The Origin of Texture-mapping in Games
This article is concerned with the first 3D texture-mapped computer games to appear on Western computer-game machines.
In the sphere of 3D graphics, a texture map is an image or image-tile that is applied to polygonal surfaces of 3D objects in virtual space. Texture maps are subject to a material layer which defines the nature of a surface (e.g., its reflectivity or real-world material composition, such as wood or metal).
Thus, the applied texture map takes on the properties of its underlying material as well as the shape of the polygonal surface; that is, the texture map automatically wraps around or is mapped to the surface. Naturally, the texture map is auto-subject to perspective.
The object of texture-mapping is to increase graphical realism and give the illusion of increased geometric complexity. Supposedly, this adds to "immersion".
Texture-mapped games were preceded by flat-shaded games which were preceded by wireframe games.
Note that some flat-shaded games employ dithering or pattern-filling to add "texture" to surfaces, but that is not texture-mapping. That said, such techniques often yielded impressive results.
Textures can also be used to deform surfaces to which they are mapped, but I am not concerned with bump-mapping in this treatment range.
Early texture-mapped games were software-rendered via CPUs (1991-96), but by 1997 texture-mapping was commonly hardware-accelerated via dedicated GPUs, which became practically necessary when running polygon-pushers in SVGA resolutions.
By "render-field", I mean the screenspace that is actually being updated by the rendering engine. The render-field can also be referred to as the render-space, drawspace or viewport. The render-field is distinct from borders and UI elements; an exceedingly important distinction to make! Yes, the 3D game displays in 320x200, but how big is its render-field? Tell me that!
Render-field dimension reduction is sometimes based on hardware restrictions. Other times, UI elements are necessary for interaction. Sometimes UI elements are drop-away.
If I append "sprite-scaler" to an entry then that means the computer game is not rendering objects or actors in 3D but rather scaling, rotating and animating 2D sprites. Doom is a prime example.
Likewise, if I append "Fully-3D" to an entry then that means the objects and actors that appear on the interactable part of the render-field are 100% 3D polygonal; perhaps only with 2D explosion cores, particle effects and/or horizon-map.
As far as I'm concerned, if the objects and actors are rendered in 3D on-the-fly as per floors, ceilings, walls and terrain; if the 3D objects and actors seamlessly adhere to the 3D world-space -- that's a fully-3D game.
Up/down looks are NOT a prerequisite for 3D-hood: some 3D games do not WANT them. Do you want to look up/down while driving a Formula One racer at 200 mph? "Oh, look at the clouds!" Dead.
It should go without saying, but fully-3D games are usually more authentic and realistic than those that employ sprites. In addition to their crude and unbelonging appearance, by their very nature sprites can never scale, rotate or animate in harmony with 3D world-spaces; they are always out of sync, no exceptions.
It depends on polygon-count and countless other factors, but i80386DXes generally software-rendered texture-mapped geometry at 30 FPS in 320x200 render-fields.
In the early 90s the 386DX was the entry-level CPU for running texture-mapped games. No DX, only SX? Slideshow for YOU.
30 FPS was actually an acceptable framerate in the early-to-mid 90s. For example, Doom ran at 35 FPS on 11-MIP 386DXes and Quake ran at 40 FPS on 190-MIP Pentium 100s.
Computer-game journalism retroactively romanticizes early 3D-game framerates; they think everything has always been "60 FPS" -- but the simple truth is that most gamers were playing at low framerates until the advent of GPUs.
Number of texture-mapped computer games currently chronicled (incl. different versions): 36.
This document was last updated on the 20th of June, 2024.
1991 Texture-mapped Games
Catacomb 3-D IBM PC 1991
Catacomb 3-D: The Descent was released by id Software in 1991 for IBM PC MS-DOS. Catacomb 3-D is notable for being the first texture-mapped computer game to be released. Coded by John Carmack, John Romero and Jason Blochowiak, Catacomb 3-D displays in EGA 320x200, but its render-field is only 265x144px.
Notable as well is Catacomb 3-D's employment of wall-destructibility and strafing.
Sprite-scaler.
1992 Texture-mapped Games
Ultima Underworld IBM PC 1992
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss was released by Origin Systems in March of 1992. Ultima Underworld was developed by Blue Sky Productions for IBM PC MS-DOS.
Running in 256-color VGA at 320x200 resolution, Ultima Underworld requires at minimum an i80386SX CPU, 640 kbytes of conventional RAM, 480 kbytes of EMS RAM and 256 kbytes of vRAM. UU also requires 8 megs of hard disk space.
Ultima Underworld is notable for being the first texture-mapped computer game to be developed and demonstrated. Chris Green coded the texture-mapping algorithm employed by Ultima Underworld's 3D rendering engine, which updates its geometry in a piddling 172x112px render-field.
Note that some flight sims featured 608/633x345px render-fields in 1987/88 (amazing), but their polygons were not texture-mapped. Thus, they don't get praise from the mindless masses even though their fidelity and framerates far outstripped UU, five years before UU came out. Moreover, UU's texture-mapping was outstripped within a few months whereas 640x350-based render-fields were not outstripped for seven years. cf. EGA 640x350 games for more info.
What would you rather play in 1992?
- A flat-shaded 16-color EGA UU with a 640x350-based render-field
- A or a texture-mapped 256-color VGA UU with a 172x112 render-field
I'd even take f-shaded EGA 320x200 over t-mapped VGA 172x112.
Think about how much more readable text + stats are in 640x350/400 as well... but they always go for color over clarity, don't they. In computer games with lots of text + stats...
That said, Ultima Underworld is also notable for featuring 3D up/down looks before id Software's games. However, UU doesn't feature proper mouse-look control. Instead, you use on-screen arrows to move about and number-keys to look up/down. Awful. I'd rather not have to deal with up/down looks at all. Such a chore without mouse-look.
Ultima Underworld is a cumbersome, exceedingly ugly and massively overrated cRPG whose low-res and warped 3D viewport can actually nauseate players, both literally and figuratively. Think twice before you play it.
Sprite-scaler.
Wolfenstein 3D 1992
Wolfenstein 3D was released by id Software in May of 1992 for IBM PC MS-DOS 3.0. Coded by John Carmack, John Romero and Jason Blochowiak, Wolf3D runs in 256-color VGA 320x200. Wolf3D requires an i80286 and 640K of RAM. Note the untextured ceilings and floors. Max 305x152 render-field.
Sprite-scaler.
1993 Texture-mapped Games
Doom IBM PC 1993
Doom was released by id Software in 1993. Doom was coded by John Carmack, Michael Abrash, John Romero and Dave Taylor for IBM PC MS-DOS. Doom features a 320x168 render-field, 128x128px texture tiles and 256x128 digitized backdrops. It also features color-cycled ("animated") textures.
Sprite-scaler.
Strike Commander IBM PC 1993
Strike Commander was released by Origin Systems for IBM PC MS-DOS 5.0 in 1993. Strike Commander is notable for its Gouraud-shaded texture-mapped rendering and 3D virtualized cockpit. If Strike Commander came out in 1991 as projected, it would have been one of the most graphically advanced computer games in history. Still, not many computer games featured g-shaded t-mapping with hazing in 1993.
Strike Commander is the Quake of flight sims.
320x200 render-field. Fully-3D.
Frontier Elite 2 IBM PC 1993
Frontier Elite 2 was another early IBM PC game to feature texture-mapping. 320x168 render-field. Light-sourced polygons. Newtonian momentum physics. Galactic scope. GOAT.
Fully-3D.
IndyCar Racing IBM PC 1993
Papyrus Design Group released IndyCar Racing for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1993. Note the proper 320x200 full-screen render-field. And the texture-mapping is spartan and stylish. Awesome game.
Fully-3D.
1994 Texture-mapped Games
NASCAR Racing IBM PC 1994
Papyrus Design Group released NASCAR Racing for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1994. The upgrade to square-pixel SVGA 640x480 is huge. Huge, I say.
A full-screen, full-action, 100% 3D 640x480 render-field in 1994!
Runs at 30 FPS. Unbeatable.
NASCAR Racing is the Quake of auto-racers.
Fully-3D.
System Shock IBM PC 1994
System Shock was released by Looking Glass Technologies in Sept. 1994 for IBM PC MS-DOS 5.0 4GW Pro 1.97. Note that System Shock is NOT an immersive sim with emergent gameplay; it's just FPS. You are thinking of Deus Ex.
System Shock employed crouching, jumping and up/down looks.
Distributed on 9x 3.5" diskettes, System Shock requires an i808486DX-33 MHz CPU with 4½ megs of RAM (for 128x128 textures). 320x200 render-field in full-screen mode.
The CD-ROM version of System Shock was released in Dec. 1994. Most notably, this enhanced version (which should have been the initial version) features SVGA resolutions: 640x400 and square-pixel 640x480. That means a render-field of 640x480.
The CD-ROM version requires 530K of base RAM (conventional memory) and 3072K of XMS RAM (expanded memory specification). 7168K of EMS RAM is required for speech + SVGA VESA (extended memory specification). Nice. :)
Pity it's only a sprite-scaler.
Rise of the Triad IBM PC 1994
Apogee Software released the shareware version of Rise of the Triad: Dark War in Dec. of 1994 for IBM PC MS-DOS 5.0/4GW Protected mode run-time. The full version was released in Feb. of 1995.
Rise of the Triad requires i80386DX2-40 MHz, 4 megs of RAM and 20 megs of HDD space. Rise of the Triad displays in 256-color VGA 320x200.
Heretic IBM PC 1994
A dark-fantasy spin-off of Doom, Heretic was released for IBM PC by Raven Software in 1994. Heretic is notable for its (limited) employment of up/down looks in the Doom engine. Heretic also introduced an inventory interface.
Sprite-scaler.
1995 Texture-mapped Games
Hexen IBM PC 1995
Sequel to Heretic, Hexen was released for IBM PC by Raven Software in 1995. Suggesting a 3D Diablo a year before Diablo came out, Hexen allows you to select from three "character classes".
Sprite-scaler.
EF2000 IBM PC 1995
EF2000 was released by Digital Image Design in 1995 for IBM PC MS-DOS, Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0. EF stands for EuroFighter (NATOs EF Typhoon).
EF2000 features Beyond Visual Range combat (BVR), strategic 3D wargaming engine (WARGEN), virtual cockpit and 4 million square kilometers of texture-mapped terrain.
Windows 95 EF2000 requires Pentium 75 MHz, 16 megs of RAM and 20 megs of HDD space, but Pentium 120 MHz, 32 megs of RAM and 70 megs of HDD space is recommended. MS-DOS EF2000 requires i80486DX-66 MHz, 512K of conventional RAM, 8 megs of RAM (5 megs of free EMS), but Pentium 90 MHz and 16 megs of RAM is recommended.
EF2000 displays in 256-color VESA SVGA 640x400. 3D-accelerated via 3dfx or Rendition.
Employs math coprocessor.
Descent IBM PC 1995
Parallax Software released Descent in 1995 for IBM PC MS-DOS 5.0.
Descent requires an i80386DX-33 MHz and 4 megs of RAM, but an i80486DX-33 or Pentium and 8 megs of RAM is recommended. Descent requires 598K conventional RAM. The floppy disk version of Descent displays in 256-color VGA 320x200. Automap is 640x400. Full-screen render-field (drop-away cockpit).
In addition, the CD-ROM version supports VGA 320x240 Mode X, 320x400 and VESA SVGA 640x480. Note, however, that square-pixel resolutions only affect the viewport, not the menus. Also, the cockpit HUD graphics are not displayed in non-320x200 resolutions (full-screen render-field only).
Descent allows for six degrees of freedom. For example, there is yaw, pitch and roll. And you can stafe horizontally and vertically.
Descent is also notable for allowing users to customize object complexity, object detail, wall detail, wall render depth and amount of debris.
15 meg free HDD space for installation. 7 meg post-installation.
Fully-3D (2D explosion sprites.)
IndyCar Racing 2 IBM PC 1995
Papyrus Design Group released IndyCar Racing 2 for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1995. Square-pixel SVGA 640x480.
Fully-3D.
Need for Speed IBM PC 1995
Electronic Arts released Need for Speed for IBM PC MS-DOS/4GW in 1995.
3DO console port... eew.
Fully-3D.
Destruction Derby IBM PC 1995
Reflections released Destruction Derby for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1995. DOS/4GW.
Fully-3D playfield (2D digitized backdrops).
Screamer IBM PC 1995
Screamer was released by Graffiti for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1995. Screamer was coded by Antonio Miscellaneo.
The Screamer 3D rendering engine was coded by Antonio Martini.
Software-rendered. DOS/4GW.
Fully-3D.
Frontier First Encounters IBM PC 1995
Frontier Developments released Frontier First Encounters (FFE) for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1995.
FFE features complex geometry and procedural texture-mapping, but only a 320x200 render-field.
Fully-3D.
MechWarrior 2 IBM PC 1995
Activision Studios released MechWarrior 2 for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1995. Requires 486DX2-66 MHz, 8 megs of RAM and 1 meg of vRAM. SVGA 640x480 to 1024x768.
Fully-3D.
cf. MechWarrior 1 1989.
Star Wars: Dark Forces IBM PC 1995
LucasArts released Star Wars: Dark Forces in March 1995 for IBM PC MS-DOS 5.0 DOS/4GW Protected Mode run-time. The 3D Jedi Engine of Dark Forces was programmed by Ray Gresko; it employs texture-mapping, vertically-stacked levels, up/down looks, strafing, crouching, jumping, weapon-cycling and secondary-fire mode.
Dark Forces runs on i80386DX-33 MHz CPUs with 8 megs of RAM, but 468DX2-66 MHz is recommended.
9 megs of textures / 3 megs of sprites. Sprite-scaler.
Gloom Amiga 1995
A clone of Doom, Gloom was released by Black Magic Software in 1995 for Amiga 1200 030s. Here is a screencap of Gloom running on an Amiga 1200 030 on max settings in WinUAE. Screencaps were taken in 640x480, but I upscaled the image for viewing purposes. Gloom runs at a consistent 30 FPS, which is impressive for A1200 030. Gloom was coded by Mark Silby.
1996 Texture-mapped Games
Descent 2 IBM PC 1996
Parallax Software released Descent II in March of 1996 for IBM PC MS-DOS and Windows 95.
Descent 2 requires an i80486DX-50 MHz and 8 megs of RAM, but a Pentium 90 MHz and 16 megs of RAM is recommended. Descent 2 displays in square-pixel 256-color SVGA 640x480. Full-screen render-field (drop-away cockpit).
Descent 2 features 30 command-line options. It supports S3 ViRGE in MS-DOS via D2V.exe. Software-rendered or 3D accelerated via 3dfx Voodoo or Rendition Vérité. 200 megs of FMV.
Install size ranges from 20 megs to 262 megs.
Fully-3D (2D explosion sprites.)
Daggerfall IBM PC 1996
Bethesda Softworks released Daggerfall in 1996 for IBM PC MS-DOS 6.0. Daggerfall was designed by Julian Lefay and coded by Hal Bouma and Lefay.
Aside from its Great Britain-sized open world (which is mostly empty), Daggerfall is notable for its verticality, procedurally-generated dungeons and 3D texture-mapped automap, which can be panned, rotated and trucked.
Otherwise, just like Ultima Underworld of 1992, this is one ugly, clunky and nauseatingly boring computer game to endure. It is also dead-easy like its loathsome sequel, Morrowind.
Sprite-scaler.
Now look at the difference in 3D rendering between Daggerfail and other 3D games of 1996.
Quake IBM PC 1996
id Software released Quake for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1996. Quake was coded by John Carmack, Michael Abrash, John Cash and Dave "Zoid" Kirsch.
In 1996 Quake displayed in 320x200/240 up to 1280x1024. Incredible.
Gouraud-shaded. Fully-3D. Proper mouse-look control.
F-22 Lightning II IBM PC 1996
NovaLogic released F-22 Lightning II for IBM PC MS-DOS in Sept. of 1996. F-22 was designed and coded by Randy Casey. You pilot the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor.
Displaying in square-pixel 256-color VESA 2.0 VBE SVGA 640x480, F-22 employs page-flipping and a hazing routine that reduces texture-rendering demands. 41.3 megs of HDD space is required for full install (18.1 megs install is slow-load). 350 megs of FMV is read from the CD-ROM.
Fully-3D.
Shattered Steel BioWare 1996
BioWare released Shattered Steel for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1996. Shattered Steel's terrain-textures deform with the geometry.
Fully-3D.
Duke Nukem 3D IBM PC 1996
3D Realms Entertainment released Duke Nukem 3D for IBM PC MS-DOS in January of 1996. Duke Nukem displays in 256-color VGA 320x200 as standard, but also supports VESA 320x200 and SVGA VESA 2.0 640x480 and 800x600. Duke3D requires 486DX2-66 MHz with 8 megs of RAM. Pentium with 16 megs of RAM and PCI Local Bus Video is recommended.
Sprite-scaler.
cf. Duke Nukem 2D.
Tomb Raider IBM PC 1996
Core Design released Tomb Raider in 1996 for IBM PC MS-DOS/4GW Protected Mode Run-time v.1.97. Tomb Raider is a cinematic third-person action-adventure game. Coded by Paul Douglas, Tomb Raider displays in 256-color VESA SVGA 640x480.
Fully-3D.
NASCAR Racing 2 IBM PC 1996
Papyrus Design Group released NASCAR Racing 2 for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1996.
NASCAR Racing 2 maintained support for software-rendered aka CPU-rendered 3D, but also supported hardware-accelerated 3D via 3Dfx and Rendition graphics chipsets.
Fully-3D.
Grand Prix 2 IBM PC 1996
MicroProse released Grand Prix 2 for IBM PC MS-DOS in 1996. 640x480 render-field.
An absolutely amazing game.
Fully-3D.
Screamer 2 IBM PC 1996
Screamer 2 was released by Milestone for IBM PC MS-DOS and Windows 95 in 1996. Screamer 2 was coded by Stefano Lecchi.
The Screamer 2 3D rendering engine was coded by Antonio Martini. DOS/4GW.
Fully-3D.
1997 Texture-mapped Games
Screamer Rally IBM PC 1997
Screamer Rally was released by Milestone for IBM PC MS-DOS 6.0 in 1997.
3dfx Voodoo or software-rendered. DOS/4GW.
Fully-3D.
By 1996, and as it pertains to 3D computer games, MS-DOS / Windows had left console and arcade variants in the dust: even without factoring in vehicle, flight and space sims, Quake destroyed 3D arcade and console games all by itself.
Carmageddon IBM PC 1997
Stainless Games released Carmageddon in June of 1997 for IBM PC MS-DOS 6.2 4GW Protected Mode run-time and Windows 95 DirectX 3a. Recommended specs are Pentium 70 MHz, 32 megs of RAM, 2 megs of vRAM and 264 megs of HDD space for full install. Carmageddon displays in 256-color VGA 320x200 or SVGA 640x480 via hires.bat.
Carmageddon allows users to customize the following graphics settings: Car Complexity, Car Textures, Shadows, Wall Textures, Road Textures, Scenery Cut-off, Scenery Pop-up, Sky Texture, Darkness / Fog, Track Accessories and Special Effects.
Supports 3dfx Voodoo. Sprite-scaler.
1998 Texture-mapped Games
Grand Prix Legends IBM PC 1998
Papyrus Design Group released Grand Prix Legends for IBM PC Windows in 1998.
Fully-3D.
Half-Life IBM PC 1998
Fully-3D.
cf.
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