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Build your own old-school 3D shooter in a weekend

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Re: Build your own old-school 3D shooter in a weekend

#4
The readme mentions it but I think it's worth pointing out that this is a very particular (and quite dated) method for sort-of-3D rendering. It's the same type of engine used in the original Wolfenstein.

It's definitely a lot of fun to implement (and I recommend trying if you've never done it before) but it's very different and much more limited than what we expect from a 3D engine nowadays.

Re: Build your own old-school 3D shooter in a weekend

#6
I think leaving the "old-school" out of the title doesn't do this justice.

My first thought was, with modern engines, or even raw OpenGL that isn't that hard... I did it in a weekend for my "Advanced Computer Graphics" elective in college using OpenGL and that was 2008. But this is kind of cool... it's more of a tiny ray tracer and... well to borrow the title... old-school arcade game.

Re: Build your own old-school 3D shooter in a weekend

#8
post #4

The readme mentions it but I think it's worth pointing out that this is a very particular (and quite dated) method for sort-of-3D rendering. It's the same type of engine used in the original Wolfenstein. It's definitely a lot of fun to implement (and I recommend trying if you've never done it before) but it's very different and much more limited than what we expect from a 3D engine nowadays.

True, but what's great about it is that it is such a simple method to achieve something that seems 3D. It's very easy to explain, the math is straight-forward, and it hardly takes any code, making it a great starting point for people interested in this sort of thing. Its simplicity makes it easy to extend the functionality too. For instance, you can add Y-shearing pretty trivially and get a limited range of motion on the view's vertical axis, or add floor and ceiling casting to get textures there, a little more manipulation can add jumping and crouching, etc.

Re: Build your own old-school 3D shooter in a weekend

#9

I believe the sprites used in the video are taken directly from Andre LaMothe's original Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus. I still have a copy.

That was an awesome book

Only programming book I ever read cover-to-cover.

Re: Build your own old-school 3D shooter in a weekend

#10
post #4

The readme mentions it but I think it's worth pointing out that this is a very particular (and quite dated) method for sort-of-3D rendering. It's the same type of engine used in the original Wolfenstein. It's definitely a lot of fun to implement (and I recommend trying if you've never done it before) but it's very different and much more limited than what we expect from a 3D engine nowadays.

> the original Wolfenstein.

Well, the original Wolfenstein 3D, the third game in the series.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Wolfenstein

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Castle_Wolfenstein

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