Wolfenstein 3D

Publisher: Apogee Software, FormGen · Studio: id Software · Creator: John Romero, Tom Hall, John Carmack

Anecdote

Published in May 1992 by id Software and distributed through the shareware model of Apogee Software, Wolfenstein 3D established itself as the first truly mainstream first-person shooter and founded the genre as we know it today. Designed in six months by a tiny team built around John Carmack, John Romero, Tom Hall, and Adrian Carmack, the title revisits the universe of Castle Wolfenstein, the 2D stealth game by Silas Warner released in 1981, and transposes it into pseudo-3D through a revolutionary raycasting technology. The player controls American Captain B.J. Blazkowicz, a prisoner of a fictional Bavarian castle, who must escape by gunning down SS guards, guard dogs, and ultimately an Adolf Hitler in a mechanical suit. The campaign is divided into six episodes of nine levels each, every one culminating in a memorable boss such as Hans Grosse or Doctor Schabbs. John Carmack's programming delivered unprecedented fluidity on the modest personal computers of the era, paving the way for Doom eighteen months later. Bobby Prince's sound design, with its cries of "Mein Leben!" and its catchy tunes, remains iconic. Sold in over two hundred thousand copies in its full version and distributed far more widely as a free demo, the title catalyzed a new economy of direct-download gaming. Its influence is colossal: without Wolfenstein 3D, neither Doom, nor Quake, nor the entire contemporary FPS genre would exist in the form we know. The game entered the Strong National Museum of Play and was honored in 1992 with the Best Arcade-Style Game award at the Software Publishers Association Excellence in Software Awards. It remains a cornerstone of the medium's history.