Remember the amazing, jaw-dropping, Shockwave 3D first person shooter (FPS) demo that surfaced last year just prior to GDC? The game was called Phosphor Alpha and it was created by Nick Kang of Rasterwerks. Well, he's done it again.
Phosphor Beta 1 kicks the action into high gear by including multiplayer deathmatch functionality. And it all runs within the convenience of your browser(!), provided you have a computer with a fast processor, DirectX or OpenGL installed, and with a nice video card. Here is what Nick recommends:
Recommended for playback: 1.6+ MHz CPU, 64+ MB video card, Internet Explorer 6, Shockwave 10, Enhancer Xtra required for mouselook, fullscreen.
His recommendations are not requirements, however. I was able to run this amazing piece of work on my measly G4 Mac laptop in Firefox using OpenGL. To play using OpenGL, disregard the initial "DirectX 7 not found" dialog, choose Settings, then Video, then change DirectX to OpenGL and you're good to go.
Additional bullet points that follow are direct from Nick:
- Multiplayer deathmatch in a web browser
- Up to 8 players/bots/spectators per session (peer-to-peer with one player acting as host, using the MU Xtra). Instructions for setting up multiplayer.
- 3 player types with 3 skins each and about 30 anims each (created by the talented guys at AsorsonStudios.com)
- For a controls list, go to Settings/Controls. To re-map, click the box and press a key or mouse button (some keys like ESC and P are not-mappable). Make sure you check Save Settings so your customizations are restored next time.
- If you just want to wander about the world without being bothered, just click Start on the Main Menu (bot count defaults to 0)
- If you just want to watch, go to Settings, hit the Game tab, check Spectator, and add a few bots depending on the speed of your machine (try 3 for <2 MHz, 6 for >3 Mhz CPUs), click OK, then Start. The performance is pretty much CPU bound, due to collision, LOS tests, and projectiles, so the number of bots is the biggest framerate hit.
- In Spectator mode: SPACE = switch view, click+drag to orbit camera, cursor keys UP/Down/Left/Right = camera In/Out/Lower/Higher
- The background audio is an MP3 player, so you can play whatever URL you want (I only recently found out Shockwave doesn't throw that security dialog for this, nifty). To try it out, check Enable, and take a set from these temporary URLs (copy-n-paste into Track fields):
./Propellerheads - Spybreak! (Short One) - The Matrix - 02.mp3
./Rage Against The Machine - Wake Up - The Matrix - 13.mp3
./Prodigy - Mindfields - The Matrix - 07.mp3
./Rammstein - Du Hast - The Matrix - 12.mp3
./Marilyn Manson - Rock Is Dead - The Matrix - 01.mp3
Of course, you would only do so if you own The Matrix soundtrack CD ;-). Not particularly your taste of music? Have a listen to Tom's excellent interview last week at MagicGate - tilde key brings up the console window, enter ? for list of commands; try "time 0.25" to make everything run sloooow ("time 1.0" = normal speed)
"Any feedback, bugs reports, suggestions (esp. concerning gameplay, map layout, etc.) are much appreciated. My goals are to clean up the bugs (esp. collision), get the networking more robust (such as reconnecting after a drop), improve the AI (fortunately the hard stuff like the waypoints and A* is done, needs a lot of tuning though), get more maps created, and even make a real website one day."
"Here's hoping the game is playable and perhaps fun, cheers!"
-nick
Very impressive stuff indeed. If you haven't had the opportunity to check out Nick's previous work, make sure you don't miss this one. As before, you never know when the testing period will end and the game is taken down.
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Comments (may contain spoilers)
This game truly is awesome. wish I had someone else to play instead of the bots...they're just too cruel...
Posted by: Mozz | March 16, 2006 6:36 PM
This is the best free online gmae i ever played, bbut i only had one problem, i kept on colsong on me during midgame
Posted by: Mike | March 16, 2006 6:55 PM
Wow.... Just... Jaw-dropping... This game compares with CSS and Unreal Tourn 2004 and other great ones
Posted by: tequito | March 16, 2006 7:32 PM
absolutely amazing. maybe we should set up a jayisgames tourney in this, it would be good to play against real people
Posted by: Johno | March 16, 2006 7:43 PM
Mozz, you can adjust the Bot skill level, and I was holding my own at Level 2, and I suck at FPS.
This is amazing, by the way.
Posted by: Rock Steady | March 16, 2006 7:58 PM
Wow that pretty cool
the bots are pretty hard
Is there anyway to download it?
Posted by: dannthemann | March 16, 2006 9:05 PM
WOW! Very impressive piece of work. Unfortunately there seems to be a serious mouse bug for me :(
The game is stuck in moving my view to the ground. Trying to correct it by moving the mouse forward brings the view up and then moves it back down :/
Posted by: jason | March 16, 2006 10:36 PM
That's, just.. wow..
I didn't think something like this was possible in a browser-based medium.
I wonder what the level creation is like? Which, speaking of level creation, this guy seems to be a master. No dead-ends. Every spot is connected to another spot on the map somehow. I've seen worse level design in some of the big-name games like Half Life and Unreal Tournament.
Posted by: Andrew
|
March 17, 2006 7:14 AM
This game is great and just to say this is on shockwave platform. Props to Nick on this :)....
Posted by: remister | March 17, 2006 8:14 AM
WOW
Tequito, i have Unreal Tornament (Real cool) and my jaw dropped at this game. So simple as it is can be, its so fun and you can get big-time hooked. It looks like Quake, especaly ammo boxes. It was hard to beleve that a game could be created on the internet thats 3D plus all the info it may need, without needing to download or be saved.
I would like to see more of these games Jay and keep up with the site :)
Posted by: Khrisper | March 17, 2006 2:48 PM
Super cool. Is there a level editor?
Posted by: Adam Blinkinsop | March 17, 2006 4:48 PM
WOW indeed, this game looks amazing :) Even for a non-brower game it looks good.
Posted by: Tsuken | March 17, 2006 6:43 PM
HAhaha. He Put the Halo Bug in there. From the pipe, go down the bottomless pit, the one where theres another pipe on the other side. Just jump down. And you'll land in complete darkness with some huge patches of grey, you'll still see the waterfall coming from the pipe though, walk through that, and look up. Amazing.
Posted by: Observer1 | March 18, 2006 12:10 AM
Although this is an impressive game in many
respects, what most excited me is the ability
to restrict mouse movement to the game window.
so many online flash/shockwave games are spoiled by the mouse losing focus or clicking on ads just at a crucial moment.
Can this feature be easily included in a Flash game ?
Or, even better, could a simple stand alone program, preferable browser based, be made to implement this feature to any existing Flash in a web page.
Come on you coders im sure it cant be that hard :)
(by the way, if it already exists, plese let me know !! )
Posted by: stig | March 18, 2006 2:38 PM
AAAHHHHHHH!!!
Closed till monday! What I'm I going to do till then????
Posted by: Louis | March 18, 2006 5:58 PM
Drat! The game's offline until Monday 3/20. I wish that Nick had mentioned the time zone. I have'nt gamed for a while but this one is a-d-d-i-c-t-i-v-e :)
Would be nice to know how to grab that suit of armor. Unless it's difficulty-specific? I just couldn't jump to grab (perhaps revealing my inexperience). Anyone?
Posted by: Freeloader | March 19, 2006 5:34 AM
Stig, the mouse restriction is handled by the Enhancer xtra, makes things like changing screen res & joystick & mouse control easy.. but being a Shockwave component it's not available for Flash.
http://www.director-xtras.com/xtra-enhancer.html
Posted by: pat | March 19, 2006 5:42 AM
Is this game messed up or something it says multiplayer then how do i play against real ppl i got to settings netwerok and i click on server and nothing
i get a ip and i click ok and somehow join and no ones there like i'm alone??? But its best online game i ever seen.
Posted by: Elvis | March 25, 2006 12:26 AM
It's a good game, but there's one problem. If I right-click, in addition to using the alternate fire, firefox brings up the default right-click menu, which messes with my mouse position and gets in my way. Is there any way I can stop it?
Posted by: Evilwumpus | March 26, 2006 9:10 PM
I don't know. Was addicting at first but now I'm kinda of bored of it. I'm more in to games where you accomplish something, like hapland.
Posted by: Louis | March 28, 2006 3:15 PM
Freeloader. Jump from the catwalk above to get the armour.
Posted by: JJman | March 29, 2006 6:49 AM
cool site
Posted by: Steven Cole | April 24, 2006 7:14 AM
how do you download it???
Posted by: joe w | May 2, 2006 11:23 AM
One of the best web games I've ever played and more stable than many games I've payed for. The only bugs I've found so far are bot's becoming invisible, leaving only their shadow to shoot at and the game crashing after long sessions.
I've jumped into the pit a few times but have always died, I'll have to try again. On one occassion I jumped from the armour crate towards the lower door, missed and fell into a space just outside the long tunnel. From there I could see the bots running across various areas and shoot at them.
On another I followed a bot up the corridor to the observation post, hugging the left hand wall, turned a fraction to early and found myself on the top of the hills next to the ob posts roof. I wandered about for a bit before jumping onto another concrete platform. Unfortunately this turned out to be the armour room and I fell straight through the fan.
So the hills are useable if you can reach them but I can't find a legitimate way of getting up nor can I reproduce the action that got me there in the first place. Anyone got any ideas?
Elvis: For multiplayer you need someone to host the game on their home computer and then give the other players there IP address. I'd offer to do this but I only have a 1mb connection and don't think it would work very well.
I went on a bit longer than I intended. Great game and great website Jay!
Posted by: bwilderbeast | May 7, 2006 10:34 AM
alien x off shockwave.com was a fps but it had no multi player
Posted by: guest | May 11, 2006 4:59 PM
So true, AlienX is an excelent game but is not MP and it plays in a small window.
Phosphorb, on the other hand, can be played MP, fullscreen and appears to be advancing by leaps and bounds.
I think they've increased the power of a players jump so it's now possible to reach the hill tops by the route described in my last post spoiler.
If you want to discover it yourself, just run around looking for bits of landscape to run and jump at, you'll find it eventually.
P.S. I think that players should regenerate with 100% armour, otherwise its just to easy to kill those regenerating.
Posted by: bwilderbeast | May 12, 2006 5:10 PM
The game isn't available at the moment, a message says the beta version has "expired" and Rasterworks has replaced it yet.
The route to the hilltops only lasted a short time, they readjusted the jump height and it was no longer usable.
Posted by: bwilderbeast | May 16, 2006 4:41 AM
hi, i love this game and i think that it's amazing how good it is but still only a browser game!! can someone either point out or give me like a guide on how to use the console comands?? they confuse me a lot.
Posted by: justin | June 6, 2006 4:31 PM
A few hours ago an update was posted for Phosphor which adds a useful new feature. It will now allow you to pick up and use the weapons dropped by those recently demised (including yourself). It also puts a couple of halos around the weapons presumably to make them easier to see.
Good mods I think. It certainly helps with building up your stock of weapons and/or ammo. You now don't have to go as far to get a more useful weapon for your current environment. Very useful for me because I'm rubbish at the game! Hugely enjoyable though.
Well done Jay. First class site. Always need my daily fix. How else would I have found out about Phosphor, Lego racing, isketch etc.?
Splendid.
Posted by: Fredthesecond | August 1, 2006 10:44 PM
Thank you kindly, Fredthesecond. =)
I had almost completely forgotten about Lego Racing, and thanks to your reminder, I have added it to the "Replay" feature on the front page in hopes that newer visitors will get the chance to check it out.
I have also added Phosphor to the replay feature, based on your good news, so cheers! =)
Posted by: jay
|
August 1, 2006 11:29 PM
Hey if anybody is still reading the JIG comments for this particular game, let's definitely set up a JIG tournament! Email me and we'll try to get something going!
Posted by: Scramble125
|
August 14, 2006 2:38 PM
How do you join someone else's server? + Counterstrike server is up atm.
Posted by: 00zd | August 27, 2006 9:47 AM
Sorry for double post but someone please help with my question. Server still up and remember when playing, click F11 on your keyboard to get full screen.
Posted by: 00zd | August 27, 2006 10:11 AM
Anyone who's reading, go to http://www1.rasterwerks.com/game/phosphor/beta1.asp and join my server (NAME: Counterstrike)
Thanks.
Posted by: 00zd
|
August 27, 2006 10:24 AM
Just a note to say WOW!! This is the best browser based FPS ever. I can't wait for more maps and mods, yes it has the odd bug i.e. falling down the cavern and not dying, being blown away(by the rocket launcher) straight through a wall, but I love it!!
If you want a cheat:
Has anyone else found anymore?
Posted by: Phil H | August 30, 2006 5:51 AM
Jay, I was just remembering this game and decided to come back and take a look at it. I was noticing in the main post, it has several mentionings of "MHz" and this is a mistake. It should be GHz. Just thought I would say something. :)
(I thought this was very funny as it says "try 3 for 3 Mhz CPUs" and my CPU is *2600* MHz :P)
Posted by: Sam | October 23, 2006 4:02 PM
Is there any way to download this so I don't have to reload it every time on dail up?
Posted by: Brad | December 19, 2006 2:26 PM
when one enters a url for a music clip at the start of the match it plays but the 2nd url does not auto play and with the cursor there is o way to manually play it can anyone offer some help
Posted by: J | December 23, 2006 5:29 PM
Phil H, when you posted the cheat in the eariler post, I do not know where the console is. If you could give me a location that would be nice. Thanks!
Posted by: Sonic | February 14, 2007 7:55 AM
Regard my last comment. I found the console, but when I type in the cheat, it says it can't be used during multiplayer! How do I use it without multiplayer?
Posted by: Tyler | February 14, 2007 8:20 AM
i know a cheat go to console and type in ghost it alllows you to walk through walls. and once i did something that made me jump high. do you know how this could be done again?
Posted by: leonardo | April 6, 2007 6:06 PM
Dudes I know a way to get to the stairs in the sewer places going up though a canyon. I don't know if anyone else has discovered it but lets just in case, I will recap you. There is health and a machine gun and a not so steep canyon wall, you can climb that, but you have to jump a very thin part to get to the ventilation. There is rocket launcher ammo. I don't want anyone to think this is plagerism, ok. Congrats to those who those who discovered it before me.
Posted by: ersic | April 29, 2007 11:04 AM
Why does the online have so much lag, do you goys know, can you help me, I know the max players has to be 4 but stilll, why? Respond to question in an hour, or at least a weak. And yes others have discoverd the canyon trick of climbing the little canyon. Something I forgot to type was that you can't enter the area with the machinegun and health. You have to climb the ramp lookig canyon with a ventilation tube thing at the end. But someone climbed another canyon near the small bridge in multiplayer. It mite have been a glitch, or a cheat, or just some bad lag. If this happens to you, type down hear in about a weak, or month.
Posted by: ersic | April 29, 2007 1:55 PM
Why are ther so few peple online, come on and play. Im waiting for hours, well, more like half and hour for a good match.
Please, if your going to come and play, leave a message hear saying at what time you will play and sever. If you don't like being the server, please write that too, although, nobody is able to connect to me even if i have a 4 megabite connection.
Please notify me of any other cheats
PLaytime starts tommorrow.
Posted by: ersic | May 3, 2007 5:07 PM
Yes, i know how you can jump high. (phosphor beta 1) When you are outside and theres 2 red high jump platforms, jump on the first one, then aim for the second one and you'll jump high again. Then everytime you jump, you jump high. (B.T.W, do you know any site with phosphor alpha 4? I never got a chance to play it.)
Posted by: Game Researcher | May 8, 2007 6:15 PM
Wow! It's great game! The best game i've ever seen in browser!
Here's a cheat...
Phosphor rocks!
Posted by: PhosphorPro | June 6, 2007 3:47 AM
I've tried jump high in the platforms but i can't it. Can you tell me more information about who do it?
Posted by: fito | June 6, 2007 10:18 AM
Wow i just found this game when they put it on addictinggames.com...this is one of the best i have played. Where is this console though?
Posted by: Toast | June 17, 2007 10:34 PM
Well, guys I've been enjoying this tough game a month now. And I have applied few cheats. But I could fairly enjoy the game, while we opt for challenges on the way. However, gotta try it. Here are some cheats as mentioned above: on the console type, god, jump and ghost. The console can be found at the control tab. Change the console button to the desired letter or character for easy access on the game. After you have started the game long press the letter/character corresponding to the console. A gray slot will appear at the bottom. Type the desired cheat.
Well, hope you'll enjoy after all. Have fun!
Posted by: elijah | June 29, 2007 1:06 AM
Hello, guys once again. This game is really adicting. I spent a lot of time playing this game. But kids, please stay in school. You know the graphics of this game is awesome, including the backgrounds and the sound effects. The graphics is even higher than other online game (what do you think, of those?). To Nick Kang, KUDOS for this inventiveness!
Just a hint, the cheat codes doesn't work over multi-player game. It only work if you're playing with the bots. Press ~ on the keyboard, and type the cheat code you desired.
Good Luck and Good Gaming Guys!
Posted by: elijah | July 3, 2007 9:28 PM
This happened to me:
Health: 5
Weapon: Pulse gun
Recent evens: nearly dead after a bot launches a rocket
and sends you into the ditch.
Current events: Spawn: bot 2 w/ sniper rifle. Right in front of me. Ah well, easy kill!
What's going to happen: Chasing the enemy... Bot 2 turns around... and...BANG! I got pwnd.
Posted by: Reaver | August 19, 2007 8:42 AM
love the game cant wait for it to go out of beta
Posted by: lotty | August 23, 2007 11:13 AM
What exactly does the "jump" cheat do? I've tried it and as far as I'm concerned, it doesnt do anything.
Also, I've done the superjump bug a couple of times before, but now I can't seem to do it again. I even slowed down the time to perfect the landings, but i can't do it.
Posted by: Ken So | September 2, 2007 12:30 PM
how do you use the Phosphor editor?
Posted by: Anonymous | October 9, 2007 12:38 AM
how do i reverse the cheats? I entered the gheats in console andi beat 1 round super fast. I went to the main menu and checked to seeifr there was a ser for multiplayer.There was none. I started another game, and the cheat wer still on. How do i turn them off?
Posted by: Zakill | October 17, 2007 7:58 PM
Oh never mind, all you gotta do is refresh your browser window and the cheats should be off.
Posted by: Zakill | October 17, 2007 8:06 PM
if you have cheat code, you're almost diluting the effort and the thrill behind the game.... try to play natural way... this is my personal feel ...
Posted by: itsmetg | October 21, 2007 1:35 AM
I found a good trick. If you have very low health (20 or under) and u have a rocket launcher then shoot at the floor. You will die but hey, it would take a while to get ur hp back plus u get a kill because u are killing yourself. Plus theres no way u could get another kill before getting killed(unless you snipe them or they have 20 or less hp). And, if you spawn close to where u died, just go and grab your old rocket launcher! So after doing this u get: a refill of hp, another kill, a new weapon and, if your lucky, you dont really lose anything xept for 1 missle!
Posted by: Zakill | October 24, 2007 3:57 PM
Yeah, typing in the word jump doesn't do anything.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 13, 2007 2:59 AM
ok, the cheat is Jumpvelocity then a number, exactly like that.
Posted by: Anonymous | November 26, 2007 9:29 PM
another cheat, gravity [number]
Posted by: Anonymous | December 11, 2007 9:45 AM
Can't open the console!!
If I press the tilde button, the console doens't open.
(btw, i have azerty, so i pressed both the tilde on azerty and qwerty..in sof, it works, in phosphor, it doensn't)
Posted by: Jelle | January 10, 2008 8:42 AM
Hi All,
anybody knows how to use cheats in server mode?
Posted by: robji | January 15, 2008 12:16 PM
ok if anyone sees this go to network and be a client and find this ip address: 172.16.100.161
only 4 players tho i will put in bots kk thanks!!
Posted by: ale | January 22, 2008 3:35 PM
i really want to find out how to play phosphor alpha 4 i never got to play it so can somebody plzzzzzzzz tell me!!!!!
Posted by: kc | May 2, 2008 4:40 PM
Alpha was the version of Phosphor before Beta, which means you can't play it any more. And why would you want to?
Posted by: Jay
|
May 2, 2008 5:39 PM
acyullat i found out how i can play it
Posted by: kc | May 2, 2008 6:46 PM
and it is so awesome!!!!!
Posted by: kc | May 2, 2008 8:21 PM
In phosphor beta 1 u have to use E to activate something can somebody tell me where u activate it at because i really want to know!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: KC | May 2, 2008 8:28 PM