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Comments: 117 +- Games: From Doom To Dunia — the History of 3D Engines on Wednesday July 29 2009, @05:24AM
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notthatwillsmith writes "It's difficult to think of a single category of application that's driven the pace of desktop hardware development further and faster than first-person shooters. Maximum PC examined the evolution of FPS engines, looking back at the key technologies that brought games from the early sprite-based days of Doom to the fully 3D-rendered African Savannah as rendered by Far Cry 2's Dunia engine. It's truly amazing how far the state of the art has moved in the last 16 years."
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For the love of... (Score:2)
Why would anybody use an auto-print link for the only link in TFS ?!??1
Re:For the love of... (Score:5, Informative)
To avoid having the reader click through the quite annoying normal article split across a million pages.
Parent
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Re:For the love of... (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
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[citation needed]
Wolfenstein 3D? (Score:3, Insightful)
I miss Wolfenstein 3D (the original game) in the list. AFAIK that was the 1st 3D FPS some time before DOOM. I understand that "From DOOM to Dunia" alliterates better, but to disregard Wolfenstein 3D alltogether?
Re:Wolfenstein 3D? (Score:5, Informative)
Title of Article: Doom to Dunia: A Visual History of 3D Game Engines
FTA: "Now, we know what you're thinking, and we're well aware that game engines existed prior to Doom's release in 1993; we're even going to cover some. But it was id Software's now legendary first-person shooter that pushed reusable 3D game engines as a viable programming model, and videogame development has never been the same since then."
Does it need an explanation?
Parent
Re:Wolfenstein 3D? (Score:4, Funny)
"From Nazi's to Namibia" would work
although, I'm not sure where Far Cry 2 is set, Namibia certainly looks the part
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Was Wolfenstein based on a reusable 3D engine - which is the theme of TFA - though?
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Who could forget this Gem [wikipedia.org] based on the W3D engine
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Wolfenstein 3D wasn't really 3D; there was no relevant vertical axis. It was 2d gameplay with a somewhat 3d view.
You couldn't tilt the viewpoint, aim higher, and they used sprites for stuff placed in the rooms.
Re:Wolfenstein 3D? (Score:4, Insightful)
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That was an illusion. There's a reason there are bridges/underpasses in Doom - the engine couldn't support it. The Build engine was the first "2.5D" engine I'm aware of that somehow cheated this and added the ability to have rooms over rooms.
Re:Wolfenstein 3D? (Score:5, Interesting)
Not only Wolfenstein - which arguably was the origin of the engine of Doom - but other significant milestones are missing.
Firstly, Jez San's "Starglider", marketed by Rainbird. Possibly the first 3D game for home computers. ("Battlezone" ran on dedicated vector-graphics hardware.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starglider [wikipedia.org]
David Braben's "Lander" and later the full game "Zarch" for Acorn's Archimedes were AFAIK the first /solid/ rendered 3D graphics on home computers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarch [wikipedia.org]
Of course, Braben's Elite was the first computer game to use any 3D at all - Starglider was /all/ in 3D.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(computer_game) [wikipedia.org]
These seem to me to be worthy of a mention, at least an opening paragraph. So, probably, is Maze War (1973!) - just limited box-drawing, but a display of 3D and a widely-used technique.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maze_War [wikipedia.org]
It doubtless inspired 3D Monster Maze from 1981 on the ZX81, a machine which didn't even have graphics as such:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_Monster_Maze [wikipedia.org]
3D Ant Attack from 1983, which also provided the engine for Zombie Zombie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_Attack [wikipedia.org]
Parent
This is about ENGINES, not games (Score:2)
I wonder what engines were used in Operation Flashpoint and Armed Assault games. They seem to be missing from the list.
--Coder
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The Freescape engine from 1987 was the first time I came across the explicit concept of a 3D game engine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driller_(game) [wikipedia.org]
They even advertised it on the packaging!
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Ultima Underworld was released a couple of months earlier than Wolfenstein 3D, and was technically superior to Wolfenstein's engine (in some ways surpassing Doom's engine too). The frame rate isn't too impressive though...
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As it's mentioned in another reply, Wolfenstein is not in 3D, but in pseudo 3D http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfenstein_3D [wikipedia.org]
The real 3D games ancestors are:
- Elite (1984, first 3D) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game) [wikipedia.org]
- Rescue on Fractalus (1984, first voxel) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_On_Fractalus [wikipedia.org]
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Re:Wolfenstein 3D? (Score:4, Insightful)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfenstein_3D_engine [wikipedia.org]
With 9 games to it's credit, it's probably more worthy than some others that were mentioned.
Parent
Errors in the article (Score:5, Informative)
They list an engine called Voxel, which isn't an engine but a technology. And they list a bunch of games which use the same engine as NovaLogic's Comanche, but it's complete bullshit. Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 (for example) didn't use that engine at all, the just used the voxel technology.
Then they list StoneKeep, but StoneKeep didn't even use a 3D engine.
They call Outcast "A popular voxel engine", the engine was used only once. And showed it severe limitations. How can something used only once be popular.
And for some reason they decided to split up some engines into multiple generations (like UnrealEngine) and keep others as a single entry (like LithTech, GameBryo)
And for an history article they surely didn't bother to put everything in chronological order. And for a visual article they sure didn't bother to find the best screenshots to show of the engine.
Technical inaccuracies (Score:3, Informative)
There are a number of technical inaccuracies too.
All that was needed to run Doom was a 386 level PC (in low-detail mode) with a standard VGA videocard capable of rendering texture-mapped environments.
All texture mapping was done in software, which was even true of the Quake 1 and Quake 2 software renderers. So I'm not sure why they're attributing texture-mapping to the VGA hardware.
Other features of the Quake II engine, now known as id Tech 2, included colored lighting effects, and a new game model whereby
What about NFS? (Score:2)
Do you know what are the engines driving Need For Speed games? The main three I am interested in are 5,6 and 7 (Porsche Unleashed, High Stakes and Underground).
Forgotten game: Descent (Score:5, Insightful)
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Should have also meantioned Carrier Command. Its 3d engine was exceptional for 1988 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrier_Command
Re:Forgotten game: Descent (Score:4, Interesting)
6 degrees of freedom, 7 degrees of hurl.
I also remember that game being very difficult. It would be interesting to play it now to see if it's as hard as I remember. I think dretching in tremulous has helped significantly for me to be able to think in 3d which would help, although automatically being normal to the surface in that game probably helps significantly.
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Corporation - 1990 - Pre Wolf3D (Score:2, Interesting)
It was released years before Wolfenstein 3D, you could even send a photo of your self to the company and they would digitise it and send you it back to play in the game...
http://hol.abime.net/3092/screenshot
It was incredibly hard but had great atmosphere - the main issue was the controls were impossible to use - It took the PC until about 1994 to get anywhere near the graphics of this game..
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Quake 1-3 (Score:4, Interesting)
People like the FTEQuake folks have integrated Quake1-3 together, which allows you to play any map from Quake 1 through 3, or to incorporate things like shaders into the Quake 1 experience. It's actually kind of neat. Take a look at the screenshots at http://www.fteqw.com/ [fteqw.com] - it's all I use nowadays when I play FPSes. I'll play some Gears cooperatively with my friends, but nothing yet has beaten the original quake experience for FPS fun.
The euphoria engine looks pretty interesting. I've been doing some work with motion analysis, and so the work they've done on it really impresses me - apparently you can code animations using it without keyframes or motion capture, which is pretty neat (if it works). The tech demo video is here - http://www.naturalmotion.com/euphoria.htm [naturalmotion.com]
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Wasn't the euphoria engine used in GTA IV?
From the (impressive) tech demo I seemed to recognise the same kind of reaction from the actors.
I remember being completely blown away in GTA when I inadvertently pushed a guy near some stairs and he fumbled trying to keep his balance for a while before finally falling down the stairs. I don't think it could've been more realistic if it were keyframed.
Incredible technology.
not 3d shooters... (Score:4, Interesting)
IIRC, it was never 3d first-person games that drove hardware development, but space-flight shoot-em ups. Titles like Wing Commander really drove the need for better and better graphics hardware, in fact, Wing Commander was the one that made the 386 chip a necessity and apparently made people upgrade to play it.
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They drove sales, at least. With each game running like crap on last years card gamers spend a fortune each year to keep to the bleeding edge.
Problem is, other than the greater hardware requirements is there *really* that much difference between quake 3 and the latest games? Higher resolution, some explosion effects.. I played left4dead to see what was supposed to be so great and really couldn't see anything that couldn't be done in the quake engine.. except it needed more powerful hardware.
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Stunts ( 4D Sports Driving) (Score:3, Interesting)
I played this game for years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stunts_%28video_game%29
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhiRjQg1X14&feature=related
I know, I'm old.
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What about Stunts?
Not on the list because it was 4D, rather than 3D.
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Holy crap, best game ever. I think I spent more time in the track edit mode then actually driving the insane creations I put together. Great game.
The Dark Engine (Score:4, Insightful)
Shame they didn't mention the Dark Engine, which was used for Thief, Thief II, and System Shock II, and basically drove the creation of the 3d stealth game as it now exists. Since Thief II and System Shock II are frequent visitors to "Best PC Game Ever" listings, the engine behind them seems notable. The switch to Unreal II for Thief III killed the ability to have large maps, which is one of the major shortfalls of that installment compared to the earlier games in the series. The same applies for the legendarily disappointing Deus Ex II.
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I'm not sure what you mean. Deus Ex always used the Unreal Engine.
Midwinter for Amiga (Score:5, Interesting)
The first real-time 3D engine I ever played or saw was Midwinter for the Amiga. It was released in 1989, 4 years before Doom, and featured flat-shaded polygon rendering in a true 3D environment. I just remember the environment being incredibly huge and immersive, and I spent many hours walking and skiing around desolate white landscapes.
Wikipedia article (which mentions nothing whatsoever about the game's technical aspects);
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwinter_(video_game) [wikipedia.org]
Screenshot of the 3D environment (Atari ST version):
http://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-st/midwinter/screenshots/gameShotId,362797/ [mobygames.com]
Gamespot seems to be one of the few that actually recognize how groundbreaking this game was:
http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/pc/unsung_heroes/sec2_10.html [gamespot.com]
Chronicles of Riddick's Engine (Score:2)
It's a shame they didn't talk about the engine used for the Chronicles of Riddick games.
Where is descent 1 / descent 2 they where true 3d (Score:3, Insightful)
Where is descent 1 / descent 2 they where true 3d and you could fly upside down, side to side have rooms on top rooms and more.
Where's Descent? (Score:2)
Re:Where's Descent? (Score:4, Informative)
Descent was a First Person Shooter. The perspective was first person, and you shot things.
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Re:Where's Descent? (Score:4, Insightful)
The portal rendering engine used by Descent has been rumored to be a simple extension of the Doom engine
Whoa, that would surprise me (not that it's impossible). Going from a raycasting engine which allows essentially arbitrary 2D geometry but very limited geometry in the 3rd dimension, to a texture mapping engine that is restricted to deformed rectangular prisms but allows them to be oriented arbitrarily wrt the world axes isn't a simple extension of any sort. Hell, the enemies were fully 3d texture mapped without any restrictions (but a low poly count of course). That's basically ripping up the innermost guts of the engine and replacing it with something very different. Completely new data structures, and a completely new rendering algorithm... at that point, what of the old engine would you even be using?
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unique renderers (Score:3, Insightful)
The one thing I missed most from all the old software rendered games is how distinctive their visuals are. When everything shifted to hardware the look of 3d games became very uniform, only to slowly differentiate with improving art and tech as time went on. The new programmable hardware again allows more freedom in rendering approaches, and now the top end engines are effectively all specialized shader pipelines. After 5-10 years of very homogenous looking games it's a most welcome change.
A ton of stuff as been overlooked. (Score:2)
All the games people are mentioning which haven't been described in the article are reminding me of a couple of others.
There's Flight Simulator, for one. I had the very first version back on the PCjr. Sierra Online even published a 3D helicopter simulator at some point.
I'd say racing games are an important subset of 3D gaming which have been completely overlooked. There are a good number of driving games which have been completely overlooked. Stunts, Stunt Driver, Test Drive 3, the Need for Speed series. I'
19 Years. 1990 to now (Score:2)
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3D Shooter [feeddistiller.com] Feed @ Feed Distiller [feeddistiller.com]
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Lithtech has always been on the short end of the popularity stick. You grandmother can name Doom, your mom can mention Counter-Strike and your little brother can mention FarCry. Now ask the same group if they know about Shogo or NOLF.
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