When you bought duke3d back then, you got the CD with all tools needed to start making your own maps. Also, the build editor had this live 3d preview of the map so you could see your map without any compiling. All this was pretty unique at that time.
it wasn't just a 3d preview though, it was essential as you wouldn't be able to texture manipulation, Z-positioning and floor/ceiling manipulation in the 2d view.
Ken Silverman really was an equal to John Carmack back then and despite the success of Duke3D, he doesn't get enough credit for what he did I feel. Everyone knows John Carmack, everyone knows Duke3D, but Ken Silverman is a name that not many would recognize without any context. The Build Engine has that very certain "crisp" feeling to it that is extremely unique and instantly recognizable even decades later in games like Ion Maiden. Coupled with the amount of detailed sprites and decals that can be placed in the world, games like Duke3D just feel so much more alive and detailed.
I think it's a matter of what one's comfortable with. UDB and Slade are definitely more accessible for modding. But Mapster32 is still just as good once you get past the navigation barrier ad well as memorising hockey's.
@@brokenportals Well, back in the day I didn't even know it was possible to make extra levels for Doom, but Duke3D came with all the tools included. I just printed out the accompanying text files + some stuff from the early internet and put 'em in a three-ring-binder and went to town. Even still have Duke3D installed on my old 486 laptop that I took to the seaside with me every year, I am sure. And the aforementioned three-ring-binder still sits on my bookshelf.
@Saavik256 I found an old map I was working on in Build 15 years ago burned to a data CD in my loft, oh, about three months ago. Once I figured out how to get it open in Build through Dosbox, I was happily adding new bits in using my rote memory of how things worked and what the tags were. 15 years later. That was the mark of a really easy to use level editor.
I really love the 2.5D aesthetic, its just really neat. I also love that this engine still lives on with Ion Fury, and so many projects for the older games, like Duke 3D and Blood. I think a lot of the charm is that "Doom Cute" where you have to truly hand craft everything in such obscure ways to make it look more and more like real life. The moment you understant how the sauce is made, even on a base level, it changes how you play and view these games, so there are moments where i will just be left with my Jaw on the floor when I have that moment where i understood what they did, its true craftsmanship, whee others might look at the same thing and not really get my amazement. The extreme example would be something like MyHouse.Wad, where even if you don't pick up the tricks meant to throw off people who know the tricks, you'll eventually start to notice the oddness while playing just because of how much it stretches that 2.5D Doom Engine to make something unique. For those who love Build, Shaky Grounds would be a GREAT introduction to Duke 3D (or reentry into it), since it really shows what the engine can do with modern hardware expanding scope of absolutely everything.
Most complex AI on games are made from scratch. In fact, there's not much point on critizicing the AI capabilities of any engine as it is totally dependant on the gamedev itself and not the engine.
The build 2 engine sounds fascinating. Maybe once I'm done making a game in Godot, and have gotten better with C#, I'll take a look at it. I've got 2 first person shooters I want to develop in the future.
As an aside, from a modding point of view, the original versions of Build had line limitations because earlier versions without said limitations (the infamous beta version 'Lameduke') would frequently break because what the engine was capable of outstripped what PCs could do at the time. So, the editor baked in a deliberate cap. Many current versions of the editor remove this cap because modern hardware can handle it.
One of the things that marks most Build games was a sense of not taking itself seriously. Duke3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior, Redneck Rampage and even Ion Fury are all really fun games that constantly also make fun of themselves. Part of me would love to have seen the engine used for a game going a darker route, even moreso than Blood, something serious. I don't think we ever got that with Build. I GUESS Tekwar or Witchaven maybe, but they were earlier versions of the engine and I don't know they really count...
You know, 2.5D was never going to last forever, and thats fine, but since it had to go out eventually, im glad it went out guns blazing with the holy trinity. Wolfenstein was a nice proof of concept Doom was groundbreaking And the Trio showed everyone that outdated technology, doesnt mean it cant be fun. This 'i know im on the way out, but i'll make sure they remember me' vibe is something i admire a lot
@@Islandswamp Yes, i have played Ion Maiden a bunch, and i love it to bits, but thats more like a retired person getting the stiffy of their life out of nowhere
Some engines us kd-trees for their levels. I don't get why even in times of 3d accelerators there is no use for a level geometry with floors and walls. DukeNukem introduced stacking via portals, but one could make stacks legal. Still a great structure for collision and path finding. Quake had a software renderer for a long time and then game the GBA.
I'm still frustrated with Ion Fury. They promised online multiplayer and co-op before the game was released; and they just quietly deleted it from their list of features.
I have nitpick with this video. When you are talking about about these games graphics when they came out, you probably should show how they would have looked at 90s not these newer engines that have some improvements. For example in your doom footage, you have trilinear texture smoothing, same for other build games you have footage for. Also showing quake with the new remake is also somewhat misleading. Otherwise good video and information. You made some good point about there only being 3 good games with Build engine from 90s.
Redneck Rampage is excellent, I think it's a bit unfair, the shots aren't accurate because it's a drunk old country boy, I believe the developers intended the intense shooting. The game, because it was released later, has very well-crafted and defined textures. There's a level in the game where I remember seeing a brick wall, and there was a lamp on the wall, and the guys cooked the pre-rendered light from this lamp on the wall, this wasn't common at that time because a single texture consumed precious resources.
PowerSlave Exhumed on PC is based on the Console (PS1 and Sega Saturn) Versions of PowerSlave which did not run on the Build Engine, but instead a Custom 3D Engine. The Build Engine version of PowerSlave was not like these versions, it was more like a run-of-the-mill Doom Clone with an Egyptian Theme.
Man, Ken wasn't 18 when he made this engine. He was 11. Fucking 11 years old! I have been coding since I was 8, now I am nearly 40, and no way I could do the same thing now. And his brother made some cool stuff too. He is one of many examples that made me love computers.
Yeah it's an uncanny level of talent that not a lot of people have. The time of when he actually started working on the engine was an oversight on my part, because I was also looking at the initial release of the engine and got it confused.
The engine itself maybe short-lived in terms of being selected to use in new game developments in its time. But remember that all the games that have been using this engine are now resurrected and stay in an undying state which means they're extremely long-lived.
What they succeed to create in terms of level design and details in those games is amazing, all the secrets too, adding replayability. In my opinion Doom is more about shooting, action, staying alive, while Build engine games need you to think about the exit and how to reach it. Shooting also makes more sense in Doom, as, from what I remember, it's never unfair, unlike in Build engine sometimes. Secret rooms into secret rooms and alternate paths are really something, and a lot of great mechanisms in 2.5 don't necessary look so good in 3D.
I remember playing Wolfenstein, Duke Nuke'm, and Doom back in the 90's. I remember the 3D games of those days. Good description on how technology has changed over the years. By the 2000's, when Quake, Unreal Tournament, and other games has improved in terms of graphic videos, sound, etc. Now, I play Call of Duty series, Gears of War and Halo games.
I like to consider the holy trinity of 90’s fps game engines being idtech, build, and the often forgotten xngine by Bethesda Softworks. The xngine was just as capable as the other two and arguably had more going on under the hood. I’ve yet to see someone compare the three in a video but thought I’d mention it.
1:37 Sigil! An absolutely brilliant mod by THE John Romero (the soundtrack being composed by Buckethead). A sequel that runs on DOOM II is due to be released in December 2023.
It is a little jarring hearing talk of the 90's engines when using modern ports. Talk of Doom... playing Sigil. Talk of Blood.. playing Fresh Supply. Talk of Duke Nukem 3D... playing World Tour. Yea, these are the versions available now. Though getting a more faithful source port, like Raze. Yea, it's higher res, modern systems, but it's a bit more faithful than World Tour's colored lighting etc. Also a note, PowerSlave's map structure was in the console release, the PC release had more traditional level based progression.
I see where you're coming from. But modern sourceports provide accessibility which is important for bringing in newcomers. Personally, I just find it easier.
Yeah, but gzdoom/zandronum client based on q3 engine open source (3D), but have mix with 2,5D source content (classic doom sprites, maps, etc.), if i'm correct. Thnx for video 👍
The first half is fantastic. The second half is a marked decline in level design and overall quality with a number of levels that I absolutely loathed (that Neverending sewer level being nearly as bad as the Redneck Rampage sewer level, which is one of the worst FPS levels of all time). Still a much better game than Redneck Rampage, but just not good enough to be as legendary as the build holy trinity.
For sure, and I brought those examples up because the resurgence of retro inspired games haven't been exclusive to just fps games throughout the 2010's.
If mentioning Doom Mods for BUILD experience, I highly recommend you try out GZDoom mod Bloom which is a Blood/Doom crossover done incredibly! All Calebs items put into the mod, and the maps and npcs are all unique, combined between the two games, because the universes blended.
Back at the time, I didn't really think that much of Quake's look. It was okay, and I did have a boot disk for playing it (only had 8MB of RAM, so needed a pretty clean boot to have enough free to run it). For me, it took until Unreal and Half-Life before real 3D beat out fake 3D. Unreal has the unique distinction of having a software renderer that dithers the texture coordinates instead of just doing nearest-neighbour sampling.
Ironically even though full 3D graphics were much more technically impressive I think some 2.5D games like Blood, Duke Nukem 3D and DOOM from that time have held up much better graphically by today's standards. 2.5D games have sort of a timeless look to them, they have their own cool style while many 3D games from that era just look like crap now.
There's a version of Nobody Told Me About id for Zandronum. Nobody seems to bring up Zandronum when talking about Doom. It's the best source port, and sadly gets overshadowed by GZDoom. Sure GZ has multiplayer, but it's not as good as Zandronum. Actually people say that the multiplayer in GZDoom is bad.
If GZDoom's more flexible ZScript technology and more advanced level design features could be combined with the multiplayer capabilities of Zandronum, we would have what would possibly be the best Doom port of all time. GZDoom's multiplayer isn't inherently bad, but the multiplayer modding and playing community has been geared towards the less advanced Zandronum because of its still popular and easy to pick up server-based multiplayer architecture and the community that has been there for over a decade, starting with Skulltag. An update to Zandronum with GZDoom capabilities would give modders a breath of fresh air and a lot more possibilities to bring even greater mods to the community, while keeping the community in one piece, and possibly bringing even more people in to the scene. This is something I've been dreaming of for years but it just doesn't seem to be coming any time soon.
pc powerslave is not a metroidvania thats the console version. the vanilla pc version is also kinda jank cause the controls. strafing is messed up playing keyboard only back in the day it would have been fine but using a modern control scheme doesnt work without hacks.
the powerslave exhumed footage you showed in this video is completely irrelevant to the video because there were two versions of PS (console and DOS version) the metroidvania elements were only present in console ones and PS exhumed is remaster of console version only
I also have to ding a point for using footage from Blood - Fresh Supply and Quake (2021) as neither use their original engines, and are instead based on Nightdive's Kex Engine. If you used NBlood and Quakespasm it'd be a modern incarnation but still a direct descendent.
@@artCharles "Problem is that I also avoided using any BUILD code at all. That was my mistake. The second mistake was failing to understand the clockrate/tick rate of BUILD. Originally, the logic that I reverse engineered was running at 2x the speed in Kex, so everything had to be scaled down. I should of researched more on that rather than just scaling everything I hated BUILD's collision code so much that I didn't even think twice about the impact it would cause when I rolled out my own if I am ever given the chance to revisit FS. I am going to add an option to switch between collision modes." - Samuel "Kaiser" Villarreal
They're 2 dimensional worlds that mimic 3d through presentation and visual trickery. But yes, technically neither game is 3d. They're both 2d games. This is by contrast to most games from Quake onwards that allowed the creation of actual 3d worlds.
@@lancebaylis3169I would not say they are 2D, the player and enemies can still move in 3 dimensions, flying enemies for example can move through a hole in the Z component so the gameplay is 3D. It's more like limited 3D because of the map representation. And you can't look up/down which is a texture mapping optimization.
