Voxelstein 3D
A bit of indie randomness for your day:

Voxelstein 3D

"Voxelstein 3D is a voxel based FPS game in the spirit of Wolfenstein 3D. It uses Ken Silverman's Voxlap engine."

Unlike the original Wolf3D, this game plays in actual 3D, with stairways, jumping, and so forth. But this is certainly an homage to that original game, done with a pretty unique - and rarely seen, nowadays - technology. It needs some serious coats of polish, but it's entertaining and reasonably playable now.

I understand development is continuing, but the public release hasn't been updated in a while. Hmmm, that sounds awkwardly familiar... Besides, now in 2010, the picture of George W. Bush in the Nazi stronghold is now not just silly but dated.

Some background: A voxel is effectively a 3D pixel - so the entire world here is created out of tiny 3D cubes. It was pretty impressive technology back in the early 90's, but when modern 3D cards took hold - and because of patent limitations - it pretty much disappeared. Ken Silverman, the creator of the engine, was the brains behind the engine that fueled Duke Nukem 3D (among other games). Old fart that I am, I actually recognized his name from Ken's Labyrinth, an indie game (back in the day it was called "shareware") he created in response to Wolfenstein 3D. That little project was what got him the job with Apogee / 3D Realms in the first place.

While the beginning of Voxelstein 3D is a bit tedious, I did like how you have to cut your way through the bars of your prison with a knife. That's an interesting use of voxel technology. Hint - you just have to cut a hole in the top and bottom of the bar... the rest will fall away.

While the game is not yet anywhere near what I'd consider a commercially viable release (and the use of the Wolfenstein 3D intellectual property is definitely a no-no), this is one of those examples of indie cleverness that I love to see.

(Hat Tip to IndieGames.com)

Labels: Free Games

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