Wolfenstein 3D

Play

Created by Id Software and published by Apogee Software, Wolfenstein 3D was particularly innovating in the field of the technique of programming and the principle of play. The play initially left on PC and was then related to Macintosh, Super Nintendo, Atari Jaguar and 3DO. It uses the technique known as of the Raycasting to draw the world by giving him an appearance 3D. The addition of the characters and objects allowing one made rather correct for its time.

Wolfenstein 3D initially left in the form of Partagiciel, which made it possible to diffuse it widely. This version contained an episode of ten levels. The full version comprised six episodes (including the episode of the version partagiciel). Each episode has a different Boss, which must be killed with the last mission to finish the episode. Only nine of the ten missions require to be finished: the entry of the secret level is hidden in one of the first eight missions.

The Source code of the play was published in August 1995 by Id Software.

Principle

In the first episode, the player incarnates BJ Blazkowicz , a Allié soldier who tries to escape from a building Nazi, filled of guards armed with guns and machine-guns, as of dogs of attack. The building has many secrete ways container various treasures, food, cases medical, and others weapons and ammunition.

The five following episodes, will see Blazkowicz assigned various missions behind the lines Nazis, to cut down important Nazies targets, to conceal plans or, to eliminate Hitler itself. Each episode is broken up into 10 levels including 1 secrecy which is accessible only in the first 8 levels. The ninth level of each episode contains a boss whose death generally constitutes, the end of the episode.

Episodes

Episode 1 - in texte=Escape from Wolfenstein ( the Escape from Wolfenstein ): Soldier B.J Blazkowicz was captured while trying to find the plans of the operation of texte=Einsenfaust; he must escape from the Wolfenstein castle and will have for that, to eliminate Hans Grosse, keeps it and chief of the castle. This episode was distributed in Partagiciel.

Episode 2 - in texte=Operation: of texte=Einsenfaust ( Operation: of texte=Einsenfaust ): Blazkowicz discovers what hides behind the name operation of texte=Einsenfaust : the Nazis are creating armies of death-alive in the Hollehammer castle. The player will have to eliminate Dr. Schabbs, person in charge of the creation of the zombies, to stop the invasion.

Episode 3 - in texte=Die, Fuhrer, Die! ( Die, Fuhrer, Meurs! ): This episode is, from a chronological point of view, the last; it is indeed during this one that Blazkowicz is brought to cut down Adolf Hitler, cut off in its bunker.

The three episodes according to belong to the series in texte=Nocturnal Missions which is focused on the chemical war prepared by the Nazis.

Episode 4 - in texte=A Secret Dark ( a Dark Secrecy ): Dr. Otto of texte=Giftmacher, person in charge of the development of the chemical armament Nazi, is the new target of the hero. This last will have to penetrate an arms factory to find it and eliminate it.

Episode 5 - in Trail off the Madman ( the Trace of Insane the ): The plans of the chemical war prepared by the Nazis, are preserved in the Erlangen castle, under the guard of Gretel Grosse, the sister of Hans. Once more, B.J Blazkowicz will have to eliminate all the Nazis on his passage in order to recover these plans.

Episode 6 - in Confrontration : Blaczkowicz is charged to assassinate the General of texte=Fettgesicht which directs the army Nazi since her fortress. Much harder than the other episodes, this last mission concludes Wolfenstein 3D.

Enemies

Throughout his missions, the player will be brought to meet various types of enemies having each one his characteristics:

the Soldier : It is the basic enemy, he is armed with a gun, if one is tallied sufficiently near and correctly, a ball is enough to eliminate it; if one is further, two or three balls can prove to be necessary. 100 points of score for each killed soldier.

the officer : More evolved/moved, this enemy walks more quickly, its reaction time is improved and its shootings are more precise; one needs at least four balls to eliminate it. 400 points of score for each killed officer.

the S of texte=Paratrooper : equipped with a bullet-proof jacket and a machine-gun, this unit is one of the more coriaces, it moves at the same speed that the soldier and one needs at least five balls to get rid some. 500 points of score for each S of texte=Paratrooper killed.

Zombie : Creature of Dr.Schabb, the zombie has a machine-gun integrated into its chest and cumulates the advantages of the S of texte=Paratrooper and the officer; moreover and with the difference of all the other enemies of the play, the zombie does not shout when it detects the player, which prevents this last from so knowing of the enemies are with his continuation in the corridors or not. 700 points of score for each zombie killed.

the Phantom : phantom with the effigy of Hitler, one sees it only in the new level of the third episode. It launches fireballs devastators. Approximately ten balls will come to end. 2.000 points of score for each killed phantom.

the Dog : The various enemies are sometimes accompanied by dog of attack, the latter precipitate towards the player to bite it as soon as they saw it or heard, only one ball is enough to cut down it. 200 points of score for each killed dog.

Objects

Weapons

the knife : When the player does not have any more ammunition, it has of another choice only to be defended with its knife, the rate/rhythm of attack is slow and the damage is extremely weak. One can however make use of it on the dogs of attack to save the ammunition or to attack a soldier alone.
the gun parabellum : The player begins the play with a gun in hand; the rate of shooting of the gun is rather weak, which makes of it a useful weapon only in the first levels of the play.
the machine-gun : The machine-gun offers a rate of shooting continues, it can be collected on the body of the S of texte=Paratrooper.
the gatling : Arms most powerful with the play, the gatling has an extremely high rate of shooting what can sometimes be the cause of a wasting of ammunition. The gatling is generally hidden and can prove difficle to be obtained throughout the episodes, it is however always available to the last level.

Ammunition

the charger : The charger contains eight balls.
the weapons : each weapon has six balls.
the bodies : the enemies always have four balls on them.
Life : the additional no-claims bonus of life contains 25 balls.

Health

the puddle pool of blood : The puddle pool of blood brings back a point of life and can be used only if the player has less than eleven points of life.
Food for dog : Bring back four points of life.
Flat of chicken : Allows to obtain ten points of life.
Case of care : According to the level of difficulty, the player will obtain 25 or 35 points of life by collecting it.
Life : When it recovers a Life, the player finds his maximum health (99).

Treasures

Cross out of gold : 100 points of score.
Chalice : 500 points of score.
Trunk : 1.000 points of score.
Crown : 5.000 points of score.
Life : 40.000 points of score.

Difficulty

Four levels of difficulties are proposed to the player:

in texte=Can I play, Daddy? ( I can play, dad? ): On this level, there is less of soldiers, they cause less damage with the player and one needs less balls to come to end.
in texte=Don' T hurt me. ( do not wound me! ): the number of soldiers is normal but they cause always less damage, the number of balls necessary to come to end is the same one as for the preceding level.
in texte=Bring 'EM one! ( Bring them! ): On this level of difficulty the wounds caused by the enemies are normal and the number of balls necessary to kill them is also.
in texte=I' m Death incarnate! ( I am incarnated death ): It is about the maximum level, the wounds and the number of balls is identical to that of the level bring EM one however, there are much more enemies.

Development

In September 1990, John Carmack, Adrian Carmack, John Romero and Tom Hall announce Commander Keen in order to celebrate their new business, still nonofficial: Id Software. A few months later, after having distributed a first series of plays while following the model of Partagiciel of Scott Miller, the founder of Apogee Software, the four developers leave Softdisk and found officially Id Software.

At that time, Miller sought developers able to carry out a play with the principle relatively different from what had been carried out in the past; this is why two plays, carried out by the founders of id Software, Hovertank and Catacombs 3D, held its attention: plays in subjective sight and three dimensions, at least, seemingly.

Miller then asked id Software to make him a play, to distribute in partagiciel, subjective sight 3D. The problem was, at this moment, that the members of id Software had still a contract to hold with Softdisk: indeed, they were to still produce a last play for their former employer. The proposal of Miller was simple: Apogee, its company, would develop this play for Softdisk and during this time, id Software, would devote itself to the play that he asked them.

Thus, George Broussard, another owner of Apogee, realized for Softdisk, a play which did not make speak about him: Scubadventure. On their side, id Software announced Wolfenstein 3D .

Technologies of the engine

In order to obtain one returned near to the 3D, with the walls, the play uses technology ray casting, a technique of calculation of synthesized images 3D: This method emits a line starting from each column of pixels, in direction from the point of view of the player, if this line manages to reach the player without passing through a wall, then the column of pixels is posted; this line is then preserved and becomes a depth buffer on a dimension: only depth; on this line are aligned different the sprites representing the other entities from the play: enemies, ammunition, decorations… While basing oneself at the distance between an entity and the player, one obtains a coefficient which allows redimensionner the sprite with an aim of giving an impression of distance. Technology MIP mapping is then used on each texture of the play.

It is not the first time that this technique is used, indeed, John Carmack having already used it in the plays Hovertank 3D and Catacomb 3D, whereas he worked for Softdisk.

Bearings

The play was officially related to several platforms of plays, Super BORN, Atari Jaguar, Mac OS, 3DO, APPLE II, Acorn Archimedes and Game Boy Advance, the majority of these bearings were modified, whether that is on the noise level, visual or of the levels themselves; their distribution in episode was not always preserved besides. Certain bearings were carried out starting from other bearings and not of the original version, it is the case of the versions Jaguar and Mac which was carried out starting from BORN the Super version, however, each one was developed independently of the other: the Jaguar version was it by Id Software with the co-operation of Atari, tandis the Mac version was carried by MacPlay, which also carried out the bearing of the version 3DO, making this version almost identical to the Mac version.

The Super version BORN is famous because of its many modifications and censures imposed by the standards US Nintendo, of the time; thus, the whole of the signs Nazi and the representations of Hitler were withdrawn from this version.

In several bearings, in particular the version 3DO, Jaguar and Mac, the Sprites and textures were redrawn in 128x128 instead of 64x64 for the original version, thus making it possible to increase the level of detail of the characters and the objects; however, they are drawn only starting from one single angle, removing occasion consequently the infiltration part of the play (the enemies are always seen of face, like the Boss in the original version).

On the version Jaguar, the bars status was withdrawn posting only health, the face of the hero, the ammunition and the keys. The score having been withdrawn, the recovery of treasures improved health of the hero. There was also a flame thrower and a lance-rocket, graphics of the gun and gatling were based on graphics of Doom.

The Mac bearing and its derivatives are the only ones to use German voices recorded by German, the other versions contain German sentences, crossed and with an erroneous use of the adjectives and articles, primarily because of the bad comprehension of the concept of kind associated with a common noun, which is not present in English.

The version Game Boy Advance is the version nearest to original, only the music was withdrawn as well as the mode of safeguard: the player can safeguard only when it finished the level.

Lastly, the popularity of the play generated the development of many versions on other platforms on which no commercial release was envisaged: Amiga, Atari ST, PocketPC, Portable Sony PlayStation, Palm OS, Symbian and FreeBSD.

Reactions and influence

Discusses

Because of the abundant presence of portraits of Adolf Hitler, symbols Nazis such the which Swatiska or the Cross of iron or, use of the musical topic Nazi, Horst-Wessel-Lied, like music of introduction, Wolfenstein 3D was shown to defend the Nazism and was thus withdrawn from the sale in Germany in 1994, that is to say two years after its exit.

The version Super BORN was also modified and all the references Nazis were withdrawn there, moreover, blood was replaced by sweat in order to make the play less violent and finally, the dogs of attack were withdrawn with the profit of giant mutant rats, associations of protections of the animals proclaiming that a play which proposes to the player to kill out of the dogs, is immoral. The creators of the play then answered with irony in The Official DOOM Player Guide that it was morally acceptable to kill out of the rats and the human ones, but not of the dogs. The version Super BORN of the play finally was not same success as the version DOS the majority of the players considering that the whole of the modifications carried out make the title incomplete and too different from the original play.

Abandoned contests

During the development of the play, two competitions for A-grade officials were envisaged, however, none was announced:

In level 8 of the second episode, a gigantic formed labyrinth of 181 secrete ways makes it possible to the player to reach different " trésors" according to the way which it borrowed; it will be able thus to find a life additional or to meet the boss of the first episode: Hans Gross. Only one way will lead it to a saying text: " Cal Apogee Say Aardwolf" (Call Apogee and known as Aardwolf). The first player to find this sign and to follow the instructions of them would have thus gained a price, but this forever fixed price.

At all events, the presence of editors of levels or, of software of Cheat, little time after the exit of the complete set, made it possible many players to find these indications with a minimum of efforts, this is why the competition for A-grade officials was abandoned before even being announced. One of the suggested prices was to receive a copy of each play Apogee, with life; but no decision had still been made when the competition for A-grade officials was abandoned. The labyrinth and the text were left in the play, a new version explaining the history relative to this labyrinth and requiring of the players not to call Apogee. In a version of 1997 distributed by Activision, the text was replaced by a sprite representing a heap of bone, the goal being of course to remove any reference to Apogee.

At the end of each episode, the player obtains a code of three letters; this last was to make it possible to the player to take part in a contest for the best score, thus making it possible to prove that the score obtained by the player had been it without the use of Cheat codes S.

Notoriety

Wolfenstein 3D is often regarded as being at the origin of the success of the plays of subjective shooting of today, because although not being the first play of this type, it is held responsible for the passion carried by the public for these plays. The mode of distribution in Partagiciel was regularly re-used besides.

The success of the play made it possible Id Software to affirm its notoriety, as a studio of development, in the industry of the video game; many fans following of close least information about their new project, which guaranteed to Doom a maximum receptivity of the players, to his exit. Doom takes again the engine of Wolfenstein 3D by improving it clearly, allowing a level of graphics much higher: more detailed animations, more raised resolutions, richer architectures. The system of sectors implemented in Doom allows a Gameplay much more thorough and sought. Doom also profits from a multijouor mode. Lastly, certain levels of Wolfenstein 3D will be inserted in Doom II, as a level no-claims bonus.

Rewards and criticisms

" Best Arcade Action Range Award " delivered by Software Publishers Association

" Best Action/Arcade Range " by PC Ranges

" Best PC Action Range " by Range Players

" Editor' S Choice Award " delivered by Shareware Magazine

" Most Popular Range " by PC World (vote of the readers)

" Most Innovative Range " by Video Ranges & Computer Entertainment

The whole of these criticisms are quoted on the official site of Id Software

Continuations

a continuation left the same year, under the name of Spear off Destiny . One finds there B.J Blazkowicz with the research of the Sainte Lance, flown by the Nazis.
In addition, a new version, Return to Castle Wolfenstein , left in 2001. It uses the graphic engine of Quake III Arena .
Lastly, Return to Castle Wolfenstein 2, new a opus, was announced. This name is however not yet official.

Anecdotes

the hero of the play, William Joseph " B.J." Blazkowicz, is the large father of William Joseph " Billy Blaze" Blazkowicz hero of the first play developed by Id Software: To order Keen .
both boss Hans and Gretel Gross, refer to Hansel and Gretel.
the secret level of episode 3 is a counterpart of the labyrinth of CAP Man, phantoms continue there the player, the points are replaced by treasures and the CAP-gum S by 5th century
During episodes 3 and 6, one can hear " bips" in accompaniment of the music of the level, it is about a message in Morse, which, once translated, means this:

en texte=TO: BIG BAD WOLF

en texte=DE: LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

en texte=ELIMINATE HITLER

en texte=IMPERATIVE: SUPPLEMENTS MISSION WITHIN 24 HOURS

en texte=OUT

of texte=Wolfensteindamm is a street of Berlin which bears the name of Moses Wolfenstein, a Jewish merchant
Wolfenstein is a whole of eroded stones, located in Bavaria, it resembles a stacking of bags.
of texte=Burgruine Wolfstein is a castle in ruins with of texte=Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz , a German city.

Random links:

Gugnécourt | Phlégréens fields | Muscoline | List bishops of Vaison | Basket (Celtic mythology)