Ken's Labyrinth is a first-person shooter for MS-DOS published in 1993 by Epic MegaGames. It was programmed by Ken Silverman, who later designed the Build engine used for rendering in 3D Realms's Duke Nukem 3D (1996). Ken's Labyrinth consists of three episodes, the first of which was released as shareware. An earlier version was self-published by Silverman.
Ken's Labyrinth is graphically similar to id Software's Wolfenstein 3D in that the levels were designed using a grid-based plane, resulting in perpendicular walls and textureless floors and ceilings. Arguably its most astounding feature was the existence of interactive sprites and textures, like slot and vending machines. This move towards engines allowing greater interactivity was later elaborated upon by Silverman's Build engine.
Ken's Labyrinth was released as freeware on November 16, 1999. Several different versions were released and are available for download from the official website. The source code followed on July 1, 2001.[1]
Game versions
The first version is known as Walken, the version which Ken Silverman sent to companies for evaluation. This was the first version created, and therefore it had very few features. There was almost no interactivity, and the code was mostly a test.
The first version to be released was a modified version of Walken called Ken's Labyrinth. Many changes were made, including interactivity, an early money system and music. It was sold by Ken directly, using the Advanced Systems company name, a company that Ken's older brother Alan Silverman was involved with.
Following that was version 1.1, which featured 27 levels and an alternate final boss. New enemies, textures and music were added, as well as a money system with which the player could locate money and use it to purchase a random item from a vending machine. Slot machines were also implemented.
Released in March 1993 by Epic MegaGames, the final version (2.01) featured 30 levels, and many new features that older versions of the game lacked, such as the ability to choose the item purchased from the vending machines, a difficulty option (on "easy" mode, or "Don't hurt me," enemies do not use melee attacks, while on "hard" mode, or "Ouch!" they do), an episode select, and also new enemies, textures and music with additional artwork made by Misko Iho of Future Crew.
A Ken's Labyrinth port to modern operating systems such as Windows and Linux using Simple DirectMedia Layer called LAB3D/SDL was created by Jan Lönnberg and released in 2002.[2] A version of the port which includes new higher resolution textures was also created by Katie Stafford.[3]
Reception
The game was reviewed in 1993 in Dragon #199 by Sandy Petersen in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Petersen gave the game 2 out of 5 stars.[4]
labyrinth, first, person, shooter, published, 1993, epic, megagames, programmed, silverman, later, designed, build, engine, used, rendering, realms, duke, nukem, 1996, consists, three, episodes, first, which, released, shareware, earlier, version, self, publis. Ken s Labyrinth is a first person shooter for MS DOS published in 1993 by Epic MegaGames It was programmed by Ken Silverman who later designed the Build engine used for rendering in 3D Realms s Duke Nukem 3D 1996 Ken s Labyrinth consists of three episodes the first of which was released as shareware An earlier version was self published by Silverman Ken s LabyrinthDeveloper s Ken SilvermanPublisher s Epic MegaGamesDesigner s Ken SilvermanPlatform s MS DOSReleaseNA January 1 1993Genre s First person shooterMode s Single player Contents 1 Technology 2 Game versions 3 Reception 4 References 5 External linksTechnology EditKen s Labyrinth is graphically similar to id Software s Wolfenstein 3D in that the levels were designed using a grid based plane resulting in perpendicular walls and textureless floors and ceilings Arguably its most astounding feature was the existence of interactive sprites and textures like slot and vending machines This move towards engines allowing greater interactivity was later elaborated upon by Silverman s Build engine Ken s Labyrinth was released as freeware on November 16 1999 Several different versions were released and are available for download from the official website The source code followed on July 1 2001 1 Game versions EditThe first version is known as Walken the version which Ken Silverman sent to companies for evaluation This was the first version created and therefore it had very few features There was almost no interactivity and the code was mostly a test The first version to be released was a modified version of Walken called Ken s Labyrinth Many changes were made including interactivity an early money system and music It was sold by Ken directly using the Advanced Systems company name a company that Ken s older brother Alan Silverman was involved with Following that was version 1 1 which featured 27 levels and an alternate final boss New enemies textures and music were added as well as a money system with which the player could locate money and use it to purchase a random item from a vending machine Slot machines were also implemented Released in March 1993 by Epic MegaGames the final version 2 01 featured 30 levels and many new features that older versions of the game lacked such as the ability to choose the item purchased from the vending machines a difficulty option on easy mode or Don t hurt me enemies do not use melee attacks while on hard mode or Ouch they do an episode select and also new enemies textures and music with additional artwork made by Misko Iho of Future Crew A Ken s Labyrinth port to modern operating systems such as Windows and Linux using Simple DirectMedia Layer called LAB3D SDL was created by Jan Lonnberg and released in 2002 2 A version of the port which includes new higher resolution textures was also created by Katie Stafford 3 Reception EditThe game was reviewed in 1993 in Dragon 199 by Sandy Petersen in the Eye of the Monitor column Petersen gave the game 2 out of 5 stars 4 References Edit labflsrc zip on advsys net 2001 LAB3D SDL project page LAB3D SDL Hires texture support Petersen Sandy November 1993 Eye of the Monitor Dragon 199 56 64 External links EditThe official Ken s Labyrinth page LAB3D SDL Ken s Labyrinth at MobyGames Ken s Labyrinth at Curlie Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ken 27s Labyrinth amp oldid 1078697044, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
