CuteFloor | Development of Shadow Warrior (1993–1997) @CuteFloor | Uploaded June 2021 | Updated October 2024, 6 days ago.
As the original Shadow Warrior game is available for free on Steam, 3D Realms and Devolver Digital officially published a number of prototypes with it in 2017. They provide an interesting look at the development process of Shadow Warrior we know today.
0:00:00 1993, September 16
0:01:28 1994, May 23
0:07:09 1995, January 15
0:26:04 1995, February 10
1:09:11 1995, September 8
1:41:58 1996, June 11
2:17:22 1996, June 27
2:23:22 1996, August 12
2:26:32 1996, November 28
2:30:09 1997, April 4
☯ 1993, September 16:
The earliest incarnation is a simple proof-of-concept demo, which is just called Ninja. It was sent to Scott Miller of Apogee by Jim Norwood. The demo features a little intro and a Japanese-style environment with some ninjas wandering around. You can't do anything except exploring the map and quit. The Wolfenstein 3D-like engine was likely written by Gerald Lindsly.
☯ 1994, May 23:
This is a work-in-progress prototype using an early version of Ken Silverman's Build engine. It has a bright "medieval Japan" style of art and some sort of spell-casting system, which didn't make it to the final game. The very first public pre-release screenshots were done in this build or a build close to this.
☯ 1995, January 15:
This version uses rough photo-sourced images for the first-person hands and active weapons, which were not cleaned up yet. So, you may get a glimpse of the room where the shots were taken. If you look closely, you can even see the face of the guy that held the props and made the moves. Additional graphics like flipping through a spell book or playing Game Boy go unused in this build.
This prototype comes with four maps and introduces a rippling water effect, which was also used in LameDuke, the public beta version of Duke Nukem 3D. A similar effect appears in the final version of Ken Silverman's Build engine.
☯ 1995, February 10:
The February 1995 prototype is quite similar to the January prototype, but it includes a lot more maps to explore. Also, several graphics were changed or added, and code changes made the game more stable.
☯ 1995, September 8:
This prototype got much further. It has several new maps, enemies work well, and it now has a full set of weapons. The spell system was also improved a bit.
This is the closest snapshot before the in-house Duke Nukem 3D team took over development after finishing their game. After this, the game's direction was radically changed.
☯ 1996, June 11:
This prototype shows the game after development moved to the Duke Nukem 3D team. It introduces vehicles that you may use and new weapons that also appear in the final game. The spell system is about to be completely removed. There is also a mix of old and new maps. The new ones roughly go towards the modern urban theme of the final version. However, many of these new maps were cut later.
Now there is a proper title screen based on the scrapped box art that was published in magazine previews and advertisements in that time. It shows a shirtless ninja fighting the Serpent God boss. The new player's sprite is also based on this design.
☯ 1996, June 27:
In this June 27 prototype, the spell system is gone completely. The player's sprite has changed once again. It is similar to the June 11 one, but it was completely redrawn. The railgun has been added, and there are some new enemy sprites.
Surprisingly, several voxels have been introduced. They resemble some enemies and character designs that either got scrapped in this prototype or in a later version.
☯ 1996, August 12:
The August 12 prototype is on the way getting closer to the final version of Shadow Warrior. While most stuff is the same as in the previous prototype, the weapon arsenal is mostly finalized.
☯ 1996, November 28:
The November 1996 prototype is a demo sent to the publisher GT Interactive. At this stage, the game is quite close to the final game. Most things are in place and just need some polish, and the art style is pretty close to the retail version. Some maps are also quite close to be finished, while other ones still have a way to go.
☯ 1997, April 4:
This is a previously leaked version that was compiled shortly before release. It was shared by a tech support employee who wanted to play a net game with a friend of his. The prototype got spread around and as a result, that employee was soon fired.
A lot of data deleted from the final game is still present in this prototype. There are still some minor differences and only four shareware maps are playable by default. However, all other maps are present in the .grp data file and playable after extracting and loading as user maps. They range from old maps found in early prototypes back in 1995 up to new ones not seen before. Some of the maps made a last encore appearance before they got cut entirely.
As the original Shadow Warrior game is available for free on Steam, 3D Realms and Devolver Digital officially published a number of prototypes with it in 2017. They provide an interesting look at the development process of Shadow Warrior we know today.
0:00:00 1993, September 16
0:01:28 1994, May 23
0:07:09 1995, January 15
0:26:04 1995, February 10
1:09:11 1995, September 8
1:41:58 1996, June 11
2:17:22 1996, June 27
2:23:22 1996, August 12
2:26:32 1996, November 28
2:30:09 1997, April 4
☯ 1993, September 16:
The earliest incarnation is a simple proof-of-concept demo, which is just called Ninja. It was sent to Scott Miller of Apogee by Jim Norwood. The demo features a little intro and a Japanese-style environment with some ninjas wandering around. You can't do anything except exploring the map and quit. The Wolfenstein 3D-like engine was likely written by Gerald Lindsly.
☯ 1994, May 23:
This is a work-in-progress prototype using an early version of Ken Silverman's Build engine. It has a bright "medieval Japan" style of art and some sort of spell-casting system, which didn't make it to the final game. The very first public pre-release screenshots were done in this build or a build close to this.
☯ 1995, January 15:
This version uses rough photo-sourced images for the first-person hands and active weapons, which were not cleaned up yet. So, you may get a glimpse of the room where the shots were taken. If you look closely, you can even see the face of the guy that held the props and made the moves. Additional graphics like flipping through a spell book or playing Game Boy go unused in this build.
This prototype comes with four maps and introduces a rippling water effect, which was also used in LameDuke, the public beta version of Duke Nukem 3D. A similar effect appears in the final version of Ken Silverman's Build engine.
☯ 1995, February 10:
The February 1995 prototype is quite similar to the January prototype, but it includes a lot more maps to explore. Also, several graphics were changed or added, and code changes made the game more stable.
☯ 1995, September 8:
This prototype got much further. It has several new maps, enemies work well, and it now has a full set of weapons. The spell system was also improved a bit.
This is the closest snapshot before the in-house Duke Nukem 3D team took over development after finishing their game. After this, the game's direction was radically changed.
☯ 1996, June 11:
This prototype shows the game after development moved to the Duke Nukem 3D team. It introduces vehicles that you may use and new weapons that also appear in the final game. The spell system is about to be completely removed. There is also a mix of old and new maps. The new ones roughly go towards the modern urban theme of the final version. However, many of these new maps were cut later.
Now there is a proper title screen based on the scrapped box art that was published in magazine previews and advertisements in that time. It shows a shirtless ninja fighting the Serpent God boss. The new player's sprite is also based on this design.
☯ 1996, June 27:
In this June 27 prototype, the spell system is gone completely. The player's sprite has changed once again. It is similar to the June 11 one, but it was completely redrawn. The railgun has been added, and there are some new enemy sprites.
Surprisingly, several voxels have been introduced. They resemble some enemies and character designs that either got scrapped in this prototype or in a later version.
☯ 1996, August 12:
The August 12 prototype is on the way getting closer to the final version of Shadow Warrior. While most stuff is the same as in the previous prototype, the weapon arsenal is mostly finalized.
☯ 1996, November 28:
The November 1996 prototype is a demo sent to the publisher GT Interactive. At this stage, the game is quite close to the final game. Most things are in place and just need some polish, and the art style is pretty close to the retail version. Some maps are also quite close to be finished, while other ones still have a way to go.
☯ 1997, April 4:
This is a previously leaked version that was compiled shortly before release. It was shared by a tech support employee who wanted to play a net game with a friend of his. The prototype got spread around and as a result, that employee was soon fired.
A lot of data deleted from the final game is still present in this prototype. There are still some minor differences and only four shareware maps are playable by default. However, all other maps are present in the .grp data file and playable after extracting and loading as user maps. They range from old maps found in early prototypes back in 1995 up to new ones not seen before. Some of the maps made a last encore appearance before they got cut entirely.
