Quake

Quake is a first-person shooter computer game that was released by id Software on May 31 1996. It was the first game in the popular Quake series of computer and video games.

Related Topics:
First-person shooter - Computer game - Id Software - May 31 - 1996 - Quake series

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Quake popularised several major advances in the 3D game genre: it uses 3-dimensional models for players and monsters instead of 2-dimensional sprites; and the world in which play takes place is created as a true 3-dimensional space, rather than a 2-dimensional map with height information which is then rendered to 3D. It also incorporated the use of lightmaps and dynamic light sources, as opposed to the sector-based static lighting used in games of the past. Quake pioneered the fluid control scheme of using the mouse to look/aim/orient ("mouselook") and the keyboard to move forward, backward and sideways. Many believe that it kick-started the independent 3D graphics card revolution, "GLQuake" being the first application to truly demonstrate the capabilities of the 3DFX "Voodoo" chipset at the time. The impact of the Quake engine is still being felt to this day.

Related Topics:
Sprite - Graphics card - 3DFX

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The majority of programming work on the Quake engine was done by John Carmack. Michael Abrash, a program performance optimization specialist, was brought in to help make the software rendering engine feasible with regards to speed. The background music for the game was composed by Trent Reznor, of Nine Inch Nails. Within the game, the ammo box for the nailgun has the Nine Inch Nails logo on it in reference to this.

Related Topics:
John Carmack - Michael Abrash - Trent Reznor - Nine Inch Nails

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Quake and its two follow up games (which many do not regard as true sequels), Quake II and Quake III Arena, have sold over 4 million copies combined. In 2005, a version of Quake was produced for mobile phones.

Related Topics:
Quake II - Quake III Arena - Mobile phones

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