In techniques for computer games, fixed 3D refers to a three-dimensional (3D) representation of the game world with game characters rendered in real time against a pre-rendered environment.
Used heavily in the survival horror game genre, it was first seen in Delphine's Alone In The Dark series in the late 1980s; it was later revived and bought up to date by Capcom in the Resident Evil series.
Other notable examples include
- Final Fantasy VII (Squaresoft)
- Mario Party series (Nintendo)
- Blade Runner (Westwood Studios) - apparently the backgrounds are rendered in real time, using millions of polygons, although this is difficult to tell
- Ecstatica and Ecstatica 2 (Andrew Spencer/Psygnosis) - unusual in that the backgrounds and characters are rendered with ellipsoids, leading to a very natural looking set of creatures. Like Blade Runner, it again is rendered entirely in real time, although it is difficult to tell at first sight
- Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo) - dropped for complete 3D in its successor, Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, 2D is used for many of the building interiors and for an entire town.