- For other uses, see Quake (disambiguation).
Zombies attacking the player.
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.
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 ("mouselook") and the keyboard to strafe/move. 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.
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.
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.
The Story
You are a marine for the government sent into a portal to stop an enemy known as "Quake". This entity has been sending terrible demons and death squads through the government's new slipgate technology, a portal that allows instant transportation of cargo or any other material. Once sent through the portal you must fight through hundreds of demons to stop the enemy. The other realm is inspired by several influences, notably that of H. P. Lovecraft (the end game boss being Shub-Niggurath herself).
The unnamed hero of Quake reappeared as one of the selectable characters in Quake III Arena, where he is known as "Ranger".
Network Play
Quake includes a multi-player mode to play over LAN or the Internet with or against other humans. The network play uses a client/server model, where the actual game runs on the server only and all players "log in" there to participate. Depending on the client's specific route to the server, different clients will get different ping times. The lower your latency (ping time), the smoother your in-game motions, and the easier it is to accurately aim and score. Someone playing on the server PC gets a substantial advantage due to essentially zero lag.
Modification
The game itself can be heavily modified and due to its popularity, has been the focus of many fan "mods". The first mods were small gameplay fixes and patches initiated by the community, usually enhancements to weapons or gameplay with some new foes. Later mods were more ambitious and resulted in Quake fans creating versions of the game which were drastically different from id Software's original release.
The first major Quake mod was Threewave Capture the Flag (CTF), primarily authored by Dave 'Zoid' Kirsch. Threewave CTF is a partial conversion consisting of new maps, a new weapon (a grappling hook), some new textures and new rules of game play. Typically, two teams (red and blue) would compete in a game of capture the flag, though a few maps with up to four teams (red, blue, green, and yellow) were created. Capture the Flag has become a standard game mode included in most popular multiplayer games released after Quake, in addition to Deathmatch first introduced in Doom.
The popular TeamFortress mod for QuakeWorld consists of Capture the Flag gameplay, but with a class system for the players. Players choose a class, which creates various restrictions on weapons and armor types available to that player, and also grants special abilities. For example, the bread-and-butter Soldier class has medium armor, medium speed, and a well-rounded selection of weapons and grenades, while the Scout class is lightly armored, very fast, has a scanner that detects nearby enemies, but has very weak offensive weapons.
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 medieval 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.
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.
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 Quake's 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.
With the help of client-side prediction, QuakeWorld's 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.
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.
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.
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).
Many more ports were done after the source code release, such as numerous homebrew ports for the Dreamcast and Xbox consoles.
Family Tree of Quake engines
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.
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.
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.
Speed runs
As an example of the dedication that Quake has inspired in its fan community, a group of expert players recorded demos of Quake levels completed in record time on the "nightmare" skill level. The footage was edited into one continuous 19 min 49 s demo called Quake done Quick (QdQ) and released on 10th June, 1997.
A second attempt, Quake Done Quicker (QdQr), reduced the complete time to 16:35. QdQr was released 13th September, 1997.
The culmination of this process was the the unbelievable Quake done Quick with a Vengeance (QdQwav). Released three years to the day after QdQr, this pared down the time taken to complete all four episode, on nightmare difficulty, to 12 minutes, 23 seconds. This run was recorded as an in-game demo but interest was such that an .avi video clip was created to allow those without the game to see the run.
Quake Done Quick with a Vengeance is a colloborative effort by seven speed runners; Sergi, Markus, Ilkka, Atilla, Peter, Alex and Ingmar. Although each particular level is credited to one runner, the ideas and techniques used are iterative and collaborative in nature, with each runner picking up tips and ideas from the others.
There are plans for creating yet another run through Quake, which will have a time less than 12 minutes. Similar speed runs have been done for Quake mission packs, Quake II and for many Quake single player custom levels (levels created by Quake fans).
Games using the Quake engine
Official or Commercial Mission Packs and Add-Ons (including stand-alone titles).
Games using a modified Quake engine
Replacement Quake/QuakeWorld Engines
Replacing the game engine became possible after the 1999 release of the Quake and QuakeWorld source code under the GPL.
QuakeWorld mods
Quakecon
Popular North American LAN Party Quakecon finds it roots in the game as well. The gaming convention was started up so Quake fans could get together every year and compete on a LAN, on even footing without internet connection latency and packet loss handicapping play.
External links
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