A first-person shooter (FPS) is a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game 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 generate visual fe ...

centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through the eyes of the

main character A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

. This genre shares multiple common traits with other shooter games, and in turn falls under the

action game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, rhythm games and ...

s category. Since the genre's inception, advanced 3D and pseudo-3D graphics have proven fundamental to allow a reasonable level of immersion in the game world, and this type of game helped pushing technology progressively further, challenging hardware developers worldwide to introduce numerous innovations in the field of

graphics processing units A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed for digital image processing and to accelerate computer graphics, being present either as a discrete video card or embedded on motherboards, mobile phones, personal co ...

. Multiplayer gaming has been an integral part of the experience, and became even more prominent with the diffusion of internet connectivity in recent years. Although earlier games predate it by 20 years, ''

Wolfenstein 3D ''Wolfenstein 3D'' is a 1992 first-person shooter game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen for DOS. It was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game '' Castle Wolfenstein'', and is the third installment ...

'' (1992) was the highest-profile archetype upon which most subsequent first-person shooters were based. One such game, considered the progenitor of the genre's mainstream acceptance and popularity, was '' Doom'' (1993), often cited as the most influential game in this category; for years, the term "Doom clone" was used to designate this type of game, due to ''Doom''s enormous success. Another common name for the genre in its early days was "corridor shooter", since processing limitations of that era's computer hardware meant that most of the action had to take place in enclosed areas, such as corridors and small rooms. During the 1990s, the genre was one of the main cornerstones for technological advancements of computer graphics, starting with the release of '' Quake'' in 1996. ''Quake'' was one of the first real-time 3D rendered video games in history, and quickly became one of the most acclaimed shooter games of all time. Graphics accelerator hardware became essential to improve performances and add new effects such as full

texture mapping Texture mapping is a term used in computer graphics to describe how 2D images are projected onto 3D models. The most common variant is the UV unwrap, which can be described as an inverse paper cutout, where the surfaces of a 3D model are cut ap ...

, dynamic lighting and particle processing to the 3D

engines An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

that powered the games of that period, such as the iconic id Tech 2, the first iteration of 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 video game '' Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of ...

, or the more versatile Build. Other seminal games were released during the years, with ''

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

'' enhancing the narrative and puzzle elements,IGN's Top 100 Games
, ''IGN,'' July 25, 2005, Accessed February 19, 2009 ''

Duke Nukem 3D ''Duke Nukem 3D'' is a 1996 first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed by 3D Realms and published by FormGen for MS-DOS. It is a sequel to the platform games ''Duke Nukem (video game), Duke Nukem'' and ''Duke Nukem II'', published ...

'' introducing voice acting, complete interactivity with the environment, and city-life settings to the genre, and games like ''

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six'' (often shortened to ''Rainbow Six'' or ''R6'') is a tactical shooter video game series by Red Storm Entertainment and Ubisoft, marketed under the '' Tom Clancy's'' banner of military-themed video games. Based on t ...

'' and ''

Counter-Strike ''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games, in which opposing teams attempt to complete various objectives. The series began on Windows in 1999 with the release of the first game, '' Counte ...

'' starting to adopt a realistic and tactical approach aimed at simulating real life counter-terrorism situations. '' GoldenEye 007'', released in 1997, was a landmark first-person shooter for

home consoles A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. While initial consoles were dedicated units with only a few game ...

, while the critical and commercial success of later titles like ''

Perfect Dark ''Perfect Dark'' is a 2000 first-person shooter developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64. The first game of the '' Perfect Dark'' series, it follows Joanna Dark, an agent of the Carrington Institute research centre, as she attempts ...

'', ''

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

'' and the ''

Halo HALO, halo, halos or haloes may refer to: Most common meanings * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head * ''Halo'' (franchise), a sci-fi video game series (2001–2021) Arts and en ...

'' series helped to heighten the appeal of this genre for the consoles market, straightening the road to the current tendency to release most titles as cross-platform, like many games in the '' Far Cry'' and ''

Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter military video game series and media franchise published by Activision, starting in 2003. The games were first developed by Infinity Ward, then by Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games. Several spin-of ...

'' series.

Definition

First-person shooters are a type of

shooter game Shooter video games, or shooters, are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is on the defeat of the character's enemies using ranged weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range weapons, a ...

that relies on a first-person point of view with which the player experiences the action through the eyes of the character. They differ from

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...

s in that, in a third-person shooter, the player can see the character they are controlling (usually from behind, or above). The primary design focus is combat, mainly involving firearms or other types of long range weapons. A defining feature of the genre is "player-guided navigation through a three-dimensional space." This is a defining characteristic that clearly distinguishes the genre from other types of shooting games that employ a first-person perspective, including

light gun shooter Light-gun shooter, also called light-gun game or simply gun game, is a Shooter game, shooter video game video game genres, genre in which the primary design element is to simulate a shooting gallery (carnival game), shooting gallery by having ...

s, rail shooters, shooting gallery games, or older shooting

electro-mechanical game Electro-mechanical games (EM games) are types of arcade games that operate on a combination of some electronic circuitry and mechanical actions from the player to move items contained within the game's cabinet. Some of these were early light gu ...

s. First person-shooter games are thus categorized as being distinct from light gun shooters, a similar genre with a first-person perspective which uses dedicated

light gun A light gun is a pointing device for computers and a control device for arcade and video games, typically shaped to resemble a pistol. Early history The first light guns were produced in the 1930s, following the development of light-sensi ...

peripherals, in contrast to the use of conventional input devices.Casamassina, Matt
Controller Concepts: Gun Games
, ''IGN,'' September 26, 2005, Accessed February 27, 2009 Light-gun shooters (like '' Virtua Cop'') often feature "on-rails" (scripted) movement, whereas first-person shooters give the player complete freedom to roam the surroundings. The first-person shooter may be considered a distinct genre itself, or a type of shooter game, in turn a subgenre of the wider

genre. Following the release of ''Doom'' in 1993, games in this style were commonly referred to as "Doom clones";Doom
, ''Encyclopædia Britannica,'' Accessed February 25, 2009 over time this term has largely been replaced by "first-person shooter". ''Wolfenstein 3D,'' released in 1992, the year before ''Doom'', has been often credited with introducing the genre, but critics have since identified similar, though less advanced, games developed as far back as 1973. There are occasional disagreements regarding the specific design elements which constitute a first-person shooter. For example, titles like '' Deus Ex'' or ''

BioShock ''BioShock'' is a 2007 first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston (later Irrational Games) and 2K Australia, and published by 2K. The first game in the ''BioShock'' series, it was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 ...

'' may be considered as first-person shooters, but may also fit into the

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

s category, as they borrow extensively from that genre.Perry, Douglass C.
BioShock: Ken Levine Talks First-Person Shooters
, ''IGN,'' September 15, 2006, Accessed February 25, 2009 Other examples, like '' Far Cry'' and '' Rage'', could also be considered

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

s, because they focus more on exploration than simple action, they task players with multiple different objectives other than just killing enemies, and they often revolve around the construction of complex cinematic storylines with a well defined cast of secondary characters to interact with. Furthermore, certain puzzle or platforming games are also sometimes categorized as first-person shooters, in spite of lacking any direct combat or shooting element, instead using a first-person perspective to help players immerse within the game and better navigate 3D environments (for example, in the case of '' Portal'', the 'gun' the player character carries is used to create portals through walls rather than fire projectiles). Some commentators also extend the definition to include combat flight simulators and space battle games, whenever the cockpit of the aircraft is depicted from a first-person point of view.

Game design

Like most shooter games, first-person shooters involve an

avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

, one or more ranged weapons, and a varying number of enemies. Because they take place in a 3D environment, these games tend to be somewhat more realistic than 2D shooter games, and have more accurate representations of gravity, lighting, sound and collisions. First-person shooters played on

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

s are most often controlled with a combination of a keyboard and

mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

. This system has been claimed as superior to that found in console games, which frequently use two

analog stick An analog stick (analogue stick in British English), also known as a control stick, thumbstick or joystick, is an input method designed for video games that translates thumb movement into directional control. It consists of a protruding stick mo ...

s: one used for running and sidestepping, the other for looking and aiming.Treit, Ryan
Novice Guides: First Person Shooter
''Xbox.com,'' Accessed February 23, 2009 It is common to display the character's hands and weaponry in the main view, with a

heads-up display A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD () or head-up guidance system (HGS), is any see-through display, transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of t ...

showing health,

ammunition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

and location details. Often, it is possible to overlay a map of the surrounding area.

Combat and power-ups

First-person shooters generally focus on action gameplay, with fast-paced combat and dynamic firefights being a central point of the experience, though certain titles may also place a greater emphasis on narrative, problem-solving and logic puzzles. In addition to shooting,

melee A melee ( or ) is a confused hand-to-hand combat, hand-to-hand fight among several people. The English term ''melee'' originated circa 1648 from the French word ' (), derived from the Old French ''mesler'', from which '':wikt:medley, medley'' and ...

combat may also be used extensively. In some games, melee weapons are especially powerful, as a reward for the risk the player must take in maneuvering his character into close proximity to the enemy. In other games, instead, melee weapons may be less effective but necessary as a last resort.Quake Wars Guide
''IGN'', Accessed March 10, 2009 " Tactical shooters" tend to be more realistic, and require the players to use teamwork and strategy in order to succeed; the players can often command a squad of characters, which may be controlled by the A.I. or by human teammates,While generally better than Spec Ops, Rainbow Six carries its own baggage, especially where the conflict of realism versus gameplay rears its ugly head. and can be given different tasks during the course of the mission. First-person shooters typically present players with a vast arsenal of weapons, which can have a large impact on how they will approach the game. Some games offer realistic reproductions of actual existing (or even historical) firearms, simulating their rate of fire, magazine size, ammunition amount, recoil and accuracy. Depending on the context, other first-person shooters may incorporate some imaginative variations, including futuristic prototypes, alien-technology or magical weapons, and/or implementing a wide array of different projectiles, from lasers, to energy, plasma, rockets, and arrows. These many variations may also be applied to the tossing of grenades, bombs, spears and the like. Also, more unconventional modes of destruction may be employed by the playable character, such as flames, electricity, telekinesis or other supernatural powers, and traps. In the early era of first-person shooters, often designers allowed characters to carry a large number of different weapons with little to no reduction in speed or mobility. More modern games started to adopt a more realistic approach, where the player can only equip a handheld gun, coupled with a rifle, or even limiting the players to only one weapon of choice at a time, forcing them to swap between different alternatives according to the situation. In some games, there's the option to trade up or upgrade weapons, resulting in multiple degrees of customization. Thus, the standards of realism are extremely variable. The protagonist can generally get healing and equipment supplies by means of collectible items such as

first aid kit A first aid kit or medical kit is a collection of supplies and equipment used to give First aid, immediate medical treatment, primarily to treat injuries and other mild or moderate medical conditions. There is a wide variation in the contents o ...

s or ammunition packs, simply by walking over, or interacting with them.Staff
The Wednesday 10: First-Person Shooter Cliches
, ''IGN,'' February 11, 2009, Accessed February 23, 2009 Some games allow players to accumulate

experience point An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experien ...

s in a role-playing game fashion, that can generally be used to unlock new weapons, bonuses and skills.

Level design

First-person shooters may be structurally composed of levels, or use the technique of a continuous narrative in which the game never leaves the first-person perspective. Others feature large

sandbox A sandbox is a sandpit, a wide, shallow playground construction to hold sand, often made of wood or plastic. Sandbox or sand box may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Sandbox (band), a Canadian rock music group * Sandbox (Gu ...

environments, which are not divided into levels and can be explored freely. In first-person shooters, protagonists interact with the environment to varying degrees, from basics such as using doors, to problem solving puzzles based on a variety of interactive objects. In some games, the player can damage the environment, also to varying degrees: one common device is the use of barrels containing

explosive material An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

which the player can shoot, harming nearby enemies. Other games feature environments which are extensively destructible, allowing for additional visual effects. The game world will often make use of science fiction, historic (particularly

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

) or modern military themes, with such

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.aliens,

monster A monster is a type of imaginary or fictional creature found in literature, folklore, mythology, fiction and religion. They are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes Anxiety, terror ...

s, terrorists and soldiers of various types. Games feature multiple difficulty settings; in harder modes, enemies are tougher, more aggressive and do more damage, and power-ups are limited. In easier modes, the player can succeed through reaction times alone; on more difficult settings, it is often necessary to memorize the levels through trial and error.

Multiplayer

First-person shooters may feature a

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 ...

mode, taking place on specialized levels. Some games are designed specifically for multiplayer gaming, and have very limited single player modes in which the player competes against game-controlled characters termed "bots". Massively multiplayer online first-person shooters like those in the '' PlanetSide'' series allow thousands of players to compete at once in a

persistent world A persistent world or persistent state world (PSW) is a virtual world which, by the definition given by Richard Bartle, "continues to exist and develop internally even when there are no people interacting with it". The first virtual worlds were ...

.The Worlds First MMOFPS is nearly complete
, ''IGN,'' May 5, 2003, Accessed February 23, 2009 Large scale multiplayer games allow multiple squads, with leaders issuing commands and a commander controlling the team's overall strategy.Kosak, Dave

, ''GameSpy,'' June 17, 2005, Accessed February 23, 2009 Multiplayer games have a variety of different styles of match. Xonotic gameplay

The classic types are the deathmatch (and its team-based variant) in which players score points by killing other players' characters; and capture the flag, in which teams attempt to penetrate the opposing base, capture a flag and return it to their own base whilst preventing the other team from doing the same. Other game modes may involve attempting to capture enemy bases or areas of the map, attempting to take hold of an object for as long as possible while evading other players, or deathmatch variations involving limited lives or in which players fight over a particularly potent

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a Game mechanics, game mechanic. This is in contrast to an Item (game), item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that ca ...

. These match types may also be customizable, allowing the players to vary weapons, health and power-ups found on the map, as well as victory criteria. Games may allow players to choose between various classes, each with its own strengths, weaknesses, equipment and roles within a team.

Free-to-play

There are many free-to-play first-person shooters on the market now, including '' Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory'', ''

Apex Legends ''Apex Legends'' is a 2019 Battle royale game, battle royale-hero shooter video game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, set in the same science fiction universe as Respawn's ''Titanfall'' series. It is offered ...

'', ''

Team Fortress 2 ''Team Fortress 2'' (''TF2'') is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation in 2007. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' Mod (video gaming), mod for ''Quake (video g ...

'', '' PlanetSide 2, and Halo Infinite Multiplayer.'' Some games are released as free-to-play as their intended business model and can be highly profitable (''League of Legends'' earned $2 billion in 2017), but others such as '' Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade'' begin their life as paid games and become free-to-play later to reach a wider audience after an initially disappointing reception. Some player communities complain about freemium first-person-shooters, fearing that they create unbalanced games, but many game designers have tweaked prices in response to criticism, and players can usually get the same benefits by playing longer rather than paying.

History

Origins: 1970s–1980s

The earliest two documented first-person shooter video games are '' Maze War'' 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 controll ...

.'' ''Maze War'' was originally developed in 1973 by Greg Thompson, Steve Colley and Howard Palmer, high-school students in a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

work-study program trying to develop a program to help visualize

fluid dynamics In physics, physical chemistry and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids – liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including (the study of air and other gases in motion ...

for spacecraft designs. The work became a maze game presented to the player in the first-person, and later included support for a second player and the ability to shoot the other player to win the game. Thompson took the game's code with him to

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

, where with help from Dave Lebling to create an eight-player version that could be played over

ARPANET The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first computer networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the tec ...

, computer-run players using artificial intelligence, customizable maps, online scoreboards and a spectator mode. ''Spasim'' had a documented debut at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

in 1974 on the PLATO mainframe system. The game was a rudimentary

space flight simulator Space flight simulation is a Video game genres, genre of flight simulator video games that lets players experience space flight to varying degrees of Reality, realism. Common mechanics include space exploration, space trade and space combat. Over ...

for up to 32 players, featuring a first-person perspective.Garmon, Jay
Geek Trivia: First shots fired
, ''TechRepublic'', May 24, 2005, Accessed February 16, 2009 Both games were distinct from modern first-person shooters, involving simple tile-based movement where the player could only move from square to square and turn in 90-degree increments. Such games spawned others that used similar visuals to display the player as part of a maze (such as '' Akalabeth: World of Doom'' in 1979), and were loosely called "rat's eye view" games, since they gave the appearance of a rat running through a maze. Another crucial early game that influenced first-person shooters was '' Wayout''. It featured the player trying to escape a maze, using

ray casting Ray casting is the methodological basis for 3D CAD/CAM solid modeling and image rendering. It is essentially the same as ray tracing (graphics), ray tracing for computer graphics where virtual light rays are "cast" or "traced" on their path from th ...

to render the environment, simulating visually how each wall segment would be rendered relative to the player's position and facing angle. This allowed more freeform movement compared to the grid-based and cardinal ''Maze War'' and ''Spasim''. Among PLATO games, Witz and Boland's 1977 ''Futurewar'', a dystopian 3D first-person dungeon shooter, has been argued to be the first true FPS. This is due to the combination of a fully perspective-shifting 3D maze with enemies ahead, and what may be the earliest representation of weapons appearing in perspective in front of the player. A slightly more sophisticated first-person shooting mainframe game was '' Panther'' (1975), a tank simulator for the

PLATO system PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations), also known as Project Plato and Project PLATO, was the first generalized computer-assisted instruction system. Starting in 1960, it ran on the University of Illinois's ILLIAC I compu ...

. Atari's first-person tank shooter

arcade video game An arcade video game is an arcade game that takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. All arcade video games are coin-oper ...

'' Battlezone'' (1980), modeled closely after PLATO Panther, was released for arcades and presented using a

vector graphics Vector graphics are 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 displ ...

display, with the game designed by Ed Rotberg. It is considered to be the first successful first-person shooter video game, making it a milestone for the genre. It was primarily inspired by Atari's top-down arcade

Tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

'' (1974). The original

arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...

also employed a

periscope A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...

viewfinder similar to

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

shooting

arcade games An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade ...

such as Midway's video game '' Sea Wolf'' (1976) and

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

Periscope A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...

'' (1966). ''Battlezone'' became the first successful mass-market game featuring a first-person viewpoint and wireframe

3D graphics 3D computer graphics, sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics, are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the purposes of perfor ...

, with a version later released for home computers in 1983.Shahrani, Sam
Educational Feature: A History and Analysis of Level Design in 3D Computer Games - Pt. 1
, ''GamaSutra'', April 26, 2006, Accessed March 7, 2009

Early first-person shooters: 1987–1992

'' MIDI Maze'', a first-person shooter released in 1987 for the

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

,MIDI Maze: Atari ST
, IGN, Accessed September 2, 2012 featured maze-based gameplay and character designs similar to ''

Pac-Man ''Pac-Man,'' originally called in Japan, is a 1980 maze video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. The pla ...

'', but displayed in a first-person perspective. Later ported to various systems—including the

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

and

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania a ...

under the title '' Faceball 2000''—it featured the first network multiplayer deathmatches, using a

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

interface. Despite the inconvenience of connecting numerous machines together, it gained a cult following; 1UP.com called it the "first multi-player 3D shooter on a mainstream system" and the first "major LAN action game".Parish, Jeremy
The Essential 50: Faceball 2000
''1UP,'' Accessed April 24, 2009, Archived from th
original
on February 28, 2016, at the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

In 1986, MacroMind released a version of the game for the Apple Macintosh titled Maze Wars+, which was playable on the AppleTalk local network by up to 30 players. The game featured five different character avatars, including an eyeball similar to that found in the Xerox version of the game, four different types of robot players, additional maze features such as teleporters, and walls made of lines rather than blocks. Id Software's '' Hovertank 3D'' pioneered

technology in May 1991 to enable faster gameplay than 1980s vehicle simulators, though it was preceded by 3 years by the FPS The Colony in doing so and '' Catacomb 3-D'' introduced another advance,

, in November 1991. The second game to use texture mapping was '' Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss'', a March 1992

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a video game genre that combines core elements from both the action game and Role-playing video game, role-playing game genres. Definition Action role-playing games empha ...

by Looking Glass Technologies that featured a first-person viewpoint and an advanced graphics engine. In October 1990, id developer John Romero learned about texture mapping from a phone call to Paul Neurath. Romero described the texture mapping technique to id programmer

John Carmack John D. Carmack II (born August 21, 1970) is an American computer programmer and video game developer. He co-founded the video game company id Software and was the lead programmer of its 1990s games ''Commander Keen'', ''Wolfenstein 3D'', ''Do ...

, who remarked, "I can do that.", and would feel motivated by Looking Glass's example to do the same in ''Catacomb 3-D''. ''Catacomb 3-D'' also introduced the display of the protagonist's hand and weapon (in this case, magical spells) on the screen, whereas previously aspects of the player's avatar were not visible. The experience of developing ''Ultima Underworld'' would make it possible for Looking Glass to create the '' Thief'' and ''

System Shock ''System Shock'' is a 1994 first-person action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by LookingGlass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. It was directed by Doug Church with Warren Spector serving as producer. The game ...

'' series years later.

Rise in popularity: 1992–1993

'' was the first episodic FPS game developed by

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 ...

, as a successor to the successful 1980s 2D infiltration video-games ''

Castle Wolfenstein ''Castle Wolfenstein'' is a 1981 action-adventure game developed by Silas Warner for the Apple II and published by Muse Software in 1981. It is one of the earliest games based on Stealth game, stealth mechanics. A port to Atari 8-bit comput ...

'' and '' Beyond Castle Wolfenstein'' from

Muse Software Micro Users Software Exchange, Inc., doing business as Muse Software, was an American video game developer based in Baltimore, Maryland, focusing on the development of games for the first generation of home computers. The company began with dev ...

, and published by Apogee Software the 5th of May 1992 in which the player had to explore mazes while battling

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

to find keys required to unlock doors to reach each floor's exit all while searching every wall for secret areas filled with treasures for a higher score until each episode's last floor's boss and was an instant success because of its first episode's distribution and spread as

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer. ...

whereas the second and the third available after registration; and the three last prequel episodes available as a separate mission pack, to the point that it has since been credited for having single-handedly invented the

concept A concept is an abstract idea that serves as a foundation for more concrete principles, thoughts, and beliefs. Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, ...

of first-person-shooter as a genre of video-games.Cifaldi, Frank
The Gamasutra Quantum Leap Awards: First-Person Shooters
''GamaSutra,'' September 1, 2006, Accessed February 16, 2009 It was built on

's ray casting technology already experimented into id's previous games '' Hovertank One'' and ''

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 graphic ...

'' to create a new standard for first-person-shooter video-games widely emulated, improved, and still applied to this day.

Tom Hall Tom Hall (born September 2, 1964) is an American video game designer best known for his work with id Software on titles such as '' Doom'', '' Wolfenstein 3D'' and ''Commander Keen''. He has also been the co-founder of Ion Storm, together wit ...

originally designed it to be a first-person infiltration game including stealth, hiding dead bodies, disguises and alarms, following the legacy of its predecessors, and the game engine does include these original features, however

John Romero Alfonso John Romero (born October 28, 1967) is an American video game developer. He co-founded id Software and designed their early games, including ''Wolfenstein 3D'' (1992), ''Doom (1993 video game), Doom'' (1993), ''Doom II'' (1994), ''Hexen ...

and

wanted a simple shooter and Tom Hall had to fight hard to even include the secret areas. Despite its violent themes, ''Wolfenstein'' largely escaped the controversy generated by the later '' Doom'', although it was banned from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

due to the use of

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

which is a sensitive topic there where Wolfenstein has been forbidden until 2022When Two Tribes Go to War: A History of Video Game Controversy
, ''GameSpot,'' Accessed February 24, 2009 and

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

too required id Software to remove

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...

, gore, and all Nazi iconography as well as replace the enemy attack dogs with giant

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...

s to allow it to be released on

SNES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania an ...

because of their anti-violence policy. id Software released a

map editor In Video game, video games, a level (also referred to as a map, mission, stage, course, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progres ...

to let players create and share online their own home-made

maps A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on ...

for the game which started the players' modding communities who blossomed with ''Doom'' and maintain their games alive continuously sustaining new content for them. During ''Doom'''s development, id Software quickly developed a short extension for ''Wolfenstein 3D'' titled '' Spear of Destiny'' released the 19th of September 1992 to tease the players with the Hell to come in ''Doom'' as ''Spear of Destiny'' concluded into Hell, then two years later, ''Doom 2'' included two secret levels featuring ''Wolfenstein'' in Hell while re-using ''Spear of Destiny'''s Hell final level's music to close the loop. Ken Silverman decided to develop his own

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...

after he played ''

'' in 1992. His first

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

, that he named ''Walken'' as in "Ken's Walking simulator", was close to Wolf3D engine. Then he improved his game with his friend Andrew Cotter, added

narration Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

to each

floor A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from wikt:hovel, simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the ex ...

, renamed it '' Ken's Labyrinth'', and released it on

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

under his brother's company Advanced Systems on 1 January 1993. The game was about escaping a bizarre dream labyrinth full of people shooting projectiles at the player while projectiles were more balls than bullets, meaning they had limited range and were slow enough to dodge them as opposite to ''Wolfenstein 3D'' whose weapons were hitscan

firearm A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

s, some walls reflected projectiles, killed enemies vanished without any death animation nor remnant body on the floor, and Ken himself voiced the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

and filled his game with pictures of himself which hurt the player if they dared to shoot them, which made his game personal. Epic MegaGames, then ''Wolfenstein 3D'''s

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

Apogee Software's main competitor, noticed it, saw potential, then signed a commercial agreement with Ken's father, as Ken was still minor. However, the original Advanced Systems' ''Ken's Labyrinth'' was made from Ken and Andrew's limited resources to the point that Ken made the

sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. In m ...

s with his mouth, therefore Epic MegaGames made use of their resources to revamp the game, replaced the projectiles balls with bubble gum balls, starbursts which bounced off walls, and homing missiles, while collecting more of the same weapon increased their range and collecting

thunderbolt A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father'; this association is also found in later Hel ...

s increased the range of all weapons at once, also replaced the original final boss with Ken himself, added diverse monsters, temporary

s such as reflecting enemies' projectiles, kill enemies on contact, and invincibility, as well as treasures for buying these power-ups from vending-machines and for paying doors' toll, slot-machines to win

coin A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

s instead of finding treasures in secret areas, death-traps such as holes in floors which were the only way to get rid of some invulnerable enemies, water fountains which slowly restored health (much like in ''

'' three years later), changed the goal from the original's merely escaping the labyrinth to rescue the player's abducted

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...

Sparky and save the world, added the requirement to have Sparky follow the player to the exit of each floor to be able to reach the next floor, which made the player have to pay attention to another character beside their own, and commercialized ''Ken's Labyrinth v2'' still as shareware the 21st of March 1993. All versions of ''Ken's Labyrinth'' got to be source-ported many times and even onto

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

by a fan. As soon as

showed off some previews of '' Doom'' in the middle of its development, Ken Silverman started to develop his own game engine to rival with

once again, used a

thesaurus A thesaurus (: thesauri or thesauruses), sometimes called a synonym dictionary or dictionary of synonyms, is a reference work which arranges words by their meanings (or in simpler terms, a book where one can find different words with similar me ...

to search

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

s for the word "

construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

", and named his new game engine "Build". Apogee Software wanted Build since id Software went their own way and didn't want to license their new Doom engine (yet). Both Epic MegaGames and Apogee Software attempted to

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

Ken Silverman who chose Apogee Software which he never explained his reasons however Epic Games expressed no

regret Regret is the emotion of wishing one had made a different decision in the past, because the consequences of the decision one did make were unfavorable. Regret is related to perceived opportunity. Its intensity varies over time after the decisi ...

since not relying on Ken Silverman motivated them to develop their own technologies, which paid off. Most shooters in this period were developed for IBM PC compatible computers. On the

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

side,

Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington, and a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones (programme ...

released its first shooter, ''

Pathways into Darkness ''Pathways into Darkness'' is a first-person shooter adventure video game developed and published by Bungie in 1993, for Macintosh personal computers. Players assume the role of a Special Forces soldier who must stop a powerful, godlike being fr ...

'' in August 1993, which featured more adventure and narrative elements alongside first-person shooter gameplay. ''Pathways'' had been inspired by ''Wolfenstein 3D'', and born out of an attempt to take their previous top-down dungeon exploration game '' Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete'' into a 3D setting. '' ShadowCaster'', developed by

Raven Software Raven Software Corporation (trade name: Raven; formerly Raven Software, Inc.) is an American video game developer based in Middleton, Wisconsin, and part of Activision. Founded in May 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel, the company is most ...

and published by Origin Systems the 27th of October 1993, used a heavily modified version of Wolf3D engine made by

during summer 1992 who offered it to Raven Software after he was impressed with their first RPVG Black Crypt because he was curious about how Raven would use his

to make a RPVG instead of a FPSG. ''ShadowCaster'' was the first commercial game released with classic "2.5D Doom engine" improvements such as distance fogging, non-orthogonal walls, textured ceilings and floors, etc. before Doom itself came out. It introduced some

RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...

elements into a FPS game engine as well as a customizable HUD, an auto-map, jumping, swimming, flying,

shapeshifting In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism, as well as the oldest existen ...

with each metamorphosis featuring its own characteristics to adapt to each situation. Then it got enhanced with redbook audio

, voiced dialogues which replaced the text boxes, two new levels, and 3D rendered

cutscene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...

s, then re-released on

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

in 1994. ''ShadowCaster'' started a durable close friendship between id Software and Raven Software as id will always share their technologies with Raven who will continuously use and upgrade them. Apogee Software, the publisher of ''

,'' followed up its success and released another FPS game based on its

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

titled '' Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold'' from another developer Jam Productions 5 December 1993 which featured a

sci-fi Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

setting about a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

secret agent Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ''e ...

named Blake Stone pursuing a

mad scientist The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as "mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insanity, insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabas ...

through his facilities like a sci-fi

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

, a similar Wolf3D's

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game. The term applies to both video games and Tabletop game, tabletop games. Gameplay is the connection between the player and the game, the player's overcoming of challenges, and t ...

of exploring mazes while battling various foes to find keycards required to unlock doors to reach each floor's exit all while searching every wall for secret areas filled with treasures for a higher score until each episode's last floor's boss but with a far wider diversity of enemies, and added textured floors and ceilings, switches to find and to press to open new areas, traps, an auto-map, stats tracking, a grenade launcher, limited-use vending-machines, teleporters, enemies spawners, back-tracking to previous levels as well as some friendly

NPCs A non-player character (NPC) is a 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 (or referee) rather than by a ...

in the form of scientists who would give the player hints and supplies provided the player didn't kill them. The game was initially well-received but sales rapidly declined in the wake of the success of id's ''Doom'', released a week later. It still got a sequel '' Blake Stone: Planet Strike'' the 28th of October 1994 which integrated the auto-map into the HUD as a rotating mini-map which revealed secret doors at the cost of consuming auto-mapper charges and added some enemies who camouflaged into the environment or were cloaked to surprise the player though.

Advances in 3D engines: 1993-1997

During the Doom & Quake's era from 1993 to 1997, FPS games were still all about their game engines as original and innovative games were ignored for the only reason that their game engine was outdated. FPS games were simplistic, such as shooting everything without any complex plot. However their gameplay started to evolve, and the combo id Software & Raven Software still dominated the market, while a challenger Captone Software persisted at attempting to be original, and competed with them and failed every time for diverse reasons, when another challenger LucasArts succeeded, and Bungie Software made FPS games featuring a complex plot. The modding communities who sustain life into their games blossomed starting from Doom, 2D sprites were replaced with 3D polygons starting from Descent then Quake, and Apogee Software returned on the market as 3D Realms thanks to Ken Silverman. '' Doom'', released the 10th of December 1993, refined ''Wolfenstein 3D's'' template by adding support for higher resolution, improved textures, variations in height (e.g., stairs and platforms the player's character could climb upon), more intricate level design (''Wolfenstein 3D'' was limited to a grid based system where walls had to be orthogonal to each other, whereas ''Doom'' allowed for any inclination) and rudimentary illumination effects such as flickering lights and areas of darkness, creating a far more believable 3D environment than ''Wolfenstein 3D'''s levels, all of which had a flat-floor space and corridors. ''Doom'' allowed competitive matches between multiple players, termed "deathmatches", and the game was responsible for the word's subsequent entry into the video gaming lexicon. According to creator

, the game's deathmatch concept was inspired by the competitive multiplayer of

fighting games The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...

such as ''

Street Fighter II is a 1991 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcade game, arcades. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter (video game), Street Fighter''. Designed by Yoshiki O ...

'' and ''

Fatal Fury ''Fatal Fury'', known as in Japan, is a fighting game series developed by SNK, first released on the Neo Geo system. Gameplay The original ''Fatal Fury'' is known for the two-plane system. Characters fight from two different planes. By step ...

''. ''Doom'' became so popular that its multiplayer features began to cause problems for companies whose

networks Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

were used to play the game, causing frequent bandwidth reductions. ''Doom'' has been considered the most important first-person shooter ever made. It was highly influential not only on subsequent shooter games but on video gaming in general, and has been made available on almost every video gaming system since. Multiplayer gaming, which is now integral to the first-person shooter genre, was first successfully achieved on a large scale by ''Doom''. While its combination of gory violence, dark humor and

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...

ish imagery garnered acclaim from critics, these attributes also generated criticism from religious groups and censorship committees, with many commentators labelling the game a "murder simulator". There was further controversy when it emerged that the

perpetrators In law enforcement jargon, a suspect is a known person accused or suspected of committing a crime. Police and reporters in the United States often use the word suspect as a jargon when referring to the perpetrator of the offense (perp in dated U. ...

of the

Columbine High School massacre A school shooting and attempted bombing occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States. The perpetrators, twelfth-grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 13 students and one teach ...

were fans of the game; the families of several victims later unsuccessfully attempted to sue numerous video game companies - among them id Software - whose work the families claimed inspired the massacre. John Carmack explained how he designed his Doom engine to Ken Silverman that he considered his only equal which inspired Ken who was in the process of developing his Build engine. '' Operation Body Count'', developed on Wolf3D engine and released by

Capstone Software Capstone Software was a subsidiary of IntraCorp, a Miami-based computer and video game company. Founded in 1984, Capstone created first-person games such as ''Corridor 7: Alien Invasion'', ''Operation Body Count'', ''William Shatner's TekWar'' an ...

on 1 January 1994, was Capstone's first FPS game. Featuring a story about a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

attack on the UNO tower, it was an early attempt at making a tactical FPS game, since the player was in command of an anti-terrorist squad that they could order around and even switch between squad members as long as they were not dead. ''OBC'' featured digitized graphics, transparent textures such as breakable glass,

randomization Randomization is a statistical process in which a random mechanism is employed to select a sample from a population or assign subjects to different groups.Oxford English Dictionary "randomization" The process is crucial in ensuring the random alloc ...

of enemies and items' placement,

body armor Body armour, personal armour (also spelled ''armor''), armoured suit (''armored'') or coat of armour, among others, is armour for human body, a person's body: protective clothing or close-fitting hands-free shields designed to absorb or deflect ...

booby trap A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm or surprise a human or an animal. It is triggered by the presence or actions of the victim and sometimes has some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. The trap may b ...

s, and a nearly fully

destructible environment In video games, destructible environments or deformable terrains are environments that can be destroyed by the player. It may refer to any part of the environment, including terrain, buildings and other man-made structures. A game may feature dest ...

. The flamethrower could set people and environments on fire, making movement extremely hazardous for the player as the fire randomly spread, and the grenade launcher could destroy most walls (with some hard coded exceptions). ''OBC'' also featured textured floors and ceilings and an auto-map similar to ''Blake Stone''. However, unlike ''Blake Stone'', ''OBC'' featured more than one floor texture per level, despite the floor and ceiling

graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of the data, as in design and manufa ...

being partially

parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different sightline, lines of sight and is measured by the angle or half-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to perspective (graphica ...

, meaning that they appeared to "warp" as the player moved around. Despite some

original Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion t ...

idea In philosophy and in common usage, an idea (from the Greek word: ἰδέα (idea), meaning 'a form, or a pattern') is the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophe ...

s, the game is widely considered to be of poor quality. The terrorists were

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalization, generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can ...

s of

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

people, the AI was not smart enough to have the enemies pose any challenge nor the squad's teammates be useful, and being based on Wolf3D engine after '' Doom'' was released, it was technologically outdated and "doomed" from the start as opposite to ''Blake Stone'' which did enjoy one week of glory before ''Doom'' was released. OBC was eventually ported source-ported into GZDoom and

remaster A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

ed by its modding community. '' Corridor 7: Alien Invasion'', developed and published by

the 1st of March 1994, was their second attempt to make a FPS game. Still based on Wolf3D engine, the plot reminds strikingly of ''

Half-Life Half-life is a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or gradual decay. Half-life, half life or halflife may also refer to: Film * Half-Life (film), ''Half-Life'' (film), a 2008 independent film by Jennifer Phang * ''Half Life: ...

'''s, four years later, since it was about scientific experiments with gamma beam on an alien artifact brought from

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

by a team of American

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

s which opened a portal and connected

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

to another world from which an alien

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory (country subdivision), territory controlled by another similar entity, ...

started into the research facility. ''Corridor 7'' added animated textures such as computer screens, distant shading which darkened distant areas to limit the player's sight's distance, dark areas and

night vision Night vision is the ability to see in low-light conditions, either naturally with scotopic vision or through a night-vision device. Night vision requires both sufficient spectral range and sufficient intensity range. Humans have poor night v ...

mode to see into them, some invisible aliens and traps which could only be seen through thermal vision mode, some energy stations to recharge the visor's battery, some aliens who camouflaged into the environments (like '' Blake Stone: Planet Strike'' released half a year later), screen jumpscares whenever the player was idle for 10 seconds,

s, limited-use healing chambers, force fields which hurt the player if they walked into them, mines to trap corridors, maps of the floors, and replaced keys with security computer screens which unlocked all doors of the same color within the floor whereas some computers were traps which triggered an

alarm ALARM (Air Launched Anti-Radiation Missile) is a British anti-radiation missile designed primarily to destroy enemy radars for the purpose of Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD). It was used by the Royal Air Force, RAF and is still used by ...

which attracted nearby enemies to the player. Capstone Software released ''Corridor 7'' first as

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...

s, then as a

the 6th of May 1995 which featured a different

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

of placements within floors, and added 10 more levels into the alien homeworld with new weapons and alien types along with

in the form of up to 12 players' deathmatch and team deathmatch modes (believed to be the first FPS game to allow that many players) and 8 additional maps made specially for it. In deathmatch, the player could choose among 12 of the game'''s'' characters both

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

s and aliens who had different speed and health stats, however all characters used the same weapons though. ''Corridor 7'' was a significant improvement after Capstone's previous FPS game '' Operation Body Count'' (read above), the atmosphere was gripping, the aliens were more appreciated than the

s of

Arabian The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

people, the AI was improved with some enemies patrolling routes and some others camouflaging into environments or being invisible and not attacking until the player was close enough to ambush them, providing an actual challenge to players, and the game was considerably more evolved than ''

'' and ''Blake Stone'', however it was still based on the then outdated Wolf3D engine after '' Doom'' was released and therefore was "doomed" from the start too even if it did better than its predecessor, it was still not technologically on par with ''Doom'' and Capstone moved onto another new

after this game. Still, ''Corridor 7'' was so appreciated that it got to be source-ported only five years after its original release into the Doomsday engine and completely

ed by its modding community. The 12th of March 1994, the Japanese company Exact released '' Geograph Seal'' for the Sharp X68000 home computer. An obscure import title as far as the Western market is concerned, it was nonetheless an early example of a 3D polygonal first-person shooter, with innovative

platform game A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

mechanics and free-roaming outdoor environments. ''

CyClones In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an ant ...

'' was begun in February 1994 and published by

the 1st of November 1994, marking the beginning of a new period for Raven who split into two groups: One which worked with id's new DOOM engine to create ''Mage'', a fantasy action game, which would eventually evolve into the game ''Heretic''. The other team started on a project that was to use the

from '' ShadowCaster'' to create a futuristic missions-based FPS game called ''CyClones''. The name referred to

Cybernetic Cybernetics is the transdisciplinary study of circular causal processes such as feedback and recursion, where the effects of a system's actions (its outputs) return as inputs to that system, influencing subsequent action. It is concerned with ...

Clones, the minions of aliens who had ravaged and devastated

. The game was in first person 3D, as was most other Raven games, so reusing the ''ShadowCaster'' engine and its tools was a natural choice. But within a short time, the team found that they wanted to do more with the game and engine than they had done before. A new, 100% in-house engine was created that could handle moving platforms, catwalks, sloped areas, and transparent textures. The engine, by Carl Stika, was nicknamed STEAM. A small budget was granted for full-motion video sequences to be created for the game, to be presented between missions as briefings. ''CyClones'' allowed to use the mouse to aim without moving, as opposite to other FPS games from the time which bound the mouse to both aiming and moving simultaneously, and without turning either, as the

crosshair A reticle or reticule, also known as a graticule or crosshair, is a pattern of fine lines or markings built into the eyepiece of an optical device such as a telescopic sight, spotting scope, theodolite, optical microscope or the screen of ...

was not fixed at the center of the screen on which it could move freely as opposite to nowadays standard fixed aiming, ''CyClones'''s aiming was comparable to '' Metroid Primes years later. ''CyClones'' used the mouse not only for aiming but also for picking up objects and interacting with the environment such as doors and switches and even revealed

secret doors Rebecca Gilling (born 3 November 1953) is an Australian former model and actress, now environmentalist. Career Gilling made her debut in theatre in 1972and her debut film role in the 1974 biker film ''Stone'' but came to prominence that year ...

since the crosshair changed color upon pointing a secret door. It also included vertical aiming, jumping, various missions objectives as well as one of the first training modes in a FPS game. Apogee Software's '' Rise of the Triad: Dark War'', released the 21st of December 1994, began as a sequel to ''Wolfenstein 3D'', but was soon altered and became a stand-alone game . The game included "ludicrous" gibs, bullet holes persisted, and sheets of glass could be shattered by shooting or running through them. Bungie Software released the

FPS game ''

'' the 21st of December 1994 still exclusively on Mac, which streamlined concepts from their previous game ''Pathways Into Darkness'' by eliminating role-playing elements in favor of the shooter action spurred by '' Doom'''s success. ''Marathon'' was highly successful, leading to two sequels '' Marathon 2: Durandal'' released the 24th of November 1995 then '' Marathon: Infinity'' released the 15th of October 1996 to form the '' Marathon Trilogy'', and becoming the standard for FPS games on Mac which pioneered or was an early adopter of several new

features such as default freelook, ammo clips and weapons reloading though not manually, forcing the player to keep an eye on their ammo clips to anticipate the next reloading, dual-wielded and dual-function weapons, a motion sensor to detect both enemies and allies in the area,

gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...

alterations, swimming, interactive environments such as healing stations,

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

stations,

save point Save, SAVE, or Saved may refer to: Places * Save (Garonne), a river in southern France * Save River (Africa), a river in Zimbabwe and Mozambique * Sava, a river in Eastern Europe also known as Save * Savè, Benin, a commune and city * Save, Rwan ...

s, teleporters, many

computer terminal A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that can be used for entering data into, and transcribing data from, a computer or a computing system. Most early computers only had a front panel to input or display ...

s spread all around the levels as

plot device A plot device or plot mechanism is any technique in a narrative used to move the plot forward. A clichéd plot device may annoy the reader and a contrived or arbitrary device may confuse the reader, causing a loss of the suspension of disbelief ...

s which provided messages, informations, various objectives and maps to the player's character as well as friendly defense drones and

non-player character A non-player character (NPC) is a 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 (or referee) rather than by a ...

s (NPCs), versatile multiplayer modes (such as King of the Hill, Kill the Man with the Ball, and cooperative campaign) and a

for players to create and share their own maps for the games. The ''Marathon'' games also had a strong emphasis on storytelling in addition to the action, which revolved around evolving relationships between the human player's character and some AIs during a surprise invasion and subsequent war against a hostile alien

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

which already conquered and enslaved some other alien species, much like Bungie's future projects such as the ''

'' and ''

Destiny Destiny, sometimes also called fate (), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often used interchangeably, the words ''fate'' and ''destiny'' ...

'' series which took a lot from the Marathon trilogy which is no more exclusive to Mac since Bungie Software open-sourced it in 2000 then released the original trilogy as

freeware Freeware is software, often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the free ...

in 2005, some fans have source-ported it to Windows and Linux as well as

ed them using the open-source engine Aleph One and have even been developing many new scenarios, total conversions, and multiplayer maps sustaining a still active community. Many sci-fi games both from Bungie themselves and from other studios have cited the Marathon trilogy as a huge influence on their stories and settings such as the series ''Halo'', ''Destiny'', ''

Mass Effect ''Mass Effect'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Casey Hudson. The franchise depicts a distant future where humanity and several alien civilizations have colonized the galaxy using technology left behind by Elder race, a ...

'' and ''

Warframe ''Warframe'' is a free-to-play action role-playing third-person shooter multiplayer online game developed and published by Digital Extremes. First released for Windows personal computers in March 2013, it was later ported to PlayStation 4 ...

''. After having provided a modified ''Wolfenstein 3D'' engine to

for '' ShadowCaster'' and being impressed by the final result,

requested that Raven develop a medieval-themed/dark fantasy game using a modified version of id's ''Doom'' engine. Raven considered themselves as typical '' D&D'' fans and initially drafted the game with

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing ...

elements. They then took instruction from id

programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...

to simply "do it like ''Doom'', and add the fantasy flavor."

then used and upgraded the Doom engine and released ''Heretic'' the 23rd of December 1994 which introduced larger

, vertical aiming, flying, gibs, randomized ambient sound effects, interactive environments such as rushing water and winds which push the player along, an inventory system to store and select many different items which range from health potions to the "morph ovum" which transforms enemies into chickens and one of the most notable item that can be found is the "Tome of Power" which acts as a secondary firing mode for certain weapons, resulting in a much more powerful projectile for each weapon, some of which change the look of the projectile entirely, then Raven added two more episodes and re-released it as '' Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders'' the 31st of March 1996. '' Super 3D Noah's Ark'', developed on Wolf3D engine and published by the

christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

video-games company Wisdom Tree (formerly named Color Dreams) on 1 January 1995, was the first non-violent FPS game along with being the first

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

FPS game ('' Doom'' was already based on

christian mythology Christian mythology is the body of myths associated with Christianity. The term encompasses a broad variety of legends and narratives, especially those considered sacred narratives. Mythological themes and elements occur throughout Christian l ...

as well since the enemy was christian's Hell however unlike ''Super 3D Noah's Ark'', it merely used it as a setting and didn't attempt to teach religion) which featured

Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...

from Abrahamic mythology's Noah's Ark as the

and re-used

and level-design while replacing enemies' death animations by seemingly friendly animals falling asleep upon being hit by the player's weapon which was a

slingshot A slingshot or catapult is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame, with two tubes or strips made from either a natural rubber or synthetic elastic material. These are attached to the upper two ends ...

shooting food to feed the unresting hungry animals aboard

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

s filled Noah's Ark made of the recycled original

from ''Wolfenstein 3D'' including the same items' placements and even the

version was itself a mere reskin from Wolfenstein 3D's SNES version as well however the PC version did upgrade some things upon Wolfenstein 3D such as textured floors (like '' Blake Stone'') along with higher resolutions graphics and

music, and added a new gameplay feature such as

quiz A quiz is a form of mind sport in which people attempt to answer questions correctly on one or several topics. Quizzes can be used as a brief Educational assessment, assessment in education and similar fields to measure growth in knowledge, abil ...

zes which tested the player's religious knowledge whose rewards were more ammo to keep playing the game along with some score's points. This is not what Wisdom Tree had originally designed though, since they originally designed a FPS game based on the horror movies

Hellraiser ''Hellraiser'' is a 1987 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker in his directorial debut. Based on Barker's 1986 novella ''The Hellbound Heart'', the film's plot concerns a mystical puzzle box that summons the ...

themselves adapted from

Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English writer, filmmaker, and visual artist. He came to prominence in the 1980s with a series of short stories collectively named the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading horror author ...

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s, until they realized that this was in

contradiction In traditional logic, a contradiction involves a proposition conflicting either with itself or established fact. It is often used as a tool to detect disingenuous beliefs and bias. Illustrating a general tendency in applied logic, Aristotle's ...

with their christian

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

image then designed Super 3D Noah's Ark instead. A popular

rumor A rumor (American English), or rumour (British English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences; derived from Latin 'noise'), is an unverified piece of information circulating among people, especial ...

has it that Wolf3D engine was given to Wisdom Tree by

as a kind of "

revenge Revenge is defined as committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Vengeful forms of justice, such as primitive justice or retributive justice, are often differentiated from more fo ...

" against

for all the

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

that ''Wolfenstein 3D'' had to go through to be on the Super Nintendo. However, there's no proof of this, and Wisdom Tree bought a license for the

like everybody else instead of having it "given" to them. The SNES version was not licensed by Nintendo and therefore couldn't be played on a SNES by itself which is why the SNES

game cartridge A ROM cartridge, usually referred to in context simply as a cartridge, cart, cassette, or card, is a replaceable part designed to be connected to a consumer electronics device such as a home computer, video game console or, to a lesser extent, ...

was actually an adapter cartridge which required another licensed SNES game cartridge to be inserted into it in order to get Super 3D Noah's Ark to work despite being unlicensed. '' Star Wars: Dark Forces'' was released the 6th of February 1995 after

LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game brand licensing, licensor, former video game developer and video game publisher, publisher, and a subsidiary of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George ...

decided ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' would make appropriate material for a game in the style of ''Doom''. However, ''Star Wars: Dark Forces'' improved on several technical features that ''Doom'' lacked, such as the ability to crouch, jump, or look and aim up and down.Turner, Benjamin & Bowen, Kevin
Bringin' in the DOOM Clones
''GameSpy,'' December 11, 2003, Accessed February 19, 2009 ''Dark Forces'' also was one of the first games to incorporate 3D-designed objects rendered into the game's 2.5D graphics engine. The game's success launched the '' Star Wars: Jedi Knight'' series, beginning with the direct sequel '' Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II'' the 9th of October 1997. '' Descent'' (released by

Parallax Software Deep Silver Volition, LLC (formerly Parallax Software Corporation and Volition, Inc.) was an American video game developer based in Champaign, Illinois. Mike Kulas and Matt Toschlog founded the company as Parallax Software in June 1993, develop ...

the 17th of March 1995), a game in which the player pilots a

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...

around caves and factory ducts, was among the earliest truly three-dimensional first-person shooters. It abandoned sprites and ray casting in favour of polygonal models and allowed movement through all of the six possible degrees of freedom. The 28th of April 1995, the Japanese company Exact released the successor to '' Geograph Seal'' for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

console, called '' Jumping Flash!'', which placed more emphasis on its platform elements. '' Witchaven'', developed by

and published by their

parent company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

IntraCorp IntraCorp was a Video game, game publisher based in Miami, Florida, founded in 1984. History In November 1985, IntraCorp released Love Quest which sold 10,000 copies. By 1992, the company employed 40 people. By 1994, the company had sales in ex ...

the 20th of September 1995, was the first commercial game licensed on Apogee Software rebranded 3D Realms' Ken Silverman's new Build engine to rival

's Doom engine and was a

medieval fantasy Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic (fantasy), magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those c ...

First Person Slasher game as in a

-focused FPS game, reminiscent of

's ''

Heretic Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

'' including an inventory system, both a single-player campaign and multiplayer, but far harder as it was far more tactical, making use of environmental hazards such as

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...

and traps against enemies, while implementing more of a

such as weapons' durability which broke after many uses, requiring the player to find other weapons and save the strongest weapons for the strongest foes, evolving stats from earned experience where each level up unlocked new spells and abilities such as lockpicking in the form of an unlocking spell as well as

dual wielding Dual wielding or Macedonian shooting is the technique of using two weapons, one in each hand, for training or combat. It is not a common combat practice. Although historical records of dual wielding in war are limited, there are numerous Martial a ...

some weapons. The campaign involved a knight on an epic

quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. It serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of every nat ...

to defeat a

witch Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...

who cast a

curse A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...

of never-ending

darkness Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina a ...

onto his land. In order to complete this quest, he had to battle hordes of minions with both medieval weapons and magical spells to reach the witch on her

volcanic island Geologically, a volcanic island is an island of volcanic origin. The term high island can be used to distinguish such islands from low islands, which are formed from sedimentation or the uplifting of coral reefs (which have often formed ...

. It featured digitized graphics, however the characters made of clay didn't appeal to everyone and the environments were empty, as well as adjustable level of gore, the same ''Corridor 7'''s trick to spawn a screen jumpscare whenever the player is idle, and it is known for game logic issues, dumb AI, hazardous

map A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on ...

triggers and game physics that cause slippery player movement, sudden deaths, and faulty hit detection. ''Witchaven'' was open-sourced in 2006 then source-ported into JFBuild by JonoF and into BuildGDX by its community which fixed most of its original issues in 2018. '' William Shatner's TekWar'', developed by

and published by SoftKey Multimedia Inc. the 30th of September 1995, barely ten days after '' Witchaven'' (read above), was the second commercial game licensed on Apogee Software rebranded 3D Realms' Ken Silverman's new Build engine to rival

's Doom engine and was a FPS game adapted from

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

's TekWar novels and

TV series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...

who personally contributed to the video-game to the point of live-acting the player's boss during briefings and debriefings. ''William Shatner's TekWar'', both novels, TV series and video-game, is a

story revolving around a neural drug named Tek and the Matrix, a

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

(four years before the first Matrix movie). The video-game featured FMVs, digitized live-actors and actresses, a stun gun to neutralize people in a non-lethal fashion, and gibs and dropped the player into a lively open-world future

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, making it the first FPS game which featured an open-world modern city, full of civilians, cops and enemies where civilians panicked if the player drew a weapon who they begged to not shoot while holding their hands up and ran away for their life whereas cops drew their gun onto the player and ordered him to drop their weapon and enemies shot him on sight from everywhere without the cops ever reacting whereas they shot the player if he dared to shoot back at the enemies, which is the main issue with this game: everyone is allowed to shoot you but you are not allowed to shoot anyone. Some civilians were actually kamikaze androids who self-destructed when close to the player, taking them into their

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume of a given amount of matter associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Explosions may also be generated ...

. Half of the game also took place into the Matrix. ''William Shatner's TekWar'' was the worst of Capstone's FPS games however it still got to be source-ported into BuildGDX.

upgraded the Doom engine further and released '' Hexen: Beyond Heretic'' the 30th of October 1995 which added jumping, more immersive environments with effects such as swirling

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

or scattering

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

s upon the player's approach, weather effects, some destructible objects, scripted environmental changes such as earthquakes, different

character class In tabletop games and video games, a character class is an occupation, profession, or role assigned to a game character to highlight and differentiate their capabilities and specializations. In role-playing games (RPGs), character classes ag ...

es to allow different playstyles as well as interconnected maps through hub maps instead of the standard linear succession of maps which granted a taste of open-world in a FPS game. Apogee Software, then renamed 3D Realms, followed up with ''

'' (sequel to the earlier

platformer A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

s '' Duke Nukem'' and '' Duke Nukem II''), released as shareware the 29th of January 1996, which ran on the then new Build engine developed by Ken Silverman with the support of

. ''Duke Nukem 3D'' won acclaim for its humour based around stereotyped

machismo Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1940s and 1950s and its use more wi ...

as well as its adrenalinic gameplay and graphics. However, some found the game's (and later the whole series') treatment of women to be derogatory and tasteless. ''Witchaven 2: Blood Vengeance'', developed by

and published by their

the 6th of May 1996, was a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to the first '' Witchaven'' which set the knight from the first game onto an even more perilous

to rescue the princess abducted by the

's sister seeking vengeance, still licensed on 3D Realms' Build engine, it added dual weapons wielding or wielding a

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry like spears or long ranged projectiles suc ...

in the place of the second weapon as well as a

to let players create and share their own

, however Capstone didn't fix the first game's issues and it was their last game before going extinct as they were developing a Build-based sequel to their previous Wolf3D-based game ''Corridor 7'' when their parent company IntraCorp went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...

. ''Witchaven 2'' was open-sourced in 2006 then source-ported into BuildGDX by its community which fixed most of its original issues in 2018. The game '' PowerSlave'' was initially designed using the Build engine for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

, but was later spun off into releases for

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...

and Sony PlayStation using developer Lobotomy Software's in-house SlaveDriver engine. While the PC version is a traditional linear first-person shooter, the console versions feature non-linear progression and unlockable player abilities reminiscent of a

metroidvania Metroidvania is a sub-genre of action-adventure games and/or platformers focused on Nonlinear gameplay, nonlinear exploration and guided progression with a need to acquire key items to enter certain areas. The term is a blend word, partial blend ...

. ''Strife'', developed by Rogue Entertainment and published by Velocity Inc. the 15th of May 1996, was the last commercial game which used and modified the Doom engine before id released the new

Quake engine The ''Quake'' engine (part of id Tech 2) is the game engine developed by id Software to power their 1996 video game '' Quake''. It featured true 3D real-time rendering. Since 1999, it has been licensed under the terms of GNU General Publi ...

the following month and it introduced some RPVG's features into the standard FPS formula such as an actual lively open-world filled with

, dialogues with choices of answers, some of them were even voiced, trade, reinforcements who engage the enemies in battle, mandatory and optional quests, character's evolution of his abilities, an intriguing plot branching into different routes and conclusions according to the player's choices and actions, some burning effects as well as some infiltration gameplay such as stealth, disguises and alarms. The plot takes place in a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

world struck by a

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

which released a

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...

which wiped out almost all

life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

on the

planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

and corrupted most of the remaining people who created a

high-tech High technology (high tech or high-tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or ...

theocratic Theocracy is a form of autocracy or oligarchy in which one or more deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries, with executive and legislative power, who manage the government's daily a ...

new world order known as "The Order" whereas the few remaining free people organized into an underground resistance known as "The Front" and the player is an unnamed

mercenary A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather t ...

(sometimes referred to as the Strifeguy) who joins the Front to fight the Order's oppressive rule while being remotely assisted by a Front's radio operative woman nicknamed Blackbird who occasionally comments with humor the situations that the player encounters. However, despite all of its innovations, Strife went relatively unnoticed because it was released right between the two other overwhelmingly popular games ''

'' and ''Quake'' which made the Doom engine already outdated by then. Still, players who discovered it many years after its original release appreciated its originality for its time and even compared it to '' Deus Ex'' and ''Marathon''. ''Doom'''s modding community source-ported ''Strife'' into GZDoom to update and upgrade it from its original version to modern standards. Shortly after the release of ''Duke Nukem 3D'', id Software released the much anticipated '' Quake'' the 22nd of June 1996. Like ''Doom'', ''Quake'' was influential and genre-defining, featuring fast-paced, gory gameplay, within a completely 3D game environment, and making use of real-time rendered polygonal models instead of sprites. It was centered on online gaming and featured multiple match types still found in first-person shooter games today. It was the first FPS game to gain a cult following of player

clans A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

(although the concept had existed previously in ''

MechWarrior 2 ''MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat'' is a vehicle simulation game developed and published by Activision, released in 1995 as part of the '' MechWarrior'' series of video games in the ''BattleTech'' franchise. The game is set in 3057, and is pla ...

s ''Netmech'', with its ''

Battletech ''BattleTech'' is a wargaming and military science fiction franchise launched by FASA Corporation in 1984, acquired by WizKids in 2001, which was in turn acquired by Topps in 2003; and published since 2007 by Catalyst Game Labs. The trademark ...

'' lore as well as amongst

MUD Mud (, or Middle Dutch) is loam, silt or clay mixed with water. Mud is usually formed after rainfall or near water sources. Ancient mud deposits hardened over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone (generally cal ...

players), and would inspire popular

LAN parties A LAN party is a social gathering of participants with personal computers or compatible game consoles, where a local area network (LAN) connection is established between the devices using a router or switch, primarily for the purpose of playing m ...

and events such as

QuakeCon QuakeCon is a yearly convention held by ZeniMax Media to celebrate and promote the major franchises of id Software and other studios owned by ZeniMax. It includes a large, paid, bring-your-own-computer ( BYOC) LAN party event with a competiti ...

. The game's popularity and use of 3D polygonal graphics also helped to expand the growing market for

video card A graphics card (also called a video card, display card, graphics accelerator, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, display adapter, or colloquially GPU) is a computer expansion card that generates a feed of graphics output to a displa ...

hardware; and the additional support and encouragement for game modifications attracted players who wanted to tinker with the game and create their own modules. According to creator John Romero, ''Quake''s 3D world was inspired by the 3D fighting game ''

Virtua Fighter is a series of fighting games created by Sega AM2 and designer Yu Suzuki. The original ''Virtua Fighter (video game), Virtua Fighter'' was released in December 1993 and has received four main sequels and several spin-offs. The highly influential ...

''. ''Quake'' was also intended to expand the genre with ''Virtua Fighter'' influenced melee brawling, but this element was eventually scrapped from the final game. ''Shadow Warrior'', developed and published by 3D Realms the 13th of May 1997, introduced 3D voxels instead of 2D sprites for weapons and inventory items as well as weapons' secondary firing mode, climbable ladders, true

room-over-room Since the origin of video games in the early 1970s, the video game industry, the players, and surrounding culture have spawned a wide range of technical and slang terms. 0–9 A ...

situations, transparent water, some vehicles to drive, and a brand new Asian hero named Lo Wang into a brand new Asian setting in contrast to its predecessor Duke Nukem 3D's occidental atmosphere and Shadow Warrior, just as its predecessor, features deliberately immature and politically incorrect humor, as well as a protagonist who delivers regular one-liners, commenting upon the situation at hand. Much of the humor is derived from over-the-top,

stereotypical In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalization, generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can ...

portrayals of

Asian culture The culture of Asia encompasses the collective and diverse customs and traditions of art, architecture, music, literature, lifestyle, philosophy, food, politics and religion that have been practiced and maintained by the numerous ethnic g ...

Online and console games: 1997-2020

Based on the

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

, Rare's '' GoldenEye 007'' was released in 1997, and as of 2004 it was still the best-selling

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...

game in the United States. It has been the first landmark first-person shooter for console gamers and was highly acclaimed for its atmospheric single-player campaign and well designed multiplayer maps. It featured a

sniper rifle A sniper rifle is a high-precision, long range shooting, long-range rifle. Requirements include high accuracy, reliability, mobility, concealment, and optics, for anti-personnel weapon, anti-personnel, anti-materiel rifle, anti-materiel and sur ...

, the ability to perform head-shots, and the incorporation of stealth elements (all of these aspects were also included in the game's spiritual sequel, ''

'') as well as some '' Virtua Cop''-inspired features such as weapon reloading, position-dependent hit reaction animations, penalties for killing innocents, and a newly designed aiming system that allowed players to aim at a precise spot on the screen. Though not the first of its kind, ''

'' started a popular trend of tactical first-person shooters in 1998. It featured a team-based, realistic design and themes based around

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

, requiring missions to be planned before execution and in it, a single hit was sometimes enough to kill a character. ''

'', released in 1999, gave birth to a long running proliferation of simulative first-person shooters set during World War II.

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...

's ''

'' was released in 1998, based upon ''Quake''s graphics technology. Initially met with only mild anticipation, it went on to become a commercial success. While most of the previous first-person shooters on the IBM PC platform had focused on visceral gameplay with relatively weak or irrelevant plots, ''Half-Life'' placed a far bigger focus on strong narrative; the game featured no

cut scene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...

s but remained in the first-person perspective at all times. It capitalized heavily on the concepts of non-enemy characters (previously featured in many other titles, such as the '' Marathon series'' and '' Strife'') and wider in-game interactivity (as first introduced by the likes of ''Duke Nukem 3D'' and ''System Shock'') but did not employ

s in the traditional sense, making for a somewhat more believable overall experience. The game was praised for its

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

, selection of weapons and attention to detail and "has since been recognized as one of the greatest games of all time" according to GameSpot. Its sequel, ''

Half-Life 2 ''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It was published for Windows on Valve's digital distribution service, Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half-Life 2'' is played ent ...

'', (released in 2004), was less influential though "arguably a more impressive game". '' Starsiege: Tribes,'' also released in 1998, was a multiplayer online shooter allowing more than 32 players in a single match. It featured team-based gameplay with a variety of specialized roles, and an unusual jet pack feature. The game was highly popular and later imitated by many other titles such as the ''

Battlefield A battlefield, battleground, or field of battle is the location of a present or historic battle involving ground warfare. It is commonly understood to be limited to the point of contact between opposing forces, though battles may involve troop ...

'' series. Id's '' Quake III Arena'' and Epic's '' Unreal Tournament,'' both released in 1999, became the real milestones for multiplayer gaming, thanks to their incredible graphics and frenetic, yet accessible and perfectly balanced online modes; on the other hand, both games only featured a very limited single player campaign designed for a more "disposable" arcade approach. ''

'' was also released in 1999, a ''Half-Life''

modification Modification may refer to: * Modifications of school work for students with special educational needs * Modifications (genetics), changes in appearance arising from changes in the environment * Posttranslational modifications, changes to prote ...

with a counter-terrorism theme copied from ''Rainbow Six''. The game and later version '' Counter-Strike: Source'' (2004) went on to become the most popular multiplayer game modification ever, with over 90,000 players competing online at any one time during its peak. At the E3 game show in 1999,

unveiled a

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that does not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time." By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, tur ...

game called ''

''; aka Halo CE at the following E3, an overhauled

version was displayed. In 2000, Bungie was bought by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

. ''Halo'' was then revamped and released as a first-person shooter; it was one of the launch titles for the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

console. It was a runaway critical and commercial success, and is considered a premier console first-person shooter. It featured narrative and storyline reminiscent of Bungie's earlier

series but now told largely through in-game dialog and cut scenes. It also received acclaim for its characters, both the protagonist, Master Chief and its alien antagonists. The sequel, ''

Halo 2 ''Halo 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox console. ''Halo 2'' is the second installment in the ''Halo'' franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclai ...

'' (2004), brought the popularity of online gaming to the console market through the medium of

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly known and commonly referred to as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Gaming for the Xbox brand. It was first made available to the origina ...

, on which it was the most played game for almost two years. '' Deus Ex'', released by Ion Storm in 2000, featured a levelling system similar to that found in role-playing games; it also had multiple narratives depending on how the player completed missions and won acclaim for its serious, artistic style. The ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...

'' games ''

Survivor Survivor(s) may refer to: * one who survives Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 KKnD series#Armies, ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Foundation'', a fictional ...

'' in 2000 and '' Dead Aim'' in 2003 attempted to combine the

and first-person shooter genres along with

survival horror Survival horror is a Video game genre, subgenre of horror games. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical action games through limited ammunition or weapons, health, speed, and visio ...

elements. '' Metroid Prime,'' released in 2002 for the

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

, a highly praised first-person shooter, incorporated action adventure elements such as jumping puzzles and built on the ''

Metroid is an action-adventure game franchise created by Nintendo. The player controls the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who protects the galaxy from Space Pirates and other malevolent forces and their attempts to harness the power of the parasitic M ...

'' series of 2D

side-scrolling A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller) is a video game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling grap ...

platform-adventures. Taking a "massive stride forward for first-person games", the game emphasized its adventure elements rather than shooting and was credited by journalist Chris Kohler with "breaking the genre free from the clutches of ''Doom''".Kohler, Chris
The 15 Most Influential Games of the Decade
, ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

'' December 24, 2009, Accessed September 10, 2011 Efforts to develop early

handheld video game A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the con ...

s with 3-D graphics have eventually led to the dawn of ambitious handheld first-person shooter games, starting with two

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

ports of '' Back Track'' and ''Doom'' not long after the system was launched in 2001. The GBA eventually saw the release of several first-person shooter games specifically tailored for it, including '' Duke Nukem Advance'', '' Ecks vs. Sever'' and '' Dark Arena'', with a sizable amount of them being praised for pushing the hardware to the limit while providing satisfying gameplay. Despite their varying reception, they would demonstrate the viability of first-person shooters on handhelds, which became more apparent with new technological advances that accompanied future handheld systems. '' World War II Online'', released in 2001, featured a persistent and "massively multiplayer environment", although

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

said that "the full realization of that environment is probably still a few years away." '' Battlefield 1942'', another World War II shooter released in 2002, featured large scale battles incorporating aircraft, naval vessels, land vehicles and infantry combat. In 2003, '' PlanetSide'' allowed hundreds of players at once to compete in a persistent world, and was also promoted as the "world's first massively multiplayer online first person shooter." The ''

Serious Sam ''Serious Sam'' is a video game series created and primarily developed by Croteam. It consists predominantly of first-person shooters. The series follows the advances of Sam "Serious" Stone against Mental, an extraterrestrial overlord who att ...

'' series, first released in 2001, and ''

Painkiller An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic, antalgic, pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used for pain management. Analgesics are conceptually distinct from anesthetics, which temporarily reduce, and in s ...

'', released in 2004, both emphasized fighting waves of enemies in large open arenas, in an attempt to hearken back to the genre's roots. ''

Doom 3 ''Doom 3'' is a 2004 first-person shooter, first-person shooter 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 Vide ...

'', released in 2004, placed a greater emphasis on horror and frightening the player than previous games in the series and was a critically acclaimed best seller, though some commentators felt it lacked gameplay substance and innovation, putting too much emphasis on impressive graphics. In 2005, a film based on ''Doom'' featured a sequence that emulated the viewpoint and action of the first-person shooter, but was critically derided as deliberately unintelligent and gratuitously violent. In 2005, ''

F.E.A.R. ''F.E.A.R.'' is a first-person shooter Horror game#Psychological horror, psychological horror video game series created by Craig Hubbard in 2005. Released on Microsoft Windows, Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, there are three main games i ...

'' was acclaimed for successfully combining first-person shooter gameplay with a Japanese horror atmosphere. Later in 2007, Irrational Games' ''

'' would be acclaimed by some commentators as the best game of that year for its innovation in artistry, narrative and design, with some calling it the "

spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous product or work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue th ...

" to Irrational's earlier ''

System Shock 2 ''System Shock 2'' is a 1999 action role-playing survival horror video game designed by Ken Levine and co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios. Originally intended to be a standalone title, its story was changed during produ ...

''. Finally, the

Crytek Crytek GmbH is a German video game developer and software developer based in Frankfurt. Founded by the Yerli brothers in Coburg in 1999 and moved to Frankfurt in 2006, Crytek operates additional studios in Kyiv, Ukraine and Istanbul, Turkey. It ...

games '' Far Cry'' (2004) and ''

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, ...

'' (2007) as well as

Ubisoft 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 '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

's ''

Far Cry 2 ''Far Cry 2'' is a 2008 first-person shooter developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. A top-down shooter version for mobile phones was developed and published by Gameloft. It is ...

'' (2008) would break new ground in terms of graphics and large, open-ended level design, whereas '' Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare'' (2007), '' Resistance: Fall of Man'' (2006) and its sequel ''

Resistance 2 ''Resistance 2'' is a 2008 first-person shooter video game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. The game was released in North America on November 4, 2008, in Australia on November 27, ...

'' (2008) presented increasingly refined linear levels and narratives, with the fast pace and linearity of the ''

'' games bearing a resemblance to rail shooters. BLACK in 2006 was considered to be a leader in cinematic game design, with strong sound design and destructible environments. In 2007, '' Portal'' popularized the concept of puzzles mechanics in first-person perspective. In 2006, Gamasutra reported the first-person shooter as one of the biggest and fastest growing video game genres in terms of revenue for publishers.Cifaldi, Frank
Analysts: FPS 'Most Attractive' Genre for Publishers
''GamaSutra,'' February 21, 2006, Accessed February 23, 2009 ''

'', originally a user-made mod for ''Quake'' but made into an official product by Valve by its release in 2007, launched a new type of team-based subgenre called hero shooters, which consist of first-person and third-person shooters where players selected from one of several pre-made characters with existing weapons and skill sets, using those different characters effectively to complete objectives against their opponents. The hero shooter genre had significant growth following the release of ''

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' (abbreviated as OW) is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'' was released in 2016 with a success ...

'' in which refined the hero shooter formula by adding unique characters and larger narrative as they expanded the game in future updates. The use of motion-detecting

game controller A game controller, gaming controller, or simply controller, is an input device or Input/Output Device, input/output device used with video games or entertainment systems to provide input to a video game. Input devices that have been classified as ...

s – particularly the Wii's – "promised to make FPS controls more approachable and precise with an interface as simple as literally pointing to aim" and thus "dramatically reshape the first-person shooter." However, technical difficulties pertinent to functions other than aiming – such as maneuvering or reloading – prevented their widespread use among first-person shooters. The Pointman user interface combines a motion-sensitive gamepad, head tracker and sliding foot pedals to increase the precision and level of control over one's avatar in military first-person shooter games. Xonotic 0

In the late 2010s, first-person and third-person shooters enjoyed a surge in popularity with the rise of

battle royale game A battle royale game is an online multiplayer video game genre that blends last-man-standing gameplay with the survival, exploration, and scavenging elements of a survival game. Battle royale games involve dozens to hundreds of players, who ...

s, in which many players battle for survival on a large map to be the last man or team standing through intense action-packed combat, and '' PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds'' (2017) reached the highest number of concurrent players ever to be recorded on

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

. Its free-to-play

mobile game A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any Mobile device, portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet computer, table ...

version, '' PUBG Mobile'' (2018), reached over downloads worldwide by early 2021 and grossed over by early 2022.

Rise of VR technology: 2020–present

(VR) technologies are being developed, FPS games are being developed right alongside the various VR gaming platforms. The new immersive 3D environments using VR headsets and motion controllers enable some entirely unique experiences and mechanics for FPS games, such as physically ducking / dodging, precise control for throwing objects, and individual finger control, enhancing the interactivity with in-game wearables and other objects in the environment. VR Games naturally have a greater focus on the players' spatial presence and the 3D environment itself rather than the actual challenge / competitiveness of the game, which also extends to first-person shooters, especially in the horror sub-genre. Half-Life Alyx, released in 2020, is to date (2023) the highest grossing VR first-person shooter and is usually considered the first AAA title in VR. While there is much hype in the Virtual Reality arena, it is still an emerging technology, and it has yet to be determined if VR FPS titles will become mainstream competitive or how these platforms will influence the genre in the future.

Research

In 2010, researchers at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

showed that playing first-person shooter video games is associated with superior mental flexibility. Compared to non-players, players of such games were found to require a significantly shorter reaction time while switching between complex tasks, possibly because they are required to develop a more responsive mindset to rapidly react to fast-moving visual and auditory stimuli, and to shift back and forth between different sub-duties.

References

External links

{{good article Video game genres

Definition

Game design

Combat and power-ups

Level design

Multiplayer

Free-to-play

History

Origins: 1970s–1980s

Early first-person shooters: 1987–1992

Rise in popularity: 1992–1993

Advances in 3D engines: 1993-1997

Online and console games: 1997-2020

Rise of VR technology: 2020–present

Research

See also

References

External links