Re: Did EGA Save PC Gaming?

On Thu, 25 Jul 2024 06:06:08 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 7/24/2024 7:28 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Wed, 24 Jul 2024 11:33:30 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>

I can't seem to find what the first IBM PC game was that used FPS
though.  I'm sure you'll either know or find it though :)

It depends on how you define "FPS".

I was thinking more very popular mainstream FPSs with true mouse aim*.
I'm not really sure what was big first on the ibm after Doom (no mouse
aim at the time at least.)

Well, as said, both "Doom" and (I checked) "Wolfenstein 3D" let you
play with the keyboard and mouse, although it wasn't quite the same as
modern WASD+mouselook (you used the mouse to turn/aim, but no up/down
because, well, there really wasn't any need). And you still used the
arrow keys rather than WASD. Most of the Doom clones offered similar
controls. Very few people used the mouse, however, because it was
uncomfortably cramped for most (right-handed) people, and it didn't
really offer any benefit.

There were a number of games that made more use of the mouse (not
least of which was, of course, "Ultima Underworld" and "System Shock")
but these weren't really seen as 'first-person shooters' (not that
term existed yet; they were still 'Doom clones' and they /still/
relied on the directional arrow keys.

The first FPS I encountered where mouse-look was recommended (and
arguably the game was designed for) was Bethesda's "Terminator: Future
Shock" (August 1995). The default controls were still keyboard only
but you could remap to WASD and use the mouse. The idea trended here
on c.s.i.p.g.action for a while and was, if I recall correctly, the
first time I ever HEARD of anyone not using arrow keys.

   [I was adamantly opposed to the idea at the time. If
    arrow keys were good enough for me to get through "
    Doom", they were damned good enough for Bethesda's half-
    baked doom clone, gaddurnit! Obviously, I changed my
    mind... eventually]

By the time "Quake" (Jun 1996) and "Duke Nukem 3D" (Nov 1996) came
out... well, WASD still wasn't the most popular format to use, but it
had a growing number of admirers. Even games like "Descent" (Mar 1995)
or "Forsaken" (Apr 1998) still either expected you to a joystick or a
keyboard, with the mouse+keyboard being the 'weird' option.

But it was almost certainly the Quake deathmatch scene that forced
WASD+mouselook onto the masses, though. The competitive advantage of
using a mouse to aim was just so great that, if you wanted to play,
you almost had to make the transition. It still wasn't the default for
a lot of games; even "Quake II" (Dec 1997) still defaulted to keyboard
only. Regardless, almost every game from that era also included config
files that -when loaded- would set up your controls to match the
keyboard+mouse layout of popular deathmatchers.

   [Like "exec thresh.cfg". If you know, you know.]

"Half Life" (Nov 1998) pushed WASD forward, but it wasn't the first to
use it as default; "Shogo" and "Heretic II" (released a month earlier)
also used it as their defaults (but "Spec Ops", released in April, I
think defaulted to keyboard only). I think "STar Wars: Dark Forces II:
Jedi Knight" (Oct 1997 defaulted to mouse-keyboard, but I recall a lot
of people were still using keyboard only.

   [Myself included. If the keyboard was good enough for the
    original "Dark Forces" game, it was damn good enough for
    it's sequel! ;-]

And while it's not quite an FPS, the early "Tomb Raider" games
(including "Tomb Raider II", released to PC in Nov 1997) still used
keyboard controls almost exclusively.

But by the time "Quake III" rolled around (Dec 1999) WASD+mouselook
was the standard. Sure, you /could/ play keyboard only... but sort of
in the way you /could/ play "Wolfenstein 3D" with a mouse in 1992. It
was an option that nobody really used.

So it's hard to point to the 'first', because it was an evolving
situation. Mouselook was an option almost from the start; it's just
nobody used it and even the developers didn't include it except as an
option they knew would only be taken up by a few. But I think the
first 'big-name' game where people started using it was "Terminator:
Future Shock", the first big-name where it was the expected default
that everybody used would probably be "Quake III", with most games
transitioning in 1998.