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Development:Wolfenstein 3D (DOS)

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This page details development materials of Wolfenstein 3D (DOS).

A number of work-in-progress art assets have been released from the Wolfenstein 3D development files over the years.

2001 Graphics

The following assets were released by John Romero in a 2001 blogpost commemorating the Wolfenstein franchise's 20th birthday. Please note that they were all originally uploaded as JPGs, and as such will be provided as is (for now at the very least) out of historical accuracy.

Wolf3d dev Title ega.jpg

The EGA version of the title screen, bearing an "Alpha" watermark. The game was originally planned to support EGA, with alternate artwork created specifically for the mode (primarily by Bio Menace developer Jim Norwood). This plan was apparently ditched a month into development.

Wolf3d dev w3d beta title.jpg

The final VGA titlescreen, but with a giant "BETA" watermark and a less-than-veiled threat. Supposedly the game entered Beta just five months into development!

Wolf3d dev Plaque2e.jpg

The EGA version of the HUD graphics. You can see a bunch of buttons at the top for different actions that would presumably be bound to the number keys - looking under rugs for items, opening treasure chests for items, opening doors quietly, and dragging a corpse. There is also a HUD element for a stolen uniform. You can see that the stealth elements were already being discarded, as a bunch of extra buttons have been drawn over with elements from the final HUD.

Wolf3d dev Plaque2v.jpg

The VGA version of the HUD graphics. These appear to be from an earlier state than the EGA sprites, as several of the face slots (for the difficulty settings) are filled by a cartoony placeholder face, and the buttons that were covered up by final HUD elements in the EGA sheet are fully visible here. They appear to correspond to weapons - bare hands, knife, luger, stick grenade and machinegun. The bare hands and grenade did not make it into the final game, and the Chaingun is not present on the sheet.


(Source: Planet Romero)
(Source: John Romero on Twitter)

2021 Graphics

In 2021, fan website Wolf3d.net released several spritesheets from throughout development, apparently granted by former Capstone programmer Les Bird a couple of years prior.

Wolf3d dev ARTPIX2V.png

A sheet of artwork for the "Read This!" help section. Isolated copies of BJ's face from the intermission screen are present, presumably as reference, and there's a graphic of the treasure items and 1UP with their score values that isn't used.

Wolf3d dev FATG1V.png

A spritesheet of General Fettgesicht's walking and firing sprites. At the bottom, you can see work-in progress bits and pieces from converting Otto Giftmacher's sprites into Fettgesichts.

Wolf3d dev FATG2V.png

General Fettgesicht's death frames. Under them are stretched copies of Giftmacher's frames, presumably used as a base.

Wolf3d dev GATLV.png

The Gatling Gun's sprites, with two grey frames - EGA equivalents?

Wolf3d dev MACHV.png

The Machine Gun's sprites, with some obvious EGA equivalents.

Wolf3d dev NAZIW6V.png

The Guard's pain and death frames, with two unused frames unconverted from EGA - laying stripped and unconscious on the ground after being deprived of his uniform, and with his hands raised in surrender.

Wolf3d dev SPR2V.png

Furniture and scenery. An unused alternate vase with an intricate pattern drawn on it is also present.

Wolf3d dev SPR6V.png

Debris and scenery. An unused sprite of chunks of meat on hooks is also present, as well as an unfinished piece of placeholder art presumably depicting a surgical curtain.

Wolf3d dev SPR8V.png

The same sheet, except the meathooks are replaced with the final game's "DEATHCAM™" sprite, and the surgical curtain is replaced with the final game's vines sprite. The unsquished original version of the "DEATHCAM™" graphic is also present.

Wolf3d dev SSW6V.png

The SS's pain and death frames, along with an EGA surrender frame. A blank sprite is present where the guard's unconscious/stripped frame was - the SS would keep his dignity and his bright blue pants.

Wolf3d dev WALL11V.png

Wall textures, with an unused variant of the blue-brick-with-a-skull texture replacing the skull with a row of swastikas.


(Source: Wolf3d.net)