Test 1

Test 1 was Croteam's first technology and compatibility test for Serious Sam: The First Encounter, because earlier builds were only compatible with Windows 95 and 3Dfx Voodoo graphics cards.

Levels

The only level is "Karnak Demo", which seems to be like in the final version but has many differences, textures, secret positions, and so on. NETRICSA also says that the part of Karnak the player's currently in is "The First Pylon", one part of the Karnak temple complex from four (in the original beta, Karnak was split into 5 parts). The following parts were "Amon Complex", "The Sacred Lake", and "Main Temple of Amon-Ra'".

Development

Test 1 started development sometime after Croteam sent the Evaluation build over to 30 publishes who gave them negative feedback. Croteam wanted to do a "vertical slice" of the game, and receive user feedback from the general public, by releasing a demo version on the internet. Earlier versions of Test 1 still used weapon models from the Evaluation Build, had a different font, different textures, different models used for the beheaded soldiers, different NETRICSA descriptions, etc. One particular thing wasn't completely removed, an obelisk hidden beyond the map, that appears in the intro NETRICSA description of the map.

Differences

Different textures for doors.
Adult Arachnoids had a very different model.
The Beheaded Rocketeer's weapon was different.
Beheaded Firecrackers carried a chainsaw, like they do in Serious Sam HD.
Beheaded soldiers had a different sound set.
The Military Knife could slice faster than usual, but dealt lower damage.
Different sounds for the: Schofield .45, 12 Gauge Pump-Action Shotgun, Double Barrel Coach Shotgun, XPML21 Rocket Launcher and the XM214-A Minigun. The Schofield .45's reloading sound is the same.
Scrapped weapons could be seen in the controls options menu.
The spawning system was different; enemies spawn in mid-air and stay there for a while with no different animations and then they drop down and start acting.
Four difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Serious.
Easy difficulty was like an easy Normal difficulty, self damage is on and ammo and health are at 100%, unlike in the original game where they are at 200%.
Old player sound set.
The player cannot go into third-person view and cannot jump as high as in the original game.
The Military Knife deals less damage and has an attack delay.
The Beheaded soldiers' NETRICSA messages, in the "Tips" section, do not have an indent ( - ) before the "no known problems" unlike in the original game where they have "- No known problems".
There is an XM214-A Minigun in the 'Generous Yard' secret.
Opening NETRICSA does not pause the game while the player is reading.
Different textures on many map parts.
Different secret positions.
Different knife animations.
Different player model and menu options set.

Test 1

Contents

Levels

Development

Differences

Weapons

Enemies

Gallery