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.

History

Pre-release

Quake was given as a title to the game that id Software was working on shortly after the release of Doom 2. The earliest information released described Quake as focusing on a Thor-like character who wields a giant hammer, and is able to knock away guys by throwing the hammer (complete with real time inverse kinematics). Early screenshots showed medieval environments and dragons. The plan was for the game to have more RPG-style elements. However, work was very slow on the engine, since Carmack not only was developing a fully 3D engine, but also a TCP/IP networking model (Carmack later said that he should have done two separate projects which developed those things). Thus the final game was very stripped down from its original intentions, and instead featured gameplay similar to Doom and its sequel, although levels and enemies were closer to mediæval RPG style rather than science-fiction. Praised throughout the gaming community, it quickly dethroned previous FPS titles and revolutionized the way multiplayer games were developed.

Related Topics:
Id Software - Doom 2 - Thor - Inverse kinematics - RPG - Doom - FPS

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QTest

Before the release of the game or the demo of the game, id software released "QTest". It was described as a technology demo and was limited to three multiplayer maps. There was no single player support, and some of the gameplay and graphics were unfinished, but the game's multiplayer support caused Quake servers to spring up everywhere overnight.

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QuakeWorld

To improve the quality of online play, id Software released QuakeWorld in 1996, a build of Quake that featured significantly revamped network code including the addition of client-side prediction. The original Quakes network code would not show the player the results of his actions until the server sent back a reply acknowledging them. For example, if the player attempted to move forward, his client would forward the request to move forward to the server, and the server would determine whether the client was actually able to move forward or if he ran into an obstacle, such as a wall or another player. The server would then respond to the client, and only then would the client display movement to the player. This was fine for play on a LAN—a high bandwidth, very low latency connection. But the latency over a dialup internet connection is much larger than on a LAN, and this caused a noticeable delay between when a player tried to act and when that action was visible on the screen. This made gameplay much more difficult, especially since the unpredictable nature of the Internet made the amount of delay vary from moment to moment. John Carmack has admitted that this was a serious problem which should have been fixed before release, but it was not caught because he and other developers had high-speed Internet access at home.

Related Topics:
QuakeWorld - 1996 - Client-side prediction

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With the help of client-side prediction, QuakeWorlds network code was much more friendly to players on dial-up with high ping times. The netcode parameters could be adjusted by the user, so that QuakeWorld performed well for users with low latency (also referred to as Low Ping Bastards or LPB's) as well as high latency (sometimes called High Ping Bait (HPB's) or High Ping Weenies/Whiners (HPW's)). The popular TeamFortress mod was based entirely on the QuakeWorld platform.

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Ports

In 1996 there was a port of Quake to Linux that involved code theft and patches being submitted back to id Software before it became an official port. 1997 saw further porting efforts, with an IRIX port, called SGI Quake (link) done by Ed Hutchins on the SGI O2. SGI Quake has both OpenGL and software rendering systems. Also in 1997, a port to Mac OS was done by MacSoft and a port of Quake to Sparc Solaris was released.

Related Topics:
1996 - Port of ''Quake'' to Linux - 1997 - IRIX - SGI Quake - Ed Hutchins - SGI O2 - OpenGL - Mac OS - MacSoft - Sparc - Solaris

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Quake was also ported to console systems. In 1997, it was ported to Sega Saturn by Lobotomy. It is widely considered to be some of the most advanced 3D work ever cranked out of the console; it's also the only version of Quake that is rated 'T' for Teen instead of 'M' for Mature. In 1998, Quake was brought to Nintendo 64 by Midway Games.

Related Topics:
Sega Saturn - Rated - Nintendo 64 - Midway Games

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Both console ports required some compromises because of the limited CPU power and ROM storage space for maps. The Saturn version lacked multiplayer but had most of the maps from the original game, with only the secret levels (Ziggurat Vertigo (E1M8), The Underearth (E2M7), The Haunted Halls (E3M7) and The Nameless City (E4M8)) not making the cut. Instead, it had four new maps: Purgatorium, Hell's Aerie, The Coliseum and Watery Grave. The N64 version had multiplayer, but was missing The Grisly Grotto (E1M4), The Installation (E2M1), The Ebon Fortress (E2M4), The Wind Tunnels (E3M5), The Sewage System (E4M1) and Hell's Atrium (E4M5). It also lacks the "START" map where you choose difficulty and episode; difficulty is chosen when starting the game, and all the levels play in sequential order from The Slipgate Complex (E1M1) to Shub Niggurath's Pit (END).

Related Topics:
CPU - ROM

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Many more ports were done after the source code release, such as numerous homebrew ports for the Dreamcast and Xbox consoles.

Related Topics:
Dreamcast - Xbox

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Source Code

The source code of the Quake and QuakeWorld engines was licensed under the GPL in 1999. The id Software maps, objects, textures, sounds and other creative works remain under their original license (although a GPL release of all of the quake1 maps is planned). The shareware distribution of Quake is still freely redistributable and usable with the GPLed engine code. One must purchase a copy of Quake in order to get the registered version of the game which includes more single player episodes and the deathmatch maps.

Related Topics:
Source code - QuakeWorld - GPL - 1999 - Shareware - Deathmatch

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Legacy

Based on the success of the first Quake game, id later published Quake II and Quake III Arena; Quake IV is planned to follow in the future. It is developed by Raven Software utilising the Doom 3 engine.

Related Topics:
Quake II - Quake III Arena - Quake IV - Raven Software - Doom 3

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It is also interesting to note that Quake was the game primarily responsible for the emergence of Machinima phenomenon of films made in game engines, thanks to edited Quake demos such as Ranger Gone Bad and Blahbalicious.

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