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[LordOfChaos]

This was my jam!

 

[64bitmodels]

from ray casting to ray tracing. We've come a long way

 

[ZehDon]

from ray casting to ray tracing. We've come a long way

We certainly have! Back then, id had to cut corners just to get the game to run at all - compiled scalers, ray casting, map size limitations. Today, we can run a hundred instances of Wolfenstein in browser tabs, and it's industry-shaking presentation is now just a quirky retro game. I don't think we'll ever properly appreciate how far things have evolved in three decades.

 

[Magic Carpet]

That Sound Card sound of doors opening.

 

[NeverYouMind]

Better than Doom.

 

[{insert code here}]

Building a ray caster from scratch is a nice, fun project to work on. Seen someone do it with Javascript in a browser.

 

[hybrid_birth]

I remember playing this game on PC as a kid.

It came on a shareware floppy disk.

Goodtimes.

 

[Pimpbaa]

I played this after playing Ultima Underworld. I was kinda disappointed in the lack of textures on the floors and ceilings, but the framerate, much larger view, plus the gameplay made me look past that eventually. Also they used this rendering technique on an earlier game Catacombs 3D (except it had EGA graphics). But that game kinda sucked. Played through it regularly until Doom came out then Wolfenstein 3D felt kinda basic. Man I miss those massive jumps in graphics and game quality (In such short amounts of time).

 

[RickSanchez]

cue incoming trauma about getting old and being past your prime......... :-(

 

[Dirk Benedict]

from ray casting to ray tracing. We've come a long way

I remember when they would talk about Ray Tracing. They talked about it like it was decades away, when in reality it was more like 1.5 Decades or so.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

I remember when they would talk about Ray Tracing. They talked about it like it was decades away, when in reality it was more like 1.5 Decades or so.

We can thank Nvidia's work for that, they pushed very hard to bring Ray Tracing to the mainstream when everyone else thought it was still pie in the sky with current tech

Despite a very loud and tiny minority of AMD fanboys that screams into the void on the Internet about how RT isn't really any good and no one should want it, the reality is that Nvidia's market share in gaming is becoming total domination and AMD is fading into irrelevance because gamers as a whole aren't stupid and like cool features as reflected in the Steam Hardware Survey and also Nvidia and AMD quarterly financial results in gaming sales

 

[TintoConCasera]

Loved watching my bro play this on the home computer.

Never cared about it too much myself, the level design is way too maze-y for my tastes.

Better than Doom.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

This was my jam!

The little-known Mac version of Wolfenstein 3D had a completely remade soundtrack which was quietly a fucking banger



The 3DO version used this soundtrack with even better instruments

 

[64bitmodels]

We can thank Nvidia's work for that, they pushed very hard to bring Ray Tracing to the mainstream when everyone else thought it was still pie in the sky with current tech

Hell yeah. I'm glad Nvidia had the balls go push us forward and give us this cool future earlier than we expected.

Despite a very loud and tiny minority of AMD fanboys that screams into the void on the Internet about how RT isn't really any good and no one should want it, the reality is that Nvidia's market share in gaming is becoming total domination and AMD is fading into irrelevance because gamers as a whole aren't stupid and like cool features as reflected in the Steam Hardware Survey and also Nvidia and AMD quarterly financial results in gaming sales

Shit was not necessary

 

[64bitmodels]

I don't think we'll ever properly appreciate how far things have evolved in three decades.

I am incredibly appreciative and grateful for video games as a whole and how our computrr systems are capable of doing the stuff they are

We have incredibly lifelike human simulations running inside our little plastic boxes and it's just considered normal now. Unthinkable technology back in the 2000s is now on sale in store shelves

 

[BossLackey]

I remember playing this game on PC as a kid.

It came on a shareware floppy disk.

Goodtimes.

Same. One of my first games. I think of it often.

 

[Bartski]

first game I ever played on my classmate's beast PC 386SX

 

[SJRB]

Some of my earliest computer memories are of Wolfenstein 3D. I remember we got a 386-DX66 but I was just a little kid and had no idea how to boot up the game. I had never seen or used DOS before and had no idea what to do after booting the pc.

My dad had written instructions but had the note on him when he went to work so I had to wait until he got back. Can you imagine that? There were no mobile phones or whatever, no emails. Couldn't look things up online, or watch a tutorial. Just had to wait all day for him to get back.

The note literally said:

"cd wolf3d
wolf3d.exe"

 

[El Muerto]

I remember going to my uncle's house when i was a kid and i would always jump on his computer to play games. He had a mod called "Barneystein" installed where he shoots hearts at you.

 

[amigastar]

I remember playing it back then. Me and my friend would play it together, he was moving while i was shooting.

 

[NeverYouMind]

Hell yeah. I'm glad Nvidia had the balls go push us forward and give us this cool future earlier than we expected.

Before Ray Tracing:

After Ray Tracing:

 

[TintoConCasera]

Before Ray Tracing:

After Ray Tracing:

Technology going forward while the talent seems to be going backwards.

 

[Seraphym]

Same. One of my first games. I think of it often.

One of the few games that ran on my Mum's 286 processor PC, only ever played the shareware version but was great.
Doom was worlds apart when it dropped and needed a 386... I'm old.

 

[GymWolf]

Op is full of shit.

First game to cast ray was the ghostbuster vg released in 1984.

 

[NeverYouMind]

Op is full of shit.

First game to cast ray was the ghostbuster vg released in 1984.

 

[GymWolf]

 

[A.Romero]

Op is full of shit.

First game to cast ray was the ghostbuster vg released in 1984.

OP did say "first popular game". I guess there is a reason everyone knows about Wolfenstein and not about Ghostbuster

 

[Saber]

Played when I was very little, but never really got interested. Doom is the one who I played alot. It uses bsp though, I would learn about this decades later.

 

[GymWolf]

OP did say "first popular game". I guess there is a reason everyone knows about Wolfenstein and not about Ghostbuster

Why are you answering seriously to a joke?

 

[hybrid_birth]

Same. One of my first games. I think of it often.

I also have fond memories of lemmings, blockman, commander keen, Duke nukem 2D, and hocus pocus. Basically a bunch of Apogee games.

Speaking of which, I feel like searching the web and replaying some of those.

My friend couldn't believe I got a game called chex quest in a chex cereal box for free. Which was a doom/ wolfenstein clone. It was fun.

 

[bender]

cue incoming trauma about getting old and being past your prime......... :-(

 

[BossLackey]

I also have fond memories of lemmings, blockman, commander keen, Duke nukem 2D, and hocus pocus. Basically a bunch of Apogee games.

Speaking of which, I feel like searching the web and replaying some of those.

My friend couldn't believe I got a game called chex quest in a chex cereal box for free. Which was a doom/ wolfenstein clone. It was fun.

Bruh. Commander Keen and Duke Nukem were my life for a little bit.

Until like 6 years ago, I thought nobody had heard of Commander Keen. Great memories.

 

[SJRB]

I highly recommend picking up this book. It covers the start of id software and tells in great detail the incredible stories of John Romero and John Carmack especially, but also all the other amazing people who shaped videogame history.

It is an awesome read with a TON of recognizable moments for people familiar with Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM and an awesome insight in some of videogame's most amazing moments.

Romero is an awesome guy, buy my biggest takeaway from this was that John Carmack is a god. Absolute S-tier phenomenon.

 

[A.Romero]

Why are you answering seriously to a joke?

Didn't know it was a joke, obviously

 

[hybrid_birth]

I highly recommend picking up this book. It covers the start of id software and tells in great detail the incredible stories of John Romero and John Carmack especially, but also all the other amazing people who shaped videogame history.

It is an awesome read with a TON of recognizable moments for people familiar with Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM and an awesome insight in some of videogame's most amazing moments.

Romero is an awesome guy, buy my biggest takeaway from this was that John Carmack is a god. Absolute S-tier phenomenon.

Will have to read. Thanks for the recommendation! I enjoy watching youtube videos on game history, so im sure i will love to read this.