Phoenix Engine

Phoenix engine in an isometric 2D game engine created by Micro Forté and used for Fallout Tactics.

Background
In May 1999, John De Margheriti, CEO of Micro Forté, visited Interplay with a pitch for an isometric scrolling shooter called Chimera (a.k.a. Chimera Project). Interplay was impressed with the quality of the demo, but was not interested in the game itself. However Brian Christian, the head of 14 Degrees East, saw enough potential in Chimera engine to propose the idea of doing a tactical combat game set in Black Isle's postapocalyptic Fallout world. The rewritten Chimera engine became the Phoenix engine.

Technical information
Phoenix engine is written entirely in C++. It uses a three quarters perspective with 2D tile-based backgrounds to represent a 3D environment. The engine supports multi-storey buildings which allow characters to climb on top of buildings, up stairs and ladders, or plumb into subways and subterranean caverns, within a single game map. Phoenix engine supports resolutions up to 1024x768 with 32bit colors, anti-aliasing, alpha blending and dynamic colored lighting.