Software

Video Games That Defied What Was Thought Possible

Genius Games That Rewrote What Was Possible

Creative minds are capable of some astonishing things. Yes, there are engineers who work tirelessly to shape the future, but it just so happens that it is often creative minds that pave the way, finding solutions that simply don’t occur to more industrial personalities.

In that regard, it makes sense that it is video games that have pushed technology forward, managing to achieve what many thought was simply impossible. These are some of the video games that redefined the world, shaped an industry, and in turn pushed software engineering forward into a new era.

Doom

Doom was the first 3D game, right? Wrong. Doom was not a 3D game at all, it was a 2D game dressed up to appear 3D. Looking at Doom, even today, and trying to understand that it isn’t real 3D is the sort of thing that can melt a brain. Try telling yourself that it operates via the same software that runs 2D platformers, and you may just have a meltdown.

It was industry legend John Carmack that created this incredible software, and to this day he remains one of the most legendary developers alive.

GTA 3

Open world games are the norm today, but wouldn’t have existed if it weren’t for GTA 3. What makes this game stand apart is the elegant, yet ingenious solution that the developers found for what was essentially an impossible problem;how to make an entire city function on a piece of hardware as underpowered as the PS2?While you think about that, check this site to learn more.

In the end the geniuses at Rockstar did what no one else thought of; they designed a city that only existed when the player is looking at it. Yes, this meant drastically reducing the complexity of everything, which in turn made it possible to quickly stream needed assets in and out of memory, but the result was the birth of a genre.

F.E.A.R

Video game AI is an impressively diverse and varied branch of technology, making astounding leaps and bounds. But, as far as functional, effective AI goes, you don’t get much more ground breaking than F.E.A.R.

Virtually all shooters that had come before it offered up more or less the same type of enemy; the sort that was about as dumb and senseless as a piñata. F.E.A.R demonstrated that not only could enemies behave realistically, finding cover and deploying extremely shrewd tactics, but also that enemies could work together as a bonafide team.

Half-Life 2

What made Half-Life 2 stand apart, despite everything you probably already know, is the genuine physics based environment. Physics had existed before in games, but only to mostly minor degrees. Half-Life 2 came along and, beyond what was thought possible, had mountains of physics objects that not only interacted with the environment, but also with each other. In fact, the physics system is this decades old game still tends to be more advanced , and reliable, than many titles releasing today.

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