Genesis3D was a project by Eclipse Entertainment to create a real-time 3D engine for Microsoft Windows. It was released as source code in 1998, which put it in the first generation of 3D PC gaming. The first version only supported a slow software rendering core and one hardware chipset, the Voodoo 3D processor. Genesis3D had Point light shadowing and shading which made the engine a fierce competitor for the Doom engine, the source code of which was at the time released only for non-commercial use. Genesis3D allows the game creators to use 3D moving characters that are supported by an inner frame (bone system), allowing for animation using this frame to create complex movement and interact with each other and the game world in a realistic manner. This engine was not important for the actual games it created, but as a game development community which launched careers for many team members who eventually went on to work for large successful commercial game projects. The first game using the Gensis3D Engine was G-Sector by Freeform Entertainment and was released as a free game/technology demo in December 1998. Freeform later went on to create a game/demo named Future vs Fantasy: Redemption that was distributed at E3 1999.
Notable Genesis3D games
- Barbie Generation Girl Gotta Groove, the number-seven best-selling game for Christmas 1999 developed by Neurobatics Corporation
- developed by Ratloop
- Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair developed by Dragonstone Software
- Catechumen, a Christian-themed first-person "shooter", developed by N'Lightening Software
- Special Force, an anti-Israel game developed by Hezbollah
- Ethnic Cleansing, an openly racist computer game developed and distributed by Resistance Records
