# Freescape > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Freescape > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Freescape.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freescape > Source revision: 1355079708 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Video game 3D engine Freescape Developer Incentive Software Release 1987; 39 years ago (1987) Final release 3D Construction Kit II / 1992; 34 years ago (1992) Platform Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum Available in English Type Game engine License Proprietary software **Freescape** is a [video game engine](/source/Video_game_engine), an early [3D](/source/3D_computer_graphics) [game engine](/source/Game_engine) first used in 1987's *[Driller](/source/Driller_(video_game))*. Graphics were composed mostly of [solid geometry](/source/Solid_geometry) rendered without [shading](/source/Shading).[1][2] ## History Developed in-house by [Incentive Software](/source/Incentive_Software), Freescape is considered to be one of the first proprietary 3D engines to be used in [video games](/source/Video_game), although the engine was not used commercially outside of Incentive's own titles.[3] The project was originally thought to be so ambitious that according to Incentive designer [Ian Andrew](/source/Ian_Andrew), the company struggled to recruit programmers for the project, with many believing that it could not be achieved. Paul Gregory (graphics artist for Major Developments, Incentive's in-house design team) mentions that Freescape was developed by Chris Andrew starting in September 1986 on an [Amstrad CPC](/source/Amstrad_CPC), as it was the most suitable development system with 128K memory and had adequate power to run 3D environments.[4] The engine was ported to the [ZX Spectrum](/source/ZX_Spectrum), [MS-DOS](/source/MS-DOS), [Commodore 64](/source/Commodore_64), [Amiga](/source/Amiga), and [Atari ST](/source/Atari_ST). Freescape development ended in 1992 with the release of *[3D Construction Kit II](/source/3D_Construction_Kit_II)*. Its legacy continued in the latter Superscape VRT [virtual reality](/source/Virtual_reality) authoring engine, from the same developer and advertised on the *3D Construction Kit II* software. ## Technology ### Geometry The Freescape engine allowed the generation of complete 3D environments that consist of a floor and as many [primitives](/source/Geometric_primitive) as memory and processor speed realistically allowed for. These primitives were [cuboids](/source/Cuboid), four-sided [frustums](/source/Frustum) (called [pyramids](/source/Pyramid) by Freescape), [triangles](/source/Triangle), [rectangles](/source/Rectangle), [quadrilaterals](/source/Quadrilateral), [pentagons](/source/Pentagon), [hexagons](/source/Hexagon) and [line segments](/source/Line_segment). A further primitive, "sensor", was used for gaming purpose to detect the position of the camera relative to the sensor in the game world. Freescape was designed with limited hardware in mind and as such contains a number of inherent limitations that are necessary to enable the games to run properly on these computers: - Individual regions were restricted to a size of 8192 × 4096 × 8192 units. These units were arbitrary but each region always corresponded to the dimensions. - The engine did not allow for fractional movements. On [16-bit](/source/16-bit) machines each movement—camera or object—must be a multiple of one unit. On [8-bit](/source/8-bit) machines the angles at which the world may be viewed are further restricted to steps of 5 degrees. - The x and z axes were subdivided into only 128 discrete locations, and the y axis is subdivided into only 64 discrete locations. As a result, objects can only be placed at 64 unit intervals, for example, 0,64,128 or 128,64,32. - Objects may not overlap. - All objects possessed a "bounding cube", for which detection rules apply as per a cube, i.e. no overlapping. ### Interaction Games used the Freescape Command Language ('FCL'), an early in-game [scripting language](/source/Scripting_language), to add interactive elements to Freescape worlds. Scripts may be set to run constantly for the entire world or run constantly for a certain area, or may be attached to individual objects where they will be run once if the object is shot, activated or collided with. Versions of Freescape for the Amiga, Atari ST and PC also supported 'animators', which were FCL programs that use a few extra instructions to create on-screen animations. ## Software using the Freescape engine Software titles using the Freescape engine:[5] - *[Driller](/source/Driller_(video_game))* (1987)[2] (also known as *Space Station Oblivion*)[6] - *[Dark Side](/source/Dark_Side_(video_game))* (1988) - *[Total Eclipse](/source/Total_Eclipse_(1988_video_game))* (1988) - *[Castle Master](/source/Castle_Master)* (1990) - *[Castle Master II: The Crypt](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Castle_Master_II:_The_Crypt&action=edit&redlink=1)* (1990) - *[Total Eclipse II: The Sphinx Jinx](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Total_Eclipse_II:_The_Sphinx_Jinx&action=edit&redlink=1)* (1991) - *[3D Construction Kit](/source/3D_Construction_Kit)* (1991)[7] (also known as Virtual Reality Studio)[8] - *[3D Construction Kit II](/source/3D_Construction_Kit_II)* (1992) (also known as Virtual Reality Studio 2.0)[9] ## See also - [First-person shooter engine](/source/First-person_shooter_engine) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** paleotronic (26 April 2019). ["1980s 8-Bit 3D Adventures with Freescape"](https://paleotronic.com/2019/04/26/3d-adventures-with-freescape/). *Paleotronic Magazine*. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-auto_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-auto_2-1) Retro Gamer Team (22 September 2009). ["Driller"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150914025318/https://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/driller/). *Retro Gamer*. Archived from [the original](https://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/driller/) on 14 September 2015. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Fahs, Fahs (22 October 2008). ["Exploring the Freescape"](https://web.archive.org/web/20151122065445/http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/10/22/exploring-the-freescape). [IGN](/source/IGN). Archived from [the original](http://uk.retro.ign.com/articles/922/922505p1.html) on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2009. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** "Incentive". *Retro Gamer*. No. 22. p. 26. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Freescape"](https://www.uvlist.net/groups/info/freescapeengine). *Universal Videogame List*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Space Station Oblivion (1987)"](https://www.mobygames.com/game/space-station-oblivion). *MobyGames*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Wilson, Stuart. ["3D Construction Kit"](http://www.stu-wilson.com/3DKit_Website/about.html). *unofficial 3D Construction Kit website*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Virtual Reality Studio (1991)"](https://www.mobygames.com/game/virtual-reality-studio). *MobyGames*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Virtual Reality Studio 2.0 (1992)"](https://web.archive.org/web/20221207041907/https://www.mobygames.com/game/virtual-reality-studio-20). *MobyGames*. Archived from [the original](https://www.mobygames.com/game/virtual-reality-studio-20/) on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2021. ## External links - [Freeware version of Driller for PC](https://web.archive.org/web/20151206220208/http://ovine.net/retro-remakes) - [A modern reimplementation of Freescape, in OpenGL](http://members.allegro.cc/ThomasHarte/phantasma/) - [IGN article about the Freescape games](http://retro.ign.com/articles/922/922505p1.html) - [Freescape Engine full games list](http://www.uvlist.net/groups/info/freescapeengine) v t e Incentive Software Games Splat! Confuzion Moon Cresta Karyssia: Queen of Diamonds Freescape Driller / Space Station Oblivion Dark Side Total Eclipse Castle Master Game creation system 3D Construction Kit / Virtual Reality Studio 3D Construction Kit II / Virtual Reality Studio 2.0 Graphic Adventure Creator v t e Game engines (list) Source port First-person shooter engine List of first-person shooter engines Game engine recreation List of game engine recreations Game creation system Game IDE List of visual novel engines id Tech Proprietary 1980s Adventure Game Interpreter Cobra Filmation Freescape Gold Box Sierra Creative Interpreter SCUMM 1990s 3D GameStudio Clickteam Dark Engine GameMaker Genie Engine GoldSrc Infinity Engine Jedi LithTech Mugen Pie in the Sky Reality Lab RenderWare RPG Maker Sim RPG Maker Unreal Engine 1 Virtools Virtual Theatre Voxel Space Zillions of Games 2000s Anvil C4 Engine CryEngine Crystal Tools Euphoria Flare3D Frostbite Gamebryo GameSalad HeroEngine IW Leadwerks Marmalade MT Framework PhyreEngine Q RAGE Shark 3D Source Unigine Unity Unreal Engine 2 Unreal Engine 3 Virtools 2.5 Vicious Engine Vision Visual3D Game Engine 2010s 4A Engine Amazon Lumberyard Bitsquid Buildbox Construct Creation Engine Decima Defold Felgo ForgeLight Fox Engine id Tech 5 id Tech 6 Ignite Katana Engine Luminous Engine Pixel Game Maker MV RE Engine Snowdrop Stencyl Source 2 UbiArt Framework Unreal Engine 4 2020s id Tech 7 Unreal Engine 5 Free and open-source 1970s Z-machine 1990s Adventure Game Studio Build Crystal Space Doom engine Game-Maker OHRRPGCE Quake engine Quake II engine Stratagus 2000s Away3D Blender Game Engine Bork3D Game Engine Cocos2d Dim3 Game Editor GDevelop id Tech 3 id Tech 4 Irrlicht Engine jMonkeyEngine Lightweight Java Game Library Löve OGRE Open Wonderland Panda3D Papervision3D Plasma Platinum Arts Sandbox Pygame Ren'Py Scratch Solar2D Thousand Parsec Torque Vassal Engine Wintermute Engine 2010s Delta3D Godot GPUOpen Horde3D libGDX Luanti Moai OpenFL ORX PlayCanvas Raylib Snap! Stencyl Stride 2020s Open 3D Engine S&box --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Freescape](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freescape) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freescape?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.