🚀 go-pugleaf

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 23:51:39 -0700, Paul Angstrom
<angstrom@go.away.spammers.invalid> wrote:

>On Wed, 18 Aug 2004 02:06:56 -0400, "Monster"
><monster.this@monster.that> wrote in message
><4122f1f8$0$56172$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>:
>
>>"Paul Angstrom" <angstrom@go.away.spammers.invalid> wrote in message 
>>news:mml5i094sd8g79lpmiohfi6etc5ug5oc9p@news...
>>> On Wed, 18 Aug 2004 05:43:48 +0200, walter mitty <mitticus@yahoo.co.uk>
>>> wrote in message <cfuj9l$10u$05$1@news.t-online.com>:
>>>
>>>>D1 : the first true 3d game IMO.
>>>
>>> I'm pretty sure there's a sizable number of 3D flight sim games that
>>> preceded Descent by a long shot.
>>
>>you missed what he meant by 3D. You can fake 3D in 2D.
>
>Descent came out in 1995. It used a software-rendered 3D polygonal
>engine.

Actually, Descent appeared in Descember 1994, as the initial 1.0 Shareware
version.  What made the game significant was that it could handle both
3D-models and 3D maps and still work on the old computers.  Not only that,
but the Models and Maps were both textured, one of the few things that was
implemented in such an environment.  

The reason Descent is considered the first true-3D game is because it was
the first game where 3D-Graphics actually came to life (that, and the
six-degrees of movement for the player character.)

>
>All of the following games used a software-rendered fully 3D polygonal
>engine:
>
>Tie Fighter (1994)
>X-Wing (1993)

In these two cases, the software rendering handles ship models.  With the
exception of the Death Star missions, there is no planetary surface to
worry about.  

>F-15 Strike Eagle III (1992)
>F-117 Stealth Fighter 2.0 (1991)
>Falcon 3.0 (1991) 
>Dragon Strike (1990)
>Red Baron (1990)
>A-10 Tank Killer (1989)

In a significant number of these games, the things to worry about would be
the ground, and the aircraft/whatever models.  Given the processing power,
the ship models were mainly a set of uni-colored polygons.  They were 3D,
but not overly impressive.

>Ultima Underworld, which was an RPG (not even a flight sim), preceded
>Descent by 2 years with a fully 3D engine.

IIRC, Ultima Underworld used 2D sprites for some of the monsters (at least
in the demo version). In addition, there is warping of the walls and floors
at the edges of the FOV, and level construction indicates that the game
uses vertical walls in the style of Doom.  Also, the engine used seems to
have an extremely low rendering distance, an indication that the computers
released around that time could barely process something of the complexity
of Doom.