Posted by: JDoran
« on: 26. August 2024, 16:08:16 »Yes, since we can't really define the phrase "Immersive simulation", then we can't absolutely say what would qualify as the first game of this type, but since I'm bored, and in a lull at work, I thought I'd start this thread.
The earliest such game I can think of is probably Fairlight, a game on the ZX Spectrum (a British 8 bit micro-computer), the Commodore 64 (an American 8 bit micro-computer), and the Amstrad CPC (a British 8 bit micro-computer). It was released in 1985, and is an isometric 3D arcade adventure game, set in a typical 'swords and sorcery' type fantasy setting. You explore, find and use items, attack or avoid enemies, and the game world is made up of a castle, caves, etc, and some areas (especially castle rooms) are one screen only, and other areas are made of multiple screens, and the NPC's cannot travel through doors (a limitation that's still in place, forty years later, in most modern games
).
[The start of the game. The creature on the above ground walkway, is a guard, who, like every other living thing is hostlie to us. Below him, wearing a cape and with his back to us, is Isvar, whom you control in this game. Ahead of Isvar, on the ground in front of the door, is a scroll which grants Isvar a teleport spell, and to Isvar's right is a mobile mini-whirlwind, one of many magical threats to Isvar's life in this castle.]
You can move, jump, and attack things (with your sword), as you'd expect.
Objects in the game world have their own weight and inertia (so if you push something that can be moved by you, then it's weight and inertia effect both how fast you move, and how far the object will continue to travel on it's own when you stop pushing it), and you can carry (as in place in your inventory) up to five items, depending on their individual weights, and of course you can pick up or move items and stack them on top of each other to reach or climb over things (usually a given in immersive sims).
[Oh no! When Isvar has killed this murderous guard, how will our hero possibly climb onto that door frame to reach the crown?]
[Yay! Isvar collected and stacked up enough objects to be able to climb up and reach the crown. Probably not the first video game character to achieve something like that, but I can't recall an earlier example.]
I haven't played it in years (or decades...), as it's one of those brilliant retro games that has been massively surpassed by more modern games (it's basically just a much more limited version of Skyrim, to name just one modern(-ish) game you should play nowadays instead of Fairlight), so I can't remember most of the game. What I do remember is that when you killed a guard, then his body disappeared leaving only his guard helmet, and when you leave and re-enter that area, then the guard respawns (his helmet raises up in the air, as his body reforms). What I discovered was that when you'd 'killed' a guard, then you could pick up his helmet, and drop it down the traditional bottomless ravines that you find in the game, thereby permanently ridding yourself of that individual guard, or just move the helmet to an area you wouldn't be visiting again. I once took every guard (well, his helmet) to one screen (I can't remember how many guards there were, at least a dozen, maybe twice that), and every time I entered that one screen to drop off another guard's helmet, then the frame-rate grew slower and slower as the multiple guards already in that screen respawned from their helmets. By the time I had them all in the room, the frame-rate was measurable in seconds per frame (we are talking early 1980's 8 bit home computers, of course).
[In the above image, Isvar (the character you control) has just entered the room via the door at the top of the screen. On the barrels on the left of the screen, you can see a guard's helmet, which would, in a second or two, respawn into a hostile guard]
Also, trolls were present in some areas, and each troll instantly respawned out of nothing when you entered that specific area. Each troll respawned at the same place on the ground where you had killed him, or where he'd been standing when you exited the area, and he left no corpse if you killed him, and I discovered that it you put any object on the exact place on the ground where you killed the troll, then he wouldn't respawn whenever you entered the area again.
I'm sure there were more game mechanics that could be discovered in this game, but I can't remember anything else now.
The earliest such game I can think of is probably Fairlight, a game on the ZX Spectrum (a British 8 bit micro-computer), the Commodore 64 (an American 8 bit micro-computer), and the Amstrad CPC (a British 8 bit micro-computer). It was released in 1985, and is an isometric 3D arcade adventure game, set in a typical 'swords and sorcery' type fantasy setting. You explore, find and use items, attack or avoid enemies, and the game world is made up of a castle, caves, etc, and some areas (especially castle rooms) are one screen only, and other areas are made of multiple screens, and the NPC's cannot travel through doors (a limitation that's still in place, forty years later, in most modern games
).[The start of the game. The creature on the above ground walkway, is a guard, who, like every other living thing is hostlie to us. Below him, wearing a cape and with his back to us, is Isvar, whom you control in this game. Ahead of Isvar, on the ground in front of the door, is a scroll which grants Isvar a teleport spell, and to Isvar's right is a mobile mini-whirlwind, one of many magical threats to Isvar's life in this castle.]
You can move, jump, and attack things (with your sword), as you'd expect.
Objects in the game world have their own weight and inertia (so if you push something that can be moved by you, then it's weight and inertia effect both how fast you move, and how far the object will continue to travel on it's own when you stop pushing it), and you can carry (as in place in your inventory) up to five items, depending on their individual weights, and of course you can pick up or move items and stack them on top of each other to reach or climb over things (usually a given in immersive sims).
[Oh no! When Isvar has killed this murderous guard, how will our hero possibly climb onto that door frame to reach the crown?]
[Yay! Isvar collected and stacked up enough objects to be able to climb up and reach the crown. Probably not the first video game character to achieve something like that, but I can't recall an earlier example.]
I haven't played it in years (or decades...), as it's one of those brilliant retro games that has been massively surpassed by more modern games (it's basically just a much more limited version of Skyrim, to name just one modern(-ish) game you should play nowadays instead of Fairlight), so I can't remember most of the game. What I do remember is that when you killed a guard, then his body disappeared leaving only his guard helmet, and when you leave and re-enter that area, then the guard respawns (his helmet raises up in the air, as his body reforms). What I discovered was that when you'd 'killed' a guard, then you could pick up his helmet, and drop it down the traditional bottomless ravines that you find in the game, thereby permanently ridding yourself of that individual guard, or just move the helmet to an area you wouldn't be visiting again. I once took every guard (well, his helmet) to one screen (I can't remember how many guards there were, at least a dozen, maybe twice that), and every time I entered that one screen to drop off another guard's helmet, then the frame-rate grew slower and slower as the multiple guards already in that screen respawned from their helmets. By the time I had them all in the room, the frame-rate was measurable in seconds per frame (we are talking early 1980's 8 bit home computers, of course).
[In the above image, Isvar (the character you control) has just entered the room via the door at the top of the screen. On the barrels on the left of the screen, you can see a guard's helmet, which would, in a second or two, respawn into a hostile guard]
Also, trolls were present in some areas, and each troll instantly respawned out of nothing when you entered that specific area. Each troll respawned at the same place on the ground where you had killed him, or where he'd been standing when you exited the area, and he left no corpse if you killed him, and I discovered that it you put any object on the exact place on the ground where you killed the troll, then he wouldn't respawn whenever you entered the area again.
I'm sure there were more game mechanics that could be discovered in this game, but I can't remember anything else now.
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