Gloom 3 Explained

Gloom 3
Developer:Alpha Software
Publisher:Guildhall
Composer:Chris Burns, Richard Murfin
Released:1997
Genre:First-person shooter
Modes:Single-player
Platforms:Amiga

Gloom 3 (also known as Ultimate Gloom and Gloom 3: Zombie Edition) is a video game for the Amiga computer, released in 1997. Gloom 3 was the third proper, commercially released clone of the first-person shooter Doom in the Gloom series on the Amiga.

Gloom 3s author, Gareth Murfin, was proprietor of Alpha Software, with additional graphics made by James Caygill and Jason Jordache.

The game was one of two games produced by Alpha Software for the Amiga, the other being Zombie Massacre, at a time when the machine was less popular. Although the game was critically well received by publications such as CU Amiga,[1] at the time of release games for the Amiga were on the decline and not deemed commercially viable, and the game received criticism for its appearance.[2]

Despite the "3" in the title, this is actually the second game in the Gloom series, as there is no such game as Gloom 2. According to one of the people who worked on this game, the reason for the game being called "Gloom 3" was because he confused Gloom Deluxe for Gloom 2, even though Gloom Deluxe was actually an updated version of the first game, not a sequel.

The game was released as freeware in 2013.[3] [4] Following the source code for the Gloom engine being released in 2017,[5] a compatible source port for modern systems was created in 2020 called ZGloom.[6]

Notes and References

  1. Horgan . Tony . January 1998 . Ultimate Gloom . CU Amiga Magazine . 43 . 2016-07-19 .
  2. Lemon Amiga - http://www.lemonamiga.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemonamiga.com/games/recent.php%3Fshow_year%3D2006%26show%3D
  3. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20130417093319/http://www.radiantsilverlabs.com/zm. Amiga Zombie Game Amnesty - Zombie Massacre and Ultimate Gloom (aka Gloom3) go public domain, grab em here!. Gareth. Murfin. 2013-04-06. 2024-06-06. Radiant Silver Labs. 2013-04-17.
  4. Web site: Amiga: Ultimate Gloom a.k.a. Gloom 3 – Now Freely Distributable. 2016-04-17. 2024-06-13. Old School Game Blog. Puni.
  5. Web site: Source code released of FPS classic Gloom. 2017-05-06. 2024-06-06. Generation Amiga.
  6. Web site: ZGloom, reimplementation of great Amiga FPS classic. 2020-02-02. 2024-06-03. Generation Amiga.