Seriously! » Serious Sam: The First Encounter - Overview Title: Serious Sam Developer: Croteam Publisher: Gathering of Developers/On Deck Interactive (ODI) Genre: FPS (First Person Shooter) Minimum hardware requirements: 64MB Ram, Pentium-II, OpenGL Release date: First Quarter 2001 Overview: In the near future, during the first interstellar travels, humans encounter great evil roaming the galaxy for last few eons. The evil being is an incarnation of the last of the ancient immortals named Tah-Um (or in English - Notorious Mental). Mental has set forth to wipe the earthlings out for sheer fun, just like it did with all the other civilizations in the galactic history. This time, humans have a secret weapon left to them by an extinct civilization from Sirius - Timelock. Timelock will enable special forces veteran Sam 'Serious' Stone to return to the time of ancient Egypt and assassin Mental while it is offhand. Serious Sam is a high-adrenaline arcade-action shooter heavily focused on frantic arcade-style single player action. In a world where cyberpunk meets fantasy-fiction and advanced technology is mixed with black magic and psycho-powers, Sam travels through the beautiful world of ancient Egypt and several diverse planets, confronting countless Mental's minions on his way to the Mental's base. Wander a bit more around our site for a more detailed version of the game story and artwork. Features: Powerful 3d technology and advanced tools Serious Sam is powered by 'Serious Engine' featuring state of the art technology including: Both complex indoor and outdoor scenes in one engine Multiple direction gravity Advanced LOD for loads of enemies at the same time Directional light for daylight scenes Portals and mirrors Truly dynamic volumetric fog and haze Both skinned and multi-part models combined Hyper-texturing and hyper-mapping for life-like richly detailed environments High polygon count multi-resolution meshes Photo-realistic lens flares with real-time lens reflections Advanced particle system Procedural textures (water, fire, smoke, plasma, electricity) Photo-realistic reflections, specularity and bumps Up to 4 split screen support Easy-to-use real-time development tools (Serious editor, Serious Modeler, and custom AI language based on C++) For a complete list see Engine Features. Fighting with loads of enemies at the same time (high-adrenaline arcade-feel action) Serious Sam is filled with loads of enemies. This is possible with the latest engine technology. It is possible to have 50+ enemies in one scene, with everyone firing, running, jumping and screaming at the same time. This feature is not extensively used in any 3D action so far, because technology didn't allow it. But, with our Serious engine this is now possible. It is used primarily in open spaces, where it is possible to put hundreds of enemies in one playground. Both huge outdoor and indoor environments All levels in the game are vast. The engine was designed to support both indoor and outdoor areas in a creative mixture, with each level spreading on up to 1000 cubic miles. There is a smooth transition between indoor and outdoor environments. The indoor levels are done with rendering techniques more powerful than other present engines. Outdoor sections are new and never before seen in any other FPS. They are big, long and provide hours of just walking and days of playing. Bright and beautiful surroundings In Serious Sam there are very bright and easy-to-see levels. This is possible because of newest 3d technology which allows complex architecture, multi-texturing, sunlight, ... You don't have to adjust brightness/contrast to properly see the scenes, and the scenery/architecture provides visual pleasure while playing the game. Multiple gravity Our newest technology allows having multiple gravity in one room. This means you can fight with enemies who are jumping from one wall to the other, or ambushing you from the ceiling. At the same time, you can jump to ceiling or throw a grenade up. This grenade will bounce UP to the ceiling (normal grenade would bounce down to the floor). This situation is only one example of the numerous that can be done with this feature. Multiple gravity has got great, unexplored potential for single-play and for the multi-play as well. This feature is never before seen in any other game. Multi-player 2-4 split screen support To add to usual multi-player options, the engine is enabled with split screen options allowing up to 4 players playing on a single computer. If you have Dual-head technology, it is possible for two players to play each on his/hers own monitor.