Development of First Person Shooter (FPS) Games

First-person shooter (FPS) is a video game that shows the game play around gun and projectile weapon-based combat in the perspective of main person. The player experiences the action via the protagonist eye view. In general, the first-person shooter shares common characters along with some other shooter games. From the genre’s inception, advanced 3D graphics elements have challenged the hardware development, also the multiplayer gaming has been integral.

First-person shooters are a type of 3D shooter game, featuring a first person point of view with which the player sees the action through the eyes of the player character. Usually, a player goes through a series of levels. The best examples are Halo series, the Left 4 Dead and Half-Life series, and Golden Eye: 007.

General:

There are many different types of PC games in the market today. From the flight simulators to a real-time strategy, all the varieties have created niche markets amongst several computer gamers. First-Person Shooter is one of the swiftly growing game-types. Over-the-shoulder shooter games other game names which are based upon relatively premises comes under First-Person Shooter as a subcategory. We can see through the eyes of main character. The goal will be very simple for such games. However, reducing the genre to simplistic elements fails to appreciate the reasons that these games are so popular. First-person shooters implements latest technology and lead the industry. Later it provided support for multi-player gaming, also generated praise and condemnation.

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As we all know that the action games are fun-packed and thrilling thus become very popular. In this game, we need to use weapons, reflexes and special moves in order to beat the opponents and move ahead in the game. There are many types of shooter games.

Content Analysis:

In recent years, violent video games have become very popular. Every player creates their individual game content depending on the user s decisions and actions in a game. Individual game content concepts are essential for the evaluation of potential effects of media usage on cognitions, affects, and behavior. This study analyses the individually generated content with high temporal resolution. Continuous heart rate, skin conductance are associated with game content, which distinguishes the different game playing phases and transitions. In both intra-player and inter-player levels, Playing phases and transitions between playing phases are analyzed.

History:

The First-Person Shooters were evolved since 1970 s. Maze War and Spasim were started in 1973. However, the completion date is unknown. Later in 1974, University of Illinois was developed which was a rudimentary space flight simulator, and also first-person perspective. Detailed combat flight simulators and tank simulator development were influenced from Spasim. In 1980, Battlezone was released which is a tank game. First-person viewpoint and 3D graphics were successfully launched in 1983 for home computers

In 1987, MIDI Maze was released which was an early first-person shooter. Through the MIDI interface it used to network multiplayer games before Ethernet and Internet was introduced. In 1991, Id Software’s Hovertank 3D developed ray casting knowledge to enable faster gameplay for vehicle simulators. Later advanced texture mapping was introduced though Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. In 1992, role-playing game by Looking Glass Technologies introduced first person viewpoint and an advanced graphics engine.

Due to violence associated with the First person shooters, they sometimes attract the negative attention of parents and censorship. They are liked by some and hated by others. However, now the First person shooters have evolved to be more than just mindless violence.

The first FPS is Wolfenstein which was released in 1992 by id software. He Introduced super graphics, high quality sound, and unique playing styles and remained popular.

In 1993, Doom was released by id software which was a big turning point in the First person shooters history. It was more powerful and advanced than Wildenstein, as it has a much larger weapons variety. One of its main selling points was its ability to stage multiplayer games. Due to Doom s success, id software has literally become the king of FPS game developers.

In 1995, Star Wars were made into a FPS- Dark Forces by LucasArts. It is inspired by the movie, Star Wars. Later in 1996, RPG/FPS named Dagger fall was released by Bethesda Soft works. During this period, even the other genres are merged with FPS. One could fight enemies with swords, ride horses, join guilds, buy houses, burglarize shops, and even become a devil.

In 1996, ID Software released Quake which was the first FPS to move from 2-dimensional pop-up enemies to fully 3-dimensional models. The gamers require 3D accelerator cards for high performance to play this game. In 1997, its sequel was released as Quake 2, which won much acclaim from both the gamers and critics.

Golden Eye 007 which was one of the most popular console FPSs of all time was released in 1997 influenced from the movie of the same name. In 1998, the game Half-Life was released by Valve. It changed the gaming world by making its place as the greatest in the FP shooter.

Amazing graphics, highly artificial environment, and a playing style influenced by movie. Thief: The Dark Project was released in the same year which emphasizes on stealth element.

In 2000, Monolith Productions released “No One Lives Forever”. In 2001, Halo for Xbox was released by Bungie Studios. The story is futuristic and involves Master Chief fighting an alien cult and zombies in marine.

In 2004, an incredibly cinematic Doom 3 was launched with the story based on mars. Later in 2004, Half-Life 2 was released which was considered as the greatest first person shooter ever. It features includes highly advanced graphics, amazing physics engine, and a super artificial intelligence.

The complete history of First person shooters in brief above shows how the First person shooters have continued to push the sheath of graphics, sound, and game play. In the past decade, FPS achieved new heights. Making the gaming experience much more cinematic and realistic, First person shooters immerse the player into a completely new fascinating world.

Difference between First Person Shooters and Third Person Shooters

Due to crossover of features and other recent overlaps, differences between First person shooters and third person shooters continues to exist some confusion. One of the most basic differences is the character s perspective. In a FP shooters game, the player is the main character; and his viewpoint is through his own eyes. He will not be able to see himself, however, can view the surroundings.

In FP shooters, you almost blow up everything you see. Hands and weapons can be seen at the bottom of the screen as the action is taking place through the eyes of the character. However, in third person shooter game, the main character can see himself on the screen. In Third-person shooters game, the surrounding environment was more clearly visible to the players. It helps the player to be more interactive with the surrounding environment. The main difference, between FP Shooters and Third Person Shooters, is the player perception in interacting with objects is more optimal.

As the Third Person Shooter can see himself in the middle of the action, he can usually do some really kick-butt maneuvers like Jackie Chan style back flips and side rolls. That is the reason, the game designer is allowed to create more strongly characterized avatar, and directs the player’s attention as if watching a film.

The boundaries between FP Shooters and Third-Person Shooters are not always clear. While the main character is driving a vehicle, many FPS games switch to a third-person viewpoint. In many other games like- Metroid Prime and Combat, the combination of first-person for aiming and third-person for driving has been used.

Technology

Advanced technology and Internet has led to the development of a number of multiplayer First person shooters. Multiplayer FP Shooter games online allows you to interact with players from all around the world and enjoy the FPS games online with them. You can even make teams online so as to kill the enemies easily. One of the most popular FP Shooter games online is Counter Strike is. In Counter Strike, you can interact with team partners so as to form the strategy on the selection of the weapons, decide the location and then fight enemies.

Some FPS games focus on the storyline too, beside the action. Experiencing a different kind of world, you need to find clues and kill enemies silently so as to move ahead in the game. Half-Life is one such game.

As a group, first-person shooters tend to be driving forces in accelerating the development of computer software and hardware. Other types of games are now trying to keep up, but FPSs have a clear lead in the technology race. The rise of the 3D graphics accelerator cannot be accredited to business applications; it is rooted firmly in computer games. It could be argued that 3Dfx, the company that created the Voodoo chipset used by several graphics cards, owes much of its success to GL Quake.

A short list few FPS games:

Zero Tolerance (Raycaster)

Wolfenstein 3-D (Raycaster)

Duke Nukem (Raycaster)

Shadow Warrior (Raycaster)

Doom (Raycaster)

Rise of The Triad (Raycaster)

Quake (3D)

Quake 2 (3D)

Quake III: Arena (3D)

Hexen (Raycaster)

Counter Strike 1.6 (3D)

Counter Strike Source (3D)

Shogo: Mobile Armor Division (3D)

No One Lives Forever (3D)

Half-Life (3D)

Half-Life 2 (3D)

Unreal (3D)

Unreal Tournament (3D)

Unreal Tournament 2004 (3D).

Some popular first person shooter games description

Maze war developer Steve colley, Platform; mlac PDS-1, Mac, NeXT Computer, PalmOS, Xerox Star. Release date on -INT 1974. Genre- First person shooter.

Model-Single player, multiplayer Maze War (also known as The Maze Game, Maze Wars, Maze war, or simply Maze) is a historically significant video game.

Maze War originated or disseminated a number of concepts used in thousands of games to follow, and is considered one of the earliest, if not the earliest, examples of a first person shooter.

By later standards, gameplay has become simple. Characters in the game roam in a maze, and also capable of moving right or left, backward or forwards and entering through the doors. Other characters are represented as eyeballs.

They are able to shoot each other, when a character sees another character. By shooting other players, the main player will get the points for, and if he is shot he will be lost in the game. Occasionally, a duck also appears in the passage in some versions. At that time, this is a great standard for network games.

Maze war game.

Wolfenstein 3D

Wolfenstein 3D: Rise in popularity: 1992 1995

Generally, video game named Wolfenstein 3D is regarded as popular first-person shooter genre on the PC. Also, created the basic archetype which is subsequent games of same genre. It was published by Apogee Software and created by id Software. It was inspired by the 1980s Muse Software computer games Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein and released on May 5, 1992.

The protagonist who is an American soldier, William “B.J.” in Wolfenstein 3D. While escaping from the Nazi stronghold of Castle Wolfenstein, Blazkowicz comes across many armed guards and attack dogs. The building consists of many hidden rooms with various food supplies, treasures, and medical kits, also three different guns and ammunition.

GAME CHARACTER OF Blazkowicz in Wolfenstein 3D

Details of the character

Height: 6 ft, 4Weight: 210 lbs, Pros: Killed Hitler, Deployed at least 14 times Super Muscular When he’s not busy killing Nazis he goes kill more Nazis, His grandson is Commander Keen, Can heal himself by eating a Hot Meal

GAME PLAY of Wolfenstein 3D

Each episode has ten missions (levels) which are supposed to be completed level wise. Entrance to the tenth which is a secret one can be found in the eighth level. However, we are supposed to complete only nine levels. The third episode which is a secret level can be identified in which one of the original Pac-Man levels, complete with ghosts, seen by the player from Pac-Man’s perspective was recreated. ExMx map/level naming convention was first used in Wolfenstein 3D.

In order to complete the episode, all the bosses need to be killed in each level. Boss enemies are drawn from one angle instead of eight unlike normal enemies. So the player cannot take them by surprise or sneak up on them. Also, they always face the player, in the first encounter. Until they see the player, bosses will not become active. A death cam (which is a replay of death) will be shown after the death of every boss.

The early concept of the game included some innovative stealth concepts dragging dead bodies, swapping uniforms with fallen guards, silent attacks, etc., like in the earlier Wolfenstein games, which focused more on stealth than action. These ideas were dropped however, since they drastically slowed the game down and made the controls complicated.

In game screen shot of wolfenstein 3d

In game screen shot of wolfenstein 3d

Halo:

History of halo:

Nothing says that you are a saint like having a bright halo over your head. The bright circle located at apex of the savior and the noodle of Catholic saints. Most of them lived nothing like is one of the most iconic symbols in Christendom. That is the reason; it could come as an astounding thing to learn many other icons related to Christendom. Halo was actually stolen from pagans and other religions. In ancient drawings in deities from Indian, Greek and Roman culture, a nebulous nimbus of luminosity was discovered on cave paintings.

In ancient times, kings used to like to be portrayed with celestial crowns. The sole purpose is to establish special relationship with their particular gods who lives somewhere up in the sky.

Halo is a video game franchise related to science fiction published by Microsoft Game Studios and created by Bungie. Main trilogy of the game centers experiences the Master Chief, an enhanced human super-soldier, and AI companion.

The trilogy of video games was praised as being among the best first-person shooters on video game console. It is also considered as the Microsoft Xbox’s “killer app”. It leads to the term “Halo killer”.

As a developer Ensemble Studios’ last project, Halo games was launched into other video game genres, including Halo Wars which is a real-time strategy game. For the expansion of Halo 3: ODST and a prequel Halo: Reach, even the Bungie also contributed.

Concept arts of Halo game.

Screen shots of game halo

HALFLIFE2

Half-Life 2 is a science fiction FP shooter game and sequel to the highly acclaimed Half-Life. It was developed by Valve Corporation and was released on Nov 16th 2004. The game uses the Source game engine, which includes a heavily modified version of the Havok physics engine. It is also known as the first video game to require online product activation. Later it was ported to Xbox and Mac OS X. It is a part of Orange Box compilation for PS 3 video game consoles and Xbox 360.

Half-Life 2 takes place in a dystopian world in which the events of Half-Life have fully come to bear on human society, which has been enslaved by a multidimensional empire known as the Combine.

Gameplay of Half life 2;

Half-Life 2 is a FP shooter, following relative mechanics from its predecessor, Half-Life. At the bottom of the screen we can see the player’s health, energy, and ammunition status. Also, we can view the available weapons while toggling between screens. By picking up medical supplies and energy cells, the player can replenish his health and energy. Throughout the game we can see the puzzles and sequences involving vehicles.

The player defeats his enemies with varied assortment of hand weapons. The modern-day projectile weapons like shotgun, pistol, submachine gun etc, are used. Also, more elaborate, fictional weapons like crossbow (shoots hot metal rods), a pulse rifle (disintegrate enemies on contact) are available.

Some screen shots and game views of Half life 2

Conclusion:

First person shooters are new phase in gaming world. With their advanced technology and sophisticated environment, FP Shooters gives a player thrilling experience. In every aspect it offers a great excitement with fast pace while playing. They give you the complete freedom to configure everything just the way you want it.