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Wolfenstein 3D loses two dimensions, becomes Wolfenstein 1D

by Griffin McElroy on Jan 26th 2011 10:30PM

Cheeky programmer/comedic mastermind Mike Lacher recently added a twist to an old classic by ... um, removing almost all of it. The game in question is Wolfenstein 3D, from which Lacher has stripped the height and depth, leaving only the meager remnants of a 1 pixel-tall line of width. The surprising part of this little project? It's still totally playable.

Check out Lacher's minimalistic mod (appropriately titled Wolfenstein 1D) over on his website. We're sure there's probably a message about the lack of real depth in the storytelling of most first person shooters, though it was totally lost on us, because we were busy having such a good time shooting things.

Source: Wonder-Tonic

Tags: 1d, apogee, comedy, id-software, mike-lacher, pc, wolfenstein-1d, Wolfenstein-3D, wonder-tonic

Reader Comments (37)

I saw this a couple days ago, the graphics look pretty bad...

BWAHAHAHAHAHA

I found it a bit hard to dodge bullets!

@Pure Black World Tendency

Same here. I think it's an interesting concept, though.

@Pure Black World Tendency Real men don't need to dodge bullets.

Do not want.

MEIN LEBEN

Playable? Really? I bow before anyone's gamer cred that can beat 1-D Wolfenstein.

@Negativecool

I beat the first level in like 3 mins

Not going to lie, it's a pretty great idea. Haha, and it's quite fun :P

On the contrary, I find that this one-dimensional view of a classic game actually adds to its already great depth.

With such a limited view, you'll understand how it feels to be out there all alone, with no intelligence to work off. A true test of survival.

Best yet, it removes the issue of many games, glorifying death. By being refused the sight of an enemy fall to you, you are never exposed to the graphic brutal deaths that appeal to a man's baser instincts. Even Hitlers death is nigh-meaningless, much like anyone's death.

I think Jack Thompson and company would be proud.

Well Wolfenstein 3D was never really 3D to begin with.

But, this is not 1D at all. It is still 2D. In order for rendered graphics to be visible it has to be 2D(length/width).

And as you can see in the screenshot, the rdnered game area, while it may only be 1 pixel, still has height, so it is 2D. 1D cannot be represented visually.

@Robborboy

The underlying data is 1-dimensional.

@Robborboy
Try playing it on a droid with no buttons. Defo 1D since it can't be done.

@Robborboy Owned!

@Robborboy
Technically it's 3D because displays are 3D. :P You can snark all you want, but for all intents and purposes, this would be 1D.

@Robborboy

Some one doesn't get it...

Anyways I was going to send my money for the rest of the game but I remembered apogee went out of business.

WHAT KIND OF SCAM IS THIS?? :D

@Raffi256
Care to explain exactly?

@AfterGlow84
Owned? Hardly. Present an argument yourself why don't you?

@KirbyCommando
3D display? Anything short of a hologram projector is still 2D. You can emulate the feeling of 3D and flatten it to 2D all you want. If you want to be technical though it will always be 2D.
You CANNOT however "up-sample" something and maintain what it was originally. Unfortunately for your point there is no such thing as "technically 1D". 1D is impossible to display, no "if"s "and"s or "but"s.

@DV8ing1
There really isn't much to get. Someone cut the draw are to 1 pixel in height, and someone else is the misnomer "1D"

@Robborboy

What you don't "Get" is the fact that this entire thing is a farce and that everyone with half a brain knows this is not 1d. Although if you take light at its simplest form which is a ray, our brain collects these infinite 1d rays and deciphers them into the image we see. So everything is 1d!

@Robborboy It doesn't matter that this is *represented* Tell me: In how many dimensions are you able to move? Because I was allowed me to move backwards and forwards. And the last time that I checked, that is 1 dimensional motion. Not backwards/forwards and up/down, à la Mario 3 (2D), or backwards/forwards, left/right and up/down, as in Mario 64 (3D).

Or backwards/forwards, left/right, up/down, and past/future, as in Timeshift (4D) :P

@DrewExMachina Gah, comment fail. I meant "that this is *represented* in 2 dimensions".

Although whether or not that's the case is a matter up for debate. If the smallest size that we can possibly represent is 1 pixel, then haven't we shown 1D (within the limitations of the medium)?

@Robborboy

It's 1D in terms of gameplay, as you can only move and shoot along one horizontal plane. Pointing out that displaying it as a 1px line makes it 2D is a really pedantic nitpick and completely misses the point of the game.

@CynicalStrike
"one horizontal plane"

That's 2D, champ.

@Robborboy
As in, your actual monitor and the light coming from it is 3D. You can get as technical as you want here, but, even though it ISN'T, this is probably as close as you could get to a 1D game.

@wormania

yup. the game still has depth, so assuming the previous version qualifies as 3D, this is 2D.

You should wake up DevilSei this isn't 1951

But how do I find the secret passages in the walls? Thats really what Wolf3D was all about!

@Jim Carey Grant Running along every single wall jamming on the space bar was my favorite part too instead of fighting Mecharobo Hitler and his armies of nazi soldiers with a Gatling gun

It has height and width. It's not 1D.

@ShingoEX
Exactly, a height of 1 pixel is still height. Also, unless the graphics are changed (which I doubt), the depth is still there too, you just see very little of it. Extremely stupid "idea".

May be the old codger in me, but this is one of the dumbest effing things I've ever seen. Line beyond which this became news and/or entertaining is really beyond me.

I like the 1D aspect, very compelling. Sure 1D or in comparison a chair with one free standing leg are outside modern boundaries, but any man is entitled to the romance of the idea (or at least the humour factor) :P

@MarkezJM - You're right. Me being an old codger too really does not see the point in this project. It's about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.

Technically 2D
1D: Point
2D: Lines
3D: Space
4D: Time

@DarkRookie
0D is a point. 1D is a line. 2D is squares and the like. 3D is space. 4D... Has been debated on.

@DarkRookie

5D: Yu-Gi-Oh

Breaking News

Wolfenstein 3D

Wolfenstein 3D loses two dimensions, becomes Wolfenstein 1D

Reader Comments (37)

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 10:35PM liquidsoap89 said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 10:37PM Frylander said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 10:38PM Pure Black World Tendency said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 10:43PM PhydeWice said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 4:28AM EvoHelix said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 10:39PM Chanka said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 10:42PM TaintedKane said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 10:44PM Negativecool said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 10:49PM TaintedKane said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 10:46PM Gritzor said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 10:48PM DevilSei said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 11:00PM Raffi256 said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 11:00PM Robborboy said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 11:05PM Raffi256 said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 11:08PM SuperWoody64 said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 11:16PM AfterGlow84 said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 11:21PM KirbyCommando said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 11:36PM DV8ing1 said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 11:53PM Robborboy said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 12:35AM DV8ing1 said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 7:15AM DrewExMachina said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 7:17AM DrewExMachina said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 7:22AM CynicalStrike said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 7:29AM wormania said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 10:26AM KirbyCommando said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 9:10PM maveric101 said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 11:14PM quotrice said

Posted: Jan 26th 2011 11:26PM Jim Carey Grant said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 4:26AM EvoHelix said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 1:07AM ShingoEX said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 7:34AM mietha said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 2:02AM MarkezJM said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 2:14AM antiZER0 said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 9:06AM Felnor said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 9:21AM DarkRookie said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 10:31AM KirbyCommando said

Posted: Jan 27th 2011 3:39PM Bumper said

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