[jaap]

I'm just being curious how the timeline of 3D 'pure' adventures was, with respect to the 3D engine.
I compiled a small list (which is not complete) of the pure adventure games that used a true 3D engine. (I browsed the internet for some descriptions of the engines)
Does anyone have any improvements / additions to this list?


Thanks in advance,

Jaap


1996-Normality
(One of) the first adventure with a FPS point of view. The engine reminds of Heretic, as it there was possible to look up and down and do things that you were not able to do in the doom games.

1998-Grim Fandango
Grim Fandango is a first for LucasArts: an adventure which does not use the SCUMM engine. Instead, it uses a new 3D engine, GRIME, in which some objects are pre-rendered and some generated on the fly. It's the first to use the more cinematic 3D style made popular with Infogrames' Alone in the Dark games, and also utilized in Origin Systems' underrated Bioforge. It uses a keyboard-driven interface instead of the traditional point-and-click, and Manny signals significant objects by turning his head and looking as he passes by.

1999-Gabriel Knight 3
Gabriel Knight 3 marks the debut of the G-Engine, a propriety 3D engine developed specifically for this game. Not only this engine does true 3D real-time rendering in 16 bit High Color SVGA, it allows for dynamic lighting, variable quality texture mapping (Low, Medium, High), Mip mapping, animation interpolation, and tri-linear filtering. Incremental rendering speeds up screen refresh by allowing the engine to cache the scene background when the camera is not moving and only render what changes on screen. The engine supports DirectX in three different resolutions: 640x480, 800x600, and 1024x768.

2000-Monkey island 4
Unlike The Curse of Monkey Island, Escape from Monkey Island uses an enhanced version of the GRIME engine from Grim Fandango. This engine change means that the characters are now fully animated in 3D in real-time against pre-rendered 2D backdrops. The polygon count is higher than that seen in Grim Fandango. Still, the highest resolution is only 640x480, so unless anti-aliasing is enabled the characters appear quite jagged.

2002-Simon the Sorcerer 3D
This game is one of the many titles powered by the NDL NetImmerse 3D engine, which comes as a great shock considering its good reputation. Other titles that utilize the very same engine: Star Trek: Bridge Commander, Morrowind, Freedom Force, Munch's Odysee (Xbox). Without exaggeration Simon's 3D reincarnation is nothing more than a substandard in a multitude of countless competing titles that have made a triumphant leap into the 3D world. Next to the scanty textures and low details in the background, Simon the Sorcerer 3D features pathetic in-game character models - in all honesty, it's just triangles and squares instead of hands and legs and that destroys the feeling right from the start.

2004-The Westerner
The graphics are pure 3D and very eye pleasing. Fenimore gives off a "Toy Story" vibe as well as the other characters. The environments are full of color and the characters themselves look great. The engine provides facial expressions identical to the best 3D cartoons today.

2005-Fahrenheit
In terms of technology, the game uses a fully 3D engine to represent the environment, with characters fleshed out in NERBs. Anyway, Quantic Dream is at it again, with a whole slew of interactive objects in the environments. Basically, if you see it in 3D, you can usually interact with it.

[RLacey]

If you don't mind me asking, how are you defining a "true 3D engine"? Grim Fandango and Escape from Monkey Island were, after all, only 3D models on 2D backgrounds...

[Tramboi]

I think the real milestone was set by Ultima Underworld
Not an adventure game per se, of course.

[Tramboi]

Originally Posted by Tramboi

I think the real milestone was set by Ultima Underworld
Not an adventure game per se, of course.

And of course, Under a killing moon, for the "pure" adventure genre.

[jaap]

I agree that GF and EfMI don't look like FPS, but I think that the engine which deals with character rendering and movement in GrimE is a true 3D engine; characters are collections of 3D-rendered polygons and movement is controlled in full 3D by the keyboard.


Jaap

[squarejawhero]

You're missing Alone In The Dark and RealMyst too... I'm sure there's tons more.

[jaap]

Originally Posted by Tramboi

And of course, Under a killing moon, for the "pure" adventure genre.

I definitively forgot Tex Murphy!

(from: www.adventurecollective.com)

1994-Under a killing moon
This 3D experience is made possible by the use of the Virtual Reality Engine developed in-house. It offers true six degree of freedom in a first person perspective when moving about in a pseudo-3D environment where one can interact with various objects that lie within this artificial world. The quality of the graphics is limited by the amount of system memory, with various window sizes offering different degrees of resolution.

1998-Overseer
Using an updated Virtual World engine first debuted in Under a Killing Moon, the 3D environment is now presented in full screen in high color (65,536 color). Movement through this virtual world is enhanced by the use of a VR (Virtual Reality) Movement Overlay. The VR Movement Overlay is a small transparent panel containing a complement of movement controls that provides full six degrees of freedom. Objects can be manipulated within this environment in one of seven ways: looking, getting (acquiring), moving, opening, closing, turning on and off. There are two display modes: 800x600 and 640x480, while the native size for the video playback is 720x480. Options are available to adjust texture quality, bilinear and trilinear filtering, and mip mapping

[insane_cobra]

You forgot realMYST, Alone In The Dark and Ecstatica games. Outdoor areas of LBA2 were in true 3D, GF and EMI weren't. Also, Normality is no more true 3D than Doom is.

[jaap]

Another question that popped into my mind:

I know that commercial Adventure Games with high-tech graphics like Half-Life 2 is probably not realistic. But are there no mods or other alterations of these shooters that are pure Adventures?

Jaap

[insane_cobra]

Originally Posted by jaap

I agree that GF and EfMI don't look like FPS, but I think that the engine which deals with character rendering and movement in GrimE is a true 3D engine; characters are collections of 3D-rendered polygons and movement is controlled in full 3D by the keyboard.


Jaap

In that case, most recent adventures could pass for 3D, they only lack direct control and that's not really a defining factor.

Btw, Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon and Façade.

Some would say Silent Hill games are adventures, I'd stick to survival horror label as it defines them better.

[squarejawhero]

Originally Posted by jaap

Another question that popped into my mind:

I know that commercial Adventure Games with high-tech graphics like Half-Life 2 is probably not realistic. But are there no mods or other alterations of these shooters that are pure Adventures?

Jaap

There's a Doom 3 Space Quest mod in the works and a HL2 Source Myst Age too. You'd have to search to find them though.

[Brian]

Originally Posted by jaap

I'm just being curious how the timeline of 3D 'pure' adventures was, with respect to the 3D engine.
I compiled a small list (which is not complete) of the pure adventure games that used a true 3D engine. (I browsed the internet for some descriptions of the engines)
Does anyone have any improvements / additions to this list?

In 1998 RedJack: The Revenge of the Brethren was also released. I'm not sure if it be classified as a 'pure' adventure though since it did have some action elements. According to the avault review:

"Redjack uses an advanced version of Cyberflix' excellent DreamFactory game engine, which facilitates numerous gameplay advances. The game has full 360 degree spherical panning, making it possible to look in any direction and zoom in as needed. While Titanic uses live actors extensively, Redjack utilizes about two dozen completely 3D-rendered animated characters in the game. Each has quite distinctive and entertaining personality characteristics, and unique gestures and facial expressions."

[Fairygdmther]

Mysterious Journey II Chameleon - 2003 was the first commercial fully 3D game I played, but soon after came URU, also 2003. MJ II had direct control using mouse or keyboard, URU used keyboard and mouse.

Lynsie

[Kolorabi]

Wouldn't the old Freescape games count here? Stuff like Castle Master (Amiga version here: http://www.lemonamiga.com/?game_id=1258), the Total Eclipse-games (C64: http://www.crashonline.org.uk/60/eclipse.htm), maybe Driller..?

[samIamsad]

Originally Posted by Kolorabi

Wouldn't the old Freescape games count here? Stuff like Castle Master

That's exactly what I was about to post. Scary...

[BerserkerTails]

You forgot Tex's second FMV adventure, The Pandora Directive. In my opinion, it's one of the best adventure games ever made.