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Wolfenstein 3D (commonly abbreviated to Wolf 3D) is a video game that is generally regarded as having popularized the first person shooter genre on the PC. It was created by id Software and published by Apogee Software on May 5 1992 for DOS. The game was inspired by the 1980s Muse Software computer games Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein. It has been ported to many systems, including 3DO, SNES, Game Boy Advance, Acorn Archimedes, Atari Jaguar, and the Apple IIGS.
Overview In Wolfenstein 3D, the player is an American soldier named BJ Blazkowicz attempting to escape from the eponymous Nazi stronghold; there are many armed guards, as well as attack dogs. The building has a number of hidden rooms containing various treasures, food supplies, and medical kits, as well as three different guns and ammunition. Wolfenstein 3D was originally released as shareware, which allowed it to be copied widely. The shareware release contained one episode ("Escape from Wolfenstein"), consisting of 10 missions (levels). The commercial release consisted of three episodes including the shareware episode (the new ones being "Operation: Eisenfaust" and "Die, Führer, Die"), and a mission pack called "The Nocturnal Missions" (consisting of "A Dark Secret", "Trail of the Madman", and "Confrontation") was also available. Like the shareware episode, each commercial episode contained 10 levels, bringing the game to a total of 60 missions. Each episode had a different boss who had to be killed in the final mission in order to complete the episode. In order to complete an episode, only 9 of the 10 missions needed to be completed; hidden in one of the first eight missions was an entrance to the tenth, secret level. The secret level of the third episode was notable in that it recreated one of the original Pac-Man levels, complete with ghosts, seen by the player from Pac-Man's perspective. The game was originally released on the PC and then ported to Macintosh computers, Apple IIGS, Acorn Archimedes and Risc PC, Super NES, Atari Jaguar, Game Boy Advance, and 3DO. The source code of the game was published by id Software on July 21 1995 under a non-profit EULA, starting the long tradition at id Software of opening the entire source code to an old game. Some enhanced ports to different platforms like Linux and add-ons have been developed. Wolfenstein 3D was the first game to use the ExMx map/level identity. Storyline
Technical implementation To render the walls in pseudo-3D, the game used ray casting, a special case of ray tracing. This technique sent out one ray for each column of pixels, checked if it intersected a wall, and drew textures on the screen accordingly, creating a one dimensional depth buffer against which to clip the scaled sprites that represented enemies, powerups, and props. Before Wolfenstein 3D, the technology had already been used by id Software in 1991 to create Hovertank 3D and Catacomb 3D for Softdisk, albeit using only EGA 16-color graphics (which the game was designed to use, early in development). Other games using the Wolfenstein 3D game engine or developments of it were also produced, including, Blake Stone, Corridor 7, Operation Body Count, Super Noah's Ark 3D, Rise of the Triad, Shadowcaster, and Hellraiser. According to id Software programmer John Carmack, the game's engine was inspired by a technology demo of Looking Glass Studios'/Origin's first-person CRPG, Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss from 1991. Carmack claimed he could make a faster renderer. In this he was successful. The Wolfenstein engine lacks many features present in the Underworld engine, such as height changes, sloped floors and lighting, but it runs well on relatively weak hardware. "Holo-walls" are walls created by mapmakers using a glitch in the PC version's engine. They are walls that the player can walk through, and are used in some total conversions to simulate windows that players can climb through, and hedges that players can walk through. One way of creating holo-walls is to place a dead guard in a wall. Ports The game was ported to the Atari Jaguar, Apple IIGS, Acorn Archimedes, MacOS, RiscPC, SNES, Jaguar, Atari ST, GBA, and 3DO. Many of the ports had different sounds, graphics, and levels. Some didn't even use the DOS version's episode format. The SNES version of the game is notable for being heavily censored and edited, due to the Nintendo of America's censorship policy at the time. Due to this, most of the blood in the game was replaced with sweat, nazi references were removed. Notably, Adolf Hitler, who was a character in the game, had his moustache removed and was renamed "Straatmeiser" as well. In many of the ports (most notably, the Apple IIGS and Atari Jaguar versions) the game's sprites and textures are redrawn as 128x128 pixel sprites, rather than 64x64 pixel sprites, allowing more detail in the game's characters and objects. However, they are drawn from one angle, like the bosses, eliminating the stealth element of the game. The Apple IIGS port is the only version to use authentic German voices and speech, recorded by native Germans. The other versions, however, contains broken German phrases, with incorrect article and adjective usages, mostly stemming from the misunderstanding of the gender of the nouns. In the Atari Jaguar version of the game, the pistol sprite is actually a modified version of the pistol sprite from Doom. The hands on the gun are modified to look like BJ's. Legal issues Due to its use of Nazi symbols and the Horst-Wessel-Lied as theme music, the PC version of the game was confiscated in Germany in 1994, following a verdict by the Amtsgericht München on January 25, 1994 (Az. 2Gs167/94); the use of these symbols is a federal offence in Germany unless certain circumstances apply (see articles 86 StGB and 86a StGB (in German)). Similarly, the Atari Jaguar version was confiscated following a verdict by the Amtsgericht Berlin Tiergarten on December 7, 1994 (Az. 351Gs5509/94). * Due to concerns from Nintendo, the Super NES version was modified to not include any swastikas or Nazi references; furthermore, blood was replaced with sweat to make the game seem less violent, and the attack dogs in the game were replaced by giant mutant rats. The dogs were removed due to complaints from animal-rights activists that it was immoral to have a game in which the player is required to kill dogs. Employees of id Software are quoted in The Official DOOM Player Guide about the reaction to Wolfenstein, claiming it to be ironic that it was morally acceptable to shoot human beings, but not dogs. Three new weapons were added as well. The Super NES version was not as successful as the PC version. Many reviewers and Wolfenstein enthusiasts believed that the censorship of elements regarding Adolf Hitler and Nazis made the title incomplete and almost an entirely different game. Legacy Wolfenstein 3D is generally credited as being responsible for the first-person shooter craze that continues to this day. Released at the height of the 'Interactive CD-ROM' era, there were surprisingly few clones until Doom The games success ensured that id Software quickly became a high profile developer. id's development efforts were closely watched by fans of the game, and when it released its next first-person shooter, Doom, it was guaranteed a receptive audience. Rather than rely on the technology that made Wolfenstein a hit, however, Doom introduced several technological leaps over Wolfenstein 3D. Doom Enemies Guard - A standard German soldier armed with a pistol and wearing a brown uniform. Can usually be taken down by one or two bullets, and have relatively slow reaction times. Quotes: Dog - A German shepherd attack dog. Unlike soldiers, who are often found standing in place when first encountered, the dogs are always running. They are by far the weakest enemy, since they have no ranged attack and can always be killed by a single bullet. Their one strength is their speed. Waffen SS - A considerably bulkier fellow with a blue suit, MP40 and body armor. Their reaction times are about as bad as the Guards', but they are more accurate and deadly with their automatics. Quotes: Mutant - Also known as the 'Zombie Knife Thrower', it's a Frankenstein-like creature in a filthy dark purple suit, brandishing a pair of knifes and a pistol held by a hand sprouting out of his chest. They don't move any faster than guards, but fire much more quickly and accurately and are somewhat harder to kill. Appears only in Operation: Eisenfaust. Officer - A member of an elite Nazi unit, they wear white uniforms and carry pistols like the regular soldiers. They are about as powerful as Mutants; and in addition, they move more quickly. They appear only in the last four episodes. Quotes: Bosses The marked ( Sequels Wolfenstein 3D was followed by several related games, that would compose the following series: A prequel, Spear of Destiny, was released a short time after the original game, using the same engine. A new first-person shooter, Return to Castle Wolfenstein (RtCW), a loose sequel to Wolfenstein 3D, was released in 2001. The gameplay and the setting are similar to the original, but the graphics and audio elements receive an upgrade due to the Quake III Arena rendering engine. RtCW begins as the first game does, but from there the two games' storylines diverge. Overall, RtCW bears little resemblance to its predecessor, beyond the title and the setting. A small bit of nostalgia is available to players of RtCW with a console command. Activating 'cg_uselessnostalgia' via the in-game console overlays a replica of the original game's interface across the bottom of the screen. However, as the name of the command implies, this interface does not keep track of vital game statistics, such as the player character's health or remaining ammunition. However, the Xbox version of RtCW contains the full emulated version of Wolfenstein 3D as a bonus for beating the game. A spinoff to RtCW, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, was released in 2003, which was a free full-version multiplayer-only game, featuring elements from RtCW. Also, a new Castle Wolfenstein game has been announced for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360. Wolfenstein in other games Trivia
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