View source for Hovertank One

{{more sources|date=June 2019}}
{{Short description|1991 video game}}
{{Infobox video game
|title = Hovertank One
|image = Hovertank 3D title screen.jpg
|caption = ''Hovertank One'' title screen
|developer = [[id Software]]
|director = [[Tom Hall]]
|designer = Tom Hall
|programmer = [[John Carmack]] <br> [[John Romero]]
|artist = [[Adrian Carmack]]
|publisher = [[Softdisk]]
|engine=[[Wolfenstein 3D#Development|Prototype of ''Wolfenstein 3D'' engine]]
|released = {{vgrelease|NA|April 1991<ref name="hovertankone">{{cite web|url=https://www.mobygames.com/game/3121/hovertank-one/ |title=Hovertank One |website=Mobygames}}</ref><ref name="GU-id-CK-Wolf3d">{{cite web|url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/programming/how-id-built-i-wolfenstein-3d-i-using-i-commander-keen-i-tech |title=How id built Wolfenstein 3D using Commander Keen tech |website=[[Gamasutra]]|date=24 June 2019}}</ref>}}
|genre = [[Vehicular combat game]], [[first-person shooter]]<ref name="mastersdoom2">{{cite book|last=Kushner |first=David |title=[[Masters of Doom|Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created An Empire And Transformed Pop Culture]] |publisher=[[Random House]] |at=83 |year=2003 |quote=''Hovertank'' was the first fast-action, first-person shooter for the computer. Id had invented a genre. |isbn=0-375-50524-5}}</ref> 
|modes = [[Single-player video game|Single-player]]
|platforms = [[DOS]]
}}

'''''Hovertank One''''',<ref name="hovertankone"/> also known under a variety of other names ('''''Hovertank''''' or '''''Hovertank 3D'''''<ref name="idlookback">{{cite web|url=http://www.idsoftware.com/games/vintage/hovertank/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070321071759/http://www.idsoftware.com/games/vintage/hovertank/ |title=id Software: Hovertank One |website=id Software |archive-date=March 21, 2007}}</ref>{{efn|The name ''Hovertank'' is used on the MS-DOS title screen. ''Hovertank 3-D'' is a name used in the start menu in Softdisk's 1992 ''[[Softdisk#Standalone programs and Gamer's Edge|Gamer's Edge]]'' release. ''Hovertank One'' is used on the original box art and floppy disks of the ''Gamer's Edge'' 1991 mail-order release.}}), is a [[vehicular combat game]] developed by [[id Software]] and published by [[Softdisk]] in April 1991.

==Plot==
''Hovertank One'' is set during a nuclear war. In ''Hovertank One'', the player controls Brick Sledge, a mercenary hired by an unknown organization (referred to by the game as the "UFA") to rescue people from cities under the threat of nuclear attack (largely political activists or scientists), both by the government and by large corporations, but the cities are also full of [[Mutants in fiction|mutated]] humans, strange creatures and enemy hovertanks.

== Gameplay ==
[[File:Hovertank 3D screen.png|thumb|Gameplay screenshot]]
The player must drive a hovertank through the levels and try to find the people Brick is supposed to rescue. There are many enemies in the levels, who are hunting down the people as well as the player. The player can keep track of both people and enemies in the radar box at the bottom of the screen. There is a timer that counts how long until the nuke is dropped. Once all the living people are collected a yellow teleporter appears somewhere in the level, and the player must find it to win. The player receives their fee, based on the number of people safely rescued, and how fast the operation was completed. All damage to the hovertank is repaired at the end of the level.

==Development==
[[John Carmack]]'s research in the game's engine took six weeks, two weeks longer than any id engine before it. The engine written for this game was expanded upon with [[texture mapping]] to make ''[[Catacomb 3-D]]'', and then later ''[[Wolfenstein 3D]]''. Following the engine's completion, the id staff decided on the nuclear war theme and developed the game. [[Adrian Carmack]] enjoyed drawing the monsters and other ghoulish touches.<ref name="mastersdoom"/> The credits are John Carmack and [[John Romero]] as [[programmer]]s, [[Tom Hall]] as [[game design]]er and Adrian Carmack as [[video game artist]].

The [[source code]] to the game, owned by [[Flat Rock Software]], was released in June 2014 under [[GNU General Public License|GNU GPL-2.0-or-later]] in a manner similar [[John Carmack#Open-source software|to those done]] by id and partners.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTcxMjM |title=id Software's Softdisk Open-Sources Some Really Old Games |first=Michael |last=Larabel |date=June 6, 2014 |access-date=June 6, 2014 |publisher=[[Phoronix]]}}</ref>

==Reception==
''Hovertank One'' is a landmark 3D game. Other 3D titles at the time, such as [[flight simulator]]s and other games (such as ''[[Alpha Waves]]'') that had more detailed environments, were noticeably slower.<ref name="mastersdoom">{{cite book|last=Kushner |first=David |title=[[Masters of Doom|Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created An Empire And Transformed Pop Culture]] |publisher=[[Random House]] |at=89 |year=2003 |isbn=0-375-50524-5}}</ref> A similar engine was used by ''[[MIDI Maze]]'' for the [[Atari ST]] in 1987, as well as ''[[Wayout]]'' for the [[Apple II]] from 1982 and ''[[The Eidolon]]'' from 1985 for the [[Atari 8-bit]].

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070321071759/http://www.idsoftware.com/games/vintage/hovertank/ id's look back at ''Hovertank 3D'']
* {{moby game|id=/hovertank-one}}

{{portal bar|1990s|Speculative fiction|Video games}}

{{Wolfenstein 3D engine games}}
{{id Software}}
{{Softdisk}}

[[Category:1991 video games]]
[[Category:Apocalyptic video games]]
[[Category:Commercial video games with freely available source code]]
[[Category:DOS games]]
[[Category:DOS-only games]]
[[Category:First-person shooters]]
[[Category:Id Software games]]
[[Category:North America-exclusive video games]]
[[Category:Science fiction video games]]
[[Category:Single-player video games]]
[[Category:Sprite-based first-person shooters]]
[[Category:Tank simulation video games]]
[[Category:Vehicular combat games]]
[[Category:Video games about nuclear war and weapons]]
[[Category:Video games developed in the United States]]
[[Category:Video games with 2.5D graphics]]
[[Category:Wolfenstein 3D engine games]]