The History of First-Person Shooters: Part 2

Alien hookers and exploding chickens. Yep, it's Redneck Rampage.

And with gamers also encouraged to create their own levels via the supplied tools, Duke Nukem 3D was one of first games to tap into the creative energy of its fanbase. Other developers were also quick to take advantage of the Build engine’s capabilities, and it wasn’t long before commercial releases such as Exhumed and Redneck Rampage hit the scene.

But as capable an engine as Build was, such was the pace of progress in the early years of the FPS that later games to utilise the tech like Blood and Shadow Warriors looked old-fashioned by the time of their release.

While a solid shooter, Blood came a little late to the party tech-wise.

Indeed, the arrival of id’s next project, Quake, was every bit as significant as anything it had created previously. Initially available as a three level multiplayer demo (“QTest”) in February 1996, its eventual full release in June of the same year confirmed id Software as the undisputed kings of the genre. Considered both a technological and design masterpiece at the time, its influence on the multiplayer scene in particular cannot be overstated.

Can you remember your first fragging?

The ability for players to engage in co-op and competitive multiplayer matches over the Internet, rather than a local network, was a massive leap forward not just for the FPS scene, but for multiplayer gaming as a whole. Its instant appeal and ability to easily create new content ensured that a huge community sprang up instantly, and it soon became one of the first games to be considered a genuine ‘electronic sport’. As fans mastered the quirks of Quake’s fast-paced free-look mouse-controlled gameplay, moves such as rocket jumping, strafe jumping and bunny hopping became part of the genre’s vocabulary.