Serious Sam: The First Encounter

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Serious Sam: The First Encounter
Windows
  • Palm OS
  • Xbox
  • HD
  • Windows
  • Xbox 360
  • Stadia
  • Nintendo Switch
  • PlayStation 4
  • Xbox One
  • VR
  • Linux
  • Windows
    • Release
    21 March 2001
    • Windows
    • 21 March 2001
    • Palm OS
    • December 2001
    • Xbox
    • 12 November 2002
    • Windows (HD)
    • 24 November 2009
    • Xbox 360 (HD)
    • 13 January 2010
    • Linux, Windows (VR)
    • 30 March 2017
    • Stadia (HD)
    • 3 March 2020
    • Switch, PS4, XONE (HD)
    • 17 November 2020
    multiplayer

    Serious Sam: The First Encounter is a 2001

    multiplayer, the game has two deathmatch modes and cooperative
    play for the single-player campaign.

    Development began in 1996, after Croteam had moved away from creating games for the since-defunct

    On Deck Interactive
    , the budget-price games division of Gathering of Developers. After the division was shut down, Serious Sam was moved over to Gathering of Developers and released on 21 March 2001.

    The game received positive reviews, with critics praising its engine, gameplay, presentation, sound, and humour. Mixed opinions were raised regarding the game's multiplayer modes and repetitiveness, while its puzzle elements were criticised as too trivial. Due to its budget price, several reviewers cited the game's

    game of the year from GameSpot
    .

    The First Encounter was followed up by Serious Sam: The Second Encounter in February 2002. Both games have been combined into one in several packages, including an Xbox port released by Gotham Games in November 2002. With the publisher Devolver Digital, Croteam developed a remake, Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter, that was first released in November 2009 and later brought to Xbox 360, Stadia, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. A virtual reality port of that remake, Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter, was released in March 2017.

    Gameplay

    Sam fighting Scythian Witch-Harpies using a rocket launcher

    Serious Sam: The First Encounter is a

    circle strafing.[3][8][11] The Beheaded Kamikaze approaches Sam quickly and blows himself up once close enough.[3] Foes may appear, in waves or individually, as the player passes triggers within each level.[1][8] Others are hidden behind large structures like walls and hills.[12] All enemies emit sounds that aid the player determine their type and direction of attack.[1][12] Some spaces are arenas that need to be cleared of enemies before the player can proceed.[1][8] Certain rooms need to be unlocked by pressing buttons, pulling levers, or collecting and using keys.[1][5] Some levels feature bosses, many have hidden items and areas.[5][8]

    The game contains ten weapons.

    quick saves and the ability to record gameplay demos.[8][16] A specialised interface provides information about encountered enemies, weapons, and locations, as well as statistics and strategic clues.[16][17][18] The player can choose from five difficulty settings, which affect the enemies' damage and count, as well as Sam's movement speed and fire rate.[6][19]

    The First Encounter supports

    split screen for up to four players.[11][20] Deathmatch modes can be played on five dedicated maps, with the "Scorematch" mode valuing player performances by obtained score and the "Fragmatch" mode considering only the number of kills.[8][21] All single-player levels can be played in a cooperative mode that scales up the number of enemies alongside the number of players.[8][9]

    Plot

    Serious Sam: The First Encounter begins with recounting how humans in the early 21st century found buried artefacts of the Sirians, an ancient but technologically advanced alien civilisation, which enabled them to explore the universe at large. However, in 2104, they were attacked by alien forces commanded by Mental. Humanity was pushed back from Alpha Centauri to the Solar System and eventually Earth, where it faced its eradication. As their last hope, world leaders agreed to send the undefeated soldier Sam "Serious" Stone (voiced by John Dick) back in time using the Time-Lock, a Sirian device able to transport only one person.

    Sam arrives in 1378

    Amun-Ra, an item of great value but unclear purpose. NETRICSA guides Sam to retrieve four magical elements that would enable his entry into Thebes. He finds the first to have been removed from the temple of Thutmose I and instead obtains it at the entry of the tomb of Ramesses III, as well as the second at its exit. Sam continues through the Valley of the Kings, acquiring the third element in the Chambers of Horus and the fourth in a shrine at a nearby oasis
    .

    Sam heads into Memphis and recovers the sign of Amun-Ra at the

    Great Pyramid. Sam hurries there but is chased by Ugh-Zan III, the last warlock giant. Unable to defeat him, Sam quickly enters the pyramid and uses the sign of Amun-Ra to reach its top. He faces Ugh-Zan III again and kills him by activating the spaceship's tractor beam
    , which only allows entry to particular species. Finally, Sam boards the spaceship and takes off.

    Development and release

    In the Flesh and S-Cape3D

    Serious Sam: The First Encounter was developed by

    5-A-Side Soccer (1996).[23] By the release of 5-A-Side Soccer, the Amiga had been discontinued, so Croteam shifted its focus to PC game development in 1995.[23][24] The development of Serious Sam began in 1996.[25] Initially, members of Croteam were still at various universities, studying either computer science, informatics, or economics.[26] Unable to afford to license a commercial game engine, Croteam created its own using Microsoft Visual C++ and OpenGL, with programmer Alen Ladavac leading the development.[22][27] They had been working on a clone of the engine for Wolfenstein 3D—which simulates 3D environments with 2D graphics through ray casting—and planned to use it to convert a Croatian role-playing game from the Amiga to PC.[26][27] With the rising popularity of Doom, the team soon chose to pursue a first-person shooter instead.[28][29]

    During the engine's development, they incorporated vertical camera movement akin to Duke Nukem 3D and later fully modelled 3D environments like in Quake. They paired these changes with hardware-based rendering due to the rise of 3D-accelerated graphics processing units (GPUs). The engine was optimised for low-end hardware with a proprietary physics implementation while aiming for large outdoor areas and for many enemies to be visible at a time. They implemented large quantities of projectiles using a "caching ahead system" that would calculate all possible collisions for a moving projectile a few seconds in advance. Collisions were approximated using spheres, which were easier to calculate and allowed for additional gameplay elements like multi-directional gravity.[27] Having a proprietary engine allowed Croteam to incorporate unique features, especially large numbers of simultaneously displayed enemies, which Croteam's chief executive officer, Roman Ribarić, said had been missing from other games of the time due to limiting technology, leading to less action-oriented games.[28][30] Dean Sekulić worked on the engine's optimisation and GPU compatibility, often being in contact with the technicians at GPU manufacturers like Matrox, Nvidia, and 3dfx to sort out issues.[22]

    Croteam announced Flesh, a multiplayer first-person shooter, in September 1996, planning to release it in February 1997.[31] The name was later changed to In the Flesh, with the engine called S-Cape3D.[32] Ribarić and Davor Hunski designed all enemies, with the Beheaded Kamikaze and Sirian Werebull, which remained in the finished game, among the first elements to be created in 1996.[30][33] Dinko Pavičić joined Croteam during the development and created all characters' textures. Ribarić also worked on the game's sound design, initially having the Beheaded Kamikaze shout "banzai" while approaching the player, though this was later changed to a generic scream in case Croteam would be working with Japanese partners.[33] That scream is voiced by Ribarić, who recreated it from a stock sound effect.[34]

    Switch to Serious Sam and demo release

    For In the Flesh, the team initially devised a dark, story-driven game, later inspired by

    planes topped with large structures like pyramids worked well as levels, although they pushed the limits of the engine.[42] Other themes included the Lava Planet, Water Planet, and Ice Planet.[33] In 1999, Damjan Mravunac joined Croteam as a composer before also replacing Ribarić as the sound designer.[42] He ended up remaking most of Ribarić's sounds.[43] His primary influences were Doom and Quake for the sounds, and he took musical inspiration from the games Agony and Lost Patrol, as well as film scores from composers like John Williams, Hans Zimmer, and Ennio Morricone.[44] Both were recorded using a Sound Blaster Live! sound card, which Mravunac chose after facing driver issues with other cards.[43][44] Croteam then designed the Dynamic Music Control System that would change between three versions of a song during gameplay: The "peace" music outside of battles, "combat" upon encountering enemies, and "war" when the player faces many foes.[43][45]

    Because the developers' parents were Croteam's sole source of funding, the team eventually began searching for a

    Quake III engine available at the time.[23] Among fourteen licensees were a follow-up to Battlecruiser 3000AD codenamed Project ABC by Derek Smart,[47][48] Alpha Black Zero: Intrepid Protocol by Khaeon, Nitro Family by Delphieye Entertainment,[23] and Carnivores: Cityscape by Sunstorm Interactive.[49] For the demo, Croteam created a vertical slice: The team took one level, "Karnak", and thoroughly polished it to make it feel complete.[27] Entitled "Test 1", the demo was released on 30 May 2000 via Croteam's website and several mirror sites.[22][50] At this time, Croteam comprised nine developers: Six people were working full time and two students worked in their spare time, while one person had been conscripted. Some developers had left the studio before this point as they did not have wages.[33] One year of military service was compulsory in Croatia at the time, and all developers were conscripted at some point.[33][46] Some full-time staffers worked on the game seven days per week.[50] Lacking spare time, they did not get to work other jobs, go on dates, or play other games.[22][51] At the office, they only played Serious Sam.[52] The team ultimately grew to ten people.[43][53]

    According to

    On Deck Interactive, a division of Gathering of Developers run by Robert Westmoreland that released budget-priced games.[57] The publisher initially expected the game to be released in February 2001.[50] The success also led Croteam to lay aside all plans of handling Serious Sam solely as a marketing demonstration for Serious Engine.[58] In retrospect, Ribarić said that, without the interview that led to the publishing deal, Croteam would not have survived.[59]

    Late development and release

    In June 2000, Croteam opened a competition for fans to submit and vote on possible

    pitch-shifted his voice down slightly to better suit the character.[42][62]

    In later stages of development, Croteam reduced the number of levels from forty to fifteen.

    Photoshop, Terragen, and LightWave 3D.[65]

    Croteam released a second demo, "Test 2", on 15 December 2000 to trial the new multiplayer component.

    gone gold.[68] It was released on 21 March 2001 and distributed in the United States by the Take-Two subsidiary Jack of All Games.[69][70] By this time, Serious Sam had obtained the subtitle "The First Encounter".[5][21] To aid modding efforts, it includes Serious Editor and Serious Modeler, and Croteam released a software development kit shortly after the release.[11][71]

    Reception

    Serious Sam: The First Encounter received "generally favorable reviews", according to the

    weighted average rating of 87/100 based on thirty-one critic reviews.[72] Several critics described the game as a return to older first-person shooters like Doom and Duke Nukem 3D as the genre had since matured to be more story-focused, as it is in Half-Life.[11][78] John Bye (Eurogamer), Dave Woods (PC Zone), and Chris Kramer (Daily Radar) likened the game's intensity to that of Doom and opined it excelled that of Kiss: Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child, which had been released in the year prior with a similar approach to enemy wave design.[1][3][8] GameSpy's Allen Eccles believed the game to have more enemies than any other game and lauded the skill it required to defeat them.[79] Chris Gardiner, writing for Games Domain, similarly highlighted the challenge the game posed.[2] Kevin Giacobbi of GameZone said the difficulty options were well-balanced for various player skill levels.[9] In contrast, Woods felt harder modes were too difficult while the easier modes were not challenging enough.[8]

    James Cottee (PC PowerPlay) said the game became tiresome after several hours of play, while Shawn Sparks (GameRevolution) considered it repetitive after an adrenaline rush.[13][75] Charles Herold similarly noted in The New York Times that, due to its simple gameplay, the game merely made battles more difficult, not more interesting.[12] According to Brett Todd of Computer Games Magazine, making battles increasingly comprise more enemies only highlighted a repetitive formula.[80] Contrarily, Robert Howarth of Voodoo Extreme believed the game was challenging and enjoyable despite its repetitions, while Bye, Greg Kasavin (GameSpot), and Tal Blevins (IGN) stated any repetitiveness was compensated for by the large arsenal and variety in encounters.[11][16][17] Woods and Cottee bemoaned the game was too short.[8][13] Gardiner criticised the puzzle sequences as too trivial.[2] The Serious Engine was commended for its ability to render large outdoor scenes,[8][13] which Kasavin and Blevins felt suited the action-oriented gameplay well.[11][17] Cottee and Blevins particularly commended the engine for displaying many enemies without noticeable performance issues.[13][17] Still, Gardiner deplored that several features of the engine had been scarcely used in the game.[2]

    Bye lauded the game's graphics, describing the environments as "more relaxing but equally impressive" when compared to the gameplay and a "perfect showcase" for the "incredibly detailed" textures. He said the bright colour scheme was a welcome change from the "traditional miserable looking gothic castles and rusty futuristic military bases" found in other first-person shooters of the time. He further highlighted the game's

    AllGame, while admiring the visual effects observed a stark contrast in quality between the scenery and enemies.[73] Bye noted that the amount of detail on these models was surprising given the large number of enemies visible at a time.[1] Blevins also faulted the quality of the models but believed they were aptly designed.[17] Kramer praised the Beheaded Kamikaze as "perhaps one of the funniest, scariest enemies we've seen in recent memory".[3]

    Jeremy Williams of

    The Electric Playground commended it for its speed and reliability, even on a slow internet connection.[7] Woods faulted the multiplayer for having too few deathmatch levels as well as unbalanced weapon strengths, citing the Thompson submachine gun as "way too powerful". He concluded that the multiplayer was "a bonus and a harmless diversion, nothing more".[8] Conversely, Eccles opined the multiplayer modes sharply increased the game's enjoyability.[81] He further applauded the game's humour, as did Woods, and Bye said it was well-timed and apt for the game, safe for some puns.[1][8][81] Allen, on the other hand, felt none of the one-liners was as clever as those in Duke Nukem 3D.[73] Kasavin and Bye lauded the sound effects, and Kasavin described the controls as responsive.[1][11]

    Costing $20 in the United States, many outlets recommended The First Encounter for its

    NPD Intelect.[85]

    Accolades

    GameSpot named The First Encounter the

    computer mice.[99]

    Legacy

    Ports and sequels

    InterActive Vision's Poland-based Mind Beacon studio, under the direction of Piotr Kulik, developed a version of Serious Sam: The First Encounter for

    black and white, were released in January 2002.[100] The game is compatible with Palm OS version 3.5 and higher.[104]

    Immediately following The First Encounter's completion, Croteam began work on a sequel based on an updated version of Serious Engine.[105] The game moved away from the Egyptian theme and was announced as Serious Sam: The Second Encounter in September 2001.[106][107] Initially slated for December 2001, it was released in February 2002.[108][109] An Xbox game that bundles both games was in development by January 2002, with Serious Engine already adapted for the platform. At the time, Croteam was negotiating with Take-Two to have the game released by the end of the year.[110] In July 2002, Take-Two established the label Gotham Games, with Serious Sam for the Xbox to be among its first products.[111][112] The game features thirty-five levels and improved graphical elements like reworked weapon models.[113][114] Additionally, this version amends the points system to have the player earn lives as well as higher scores through combos.[14] It was released on 12 November 2002.[115] On Windows, the two games were bundled in 2003 as Serious Sam: Gold Edition, based on the Xbox version with an additional episode by modder Trisk.[14][116]

    Serious Sam 2, described as a "true sequel" to The First Encounter and The Second Encounter, was announced in September 2002 and released in October 2005.[23][117] The vertical slice model Croteam had used for The First Encounter's first demo shaped how it approached early consumer testing for its later games, including Serious Sam 3: BFE and The Talos Principle.[27]

    Remake

    In June 2009, the publisher Majesco Entertainment announced a high-definition remake, Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter, for Windows and the Xbox 360. For this version, Croteam worked with nascent publisher Devolver Digital, founded by Gathering of Developers co-founders Mike Wilson and Harry Miller. As Devolver Digital had not been licensed as a publisher for the Xbox 360 yet, it published the Windows version and worked with Majesco on the Xbox 360 release.[118][119] Croteam considered creating a PlayStation 3 version due to high demand.[120] Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter was released for Windows on 24 November 2009, while the Xbox 360 version was scheduled for December.[121] Shortly thereafter, Devolver Digital announced a remake of The Second Encounter.[122] The Xbox 360 port was released on 13 January 2010 via Xbox Live Arcade and became the service's most-played game that month with 35,211 players.[123][124]

    The remakes were bundled with their originals as Serious Sam HD: Gold Edition on Steam from 23 September 2010, and they were distributed physically for the Xbox 360 as part of The Serious Sam Collection, released by Mastertronic Group in July 2013.[125][126] Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter, Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter, and Serious Sam 3: BFE became part of Serious Sam Collection, which was announced in February 2020 and released for the Stadia streaming service on 3 March 2020.[127][128] Serious Sam Collection was brought to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on 17 November 2020.[129]

    Around 2016, a small team within Croteam began developing a virtual reality version of the remake based on its prior work on Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope.[130] Called Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter, it incorporates locomotion and teleportation movement, as well as dual wielding for all weapons. It was made available as an early access title for Windows in December 2016, with a Linux version added in February 2017.[131][132] The finished game was released on 30 March 2017.[133][134] Both versions of the remake are part of Serious Sam Fusion 2017, which acts as a hub to launch each game from.[14]

    Other

    Dick had the Serious Sam bomb logo tattooed on his shoulder. He said that "I'm a part of Sam so I decided to make Sam a part of me." Since he used tattoos to signify periods of change in his life, Serious Sam represented the beginning of his career in video games.[61]

    The First Encounter was added to the digital distribution service GOG.com in August 2010.[135][136] There, it was offered for free in August 2020.[137][138]

    Croteam sanctioned the development of Serious Sam Origins, a mod developed by users of the Russian

    Steam Early Access in April 2014 but its development halted after late 2016 when the members of Alligator Pit became preoccupied with other matters.[140][142] Croteam eventually took over development and released the finished game in August 2019, giving it for free to existing owners of either of the original games.[142]

    During The First Encounter's fifteenth anniversary in March 2016, Croteam released the source code of Serious Engine version 1.10 as open-source software.[143][144] Ryan C. Gordon ported it to Linux and macOS in April 2016.[145] Based on the open-source engine, Sultim Tsyrendashiev developed a version of The First Encounter with real-time path tracing and a renderer for the Vulkan graphics API.[146]

    Notes

    1. ^ The Palm OS version was developed by InterActive Vision.
    2. Global Star Software and for the Xbox by Gotham Games. Devolver Digital published the HD and VR versions, co-publishing the Xbox 360 release of HD with Majesco Entertainment
      .

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    External links

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Serious_Sam:_The_First_Encounter&oldid=1214863020"