Game of Faune : 3D Monster Maze, the most revolutionary of the dinosaurs ?
Hello everyone and welcome to Game of Faune. This monthly column will aim to talk to you about both video games and animals. Whether they are main characters or minor characters, friends, enemies, or extras, animals are taking on an increasingly important role in the world of video games, and not just for reasons of realism. For this first article, I thought it best to start by going back in time. Back in time historically, since video games have not yet earned their stripes, but also back in time prehistorically, since the animal we are going to talk about, mythical for eternity, is none other than a dinosaur.
DAWN OF THE DINOSAUR
Dinosaurs capture the imagination. An imagination that has been perpetuated and passed down from generation to generation for 200 years. And all forms of cultural expression have brought them back to life. From books, with the stories of Jules Verne, to cinema, and of course, what interests us here, video games. From Tomb Raider to Batman Arkham City, from Super Mario World to Paleo Pines, dinosaurs are so well known that they are now almost inseparable from these games. However, this was not always the case when video games were in their infancy in the late 1970s, and fantasy was dominated by dungeons and dragons.
While it is very difficult to pinpoint exactly when dinosaurs first appeared in the world of video games, several companies seem to claim to be the first to have brought these creatures from the past back to life. Dino Wars, released in 1980 on the TRS-80 ‘pocket’ computer, stands out as a major scarecrow. It is a proto-fighting game in which what appear to be two red and blue Tyrannosaurus seem to battle each other in vaguely 3D desert plains. Each fighter starts the game with 100 health points, and the first to reach 0 loses. It was created by Robert Kilgus, who developed only three other games before apparently ending his career as a developer.
It makes perfect sense for a work of popular culture to revisit the iconic figure of the Tyrannosaurus, or at least come close to it. However, even though the first fossils of this dinosaur were discovered in Colorado in 1874, before the animal was named in the early 1900s, it was in 1905 that the king earned his crown thanks to an article in the New York Times that crowned him “King of the Animal Kingdom”. Tyrannosaurus continued to enjoy popularity, accompanied by its eternal enemy, Triceratops, before experiencing another surge in popularity when palaeontologist Sue Henderson unearthed a remarkable skeleton in 1990, which was subsequently named in her honour. An 85% complete skeleton was found in a formation in South Dakota, in such a state of preservation that it was possible to determine the animal’s exact size: 12.80 metres long and 4 metres high.
THE LAND BEFORE TIME
Although Tyrannosaurus is the best known of all dinosaurs, it was actually one of the last to appear, or almost. Specifically, the famous age of dinosaurs spanned what is known as the Mesozoic era, between 235 and 66 million years ago, covering three periods: the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. It was during this last period that Tyrannosaurus appeared, before being wiped out by an unprecedented biological crisis, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, caused by asteroid impacts and profound climate change. But I think it’s important to put the very concept of dinosaurs into context, and to clarify things a little, you can take part in this short quiz to test your knowledge. There’s nothing to be won (except a congratulatory message at the bottom of the column if you get everything right). Good luck!
Is a dinosaur searching food here? ( credits : Jaybenn 1889)
As you may have experienced, not everything prehistoric is a dinosaur, and not all dinosaurs are extinct. Thus, the existence of flying dinosaurs or marine dinosaurs is mistakenly believed, even though they are often associated with them. Pterosaurs and mosasaurs, which can be seen in the Jurassic Park films, are in fact, scientifically speaking, prehistoric reptiles. Similarly, the famous Dimetrodon, which appears in the quiz, predates the appearance of dinosaurs, having emerged in the Permian period, just before the Triassic period.
On the other hand, if you considered the crow I selected here to be a dinosaur, congratulations! Because yes, dinosaurs still exist among us, and they are none other than birds. This theory is not old, since in the 1860s, a feather had already been found in a fossil deposit in Germany, which was named Archaeopteryx lithographica (later to become the famous ancestor of birds). It was not until the 1990s that the first fossils of feathered dinosaurs were discovered, which made it possible to determine that feathers were not just characteristic of birds and that they were not only used for flying, as in reality. Among the dinosaurs that had feathers were a few Tyrannosauridae.
JURASSIC ATTACK
This is a perfect transition to return to 1981, when another game featuring this theropod dinosaur was released. And this time, there is no doubt about it. The dinosaur is named in a long speech delivered by a clown at a carnival who invites you to enter a new attraction for “your amusement and exhiliration”. You find yourself locked in 3D Monster Maze, developed by Malcolm Evans, who was not destined for a career as a developer.
It all started when his wife Linda gave him a Sinclair ZX-81 computer. The gift was almost a joke, given that Evans worked with much more powerful computer equipment in his job in the aerospace industry. But Evans was curious. Curious to create programmes on the hardware he was working on and push it to its limits. He then began designing a 3D maze game procedurally generated from black and white squares. But for him, despite the already extreme ambition of the project he was unwittingly undertaking, it was just a learning experience. Nothing very serious was to come of it.
It was then that he happened to meet a certain John Greye, while the two men were attending the same guitar club in Bristol. By pure chance, Greye had just launched his game production company, J.K Greye Software. The two men discussed Evans’ prototype, and in particular its lack of stakes. Greye suggested adding a monster to increase the dramatic tension of his adventure. Having lost his job in aeronautics, Evans devoted himself to his programme by implementing the famous beast. This is the famous ‘fun and excitement’ mentioned by the clown earlier: a Tyrannosaurus preserved from prehistoric times, at your own risk.
While in other Game of Faune columns I may digress on why I chose a particular animal, the column on the implementation of the Tyrannosaurus in 3D Monster Maze is very anticlimactic, as it was taken from a children’s book that Malcolm had consulted, with no further details on the subject.
But the challenge was daunting, both literally and figuratively, because no one had ever attempted to create such a spectacular opponent on the ZX-81. He then created several scales of dinosaur sprites based on their proximity to the player, taking into account the technical limitations of his machine. But Rex, as his creation was named, was not passive. While the principle of the maze remained the same, one rule had changed: you now had to escape alive.
This was the twist in 3D Monster Maze that made the game so unique. Evans implemented an algorithm to make Rex intelligent enough to hunt you down. So intelligent that he managed to surprise his creator in the middle of the night without warning in his bedroom, leaving his wife in fits of laughter at the sight of her husband jumping out of his skin in front of his screen. It was after this mishap that he decided to implement the introductory text and clues about Rex’s proximity to make it easier to read the dinosaur’s movements. “Footstep approaching“, “Rex has seen you“, “He is hunting you” became warnings about the dangerousness of the situation. And while today it may seem obvious to have an AI independent of the player that pursues you, in 1981, when the game was redesigned with this idea in mind and marketed, it was revolutionary.
The corridors are quiet... very quiet...
Especially since, unlike many games, there is no way to compete with Rex. If he finds you and gets too close, he will open his big mouth and end up eating you alive, immediately ending the game. Add to that the fact that each maze is randomly generated, and you have a guaranteed thrill for the time. The game, produced by J.K Greye Software of course, was very well received. For many, 3D Monster Maze represented the pinnacle of what the Sinclair ZX-81 could produce, even considered ahead of its time in terms of technology. Despite the game’s success, Greye and Evans eventually parted ways, with the latter deciding to launch his own production company, New Generation Software. It was productive but short-lived, only producing games until 1985.
THE LOST WORLD
Let’s summarise all this. In 3D Monster Maze, you play a defenceless character who must escape from a maze in which a Tyrannosaurus is chasing you, intent on devouring you if you are not quick enough to get out. Does that remind you of anything? For some video game historians, 3D Monster Maze could be considered the first example of Survival Horror. While the very origins of survival horror are disputed, ranging from Bureau 13 to Sweet Home and, above all, Alone in the Dark, all of which could claim to be the genre’s patient zero, none seem older than 3D Monster Maze.
Rex is undoubtedly not the most interesting to study from a zoological or palaeontological point of view, with his crude proportions and clumsy gait. But the man with the scissors, Nemesis, or Predator might not have become what they are in their respective games without this prehistoric idea. So let us salute the memory of Rex, as well as that of Malcolm Evans who, now 82 years old, continues to recount the legend that, like his dinosaur, will continue to haunt him until the end of his life.
I hope you enjoyed this first instalment of Game of Faune. See you next month to talk about animals and video games. And if you have any questions (or clarifications to make), feel free to leave a comment. Now it’s time for the quiz results!
Résultat du quiz :
Image 1: This is a Sauropelta, a dinosaur from the Ankylosauridae family, and therefore a dinosaur.
Image 2: This is a Tylosaurus, and contrary to popular belief, it is not a dinosaur, but a prehistoric marine reptile.
Image 3: The Microraptor is indeed a small dinosaur. Note the covering on the animal in the image, which are actually feathers. Which brings me to…
Image 4: The bird (in this case a Carrion Crow) is indeed a dinosaur! More detailed explanations are provided in the sources.
Image 5: This is a family of Dimorphodon, which, despite their appearance, are not birds. Nor are they dinosaurs. They are actually prehistoric flying reptiles.
Image 6: Coelurosauravus may look like a dinosaur, but it actually predates the Mesozoic era, having lived during the Triassic period.
Image 7: The same is true of Dimetrodon, which is often referred to as a dinosaur, when in fact it is not!
Well done for completing the quiz! Didn’t get the highest score? It doesn’t matter ^^ The aim was to learn new things! And if you got everything right, congratulations! But my question is: why did you take this quiz?
Postscript: Thank you to Yacine Ouali for coming up with the name for my column and Sophie for her paleontologic review.
Sources and further information (in alphabetical order):
https://www.sockmonsters.com/TheMakingOf3DMonsterMaze.html