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Grid-based first-person shooters

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Grid-based first-person shooters, also known as action dungeon crawlers, mimic the action of free-flowing first-person shooters using grid-based tile-by-tile movement. These techniques were popularized by first-person role-playing games such as Akalabeth: World of Doom and the Wizardry, Might and Magic, Gold Box, The Bard's Tale, and Megami Tensei franchises, as well as first-person maze games such as Escape!, Escape from the Mindmaster, Corridors of Genon, Theseus and the Minotaur, Zig Zag, and Scarabaeus.

This is done either to deal with limited hardware or simply due to the limitations of novice developers. Many early first-person shooters, such as those on the Wolfenstein 3D, Power 3D, Merit, Meen, and Raven engines, used a grid-based level layout with tiles typically placed at 90 degree angles, but offered players full rotation on the horizontal axis. Some more advanced examples, such as Rise of the Triad, In Pursuit of Greed, Terminal Terror, and Transland, added a height component and sometimes diagonal walls while still relying on a 2D grid for layout. The more advanced Doom, Build, Marathon, Gloom, and Jedi engines adopted vector-based sectors.

The line between this and a first-person action role-playing game can also be blurred, especially those played in real-time such as Dungeons of Daggorath, Dungeon Master, Eye of the Beholder, and Anvil of Dawn. Role-playing games also soon adopted freeflowing engines starting with titles such as Legends of Valour, Ultima Underworld, Betrayal at Krondor (albiet still in steps), Menzoberranzan, DeathKeep, The Elder Scrolls, Descent to Undermountain, and the later Lands of Lore games. This was even considered for Dungeon Master II: The Legend of Skullkeep, but was ultimately rejected in order to keep focus on the game's puzzle based gameplay.

Indie games such Legend of Grimrock, Vaporum, StarCrawlers, and Inferno - Beyond the 7th Circle, recreate the grid-based style of movement in modern 3D engines.

Mazewar[]

Adapted from the earlier minicomputer game Maze from 1973, this was the first-ever networked deathmatch game for a home computer. Later adapted for the X Window System (1986), Apple Macintosh (1987), NextSTEP (1994), and PalmOS (1998). A freeflowing translation of the concept called MIDI Maze was released in 1987 for the Atari ST by Xanth Software F/X.

1980s[]

3D Monster Maze[]

Although not actually a shooter, this title was nonetheless highly influential, often considered the first survival horror game.

Phantom Slayer[]

Dimensional Fighter Epsilon3[]

Xybots[]

Third-person grid-based shooter game.

Slaygon[]

Hostages[]

Only during the third terrorists stage.

Last Survivor[]

Pseudo-third person grid-based shooter game.

Day of the Viper[]

Programed by Slaygon developers John Conley and James Oxley.

1990s[]

Captive[]

Xenomorph[]

The player's ship has become infested with aliens and need to be cleared out, involving rooting about on the ship picking up items and fighting enemies.

Silent Debuggers[]

Alcatraz[]

Spiritual successor to Hostages.

Megatron VGA[]

Grid-based mecha battle game. Successor to Deadly Maze and Dungeon Quest.

The Terminator 2029[]

Sequel to The Terminator from 1990, and followed by Wolfenstein 3D clone The Terminator: Rampage in 1993.

Space Hulk[]

Followed by the freemoving Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels in 1995 through 1996.

Freaks![]

Something of an in-between, this game featured free movement but only along cardinal directions. A later free turning version was released in 2002 for Windows and Linux, making for a full Wolfenstein 3D or Catacomb 3D type game.

Hired Guns[]

Action role-playing game "blobber" with firearms.

Lunicus[]

Operation GII[]

Jump Raven[]

Death Mask[]

Also known as Deathmask 3D. A freeflowing version was later made by fan Czesław Mnich in the Gloom engine in 2014, compatible with ZGloom.

Kapture 3D[]

Two player hotseat deathmatch game. Tag-line was "A post-holocaust pastime". Successor to Maze Runner 3D. Developer later worked for Outrage Entertainment.

Angst[]

  • System: Amiga
  • Year: 1995
  • Developer: Jim Georgeadis, DEM Software

Bloodfest[]

Doom[]

Boom[]

DARC - Defensive Alien Remoting Command[]

Written in GFA BASIC, a first-person shooter with flat coloured walls similar to Substation, but as with Freaks! only features turns of 90 degrees. Was followed shortly after by DARC II, and finally tunnel shooter Outguard.

Duke Nukem 3D[]

Stripped down demake of Duke Nukem 3D for the monochrome handheld, the player's view is fixed while moving forward, backward, left and right.

ZXOOM[]

See also[]

External links[]

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