Evolution of the shooter genre
Tags: Gaming, Esport, Gamefi, Shooter Game, Nft

The 3D shooter genre has a rich history. In a sense, three-dimensional shooters can be called the locomotives of the gaming industry, because it requires powerful hardware and optimization, it is here that all the developers’ talent is revealed to optimally use the processor, video card and network limits, so every milestone in this genre is a consequence of breakthrough innovations. In today’s article, we will plunge into the history of the development of the genre.

ID Software — pioneers of the genre

The pioneers in the world of 3D shooters were ID Software. Even before first-person shooters, simulation games were released in pseudo-3D space, and ID Software was no exception with the release of Hovertank 3D.

The history of the first-person shooter genre began with the games Catacomb 3-D, Wolfenstein 3-d and Doom. The company’s de facto first pseudo-3D shooter was 1991’s Catacomb 3-D, which took place in 3D, in which the player played the role of a battle mage. In fact, there was no height in the game yet — that is, the player could not jump, fall, climb stairs — but some walls could be destroyed, for example. However, Catacomb 3-D never made it to the general public. The first truly memorable first person shooter was Wolfenstein 3-d, released in 1992, which was also a pseudo-3D game. There, the player acted as agent William “B.J.” Blazkowicz, who fought with Nazi Germany behind enemy lines.

ID Software’s third shooter, Doom, was already much closer to three-dimensional space, there were already heights, elevators, stairs. The setting was also quite curious — the player played the role of a Space Marine fighting the invasion of demons. Doom quickly became a worldwide-recognized masterpiece. Doom is ranked 17th on IGN’s 2018 Top 100 Games of All Time ranking. Although the game was released in 1993, ports to various operating systems and custom modifications of the original game continue to be released in large numbers to this day. In 1994, the continuation of the series, Doom 2, was released. And yet even Doom was not in the full sense of three-dimensional, so only walls, steps, elevators were fully three-dimensional — monsters and objects were sprites consisting of pixels.

Doom is also notable for supporting multiplayer, but due to the weak modems of the time, the vast majority of players were still playing single-player.

The company’s next shooter was Quake, released in 1996. Quake, which already had a full-fledged 3D engine — even monsters and objects have already become 3D. In terms of setting, Quake partly followed in Doom’s footsteps, mixing futuristic setting and occult aesthetics — but this time the main opponents were not hellish demons, but Lovecraftian monsters. Most importantly, Quake ushered in the era of esports, in which player-to-player battles became as important to the game as the single player.

All three game series Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake continue to this day, with new games being released on more and more modern engines.

The era of esports

The artificial intelligence of monsters is quite predictable, and a living person is more resourceful and cunning, which means it is of great sports interest. Moreover, by 1996, gamers already had modems for playing over the network. Gradually over the years, 3D shooters have been released with a focus on single-player games such as Duke Nukem 3d from 3D Realms or Unreal from Epic Games. But gradually the emphasis shifted towards esports.

Quake 3 Arena in 1999 no longer had a single-player mode in the usual sense, as in Unreal Tournament 2000. Games of that era were primarily honed by competition between players. However, in a single-player game, storylines developed from examples such as Half-Life and Max Payne.

Multiplayer shooters have evolved not only towards deathmatch, but also towards team play, where the Counter Strike and Team Fortress series were particularly successful.

Team Fortress is a milestone in the genre because it has long been canon for multiplayer team shooters. Firstly, asymmetric gameplay was popularized, when each player played for a class that was fundamentally different from others in terms of gameplay — for example, a sniper, engineer, medic, etc. Secondly, all kinds of cosmetic elements were popularized in this game … such as various unique hats, clothes, etc. Thirdly, the idea of ​​building right on the battlefield was popularized in the game.

Shooter monetization schemes have gradually changed with an emphasis on multiplayer mode. If earlier the player simply bought the game and add-ons to it, now there are a lot of shooters, for example CS: GO or Valorant. Free2Play shooters are monetized mainly through various kinds of cosmetics — skins for characters and weapons, which players receive as a reward for playing or purchasing for real money.

The era of survival shooters

The next fundamentally new round in the evolution of the genre was Survival-shooters, among which examples such as RUST, Fortnite, 7 Days to Die and the like can be distinguished. Their fundamental difference from classic shooters is that, in addition to the actual combat component, the collection of resources and construction play a very important role in them, so you can stand out from the crowd of other players not only with your game skills or a unique skin, but also architectural creativity.

This gameplay creates the need for new ways to monetize. The Play2Earn model, which is especially popular in the GameFi field, creates the need for a decentralized infrastructure for in-game asset trading. MASD is working to ensure that players can profit from in-game asset trading, their esports skills and creativity. We believe MASD will be the next step in the evolution of 3D shooters. You can come to MASD as an esports player, investor, content creator, or even just chat with interesting people. The next era is GameFi games, and the shooter genre is no exception. Our revolutionary contribution to the shooter genre will be the implementation of a decentralized in-game economy based on NFT.

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