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[Orayn]

I'm currently having a discussion with a friend about which game was the first to fill an entire screen with a first person camera view, rather than limiting it to a window. The example he used was Ultima Underworld vs. Thief.

Thief still has a HUD, of course, but it's integrated into camera's view instead of surrounding it.

Obviously this can be broken into several different categories: Really old wireframe 3D stuff, the various types of 2.5D and pseudo-3D, and full 3D with texture mapping.

The earliest we could come up with in the polygonal 3D category was the original King's Field, which was first released in December 1994.

Any thoughts, GAF?

 

[Krejlooc]

Phantasy Star's dungeons are first person and full screen, but probably not what you're talking about.

 

[Orayn]

Phantasy Star's dungeons are first person and full screen, but probably not what you're talking about.

I was about to comment about how Phantasy Star wasn't even that far along among dungeon crawlers, but you might be onto something. It's certainly not as advanced as something like Dungeon Master, but it does have UI elements that sit on top of the first person view rather than going around it.

vs.

 

[Messofanego]

I'm not that old to know this

 

[Orayn]

I'm not that old to know this

I never played these games when they were new, I just fancy myself a historian.

 

[fenners]

3D Monster Maze on the ZX81?

 

[KePoW]

I thought the first FPS was Wolfenstein??

 

[blast processed]

Catacomb 1989? Made by John Carmack.

 

[ChipotIe]

How about Wizardry 1 circa 1981

 

[Aaron D.]

I've got the fondest memories for AD&D Treasure of Tarmin for Intellivision.

It's the earliest first-person dungeon crawler I remember playing.

 

[Krejlooc]

I was about to comment about how Phantasy Star wasn't even that far along among dungeon crawlers, but you might be onto something. It's certainly not as advanced as something like Dungeon Master, but it does have UI elements that sit on top of the first person view rather than going around it.

vs.

Thats only in battle. When wandering around, it's full screen, no UI at all:

Its also free roaming.

EDIT: Although wizardry definitely predates it, and Yuji Naka and crew freely admit they were inspired by Wizardry. Couldn't remember if Wizardry had a hud or not, guess not.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

I forget - is original Myst full frame? Not quite the same kind of game, but still.

 

[Lord_Balkan]

Well, in terms of Wireframe, you have Akalabeth (1979), brought to you by Lord British himself.

There are various interviews of him talking about using trig to draw the 3d corridors.

 

[Orayn]

I've got the fondest memories for AD&D Treasure of Tarmin for Intellivision.

It's the earliest first-person dungeon crawler I remember playing.

Also a very interesting example. It's "boxed" in, but you could kinda-sorta consider it a diegetic HUD if that's supposed to be the inside of a helmet.

 

[SerTapTap]

I forget - is original Myst full frame? Not quite the same kind of game, but still.

yes it's full frame, with a hidden menu bar

 

[Krejlooc]

Well, in terms of Wireframe, you have Akalabeth (1979), brought to you by Lord British himself.

There are various interviews of him talking about using trig to draw the 3d corridors.

Thats amazing. I love Lord British, he went to my highschool (and university, where he occasionally teaches).

 

[Orayn]

Well, in terms of Wireframe, you have Akalabeth (1979), brought to you by Lord British himself.

There are various interviews of him talking about using trig to draw the 3d corridors.

I'm watching a video now and it looks like the text elements are drawn in a section on the bottom of the screen that's never occupied by anything else, but having just a bar rather than a whole border would put it in the same category as Quake and Doom.

Dungeon of Daggorath did roughly the same thing.

Notable for going "HUDless" in the sense that you had no numerical health indicator, just an audio/visual "heartbeat" that indicated how close to death you were.

 

[Messofanego]

3D Monster Maze on the ZX81?

 

[Krejlooc]

You need to go to a doctor. That's not what penises look like.

 

[Messofanego]

You need to go to a doctor. That's not what penises look like.

Frogman penis is indeed a bit crooked.

 

[DeadTrees]

Star Wars (1983) partially counts. It had a dedicated info area at the top, but quite a few "real world" elements (turrets, trench walls) will overlay it.

 

[Krejlooc]

Frogman penis is indeed a bit crooked.

Plus it has a barb and 4 holes.

 

[Orayn]

Star Wars (1983) partially counts. It had a dedicated info area at the top, but quite a few "real world" elements (turrets, trench walls) will overlay it.

This is super impressive! The video makes it look very fast, detailed, and colorful for a vector game.

 

[Raistlin]

The earliest we could come up with in the polygonal 3D category was the original King's Field, which was first released in December 1994.

Any thoughts, GAF?

Did Jumping Flash predate it?

I know I got them around the same time.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Did Jumping Flash predate it?

I know I got them around the same time.

Geograph Seal immediately predates Jumping Flash, lol.

 

[Necroth]

Well, one of the first polygonal 3D first person games that was not in a window for normal play was Star Cruiser for the Sharp X68000 computer. I'm not sure if this is the earliest, but its April 1989 release date makes it one of the first.

 

[Hawkian]

Did Jumping Flash predate it?

I know I got them around the same time.

nah 95

also holy fuck jumping flash 2 is a good game.

 

[eyeball_kid]

Battlezone (1980)

The UI elements at top were simply rasterized over the game area, which was normally free of game objects except when tanks exploded.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

You need to go to a doctor. That's not what penises look like.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Well, one of the first polygonal 3D first person games that was not in a window for normal play was Star Cruiser for the Sharp X68000 computer. I'm not sure if this is the earliest, but its April 1989 release date makes it one of the first.

Didn't expect to be one-upped on this thread, but yes, Star Cruiser's one of the first. For that matter, it successfully combined spaceflight with dungeon crawling and early FPS-like gaming.

 

[Phediuk]

On PC, it's Wolfenstein 3D probably (except for the HUD at the bottom.)

 

[Pimpbaa]

On PC, it's Wolfenstein 3D probably (except for the HUD at the bottom.)

The large hud makes it not full screen. It's not even the first windowed game with a first person view on pc, and hell not even id software's first (Catacomb 3D was already mentioned in the thread, and there is also Hovertank 3D before that).

 

[LUFTRAUSER]

Frogman penis is indeed a bit crooked.