View source for Filmation (game engine)

{{short description|Video game graphics engine}}
{{For|the unrelated production company|Filmation}}
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{{original research|date=February 2017}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2017}}
{{Notability|date=January 2023}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}

[[File:Knight lore 3.gif|thumb|300px|''[[Knight Lore]]'', Ultimate Play the Game's first title to use the Filmation engine]]

'''Filmation''' is the name of the [[Isometric projection|isometric]] graphics engine employed in a series of games developed by [[Ultimate Play the Game]] during the [[1980s#Video gaming|1980s]], primarily on the [[8-bit]] [[ZX Spectrum]] platform, though various titles also appeared on the [[BBC Micro]], [[Amstrad CPC]], [[MSX]] and [[Commodore 64]] platforms.

The Filmation engine allowed the creation of 3D [[flip-screen]] environments and was designed to be used for [[platform game|platform-based]] [[arcade adventure]]s. [[Player character#Computer and video games|Player characters]] could move in four diagonal (from the player's perspective) directions, were able to jump over or onto obstacles, and could even push objects around the game environment.

==Precursors==
[[File:3d ant attack 1.gif|thumb|Sandy White's ''[[Ant Attack]]'' used a similar isometric style to Ultimate's Filmation and Filmation II titles]]

A handful of games had used an isometric perspective before Filmation's first appearance in 1984, such as the arcade games ''[[Q*bert]]'' (1982) from [[Gottlieb]], and ''[[Zaxxon]]'' (1982) and ''[[Congo Bongo]]'' (1983) from [[Sega]], as well as the [[ZX Spectrum]] title ''[[Ant Attack]]'' (1983) by [[Sandy White (programmer)|Sandy White]]. ''Q*bert'' and ''Zaxxon'' have little else in common with Filmation, though ''Ant Attack'' was a [[platform game]] of similar style, and was the first of these games to feature an extra [[degrees of freedom (mechanics)|degree of freedom]] (the ability to move up and down as well and north, south, east and west). It was claimed by White that ''Ant Attack'' was "the first true isometric 3D game".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://sandywhite.co.uk/fun/ants | title=Sandy White – an Ant Attack homepage | access-date=2006-03-28}}</ref>

==Development==

When Filmation was introduced a year later, it featured far more complex graphics and environments than any isometric title yet, garnering ''[[Knight Lore]]'' much attention and critical acclaim. Ultimate Play the Game first described the engine in the ''Knight Lore'' manual thus:

{{blockquote|KNIGHT LORE features filmation {{sic}}  a unique process whereby you have complete freedom within the confines of your imagination, to do as you wish with any of the objects found within KNIGHT LORE|Ultimate Play the Game|''Knight Lore'' documentation<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ultimate-wurlde.com/games/knightloreinstr.shtml | title=''Knight Lore'' documentation | access-date=2006-10-05}}</ref>}}

''Knight Lore'' was followed three months later by ''[[Alien 8]]'' and in 1986 by ''[[Pentagram (video game)|Pentagram]]''. A second engine, '''Filmation II''', was introduced in 1985 and used in two titles, ''[[Nightshade (1985 video game)|Nightshade]]''<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/32829/Ultimate-Play-The-Game/ | title=Ultimate Play the Game – Company – Computing History }}</ref> and ''[[Gunfright]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.crashonline.org.uk/25/gunfright.htm|title = CRASH 25 – Gunfright}}</ref> This new version of the engine introduced large [[scrolling]] environments (much like ''Ant Attack''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s) rather than flip-screens. To avoid obscuring the player character, streets and buildings rendered by this engine would disappear to their outlines when the player character walked behind them,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.crashonline.org.uk/51/runagain.htm|title = CRASH 51 – Run It Again}}</ref> and the ability to flip the viewpoint through 180 degrees with a press of the Z key was introduced. Although Filmation II increased the graphical complexity of the titles that used it, the gameplay was simplified; the player was no longer able to jump (and indeed had no reason to) and was confined to essentially simpler environments, with no obstacles other than the buildings themselves. This simplification resulted in ''Nightshade'' and ''Gunfright'' being more straightforward [[shooter game]]s than the puzzle based Filmation I titles.

Two later games, ''[[Martianoids]]'' and ''[[Bubbler (video game)|Bubbler]]'', were developed by [[U.S. Gold]] (and published on the Ultimate Play the Game label) which also used scrolling 3D environments, though neither made explicit use of the Filmation II engine. Both had similarities to Filmation II, though ''Martianoids'' did not use a true isometric perspective and ''Bubbler'' had more in common with [[Atari Games]]' [[Marble Madness]] than previous Filmation titles.

Ultimate's final, unreleased title, ''[[Mire Mare]]'', was long thought to have been Filmation-based, but in the late 1990s [[Rare (company)|Rare]] revealed that it would actually have been more like the top-down ''[[Sabre Wulf]]'', the first title based around the [[Sabreman]] character.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.rareware.com/retro/limbo/ | title=Rare Titles in Limbo | publisher=Rare website | access-date=2006-06-04 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990209155351/http://www.rareware.com/retro/limbo/ | archive-date=9 February 1999}}</ref>

==Games==

; Filmation:
* ''[[Knight Lore]]'' (1984)
* ''[[Alien 8]]'' (1985)
* ''[[Pentagram (video game)|Pentagram]]'' (1986)

; Filmation II:
* ''[[Nightshade (1985 video game)|Nightshade]]'' (1985)
* ''[[Gunfright]]'' (1986)

; Miscellaneous:
* ''[[Martianoids]]'' (1987)
* ''[[Bubbler (video game)|Bubbler]]'' (1987)

==Legacy==
{{Essay-like|section|date=April 2019}}
{{Main|Isometric graphics in video games and pixel art}}
{{ multiple image|
| image1 = ZX Batman.png
| width1 = 200
| caption1 = ''[[Batman (1986 video game)|Batman]]'' by [[Ocean Software]]
| image2 = 
| width2 = 220
| caption2 = ''[[Equinox (1993 video game)|Equinox]]'' by [[Software Creations (UK)]]
}}

The Filmation style was extremely influential in the period immediately following the release of ''Knight Lore'' and ''Alien 8'', and it was copied extensively by other publishers in titles such as ''[[Fairlight (game)|Fairlight]]'', ''[[The Great Escape (1986 video game)|The Great Escape]]'', ''[[Batman (1986 video game)|Batman]]'', ''[[Movie (video game)|M.O.V.I.E.]]'', ''[[Head Over Heels (game)|Head Over Heels]]'' and ''[[Solstice (1990 video game)|Solstice]]''. Later, [[Rare (company)|Rare]], the company that Ultimate Play the Game evolved into, reprised the style themselves with their releases ''[[Snake Rattle 'n' Roll]]'' ([[NES]] and [[Sega Mega Drive]]) and ''[[Monster Max]]'' ([[Game Boy]]; written by Bernie Drummond and [[Jon Ritman]], the authors of the aforementioned ''Batman'' and ''Head Over Heels''). ''[[Cadaver (video game)|Cadaver]]'' by the [[Bitmap Brothers]], released on the [[Amiga]] and [[Atari ST]] in 1990, bore striking similarities to ''Knight Lore'', and even named the game's location "Castle Wulf" after ''Knight Lore''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s precedent game, ''[[Sabre Wulf]]''.

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://retrospec.sgn.net/users/nwalker/filmation/ On Filmation], a discussion of the engine
* [http://www.crashonline.org.uk/51/runagain.htm Looking for an Old Angle], CRASH article on Filmation and other isometric games

{{Ultimate Play the Game}}
{{Video game engines |state=autocollapse}}

[[Category:1984 software]]
[[Category:Video game engines]]