Strife (video game)

Infobox VG| title = Strife


developer = Rogue Entertainment
publisher = Velocity
designer = Jim Molinets
engine = Doom
released = May 31, 1996
genre = First-person shooter, role-playing game
modes = Single player, Multiplayer 2-4 player deathmatch or CoOp
ratings = RSAC: V3, L2
BBFC: 15
platforms = DOS
media = CD-ROM
requirements = 486 processor, 8 MB of RAM, DOS 5.0 or later
input = Keyboard, mouse, joystick, gamepad

"Strife" is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Rogue Entertainment and published by Velocity, based on the Doom Engine (id Tech 1) from id Software. "Strife" added some role-playing game elements and allowed players to talk to other characters in the game's world.

Overview

The world is a comprehensive environment, not divided into levels like most other 3D shooters of the time. Instead, the player travels from a central hub-like area in the city between various levels which will stay the same as when the player left them.

The player can talk to NPCs and some decisions affect the future gameplay. The game also has several paths to follow (for example, at one point the player can kill Macil, the rebel leader, or decide to still trust him), and can result in one of 3 different endings.

Defeating the final boss, may show two endings - one better (player decided to trust Macil earlier), where all the fighting stops, and the rebuilding of human civilization begins, and one worse (player decided to trust the Oracle), where The Order still exists, and there is little hope for the survivors to hold on long enough for the situation to improve on its own. If the player decides to trust the Oracle, the game is drastically shorter, with the entire Commons, Catacombs and Mines sections removed, though it is also more difficult due to the order in which the bosses are fought.

If the player dies during battle with the final boss, it will be able to acquire the complete Sigil, leading to the worst ending, in which humanity is extinct. This ending is also shown if the game is beaten by using a cheat to warp to the final level.

A bug in the game allows the player to trust the Oracle yet still complete the game with the better ending if one kills Macil, then the Oracle, then the Loremaster (in lieu of Macil, Loremaster, Oracle). There will be an audio bug wherein Blackbird will tell the player they possess the complete Sigil after killing the Oracle, despite there still being a piece of the weapon missing.

Although the game brought many improvements to the Doom engine, it could not compete graphically with other games that were being released at that time, including id Software's "Quake".

"Strife" was originally being developed by Cygnus Studios, the creators of "", for id Software. However, Cygnus canceled the game when their founder, Scott Host, decided to move back to Chicago where he grew up. As a result, designer Jim Molinets and artist Tim Neveu continued work on the game at Rogue Entertainment.Fact|date=February 2007

A game engine recreation of "Strife" was created by Jānis Legzdiņš (author of the Doom source port Vavoom) by means of reverse engineering, as the original source code to the game was lost by Rogue Entertainment. Legzdiņš work was later incorporated into ZDoom. Another game engine recreation has also been created by Samuel Villarreal entitled "SvStrife". These projects allow high resolution video modes, better mouselook, and expanded modability.

External links

* [http://mobygames.com/game/sheet/p,2/gameId,960/ "Strife"] at MobyGames
* [http://doom.wikicities.com/wiki/Strife Doom Wiki's Entry for "Strife"]
* [http://www.vavoom-engine.com/ Vavoom website]
* [http://www.zdoom.org ZDoom website]
* [http://www.doomworld.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33687 Official thread for SvStrife]