A first-person shooter engine is a
video game engine specialized for simulating
3D environments for use in a
first-person shooter
First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
. First-person refers to the view where the players see the world from the eyes of their characters. Shooter refers to games which revolve primarily around wielding firearms and killing other entities in the game world, either
non-player character
A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster ...
s or other players.
The development of the FPS graphic engines is characterized by a steady increase in technologies, with some breakthroughs. Attempts at defining distinct generations lead to arbitrary choices of what constitutes a highly modified version of an 'old engine' and what is a new engine.
The classification is complicated as game engines blend old and new technologies. Features considered advanced in a new game one year, become the expected standard the next year. Games with a combination of both older and newer features are the norm. For example, ''
Jurassic Park: Trespasser'' (1998) introduced physics to the FPS genre, which did not become common until around 2002. ''
Red Faction'' (2001) featured a
destructible environment
In video games, the term destructible environment, or deformable terrain, refers to an environment within a game which can be wholly or partially destroyed by the player. It may refer to any part of the environment, including terrain, buildings an ...
, something still not common in engines years later.
Timeline
1970s and 1980s: Early FPS graphics engines
Game rendering for this early generation of FPS were already from the first-person perspective and with the need to shoot things, however they were mostly made up using
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is a form of computer graphics in which visual images are created directly from geometric shapes defined on a Cartesian plane, such as points, lines, curves and polygons. The associated mechanisms may include vector display ...
.
There are two possible claimants for the first FPS, ''
Maze War
''Maze'', also known as ''Maze War'', is a 3D multiplayer first-person shooter maze game originally developed in 1973 and expanded in 1974. The first version was developed by high school students Steve Colley, Greg Thompson, and Howard Palmer fo ...
'' and ''
Spasim
''Spasim'' is a 32-player 3D networked space flight simulation game and first-person space shooter developed by Jim Bowery for the PLATO computer network and released in March 1974. The game features four teams of eight players, each control ...
''.
''Maze War'' was developed in 1973 and involved a single player making his way through a maze of corridors rendered using a fixed perspective.
Multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
capabilities, where players attempted to shoot each other, were added later and were networked in 1974. ''Spasim'' was originally developed in 1974 and involved players moving through a wire-frame 3D universe. ''Spasim'' could be played by up to 32 players on the
PLATO
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institutio ...
network.
Developed in-house by
Incentive Software
Incentive Software Ltd. was a British video game developer and publisher founded by Ian Andrew in 1983. Programmers included Sean Ellis, Stephen Northcott and Ian's brother Chris Andrew.
Later games were based on the company's Freescape render ...
, the
Freescape
Freescape is a video game engine, an early 3D game engine used in video games such as 1987's '' Driller''. Graphics were composed mostly of solid geometry rendered without shading.
History
Developed in-house by Incentive Software, Freescape is c ...
engine is considered to be one of the first proprietary 3D engines to be used for computer games, although the engine was not used commercially outside of Incentive's own titles. The first game to use this engine was the
puzzle game
A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle ...
''
Driller'' in 1987.
Early 1990s: Wireframes to 2.5D worlds and textures
Games of this generation are often regarded as
Doom clones. They were not capable of full 3D rendering, but used
ray casting 2.5D
2.5D (two-and-a-half dimensional) perspective refers to gameplay or movement in a video game or virtual reality environment that is restricted to a two-dimensional (2D) plane with little to no access to a third dimension in a space that otherwis ...
techniques to draw the environment and
sprites to draw enemies instead of
3D models
In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of any surface of an object (inanimate or living) in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, an ...
. However these games began to use
textures to render the environment instead of simple
wire-frame model
A wire-frame model, also wireframe model, is a visual representation of a three-dimensional (3D) physical object used in 3D computer graphics. It is created by specifying each edge of the physical object where two mathematically continuou ...
s or solid colors.
''
Hovertank 3D
''Hovertank 3D'', also known under a variety of other names (''Hovertank'' or ''Hovertank One''), is a vehicular combat game developed by id Software and published by Softdisk in April 1991.
Plot
''Hovertank 3D'' is set during a nuclear war. ...
'', from
id Software
id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...
, was the first to use this technique in 1990, but was still not using
textures, a capability which was added shortly after on ''
Catacomb 3D
''Catacomb 3-D'' (also known as ''Catacomb 3-D: A New Dimension'', ''Catacomb 3-D: The Descent'', and ''Catacombs 3'') is a first-person shooter video game, the third in the ''Catacomb'' series, the first of which to feature 3D computer graphics ...
'' (1991), then with the
Wolfenstein 3D engine which was later used for several other games. ''Catacomb 3D'' was also the first game to show the player's hand on-screen, furthering the implication of the player into the character's role.
''
Wolfenstein 3D
''Wolfenstein 3D'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen. Originally released on May 5, 1992, for DOS, it was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game ''Castle Wolfen ...
'' engine was still very primitive. It did not apply textures to the floor and ceiling, and the
ray casting restricted walls to a fixed height, and
levels were all on the same plane.
Even though it was still not using true 3D,
id Tech 1
id Tech 1, also known as the ''Doom'' engine, is the game engine that powers the id Software games '' Doom'' and '' Doom II: Hell on Earth''. It is also used in ''Heretic'', '' Hexen: Beyond Heretic'', '' Strife: Quest for the Sigil'', '' Hacx: ...
, first used in ''
Doom'' (1993) and again from
id Software
id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...
, removed these limitations. It also first introduced the concept of
binary space partitioning
In computer science, binary space partitioning (BSP) is a method for space partitioning which recursively subdivides a Euclidean space into two convex sets by using hyperplanes as partitions. This process of subdividing gives rise to a represe ...
(BSP). Another breakthrough was the introduction of multiplayer abilities in the engine.
However, because it was still using 2.5D, it was impossible to look up and down properly in Doom, and all Doom levels were actually two-dimensional.
Due to the lack of a z-axis, the engine did not allow for
room-over-room support.
''Dooms success spawned several games using the same engine or similar techniques, giving them the name ''Doom clones''. The
Build engine, used in ''
Duke Nukem 3D
''Duke Nukem 3D'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by 3D Realms. It is a sequel to the platform games ''Duke Nukem'' and '' Duke Nukem II'', published by 3D Realms.
''Duke Nukem 3D'' features the adventures of the titular Duke N ...
'' (1996), later removed some of the limitations of id Tech 1, such as the Build engine being able to have support for room-over-room by stacking sectors on top of sectors, however the techniques used remained the same.
Mid 1990s: 3D models, beginnings of hardware acceleration
In the mid-1990s, game engines recreated true
3D worlds with arbitrary level geometry. Instead of sprites the engines used simply
textured (single-pass texturing, no lighting details)
polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two t ...
al objects.
FromSoftware released ''
King's Field'', a full polygon free roaming first-person real-time action title for the
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...
in December 1994.
Sega's
32X
The 32X is an add-on for the Sega Genesis video game console. Codenamed "Project Mars", it was designed to expand the power of the Genesis and serve as a transitional console into the 32-bit era until the release of the Sega Saturn. The 32X ...
release ''
Metal Head'' was a first-person shooter
mecha simulation game
Vehicle simulation games are a genre of video games which attempt to provide the player with a realistic interpretation of operating various kinds of vehicles. This includes automobiles, aircraft, watercraft, spacecraft, military vehicles, and a ...
that used fully
texture-mapped,
3D polygonal graphics. A year prior, Exact released the
Sharp X68000
The is a home computer created by Sharp Corporation. It was first released in 1987 and sold only in Japan.
The initial model has a 10 MHz Motorola 68000 CPU, 1 MB of RAM, and lacks a hard drive. The final model was released in 1993 ...
computer game ''Geograph Seal'', a fully 3D polygonal first-person shooter that employed
platform game
A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action game, action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform game ...
mechanics and had most of the action take place in
free-roaming outdoor environments rather than the corridor labyrinths of ''Wolfenstein 3D''. The following year, Exact released its successor for the PlayStation console, ''
Jumping Flash!'', which used the same game engine but adapted it to place more emphasis on the platforming rather than the shooting. The ''Jumping Flash!'' series continued to use the same engine.
''
Dark Forces'', released in 1995 by
LucasArts
Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as part of a large ...
, has been regarded as one of the first "true 3-D" first-person shooter games. Its engine, the
Jedi Engine, was one of the first engines to support an environment in three dimensions: areas can exist next to each other in all three planes, including on top of each other (such as stories in a building). Though most of the objects in ''Dark Forces'' are sprites, the game does include support for textured 3D-rendered objects. Another game regarded as one of the first true 3D first-person shooter is
Parallax Software's 1994 shooter ''
Descent''.
The
Quake engine
The ''Quake'' engine is the game engine developed by id Software to power their 1996 video game '' Quake''. It featured true 3D real-time rendering and is now licensed under the terms of GNU General Public License v2.0 or later.
After releas ...
(''
Quake'', 1996) used fewer animated sprites and used true 3D geometry and lighting, using elaborate techniques such as
z-buffering
A depth buffer, also known as a z-buffer, is a type of data buffer used in computer graphics to represent depth information of objects in 3D space from a particular perspective. Depth buffers are an aid to rendering a scene to ensure that th ...
to speed up the rendering. ''Quake'' was also the first true-3D game to use a special map design system to preprocess and pre-render the 3D environment: the 3D environment in which the game took place (referred for the first time as a
Map) was simplified during the creation of the map to reduce the processing required when playing the game.
Static
lightmap
A lightmap is a data structure used in lightmapping, a form of surface caching in which the brightness of surfaces in a virtual scene is pre-calculated and stored in texture maps for later use. Lightmaps are most commonly applied to static ob ...
s and 3D light sources were also added in the
BSP files storing the levels, allowing for more realistic lighting.
The first
Graphics processing unit
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mo ...
s appeared in the late 1990s, but many games still supported software rendering at that time.
id Tech 2 (''
Quake II
''Quake II'' is a 1997 first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. It is the second installment of the ''Quake'' series, but not a direct sequel to '' Quake''. The game's storyline is continued in its e ...
'', 1997) was one of the first games to take advantage of hardware accelerated graphics (
id Software
id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...
later reworked ''Quake'' to add
OpenGL
OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve ha ...
support to the game).
GoldSrc, the engine derived from the
Quake engine
The ''Quake'' engine is the game engine developed by id Software to power their 1996 video game '' Quake''. It featured true 3D real-time rendering and is now licensed under the terms of GNU General Public License v2.0 or later.
After releas ...
by
Valve
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...
for ''
Half-Life
Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable at ...
'' (1998), added
Direct3D
Direct3D is a graphics application programming interface (API) for Microsoft Windows. Part of DirectX, Direct3D is used to render three-dimensional graphics in applications where performance is important, such as games. Direct3D uses hardware ...
support, and a
skeletal
A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...
framework to better render the
NPCs,
and also greatly improved the
NPCs artificial intelligence (AI) compared to the Quake engine.
Late 1990s: Full 32-bit color, and GPUs become standard
This period saw the introduction of the first video cards with
Transform, clipping, and lighting (T&L). The first card with this innovative technology was the
GeForce 256
The GeForce 256 is the original release in Nvidia's " GeForce" product-line. Announced on August 31, 1999 and released on October 11, 1999, the GeForce 256 improves on its predecessor ( RIVA TNT2) by increasing the number of fixed pixel pipeli ...
. This card was superior to what 3dfx had to offer at the time, namely
Voodoo3
Voodoo3 was a series of computer gaming video cards manufactured and designed by 3dfx Interactive. It was the successor to the company's high-end Voodoo2 line and was based heavily upon the older Voodoo Banshee product. Voodoo3 was announced at C ...
, which only fell short because the lack of T&L. Companies such as
Matrox
Matrox Graphics, Inc. is a producer of video card components and equipment for personal computers and workstations. Based in Dorval, Quebec, Canada, it was founded in 1976 by Lorne Trottier and Branko Matić. The name is derived from "Ma" in ...
with their
G400, and
S3 with their
Savage4 were forced to withdraw from the 3D gaming market during this time period. One year later,
ATI released their
Radeon 7200, a true competing graphics card line.
While all games of this period supported
16-bit color
High color graphics is a method of storing image information in a computer's memory such that each pixel is represented by two bytes. Usually the color is represented by all 16 bits, but some devices also support 15-bit high color.
More recently ...
, many were adopting
32-bit color
Color depth or colour depth (see spelling differences), also known as bit depth, is either the number of bits used to indicate the color of a single pixel, or the number of bits used for each color component of a single pixel. When referring to ...
(really 24-bit color with an 8-bit alpha channel) as well. Soon, many benchmark sites began touting 32-bit as a standard. The
Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game '' Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genr ...
, used in a large number of FPS games since its release, was an important milestone at the time. It used the
Glide API, specifically developed for
3dfx
3dfx Interactive was an American technology company headquartered in San Jose, California, founded in 1994, that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units, and later, video cards. It was a pioneer in the field from the ...
GPUs,
instead of
OpenGL
OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve ha ...
. Probably the biggest reason for its popularity was that the engine architecture and the inclusion of a
scripting language
A scripting language or script language is a programming language that is used to manipulate, customize, and automate the facilities of an existing system. Scripting languages are usually interpreted at runtime rather than compiled.
A scripti ...
made it easy to
mod it.
One other improvement of Unreal compared to the previous generation of engines was its
networking technology, which greatly improved the scalability of the engine on
multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
.
id Tech 3
id Tech 3, popularly known as the ''Quake III Arena'' engine, is a game engine developed by id Software for their video game ''Quake III Arena''. It has been adopted by numerous games. During its time, it competed with the Unreal Engine; bot ...
, first used for ''
Quake III Arena
''Quake III Arena'' is a 1999 multiplayer-focused first-person shooter developed by id Software. The third installment of the ''Quake'' series, ''Arena'' differs from previous games by excluding a story-based single-player mode and focusing prima ...
'', improved from its predecessor by allowing to store much more complex and smoother animations. It also had improved lighting and
shadowing
Shadowing may refer to:
* Shadow fading in wireless communication, caused by obstacles
* File shadowing, to provide an exact copy of or to mirror a set of data
* Job shadowing, learning tasks by first-hand observation of daily behavior
* Project ...
and introduced
shader
In computer graphics, a shader is a computer program that calculates the appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color during the rendering of a 3D scene - a process known as '' shading''. Shaders have evolved to perform a variety of spec ...
s and curved surfaces.
Early 2000s: Increasing detail, outdoor environments, and rag-doll physics
New graphics hardware provided new capabilities, allowing new engines to add various new effects, such as particle effects or fog, as well as increase texture and polygon detail. Many games featured large outdoor environments, vehicles, and
rag-doll physics
Ragdoll physics is a type of procedural animation used by physics engines, which is often used as a replacement for traditional static death animations in video games and animated films. As computers increased in power, it became possible to do ...
.
Average Video Hardware requirements: a GPU with hardware
T&L such as the DirectX 7.0
GeForce 2 or
Radeon 7200 was typically required. The next-generation
GeForce 3
The GeForce 3 series (NV20) is the third generation of Nvidia's GeForce graphics processing units (GPUs). Introduced in February 2001, it advanced the GeForce architecture by adding programmable pixel and vertex shaders, multisample anti-alia ...
or
Radeon 8500
The R200 is the second generation of GPUs used in Radeon graphics cards and developed by ATI Technologies. This GPU features 3D acceleration based upon Microsoft Direct3D 8.1 and OpenGL 1.3, a major improvement in features and performanc ...
were recommended due to their more efficient architecture, though their DirectX 8.0 vertex and pixel shaders were of little use. A handful of games still supported DirectX 6.0 chipsets such as
RIVA TNT2 and
Rage 128, and software rendering (with an integrated
Intel GMA
The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) is a series of integrated graphics processors introduced in 2004 by Intel, replacing the earlier Intel Extreme Graphics series and being succeeded by the Intel HD and Iris Graphics series.
This serie ...
), though this was apparent that even a powerful CPU could not compensate for the lack of hardware T&L.
Games engines originally developed for the
PC platform, like the
Unreal Engine 2.0, started to be adapted for
sixth generation consoles like
PlayStation 2 or
GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the W ...
, those now having the computer power to handle graphic-intensive video games.
Mid 2000s: Lighting and pixel shaders, physics
The new generation of graphics chips allowed
pixel shader
In computer graphics, a shader is a computer program that calculates the appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color during the rendering of a 3D scene - a process known as ''shading''. Shaders have evolved to perform a variety of speci ...
-based textures,
bump mapping, and
lighting and shadowing technologies to become common. Shader technologies included
HLSL
The High-Level Shader Language or High-Level Shading Language (HLSL) is a proprietary shading language developed by Microsoft for the Direct3D 9 API to augment the shader assembly language, and went on to become the required shading language ...
(for
DirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direc ...
),
GLSL
OpenGL Shading Language (GLSL) is a high-level shading language with a syntax based on the C programming language. It was created by the OpenGL ARB (OpenGL Architecture Review Board) to give developers more direct control of the graphics pip ...
(for
OpenGL
OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve ha ...
), or
Cg.
This resulted in the obsolescence of
DirectX 7.0
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direc ...
graphics chips such as the widespread
GeForce 2 and
Radeon 7200, as well as DirectX 6.0 chipsets such as
RIVA TNT2 and
Rage 128, and integrated
on-board graphics accelerators
A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mob ...
. Until this generation of games, a powerful CPU was able to somewhat compensate for an older video card. Average Video Hardware requirements: minimum was a
GeForce 3
The GeForce 3 series (NV20) is the third generation of Nvidia's GeForce graphics processing units (GPUs). Introduced in February 2001, it advanced the GeForce architecture by adding programmable pixel and vertex shaders, multisample anti-alia ...
or
Radeon 8500
The R200 is the second generation of GPUs used in Radeon graphics cards and developed by ATI Technologies. This GPU features 3D acceleration based upon Microsoft Direct3D 8.1 and OpenGL 1.3, a major improvement in features and performanc ...
, strongly recommended was the GeForce FX,
Radeon 9700
The R300 GPU, introduced in August 2002 and developed by ATI Technologies, is its third generation of GPU used in ''Radeon'' graphics cards. This GPU features 3D acceleration based upon Direct3D 9.0 and OpenGL 2.0, a major improvement in feat ...
(or other cards with
Pixel shader 2.x support). The Radeon 9700 demonstrated that
anti-aliasing (AA) and/or
anisotropic filtering
In 3D computer graphics, anisotropic filtering (abbreviated AF) is a method of enhancing the image quality of textures on surfaces of computer graphics that are at oblique viewing angles with respect to the camera where the projection of the ...
(AF) could be fully usable options, even in the newest and most demanding titles at the time, and resulted in the widespread acceptance of AA and AF as standard features. AA and AF had been supported by many earlier graphics chips prior to this but carried a heavy performance hit and so most gamers opted not to enable these features.
With these new technologies game engines featured seamlessly integrated indoor/outdoor environments, used shaders for more realistic animations (characters, water, weather effects, etc.), and generally increased realism. The fact that the
GPU performed some of the tasks that were already done by the
CPU
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...
, and more generally the increasing processing power available, allowed to add realistic physics effects to the games, for example with the inclusion of the
Havok physics engine in most video games. Physics had been already added in a video game in 1998 with ''
Jurassic Park: Trespasser'', but limited hardware capabilities at the time, and the absence of a
middleware
Middleware is a type of computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue".
Middleware makes it easier for software developers to implement c ...
like Havok to handle physics had made it a technical and commercial failure.
id Tech 4
id Tech 4, popularly known as the ''Doom 3'' engine, is a game engine developed by id Software and first used in the video game ''Doom 3''. The engine was designed by John Carmack, who also created previous game engines, such as those for '' Do ...
, first used for ''
Doom 3
''Doom 3'' is a 2004 survival horror first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. ''Doom 3'' was originally released for Microsoft Windows on August 3, 2004, adapted for Linux later that year, and ported ...
'' (2004), used an entirely dynamic
per-pixel lighting, whereas previously, 3D engines had relied primarily on pre-calculated per-vertex lighting or
lightmap
A lightmap is a data structure used in lightmapping, a form of surface caching in which the brightness of surfaces in a virtual scene is pre-calculated and stored in texture maps for later use. Lightmaps are most commonly applied to static ob ...
s and
Gouraud shading
Gouraud shading, named after Henri Gouraud, is an interpolation method used in computer graphics to produce continuous shading of surfaces represented by polygon meshes. In practice, Gouraud shading is most often used to achieve continuous li ...
. The
Shadow volume approach used in Doom 3 permitted more realistic lighting and shadows, however this came at a price as it could not render soft shadows, and the engine was primarily good indoors. Later this was rectified to work with vast outdoor spaces, with the introduction of
MegaTexture technology in the
id Tech 4
id Tech 4, popularly known as the ''Doom 3'' engine, is a game engine developed by id Software and first used in the video game ''Doom 3''. The engine was designed by John Carmack, who also created previous game engines, such as those for '' Do ...
engine.
The same year,
Valve
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...
released ''
Half-Life 2
''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Valve. It was published by Valve through its distribution service Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half-Life 2'' combines shooting, puzzles, and storytelling, and a ...
'', powered by their new
Source engine. This new engine was notable in that, among other things, it had very realistic facial animations for
NPCs, including what was described as an impressive
lip-syncing technology.
Late 2000s: The approach to Photorealism
Further improvements in
GPUs like
Shader Model 3 and
Shader Model 4, made possible by new graphic chipsets as
GeForce 7 or
Radeon X1xxx series, allowed for improvements in graphic effects.
Developers of this era of 3D engines often tout their increasingly
photorealistic
Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another Medium (arts), medium. Although ...
quality. Around the same time
esportswe're beginning to gain attention. These engines include realistic
shader
In computer graphics, a shader is a computer program that calculates the appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color during the rendering of a 3D scene - a process known as '' shading''. Shaders have evolved to perform a variety of spec ...
-based materials with predefined physics, environments with procedural and
vertex shader
In computer graphics, a shader is a computer program that calculates the appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color during the rendering of a 3D scene - a process known as ''shading''. Shaders have evolved to perform a variety of speci ...
-based objects (
vegetation
Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic charact ...
, debris, human-made objects such as books or tools),
procedural animation
A procedural animation is a type of computer animation, used to automatically generate animation in real-time to allow for a more diverse series of actions than could otherwise be created using predefined animations.
Procedural animation is u ...
, cinematographic effects (
depth of field
The depth of field (DOF) is the distance between the nearest and the furthest objects that are in acceptably sharp focus in an image captured with a camera.
Factors affecting depth of field
For cameras that can only focus on one object di ...
,
motion blur
Motion blur is the apparent streaking of moving objects in a photograph or a sequence of frames, such as a film or animation. It results when the image being recorded changes during the recording of a single exposure, due to rapid movement or ...
, etc.),
high-dynamic-range rendering
High-dynamic-range rendering (HDRR or HDR rendering), also known as high-dynamic-range lighting, is the rendering of computer graphics scenes by using lighting calculations done in high dynamic range (HDR). This allows preservation of details tha ...
, and unified lighting models with soft shadowing and
volumetric lighting.
However, most of engines capable of these effects are evolutions of engines from the previous generation, such as
Unreal Engine 3
Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game ''Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genres ...
, the
Dunia Engine
Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include ''Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry (serie ...
and
CryEngine 2
CryEngine (stylized as CRYENGINE) is a game engine designed by the German game developer Crytek. It has been used in all of their titles with the initial version being used in '' Far Cry'', and continues to be updated to support new consoles an ...
,
id Tech 5
id Tech 5 is a proprietary game engine developed by id Software. It followed its predecessors, id Tech 1, 2, 3 and 4, all of which had subsequently been published under the GNU General Public License. It was seen as a major advancement over i ...
(which was used with ''
Rage
Rage may refer to:
* Rage (emotion), an intense form of anger
Games
* Rage (collectible card game), a collectible card game
* Rage (trick-taking card game), a commercial variant of the card game Oh Hell
* ''Rage'' (video game), a 2011 first-per ...
'' and makes use of the new
Virtual Texturing technology).
The first games using
Unreal Engine 3
Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game ''Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genres ...
were released in November 2006, and the first game to use
CryEngine 2
CryEngine (stylized as CRYENGINE) is a game engine designed by the German game developer Crytek. It has been used in all of their titles with the initial version being used in '' Far Cry'', and continues to be updated to support new consoles an ...
(''
Crysis
''Crysis'' is a first-person shooter video game series created by Crytek. The series revolves around a group of military protagonists with " nanosuits", technologically advanced suits of armor that give them enhanced physical strength, speed, ...
'') was released in 2007.
Early 2010s: Graphic technique mixes
Further improvements in
GPUs like
Shader Model 5, made possible by new graphic chipsets as
GeForce 400 Series
Serving as the introduction of Fermi, the GeForce 400 series is a series of graphics processing units developed by Nvidia. Its release was originally slated in November 2009; however, after delays, it was released on March 26, 2010 with availab ...
or
Radeon HD 5000 series
The Evergreen series is a family of GPUs developed by Advanced Micro Devices for its Radeon line under the ATI brand name. It was employed in Radeon HD 5000 graphics card series and competed directly with Nvidia's GeForce 400 Series.
Release ...
and later, allowed for improvements in graphic effects. such as Dynamic
Displacement Mapping and
Tessellation
A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of ge ...
.
As of 2010, two upcoming evolutions of major existing engines had been released:
Unreal Engine 3
Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game ''Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genres ...
in
DirectX 11 which powered Samaritan Demo (and which is used with
Batman: Arkham City,
Batman: Arkham Knight and more DX11 based UE3 games) and
CryEngine 3, which powers ''
Crysis 2'' and ''
Crysis 3''.
Few companies had discussed future plans for their engines;
id Tech 6, the eventual successor to id Tech 5, was an exception. Preliminary information about this engine which was still in early phases of development tended to show that
id Software
id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...
was looking toward a direction where
ray tracing and classic
raster graphics
upright=1, The Smiley, smiley face in the top left corner is a raster image. When enlarged, individual pixels appear as squares. Enlarging further, each pixel can be analyzed, with their colors constructed through combination of the values for ...
would be mixed.
However, according to
John Carmack
John D. Carmack II (born August 20, 1970) is an American computer programmer and video game developer
A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related discip ...
, the hardware capable of id Tech 6 did not yet exist.
The first title using the engine,
Doom, was released in mid 2016.
In September 2015,
Valve
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...
released
Source 2 in an update to
Dota 2
''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to '' Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.'' ''Dota ...
.
See also
*
Game engine
A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term " software engine" used in the softwar ...
*
List of game engines
*
List of first-person shooter engines
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:First-Person Shooter Engine