Catacomb 3-D | |
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Title screen
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Developer(s) | id Software |
Publisher(s) | Softdisk |
Director(s) | Tom Hall |
Designer(s) | John Carmack |
Composer(s) | Robert Prince |
Engine | Prototype of Wolfenstein 3D engine |
Platform(s) | MS-DOS |
Release date(s) |
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Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Catacomb 3-D (also known as Catacomb 3-D: A New Dimension, Catacomb 3-D: The Descent, and Catacombs 3) is the third in the Catacomb series of video games (created by the founders of id Software), and the first of these games to feature 3D computer graphics. The game was originally published by Softdisk under the Gamer's Edge label, and is a first-person shooter with a dark fantasy setting. The player takes control of the high wizard Petton Everhail, descending into the catacomb of the Towne Cemetery to defeat the evil lich Nemesis and rescue his friend Grelminar.
Catacomb 3-D is a landmark title in terms of first-person graphics. The game was released in November 1991 and is arguably the first example of the modern, character-based first-person shooter genre, or at least it was a direct ancestor to the games that popularized the genre. It was released for MS-DOS with EGA graphics. The game introduced the concept of showing the player's hand in the three-dimensional viewpoint, and an enhanced version of its technology was later used for the more successful and well-known Wolfenstein 3D. The game's more primitive technological predecessor was Hovertank 3D.
The origins of the games are Catacomb by John Carmack for the PC and Apple II. This is a two-dimensional game utilizing a third-person view from above, released in 1989-1990. It was followed up with Catacomb II, which used the same game engine with new levels. The first release of Catacomb 3-D was called Catacomb 3-D: A New Dimension, but it was later re-released as Catacomb 3-D: The Descent, as well as Catacombs 3 for a re-release as commercially packaged software (the earlier versions had been released by other means such as disk magazines and downloads). The game creators were John Carmack, John Romero, Jason Blochowiak (programmers), Tom Hall (creative director), Adrian Carmack (artist), and Robert Prince (musician).