Dictionary Definition
quake n : shaking and vibration at the surface of
the earth resulting from underground movement along a fault plane
of from volcanic activity [syn: earthquake, temblor, seism]
Verb
2 shake with seismic vibrations; "The earth was
quaking" [syn: tremor]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
Old English cwacianPronunciation
- Rhymes: -eɪk
Noun
- A trembling or shaking.
- We felt a quake in the apartment every time the train went by.
- An earthquake, a
trembling of the ground with force.
- California is plagued by quakes, there are a few minor ones almost every month.
Verb
Derived terms
Extensive Definition
- This article is about the original video game. For the series as a whole, see Quake (series). For other uses, see Quake (disambiguation).
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 fast enough
to be feasible. The game design and layout was done by John Romero.
The sound effects and music for the game were 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 was
released just as the Internet was
commercially coming of age, and much of Quakes popularity arose
because it was one of the few games of its kind playable over the
internet rather than just a local network.
Quake and its four sequels, Quake II,
Quake III
Arena, Quake 4, and
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars have sold over 4 million copies
combined. In 2002, a version of Quake was produced for mobile
phones. A copy of Quake was also sold in 2001, labeled Ultimate
Quake, which included the original Quake, Quake II, and Quake III
Arena.
In 2008 Quake was honored at the 59th Annual
Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for advancing the art
form of user modifiable games. John Carmack accepted the
award.
History
A preview included with id's very first release, 1990's Commander Keen, advertised a game entitled The Fight for Justice as a follow-up to the Keen trilogy. It would feature a character named Quake, "the strongest, most dangerous person on the continent", armed with thunderbolts and a "Ring of Regeneration." Conceived as a VGA full-color side-scrolling RPG, The Fight for Justice was never released.Pre-release and QTest
Quake was given as a title to the game that id Software was working on shortly after the release of Doom II. The earliest information released described Quake as focusing on a Thor-like character who wields a giant hammer, and is able to knock away enemies by throwing the hammer (complete with real-time inverse kinematics). At the start, the levels were supposed to be designed in an Aztec style, but the choice was dropped some months into the project. Early screenshots then 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). Eventually, the whole id team began to think that the original concept may not have been as wise a choice as they first believed. 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.Before the release of the game or the demo of the
game, id software released "QTest" on February 24,
1996. 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 or different from their final versions
(notably the boxes of nails, then called flechettes, displayed the
NIN
logo). Nevertheless, the game's multiplayer support caused Quake
servers to spring up everywhere overnight. QTest also gave gamers
their first peek into the filesystem and modifiability of the Quake
engine, and many entity mods (that placed monsters in the otherwise
empty multiplayer maps) and custom player skins began appearing
online before the full game was even released.
Shareware and Final release
On June 22, 1996, id Software released the shareware version of Quake. This consisted of the first episode of the game, roughly one-quarter of the single-player content. It became the downloadable demo version of the game. At that time, despite Assembly language optimizations, there were few computers that could run the game at acceptable performance levels without having to disable some of the more advanced graphical features in the game (such as lighting effects).On July 22, 1996, id Software released the full
version of Quake. Upon registration, players who already had the
shareware version could unlock three additional episodes and a
series of deathmatch-only maps. id supported the release of Quake
with multiple patches, the mod source code (QuakeC), the tools
source code, and frequent plan updates. The shrinkwrapped retail
version was distributed by GT
Interactive.
Quake engine
Quake popularized several major advances in the 3D game genre: it uses polygonal 3D models for players and monsters instead of the prerendered sprites; and the world in which play takes place is created as a true 3D space, rather than a 2-dimensional map with height information which is then rendered to 3D. Some previous 3D games, such as Doom and Wolfenstein 3D (sometimes called 2.5D games) used a restricted-view mathematical trick when rendering their 3-dimensional view. This allowed a true 3D first-person viewpoint, but only when looking straight-ahead (you can tell the difference by tilting up and down in Duke Nukem 3D, which is achieved by distorting the straight-ahead view rather than really rotating the view.)Gameplay
Quake has two fundamental modes of gameplay: single player and multiplayer.Single Player
In single-player mode, players explore and navigate to the exit of each level, facing many challenging monsters and a few secret areas along the way. Usually there are buttons to press or keys to collect in order to open doors before the exit can be reached. Once reaching the exit, the game takes the player to the next level.Before the start level, there is a set of three
pathways with easy, medium, and hard skill levels; in order to
reach the Nightmare skill level (described in the game manual as
"so bad that it was hidden, so people won't wander in by
accident"), the player must drop through the water before the
Episode 4 entrance and jump into a secret passage.
Quake's single-player campaign is
organized into four individual episodes of about eight levels each
(each including a secret level, one of which is a "low gravity"
level — Ziggurat Vertigo in Episode 1, Dimension of the
Doomed — that challenges the player's abilities in a
different way). As items are collected, they are carried to the
next level, each usually more challenging than the last. If the
player dies, he must restart at the beginning of the level.
However, games may be saved at any time.
Upon completing each episode, the player is
returned to the hub Start level, where he can then enter the next
episode. Each episode starts the player from scratch, without any
previously collected items. Episode I (which formed the shareware
or downloadable demo version of Quake) has a boss
in the last level. The ultimate objective at the end of the episode
is to recover the magic rune. There are four runes; the Rune of
Earth Magic, Black Magic, Hell Magic, and Elder Magic, from the
episodes of Dimension of the Doomed, Realm of Black Magic,
Netherworld, and Elder World, respectively. After all of the runes
are collected, the floor of the Start opens up to reveal an
entrance to the End level which contains the final boss.
Multiplayer
In multiplayer mode, players on several computers
connect to a server (which may be a dedicated machine or on one of
the player's computers), where they can play against each other.
Typically in multiplayer mode, when a player dies he can
immediately respawn, but loses any items he has collected and so
must start collecting them again. Similarly, items that have been
picked up previously respawn
after some time, and may be picked up again.
The single-player campaign can be played in co-op
mode.
The most popular multiplayer modes are all forms
of deathmatch.
Deathmatch modes typically consist of either free-for-all (no
organization or teams involved), one-on-one duels, or organized
teamplay with two or more players per team (or clan).
Teamplay is also frequently played with one or another mod.
Typically, no monsters are normally present, as they serve no
purpose other than to get in the way and give away the
player.
The gameplay in Quake was considered unique for
its time because of the different ways the player can maneuver
through the game. For example: bunny
hopping or strafe
jumping can be used to move faster than normal, while rocket
jumping enables the player to reach otherwise-inaccessible
areas (or just move faster), at the cost of some self-damage. The
player can start and stop moving suddenly, jump unnaturally high,
and change direction while moving through the air. Many of these
non-realistic behaviors contribute to Quake's appeal. The
nature of the gameplay is often fast and frenzied, and has become
considerably faster over the years as players mastered advanced
movement techniques.
There is obvious skill needed to react quickly,
aim precisely, dodge other players' shots, and jump across tricky
spaces. As Quake did not include any automap, it also requires
considerable knowledge of the sometimes confusingly-contorted maps
(made more complex by the frequent use of teleporters)
as well as careful planning in order to collect needed items and
conserve health and ammunition. Strategies include regularly
picking up items to prevent one's opponent from having access to
them and controlling certain critical areas of each level. Duels
often take place with opponents mostly out of sight of each other,
jockeying for position and carefully stocking up on items, with
sudden changes in speed of play when one player or the other gains
an advantage. Sound also plays a central role in keeping track of
other players and even items in the game, so many players use
headphones to give the clearest sound and directionality. Teamplay
adds even more tactical layers, with different ways to communicate
and cooperate.
Multiplayer Quake was one of the first games that
people singled out as a form of electronic
sport. Most notable was Dennis "Thresh"
Fong who won John
Carmack's Ferrari 308
at the Microsoft-sponsored Red
Annihilation tournament in 1997.
Online Quake play is also a significant social
activity, with players chatting during gameplay, or even just
talking while connected through the server without actually playing
the game at all. Many players have built enduring friendships with
people they met online while playing Quake.
Story
The player takes the role of an unnamed soldier sent into a portal to stop an enemy, code-named "Quake". The government has been experimenting with teleportation technology, and created a working prototype called a "Slipgate". Unfortunately, a portal to an unknown dimension has been opened, and death squads begin to emerge, killing and robbing as much as they can before returning through the gate. Once sent through the portal, the player's main objective is to survive and locate the exit which will take him to the next level, not unlike that of id Software's previous hit, Doom.The game consists of around 28 separate "levels"
or "maps", grouped into 4 episodes. Each episode represents
individual dimensions that the player can access through magical
portals (as opposed to the technological Slipgate) that are
discovered over the course of the game. At the start of each
episode, the player is deployed in a futuristic military base and
he has to find a slipgate that will take him to the alternate
realm. The various realms consist of a number of gothic,
medieval, as well as
"fire and brimstone"-style caves and dungeons with a recurring
theme of hellish and satanic imagery reminiscent of Doom
(such as pentagrams and images of demons on the walls). The latter
is inspired by several dark fantasy
influences, notably that of H. P.
Lovecraft; most notably, the end game boss
is named Shub-Niggurath
and the end boss of the first episode is named Chthon,
although there is little resemblance between the game's portrayal
and the original literary description. Some levels have
Lovecraftian names as well, such as the
Vaults of Zin or the Ebon
Fortress. Originally, the game was supposed to include more
Lovecraftian bosses, but this concept was scrapped due to time
constraints.
Although the moniker "Quake" originally applied
to the protagonist,
the final story describes Quake as simply being "the enemy".
It should be noted, however, that by the time the
game was released the specifics of the story had become relatively
unimportant and somewhat disorganized. This is mainly due to a
last-minute mix of two different game designs: lead level designer
John
Romero wanted to make a dark fantasy hand
to hand combat/RPG
hybrid game, while level designers Tim Willits
and American
McGee wanted to make a more futuristic, Doom-like
game. Ultimately the Doom-like mechanics were implemented and many
of the dark fantasy design elements were incorporated into the
graphics and visual effects of the game.
"Sequels"
The unnamed hero of Quake reappears as one of the selectable characters in Quake III Arena, where he is known as "Ranger." There is also another playable character from the Quake universe who is named "Wrack," who has a beard but otherwise is similar to "Ranger."However, Quake is one of the only modern id games
not to have a true sequel: after the departure of Romero, the
remaining id employees chose to change the thematic direction
substantially for Quake II, making
the design more technological and futuristic rather than dark
fantasy; Quake 4 followed
the design themes of Quake II, whereas Quake III Arena lacked a
standard single-player campaign entirely as this episode was meant
for multiplay only. PC Gamer, in its
recap of the mixed settings throughout the Quake series in its fall
2004 preview of Quake 4, stated that Quake II actually began as a
totally separate product line. Unfortunately, due to the failure to
gain rights to the title they wanted, id designers were forced to
fall back on the project's nickname of "Quake II." Since any sequel
to the original Quake had already been refused, it became a viable
way of continuing the series without actually continuing the
storyline or setting of the first game.
Two mission packs were developed for Quake:
Scourge
of Armagon and
Dissolution of Eternity; they pick up right where the first
game left off, use all the same weapons and powerups (plus a
handful of new ones between the two of them), monsters and gothic
atmosphere/architecture and continue/finish the story of the first
game and its protagonist.
Soundtrack
This is based on the PC version of the game. The soundtrack was written by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.There are in fact no official names to these
tracks. They are usually referred to either by the level they are
initially played to, or by one of two fan created track listings.
They can also be referred to by their track number, however, the
first audio track being placed on the CD's second track (the first
being reserved for the actual game data), this usually leads to
confusion.
Credits
Programming: John Carmack, Michael Abrash, John CashGraphics: Adrian
Carmack, Kevin
Cloud
Music: Trent
Reznor
Sound: Trent
Reznor
Project Manager: Shawn C. Green
Support: Barrett Alexander
Business: Mike Wilson, Jay Wilbur, Donna Jackson,
Todd
Hollenshead
Additional work on sound code, UNIX ports:
Dave
Taylor
Linux ports: Dave "Zoid"
Kirsch
Special Thanks To: Sean Barrett, Raymond Chen,
DJ
Delorie, Andy Glew, Lance Hacking, Chris Hecker, Todd Laney,
Terje Mathisen, Charles Sandmann, Jon Vondrak, Billy Zelsnack
Modification
The game itself can be heavily modified by altering the sounds, graphics, or scripting in QuakeC 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 that were drastically different from id Software's original release.The first major Quake mod was Team
Fortress. http://hosted.planetquake.gamespy.com/botarea51/main/history.asphref="http://www.threewave.com/">http://www.threewave.com/
This mod 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. One of the
other differences with CTF is the fact that the flag is not
returned automatically when a player drops it: running over one's
flag in Threewave CTF would return the flag to the base, and in TF
the flag remains in the same spot for preconfigured time and it has
to be defended on remote locations. This caused a shift in
defensive tactics compared to Threewave CTF. Team Fortress
maintained its standing as the most-played online modification of
Quake for many years.
Another extremely popular 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), runes (power-ups that stayed with you until you
die...Black Magic (double damage, 8x damage when combined with
quad), Hell Magic (1.5x rate of fire), Earth Magic (resistance),
and Elder Magic (regeneration)), 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 mod was vastly popular and as of 2005 there is still a
community of players who play the Quake CTF mod. The popularity of
the specific Quake Threewave CTF mod stems from the speed of the
game and the grappling hook. In most cases, a player has the
ability to travel from one base to another base in a matter of
seconds. The grappling hook acts as a slingshot, where advanced
players can maneuver themselves in the air by using the strafe
keys. Players would master flying around and shooting rockets with
precise aim. The Threewave CTF Quake mod was converted into a
ClanRing modification coded by J.P. Grossman and Paul Baker, geared
towards match play. Quake CTF Clans used this mod to play 20 minute
private matches. This same ClanRing modification would later be
upgraded by pulsewidth and rook. This was widely used for team
deathmatch tournaments. As of late 2005, two CTF servers still get
active gameplay, nearly 10 years after the game's initial release.
In 2005, woods released a new ctf textures for the
Threewave CTF maps for use with the new engines. There have also
been variations to the basic CTF mod that extended it. One such
variation was Creeper CTF, which was most well known for its
extensive runes. Some notable runes and changes: Hell Magic (also
called haste) increases run and grapple speed as well (grapple
instant-hits, allowing you to truly fly), Vampire (leech hit points
as you damage your victims...once you've killed, though, you have
to kill more because your health will slowly diminish), and Monk
(cannot be damaged when standing still), Witch (causes players to
uncontrollably jump and shoot when shot...the only cure for Monk),
and Ally (cannot be killed when teammates are nearby, and shares
powerups with nearby teammates, including quad damage).
Rocket Arena
provides the ability for players to face each other in small, open
arenas with changes in the gameplay rules so that item collection
and detailed level knowledge are no longer factors. A series of
short rounds, with the surviving player in each round gaining a
point, instead tests the player's aiming and dodging skills and
reflexes. Clan Arena is
a further modification that provides teamplay using Rocket Arena
rules. Such game modes are commonly found in later games under
names like Last Man Standing.
More extreme mods have included AirQuake (a
primitive jet fighter simulation), Quake Rally (an off-road car
racing game) and Quake Chess. These, however, were stretching the
engine's capabilities to the limit, and were more curiosities than
particularly playable games, although various clans were created
for playing them.
One interesting category of mod is the bot.
These were introduced to provide surrogate players in multiplayer
mode, and are a particular challenge of artificial
intelligence behavior implemented with the limited scripting
system of QuakeC. Botblasts were for a time popular contests to see
who could perform the best against one or more bots under specified
conditions. Like speedruns, each player would record a demo (film)
of his matches and use the best performance as his entry. Prominent
Quake bots included the Zeus Bot, Reaper Bot, Omicron
Bot, Oak Bot,
FrikBot and Frog
Bot.
Custom maps
It is also worth noting the huge number of custom maps that have been made by users and fans of the game. Also that these maps are continuing to be made today, over ten years since the game's release. Custom maps are completely new and original maps that are playable by simply loading them into the original game. Custom maps of all gameplay types have been made, but the most custom maps for Quake have been in the single-player and deathmatch genres.More than 1500 single-player and a similar number
of deathmatch maps have been made for Quake. They vary in quality
enormously, but the best custom maps are generally accepted to be
better than the id Software maps in the original game. Some of the
best and most ambitious single-player custom maps are episodes like
Nehahra,
Insomnia,
Zerstorer,
IKSPQ
by Iikka 'Fingers' Keränen, and Beyond
Belief by Matthias
Worch, and single maps like Marcher
Fortress, Cassandra
Calamity and
Bestial Devastation. Two of the most popular multiplayer maps
are Aerowalk by
Preacher (popular strategy
guide here) and Blood Run
(ztndm3) by Sten 'ztn' Uusvali.
Speedruns
As an example of the dedication that Quake has inspired in its fan community, a group of expert players recorded speedrun demos (replayable recordings of the player's movement) of Quake levels completed in record time on the "Nightmare" skill level. The footage was edited into one continuous 19 minutes, 49 seconds demo called Quake done Quick (QdQ) and released on 10 June, 1997. Owners of the game could replay this demo in the game engine, watching the run unfold as if they were playing it themselves.This involved a number of players recording
run-throughs of individual levels, using every trick and shortcut
they could discover in order to minimize the time it took to
complete, usually to a degree that even the original level
designers found difficult to comprehend, and in a manner that often
bypassed large areas of the level. Stitching a series of the
fastest runs together into a coherent whole created an amazing
demonstration of the game played in a way that most players could
never have imagined. Recamming is also used with speedruns in order
to make the experience more movie-like, with arbitrary control of
camera angles, editing, and sound that can be applied with editing
software after the runs are first recorded. It should also be noted
that the fastest possible time for a given level is not necessarily
the fastest time used to contribute to "running" the entire game.
One good example is grabbing the grenade launcher in an early
level, an act that actually slows down the time for that level over
the best possible, but actually speeds up the overall game time by
allowing the runner to bypass a big chunk of a map in a later level
that they could not otherwise do but for the launcher.
A second attempt, Quake
done Quicker (QdQr), reduced the complete time to 16 minutes,
35 seconds (a reduction of 3 minutes, 14 seconds). QdQr was
released 13 September, 1997. One of the levels included was the
result of an online competition to see who could get the fastest
time.
The culmination of this process of improvement
was 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 episodes, on Nightmare (hardest) difficulty, to
12 minutes, 23 seconds (a further reduction of 4 minutes, 12
seconds), partly by using techniques that had formerly been shunned
in such films as being less aesthetically pleasing. 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.
Most full-game speedruns are a collaborative
effort by a number of runners (though some have been done by single
runners on their own). 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, so that speeds keep improving beyond what was
thought possible as the runs are further optimized and new tricks
or routes are discovered.
Further time improvements of the continuous whole
game run were achieved into the 21st century. In addition, many
thousands of individual level runs are kept at Speed
Demos Archive's Quake section, including many on custom
maps.
Speedrunning is a counterpart to multiplayer
modes in making Quake one of the first games promoted as a virtual
"sport". further Quake done
Quick
Further Releases
VQuake
In late 1996, id Software released VQuake, a port of the Quake engine to support hardware accelerated rendering on graphics cards using Rendition Vérité chipset. Aside from the expected benefit of improved performance, VQuake offered numerous visual improvements over the original software-rendered Quake. It boasted full 16-bit color, bilinear filtering (reducing pixelation), improved dynamic lighting and even optional anti-aliasing.As the name implied, VQuake was a proprietary
port specifically for the Vérité; consumer 3D acceleration was in
its infancy, and there was no standard 3D API for the consumer
market. After completing VQuake, John Carmack vowed never to write
a proprietary port again, citing his frustration with Rendition's
Speedy3D API.
QuakeWorld
To improve the quality of online play, id Software released QuakeWorld on December 17, 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 send 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 dial-up 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. Players would experience jerky, laggy motion that sometimes felt like ice skating, where they would slide around with seemingly no ability to stop, due to a build-up of previously-sent movement requests. 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, which allowed players to see their own movement
immediately without waiting for a response from the server,
QuakeWorld's network code allowed players with high-latency
connections to control their character's movement almost as
precisely as when playing in single-player mode. 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 LPBs) as well as high
latency (sometimes called High Ping Bait (HPBs).
The tradeoff to client-side prediction was that
sometimes other players or objects would no longer be quite where
they had appeared to be, or, in extreme cases, that the player
would be pulled back to a previous position when the client
received a late reply from the server which overrode movement the
client had already previewed; this was known as "warping". As a
result, some serious players, particularly in the USA, still
preferred to play online using the original Quake engine (commonly
called NetQuake) rather than QuakeWorld. However, the majority of
players, especially those on dial-up connections, preferred the
newer network model, and QuakeWorld soon became the dominant form
of online play. Following the success of QuakeWorld, client-side
prediction has become a standard feature of nearly all real-time
online games.
As with all other Quake upgrades, QuakeWorld was
released as a free, unsupported add-on to the game and was updated
numerous times through 1998.
GLQuake and WinQuake
On January 22, 1997, id Software released GLQuake. This was designed to use the OpenGL 3D API to access hardware 3D graphics acceleration cards to rasterize the graphics, rather than having the computer's CPU fill in every pixel. In addition to higher framerates for most players, GLQuake provided higher resolution modes and texture filtering, improving image quality. GLQuake also experimented with reflections, transparent water, and even rudimentary shadows. GLQuake came with a driver enabling the subset of OpenGL used by the game to function on the 3dfx Voodoo Graphics card, the only consumer-level card at the time capable of running GLQuake well. Previously, John Carmack had experimented with a version of Quake specifically written for the Rendition Vérité chip used in the Creative Labs PCI 3D Blaster card. This version had met with only limited success, and Carmack decided to write for generic APIs in the future rather than tailoring for specific hardware.On March 11,
1997, id
Software released WinQuake, a version of the engine designed to run
under Microsoft
Windows; the original Quake had been written for DOS, allowing for
launch from Windows 95,
but could not run under Windows
NT-based operating systems. WinQuake used Win32-based APIs such
as DirectDraw,
DirectSound and
DirectInput
that were supported on Windows 95,
Windows NT
4.0 and later releases. Carmack caused some controversy,
however, by eschewing Direct3D, opting
instead to continue supporting OpenGL. Like GLQuake, WinQuake also
allowed higher resolution video modes. This removed the last
barrier to widespread popularity of the game.
Quake: Arcade Tournament Edition
In 1998, LBE Systems and Lazer-Tron released Quake: Arcade Tournament Edition in the arcades in limited quantities.Ports
In 1996, there was a port of Quake to Linux. Its developer used the Quake source code without license, and patches were submitted back to id Software before it became an official port. Additionally, source code was used without license to create an early fan-created port to Mac OS. 1997 saw further porting efforts, with an IRIX port, called SGI Quake [ftp://ftp.sgi.com/sgi/quake/index.html (link)] done by Ed Hutchins on the SGI O2. SGI Quake has both OpenGL and software rendering systems. In addition, in 1997, the official port to Mac OS was done by MacSoft and a port of Quake to SPARC Solaris was released.A faithful port of Quake was also released for
the now defunct Acorn brand of home computer by R-Comp Interactive.
A Quake player had already been available for a while before this
port but required players to have the shareware or full PAK files.
The Acorn port was basically the PC Resurrection Pack which had the
original Quake bundled with Q-Zone and Malice, two third-party
add-on packs.
Quake was also ported to console systems. In
1997, it was ported to Sega Saturn
by Lobotomy. The Saturn port used Lobotomy's own Slavedriver engine
(the same engine that powers the Saturn port of Duke Nukem
3D and Powerslave)
instead of the original Quake engine; yet it is widely considered
to be some of the most advanced 3D work ever cranked out of the
console; it is also the only version of Quake that is rated 'T' for
Teen instead of 'M' for Mature. The Saturn version also contains
four exclusive levels not seen in any other version. 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 the
player chooses 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).
A port for the Commodore
Amiga was also made available in 1998 by clickBOOM
Software. It is currently only available in a 68K version (though the
game is pretty much unplayable on anything less than a 68060 CPU).
Many more ports were done after the source code
release, such as numerous homebrew ports for the Dreamcast and
Xbox consoles.
Most recently, an engine designed for Windows Mobile powered Pocket
PCs has been released, which uses the 3D chip found in a few Dell
PDAs. A Palm OS port is also available, called ZQuake.
There has also been a port for Series 60 Symbian
mobile phones, although it is still in beta version. (http://sourceforge.net/projects/quakes60)
A second version for S60 which is more complete
than the first version has surfaced recently. Currently it is
available for phones that are based on S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack
1. (http://koti.mbnet.fi/hinkka)
A Port to the Nintendo DS system has also been
recently created for use on flash cards as homebrew and is in the beta
stages. A release can be found at (http://www.quake.drunkencoders.com)
A port was written for the Sony PSP system; it
requires the game files from the shareware version of the game. To
date, only the first "episode" is playable and no updates have been
released for quite some time. http://home.comcast.net/~shernandez1337/
A second PSP version was written which works with
the full or shareware versions of the data files, has sound and
supports networking. http://sourceforge.net/projects/psp-quake/
Work still continues on this version, and the next release will
have hardware rendering support.http://aaiiee.wordpress.com/ports/quake/
Source code and legacy
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. 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 receive the registered version of the game which includes more single player episodes and the deathmatch maps.Based on the success of the first Quake game, id
later published Quake II and
Quake III
Arena; Quake 4 was
released in October 2005. It was developed by Raven
Software using the Doom 3
engine.
It is also interesting to note that Quake was the
game primarily responsible for the emergence of the machinima artform of films
made in game engines, thanks to edited Quake demos such as Ranger Gone Bad and
Blahbalicious, the
in-game film The Devil's Covenant and the in-game-rendered,
four-hour epic film The
Seal of Nehahra.
On June 22, 2006, it had been 10
years since the original uploading of the game to cdrom.com
archives. Many Internet
forums had topics about it, and it was a front page story on
Slashdot.http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/23/1755244
On October 11,
2006, John Romero
released the original map files for all of the levels in Quake
under the GPL. http://rome.ro/2006/10/quake-map-sources-released.html
Commercial games using the Quake engine
There have been two official expansion packs for Quake:The following expansion packs are unofficial:
- Final Mission: Abyss of Pandemonium http://www.planetquake.com/impel
- Aftershock for Quake
- Aftershock Toolkit
- Tremor for Quake — The company that compiled this collection of over 1,000 fan-made levels, the now-defunct Head Games, was strongly criticized for including the levels without the makers' permission.
- Dark Hour
- Eternal War
- Malice
- Q!Zone for Quake
- Shrak
- X-Men: The Ravages Of Apocalypse
Games using a modified Quake engine
- CIA Operative: Solo Missions
- Half-Life (modified from Quake and Quake II engines) http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?go=q1_or_q2
- Hexen II
- Hexen II Mission Pack: Portal of Praevus
- Nexuiz (uses Darkplaces engine)
- Urban Mercenary
- Laser Arena (2000) — Trainwreck Studios
- Urban Mercenary (2001) — Moshpit Entertainment
- Silver Wings (2005) — Bampusht! (uses a heavily modified version of Telejano engine)
Modified Quake/QuakeWorld engines
Changing the game engine became possible after the 1999 release of the Quake and QuakeWorld source code under the GPL.- DarkPlaces (Quake + QuakeWorld)
- Enhanced GLQuake (Quake)
- ezQuake (QuakeWorld)
- FuhQuake (QuakeWorld)
- FTEQW (QuakeWorld + Quake)
- GQ (Quake)
- MQWCL (QuakeWorld)
- MVDSV (MultiView Demo Server) (QuakeWorld dedicated server)
- ProQuake (Quake)
- Qrack (Quake)
- QuakeForge (QuakeWorld)
- Telejano (Quake)
- Tenebrae (Quake)
- ZQuake (QuakeWorld)
Quake and QuakeWorld mods
- Capture the Flag
- 3Wave Capture the Flag
- Thunder Walker Capture the Flag http://www.thunderwalker.net/
- Creeper Capture the Flag
- Clan Arena http://rocketarena.planetquake.gamespy.com/
- FrogBot
- Kombat Teams
- KTPro
- KTX http://ktx.qw-dev.net/
- PainKeep http://www.painkeep.net/
- Rocket Arena http://rocketarena.planetquake.gamespy.com/
- Slide
- Team Fortress http://www.planetfortress.com/teamfortress/
- RuneQuake http://www.runequake.com/
- QBall
- AirQuake http://ikq.planetquake.gamespy.com/airquake/airquake.htm
- Future vs Fantasy Quake http://fvfonline.com/
QuakeWorld servers
QuakeCon
Popular North American LAN Party QuakeCon finds its 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. In 2007 Quake 1 became part of the 'grand prize' Quake Tournament series, which involves playing 1v1 matches of Quake 1,2,3 and 4. In the Quad Damage tournament, Quake 1 took a pivotal role in leveling the playing field since many pro players were not accustomed to the play style of Quake 1 and features, such a Juggling with the electric gun and increased rocket speed.quake in Bulgarian: Quake
quake in Catalan: Quake
quake in Czech: Quake
quake in Danish: Quake
quake in German: Quake
quake in Spanish: Quake
quake in Esperanto: Quake
quake in Persian: سری بازی های لرزش
quake in French: Quake
quake in Italian: Quake
quake in Hebrew: Quake
quake in Latvian: Quake
quake in Lithuanian: Quake
quake in Hungarian: Quake
quake in Dutch: Quake
quake in Japanese: Quake
quake in Norwegian: Quake (videospill)
quake in Polish: Quake
quake in Portuguese: Quake
quake in Romanian: Quake
quake in Russian: Quake
quake in Simple English: Quake
quake in Finnish: Quake
quake in Swedish: Quake
quake in Turkish: Quake
quake in Chinese: 雷神之锤
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
apoplexy, be cold, bob, bobble, bounce, breakup, bump, cataclysm, chatter, chill, climax, convulsion, diastrophism, didder, disaster, dither, earthquake, falter, fidget, fit, flip out, fluctuate, flutter, freak out on, freeze, freeze to death, get high
on, glow, go pitapat,
grimace, grow cold, have
a chill, have an ague, have goose pimples, have the fidgets, have
the shakes, heave,
horripilate,
hustle, jactitate, jar, jerk, jig, jigget, jiggle, jog, joggle, jolt, jostle, jounce, jump, lose heat, overthrow, palpitate, pant, paroxysm, perish with cold,
quaker, quaver, quiver, rictus, shake, shake all over, shiver, shock, shudder, spasm, squirm, stagger, stroke, swell, swell with emotion,
temblor, thrill, thrill to, throb, tic, tidal wave, tingle, tingle with excitement,
toss, toss and turn,
tremble, trembler, tremblor, tremor, tsunami, tumble, turn on to, twist and
turn, twitch, twitter, upheaval, vibrate, waver, wiggle, wobble, wriggle, writhe