players can fight and acid at the ground level. Spherical shape of the construction allows so called "wall crawling". This makes climbing on higher platforms and reaching distant places possible.
Mir 8000
This arena was created to train soldiers in the extremely difficult environment. It is placed in the space and has artificial gravity system. Narrow platforms make falling from the map very easy. Sometimes one accurate shot makes the enemy to fly into infinity, lowering his score.
The Helix
Secret laboratory created during the war. Strange curved paths in the centre of the map make the player an easy target, but the best weapons and power ups lie there. Beware of the hunters hidden in the shadows on the bottom of the map.
Red Core
Facility with the fusion reactor in its core. Because of many tight corridors and sharp turns that make surprise attacks easier, short range weapons are most valued here. The players should also look out for attacks from above – there are some secretly placed teleports that can cause the enemy to appear right on player's back.
Forest
Conflict front line moved through this forest. Still there's a lot of smoke and fire. Here may be found underground facilities and watch-towers. This map is a sniper's paradise – stay out of the open spaces.
The Well
This place in the past stored unknown chemicals. The players tempted by powerful bonuses placed in the centre of the map should be extra careful – they can be caught by crossfire from platforms above. Those platforms however are very narrow, so one careless step and the hunter becomes the prey.

Technology[ | ]

HDR
High Dynamic Range System is 4 times faster than solutions used in other modern game engines. All pixels are computed in 128-bit (96-bit on ATI) and converted to the screen format. Also all the post processing effects are computed with full floating point precision.
Soft particles
Improvement of the classical particle system. Instead of traditional 2D plane particles there are full 3D volumetric particles. The engine computes each screen pixel in 32 bit depth and uses it to create volumetric particles with many interesting 3D special effects.
Displacement mapping
To create the best representation of detailed surfaces there are used real displacement mapping computed per pixel. This technique allows to put more details into the maps without additional triangles and using ray tracing to simulate displacement effect. With displacement mapping there can be simulated millions of triangles with occlusion in real time.
Projective lights
The engine supports two types of lights: standard with 2D texture and 360-degree-wide with cube-mapped texture. Each light can cast shadows and soft shadows with different resolutions. All the lights can be animated together with its colors, brightness, and other parameters. Each light can generate a 'flare' effect. Lights can use HDR textures.
Real-time lighting
The whole lighting system is computed in real-time. To improve artistic effect it is possible to use lightmaps. The amount of light for each screen pixel is computed using all the lights, refractions, and reflections and environmental CUBE lights. For each screen pixel the engine can calculate up to 5 specular effects and full diffuse lighting. CUBE lighting model calculates ambient, diffuse, and specular (with glossiness on pixel shader 3.0 and 4.0 cards). Lighting works even on triangles with several normal maps. With ambient light areas the engine can transmit light through the doors connecting two rooms.
Alpha shadows
Destan technology supports shadows cast by objects with transparent textures; opaque texels don't cast shadows onto the surface.
Water/glass effect
All the materials can be reflexive and refractive so there can be made many different kinds of glass, water etc. This effect can be used on 3D objects, particles, volumetric particles, and 2D images.
Post processing
The engine has an advanced post-processing system allowing composing many different effects. All the effects are completely independent.

External links[ | ]

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