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m Romero-wiki moved page Hovertank 3D to Hovertank One over redirect: The game is not named Hovertank 3D, it's named Hovertank One.
Renamed the game to its actual original name. The name Hovertank 3D was a mistake made by Softdisk on future releases and perpetuated.
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{{more sources|date=June 2019}}
{{more sources|date=June 2019}}
{{Infobox video game
{{Infobox video game
|title = Hovertank 3D
|title = Hovertank One
|image = Hovertank 3D title screen.jpg
|image = Hovertank 3D title screen.jpg
|caption = ''Hovertank 3D'' title screen
|caption = ''Hovertank One'' title screen
|developer = [[id Software]]
|developer = [[id Software]]
|director = [[Tom Hall]]
|director = [[Tom Hall]]
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|publisher = [[Softdisk]]
|publisher = [[Softdisk]]
|engine=[[Wolfenstein 3D#Development|Prototype of Wolfenstein 3D engine]]
|engine=[[Wolfenstein 3D#Development|Prototype of Wolfenstein 3D engine]]
|released = {{vgrelease|NA|April 1991<ref name="idlookback">{{cite web|url=http://www.idsoftware.com/games/vintage/hovertank/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070321071759/http://www.idsoftware.com/games/vintage/hovertank/ |title=id Software: Hovertank 3D |website=id Software |archive-date=March 21, 2007}}</ref><ref name="GU-id-CK-Wolf3d">{{cite web|url=https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/344672/How_id_built_Wolfenstein_3D_using_Commander_Keen_tech.php |title=How id built Wolfenstein 3D using Commander Keen tech |website=[[Gamasutra]]|date=24 June 2019}}</ref>}}
|released = {{vgrelease|NA|April 1991<ref name="idlookback">{{cite web|url=http://www.idsoftware.com/games/vintage/hovertank/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070321071759/http://www.idsoftware.com/games/vintage/hovertank/ |title=id Software: Hovertank One |website=id Software |archive-date=March 21, 2007}}</ref><ref name="GU-id-CK-Wolf3d">{{cite web|url=https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/344672/How_id_built_Wolfenstein_3D_using_Commander_Keen_tech.php |title=How id built Wolfenstein 3D using Commander Keen tech |website=[[Gamasutra]]|date=24 June 2019}}</ref>}}
|genre = [[Vehicular combat game]], [[first-person shooter]]<ref name="mastersdoom2">{{cite book|last=Kushner |first=David |title=[[Masters of Doom|Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created An Empire And Transformed Pop Culture]] |publisher=[[Random House]] |at=83 |year=2003 |quote="''Hovertank'' was the first fast-action, first-person shooter for the computer. Id had invented a genre." |isbn=0-375-50524-5}}</ref>
|genre = [[Vehicular combat game]], [[first-person shooter]]<ref name="mastersdoom2">{{cite book|last=Kushner |first=David |title=[[Masters of Doom|Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created An Empire And Transformed Pop Culture]] |publisher=[[Random House]] |at=83 |year=2003 |quote="''Hovertank'' was the first fast-action, first-person shooter for the computer. Id had invented a genre." |isbn=0-375-50524-5}}</ref>
|modes = [[Single-player video game|Single-player]]
|modes = [[Single-player video game|Single-player]]
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}}
}}


'''''Hovertank 3D''''',<ref name="idlookback"/> also known under a variety of other names ('''''Hovertank''''' or '''''Hovertank One'''''{{efn|The name ''Hovertank'' is used on the MS-DOS title screen. ''Hovertank 3-D'' is a name used in the start menu in Softdisk's 1992 [[Softdisk#Standalone programs and Gamer's Edge|Gamer's Edge]] release. ''Hovertank One'' is used on the box art and floppy disks of a 1991 mail-order release.}}), is a [[vehicular combat game]] developed by [[id Software]] and published by [[Softdisk]] in April 1991.
'''''Hovertank One''''',<ref name="idlookback"/> also known under a variety of other names ('''''Hovertank''''' or '''''Hovertank 3D'''''{{efn|The name ''Hovertank'' is used on the MS-DOS title screen. ''Hovertank 3-D'' is a name used in the start menu in Softdisk's 1992 [[Softdisk#Standalone programs and Gamer's Edge|Gamer's Edge]] release. ''Hovertank One'' is used on the original box art and floppy disks of the original 1991 mail-order release.}}), is a [[vehicular combat game]] developed by [[id Software]] and published by [[Softdisk]] in April 1991.


==Plot==
==Plot==
''Hovertank 3D'' is set during a nuclear war. In ''Hovertank 3D'', the player controls Brick Sledge, a mercenary hired by an unknown organization (referred to by the game as the "UFA") to rescue people from cities under the threat of nuclear attack (largely political activists or scientists), both by the government and by large corporations. However, the cities are also full of [[Mutants in fiction|mutated]] humans, strange creatures and enemy hovertanks.
''Hovertank One'' is set during a nuclear war. In ''Hovertank One'', the player controls Brick Sledge, a mercenary hired by an unknown organization (referred to by the game as the "UFA") to rescue people from cities under the threat of nuclear attack (largely political activists or scientists), both by the government and by large corporations. However, the cities are also full of [[Mutants in fiction|mutated]] humans, strange creatures and enemy hovertanks.


== Gameplay ==
== Gameplay ==
[[File:Hovertank 3D screen.png|thumb|''Hovertank 3D'' gameplay]]
[[File:Hovertank 3D screen.png|thumb|''Hovertank One'' gameplay]]
The player must drive a hovertank through the levels and try to find the people Brick is supposed to rescue. There are many enemies in the levels, who are hunting down the people as well as the player. The player can keep track of both people and enemies in the radar box at the bottom of the screen. There is a timer that counts how long until the nuke is dropped. Once all the living people are collected a yellow teleporter appears somewhere in the level, and the player must find it to win. The player receives their fee, based on the number of people safely rescued, and how fast the operation was completed. All damage to the hovertank is repaired at the end of the level.
The player must drive a hovertank through the levels and try to find the people Brick is supposed to rescue. There are many enemies in the levels, who are hunting down the people as well as the player. The player can keep track of both people and enemies in the radar box at the bottom of the screen. There is a timer that counts how long until the nuke is dropped. Once all the living people are collected a yellow teleporter appears somewhere in the level, and the player must find it to win. The player receives their fee, based on the number of people safely rescued, and how fast the operation was completed. All damage to the hovertank is repaired at the end of the level.


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==Reception==
==Reception==
''Hovertank 3D'' is a landmark 3D game. Other 3D titles at the time, such as [[flight simulator]]s and other games (such as ''[[Alpha Waves]]'') that had more detailed environments, were noticeably slower.<ref name="mastersdoom">{{cite book|last=Kushner |first=David |title=[[Masters of Doom|Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created An Empire And Transformed Pop Culture]] |publisher=[[Random House]] |at=89 |year=2003 |isbn=0-375-50524-5}}</ref> A similar engine was used by ''[[MIDI Maze]]'' for the [[Atari ST]] in 1987 and ''[[Wayout]]'' for the [[Atari 8-bit computers]] from 1982.
''Hovertank One'' is a landmark 3D game. Other 3D titles at the time, such as [[flight simulator]]s and other games (such as ''[[Alpha Waves]]'') that had more detailed environments, were noticeably slower.<ref name="mastersdoom">{{cite book|last=Kushner |first=David |title=[[Masters of Doom|Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created An Empire And Transformed Pop Culture]] |publisher=[[Random House]] |at=89 |year=2003 |isbn=0-375-50524-5}}</ref> A similar engine was used by ''[[MIDI Maze]]'' for the [[Atari ST]] in 1987 and ''[[Wayout]]'' for the [[Apple II]] from 1982.


==Notes==
==Notes==

Revision as of 15:21, 22 June 2024

Hovertank One
Hovertank One title screen
Developer(s)id Software
Publisher(s)Softdisk
Director(s)Tom Hall
Designer(s)Tom Hall
Programmer(s)John Carmack, John Romero
Artist(s)Adrian Carmack
EnginePrototype of Wolfenstein 3D engine
Platform(s)DOS
Release
Genre(s)Vehicular combat game, first-person shooter[3]
Mode(s)Single-player

Hovertank One,[1] also known under a variety of other names (Hovertank or Hovertank 3D[a]), is a vehicular combat game developed by id Software and published by Softdisk in April 1991.

Plot

Hovertank One is set during a nuclear war. In Hovertank One, the player controls Brick Sledge, a mercenary hired by an unknown organization (referred to by the game as the "UFA") to rescue people from cities under the threat of nuclear attack (largely political activists or scientists), both by the government and by large corporations. However, the cities are also full of mutated humans, strange creatures and enemy hovertanks.

Gameplay

Hovertank One gameplay

The player must drive a hovertank through the levels and try to find the people Brick is supposed to rescue. There are many enemies in the levels, who are hunting down the people as well as the player. The player can keep track of both people and enemies in the radar box at the bottom of the screen. There is a timer that counts how long until the nuke is dropped. Once all the living people are collected a yellow teleporter appears somewhere in the level, and the player must find it to win. The player receives their fee, based on the number of people safely rescued, and how fast the operation was completed. All damage to the hovertank is repaired at the end of the level.

Development

John Carmack's research in the game's engine took six weeks, two weeks longer than any id engine before it. The engine written for this game was expanded upon with texture mapping to make Catacomb 3-D, and then later still with raycasting for Wolfenstein 3D. Following the engine's completion, the id staff decided on the nuclear war theme and developed the game. Adrian Carmack enjoyed drawing the monsters and other ghoulish touches.[4] The credits are John Carmack and John Romero as programmers, Tom Hall as game designer and Adrian Carmack as video game artist.

The source code to the game, owned by Flat Rock Software, was released in June 2014 under GNU GPL-2.0-or-later in a manner similar those done by id and partners.[5]

Reception

Hovertank One is a landmark 3D game. Other 3D titles at the time, such as flight simulators and other games (such as Alpha Waves) that had more detailed environments, were noticeably slower.[4] A similar engine was used by MIDI Maze for the Atari ST in 1987 and Wayout for the Apple II from 1982.

Notes

  1. ^ The name Hovertank is used on the MS-DOS title screen. Hovertank 3-D is a name used in the start menu in Softdisk's 1992 Gamer's Edge release. Hovertank One is used on the original box art and floppy disks of the original 1991 mail-order release.

References

  1. ^ a b "id Software: Hovertank One". id Software. Archived from the original on March 21, 2007.
  2. ^ "How id built Wolfenstein 3D using Commander Keen tech". Gamasutra. 24 June 2019.
  3. ^ Kushner, David (2003). Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created An Empire And Transformed Pop Culture. Random House. 83. ISBN 0-375-50524-5. Hovertank was the first fast-action, first-person shooter for the computer. Id had invented a genre.
  4. ^ a b Kushner, David (2003). Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created An Empire And Transformed Pop Culture. Random House. 89. ISBN 0-375-50524-5.
  5. ^ Larabel, Michael (June 6, 2014). "id Software's Softdisk Open-Sources Some Really Old Games". Phoronix. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
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