No Fragments Archive 12: Textmags & Docs/nf_archive_12.iso/MAGS/TEXTMAGS/3RD_DIM/3RDDM23.MSA/3DGAMING.TXT

Text File | 2004-06-27 | 9KB | 147 lines

                     NEW DIMENSIONS IN GAMING
             a look at the rise of 3D computer games
                                by
                          Peter D. Ward

     '3D' appears to be the current trend in computer  gaming.  Is
this just the 'fad',  or is it a result of the increased power  of
the  new machines?  Whatever the case,  this article sets  out  to
examine  the development of the 3D game by taking a look  back  at
some of the titles through the years.
     DOOM,  DUKE NUKE 'EM 3D,  SPACE HULK,  VIRTUA FIGHTER, VIRTUA
RACING...  The  list of 3D games currently available  for  various
formats is 'virtually' endless.  This means not only  first-person
perspective  'virtual worlds',  but other games which  use  fully-
developed  3D  models of worlds and/or  characters,  such  as  the
above-mentioned virtua fighter, as opposed to 'flat' sprites.
     But where did the genre start?  Not everyone reading this may
be of such age as to recall the earliest computer-games (though  I
suspect many are), so first of all, a look back at those.
     I  was at a holiday-camp when I saw my first 'computer  game'
arcade console.  It stood out as something different to the  other
machines  -  the  one-arm bandits and  other  'jackpot'  machines,
cascade, pinball tables and purely mechanical machines.
     The  game  was called 'Pong'.  It consisted of  two  moveable
vertical  lines  for 'bats',  a square blob for a 'ball'  and  two
large  numbers at the top of the screen to keep  score.  I  recall
this version even had the 'court' printed on the screen as opposed
to appearing as graphics. For two players, it was a sort of tennis
game. If you let the ball pass you instead of hitting it back, the
other player won a point.  The first person to ten points won  the
game.  And the game was in monochrome (white on black). There is a
lesson to be learnt here.  The graphics were not important, it was
the playability of the game itself which kept you coming back  for
more.
     In  the years following,  these games gradually  became  more
varied and graphically improved.  First of all larger versions  of
'pong'  appeared,  with  more 'bats' and called 'soccer'  or  'ice
hockey'.  Then colour appeared,  and so too did 'tank battle' (two
players).  Then  there  was a vertically scrolling  'racing'  game
where  you  had to avoid cars scrolling down towards you  to  gain
points (which I cannot recall the title of),  and 'Indy 500', with
up to four players racing cars round a top-down view  track.  This
included 'oil patches' to skid on!
     Then,  of course, there was the game considered by many to be
the one which really started the whole arcade-gaming boom  - SPACE
INVADERS.  I am sure I do not have to explain this one,  as clones
are  still  popular  today.  It is rather  ironic  that  the  most
popular,  full-colour version of this was made by ATARI, a company
which  now cannot seem to get its   act  together.  (Incidentally,
they also manufactured the first popular 8-bit home console  which
preceeded the Sega/Nintendo 8-bit wars by several years.)
     Around this time there also appeared the first 'Mario'  game,
'Donkey Kong'. I am sure this is familiar to all, too (and I don't
mean  'Donkey  Kong Country'),  so I won't examine  this  closer,
since the main focus of this article is 3D.
     I do not pretend to have researched this article in any great
depth.  It is purely a personal view from my own experiences, so I
may  be  incorrect with some details,  for which  I  apologise  in
advance, and welcome any additional recollections or corrections.
     The  first  attempt at some kind of 3D as I recall  were  the
'Isometric viewpoint' games, the only one of which I can initially
recall (though I had others on my old Commodore 64) is ANT ATTACK.
I  do  remember being fascinated by one in which  you  explored  a
castle  and could move and collect objects and fight  guards,  but
cannot  recall the title of it!  It was black outline  figures  on
plain-coloured background,  made by 'Ultimate'. Anyone else recall
this one and its title?
     However,  the first 'true' 3D game that I can recall, and the
earliest  first-person  'Virtual world' was that  of  'Mercenary'.
This  consisted  mostly  of 'wire-frame' graphics  (which  can  be
achieved  with  3D  construction  kit  2)  as  opposed  to  filled
polygons,  and  apart from the sky/ground flat colours (much  like
3DCK),   was  again  a  single  plain  colour.  The  'underground'
sequence  corridors  and rooms did have the  appearence  of  being
'solid',  but  the objects within them  were  wire-frame.  Objects
could be collected and moved around the environment,  however, and
there  were  various 'vehicles'.  The author  of  the  game,  Paul
Woakes,  has  since improved his game-engine,  and has produced  a
whole  filled-polygon solar-system with explorable planets on  the
space of one floppy-disk in DAMOCLES and MERCENARY III.  These  do
not  have the total freedom of 3DCK environments (you cannot  look
up and down),  but you can pick up and relocate objects, which you
cannot  with 3DCK.  Woakes also produced 3D shoot 'em ups  in  the
form of ENCOUNTER and BACKLASH.
     Some  may  wonder why DUNGEON MASTER has not  been  mentioned
yet.  Well, good though it was, and spawned many imitative clones,
it  was  not  'true'  3D.  The player  could  only  look  in  four
directions  and move in 'blocks'.  There was  no  smooth-scrolling
involved, and no vector-graphics.
     However,  we cannot do this article without looking at games,
professional,  shop-shelf games,  which were produced with  almost
exactly the same development system as the one which probably just
about everyone reading this has a copy of - FREESCAPE,  the system
of 3D Construction kit.
     The  first,   as  I  recall,  was  DRILLER.  And,  preceeding
DAMOCLES,  was  in  my experience the  first  full-colour  filled-
polygon  first-person  perspective 'virtual world'  -  though  the
terms  'Virtual  world'  and 'Virtual reality' had  not  then  yet
appeared. I was very impressed. And the sense of true involvement,
of actually 'being there' that it gave was tremendous.
     CASTLE  MASTER,  TOTAL ECLIPSE,  DARK SIDE and THE CRYPT  all
followed  using  the same system.  I never dreamt that one  day  I
would be creating my own worlds with FREESCAPE!
     Another very popular 3D game worth mentioning,  which started
out  with 'outline' monochrome 3D in its  earliest form is  ELITE,
the space-trading and combat game, and its  sequel FRONTIER.
     Though  the  'professional' world of 3D games has  moved  on,
3DCK is still the most user-friendly home-computer based  'virtual
world' creation system available, and at a very reasonable price.
     So  now we are into the 'post 3Dkit' era.  The next step  was
texture-mapping. A game even appeared for the Atari STFM with full
texture-mapped buildings and 2D sprite characters and  relocatable
objects set in a fantasy environment:  LEGENDS OF VALOUR. And they
said  it couldn't be done.  This engine was very similar  in  many
respects  to the now terribly famous DOOM,  though it was  not  as
fast or as smoothly-scrolling.
     Of course, we could not possibly ignore true VIRTUAL REALITY,
and  in  particular  the  most  widely-used  system  in  arcades ,
VIRTUALITY. These are almost full immersion 3D games, as I am sure
everyone must know. If you've not played one, you should, at least
once,  despite  the  cost,just for the experience (I  have  played
DACTYL NIGHTMARE.)
     Now,  like SPACE INVADERS and later DUNGEON MASTER,  DOOM has
started a genre of its  own. This brilliant game has well-detailed
texture-mapped  play-areas,  but the enemies  are  two-dimensional
sprites.  This  can  lead  to some strange  effects  when  a  dead
monster gets caught on the edge of an elevator, and any stationary
objects such as dead monsters and equipment appear to 'rotate'  as
you  walk  round  them to show you the same view  of  the  object.
Another  very atmospheric game which suffers from this problem  is
ALIEN  vs PREDATOR for the Atari Jaguar system.  These 2D  objects
are  being  improved with fully-rendered sprites (which I  do  not
believe are true 3D, though I may be wrong) in games such as SPACE
HULK,  and  the  up-and-coming ALIEN TRILOGY for  the  PLAYSTATION
claims  to  have  true  3D  sprites.   Yet,   at  the  same  time,
particularly on the PC but also on the new generation of  consoles
such as the SONY PLAYSTATION and SEGA SATURN, other 'third person'
view 3D games are appearing.  There are TEKKEN and VIRTUA  FIGHTER
and  all similar beat-'em up 3D clones,  and a couple of the  most
impressive  newest adventures to appear are 'The D' and  'RESIDENT
EVIL',  the  latter of which crosses the 'third person' view  with
DOOM for a new experience,  and with graphics that are incredible.
     In conclusion,  it appears that for the forseeable future  at
least,  3D  is  here  to stay,  which can only be  good  news  for
affectionados of 3D computer graphics such as ourselves.