================================================================== # 3.20 == _ /////// ///// // // // __ _ _ _ __ _| | _____ / // // // // // / _` | | | |/ _` | |/ / _ \ / // // // //// | (_| | |_| | (_| | < __/ / /////// // // // \__, |\__,_|\__,_|_|\_\___| / // // /////// // // |_| ================================================================= 06/11/95 == "it should be renamed to liesdamnitlies" - dave taylor (id software) "nothing in here is anywhere near true" - american mcgee (id software) ============================================================================= ------------------ [table of contents:] ------------------ [0] intro [0.1] the doom-editing mailing list [0.2] on version numbers [0.3] quaketalk by mail, finger, www and ftp [0.4] a real quake faq [0.5] disclaimer [0.6] and what else is new? [1] magazine articles and the likes [2] irc, mail and usenet posting quotes [3] peoples' .plan [4] screenshots, previews, demos, betas [5] unconfirmed rumors [6] outro [6.1] credits [6.2] version history ---------- [0 - intro:] ---------- quaketalk is an unofficial newsletter dedicated to 'quake - the fight for justice', the new frp action game by id software, the company that brought you the megaselling hits 'doom' and 'doom 2 - hell on earth' and not to forget wolfenstein 3d. while very little is known about the game yet and id representatives themselves repeatedly say they're only in a conceptual stage (tentative release date, end of '95), i have made an effort to collect and publish whatever quotes and facts (if they can be called that) i found. thus, bare in mind, that everything here could be a total lie, as american 'yes, that really is my name' mcgee (idsoftware) always likes to put it. feel free to spread this in any form you like. post it to netnews, send it to friends, upload it to a bbs or to other networks such as compuserve and aol. do not, however, alter quaketalk in any way and, in particular, do not remove my email adress or the credits towards the end of this newsletter. if you spread quaketalk to other nets, please drop me a note saying where you uploaded it to. i'll gladly include info about quake that i may have missed, as long as they have some factual basis. a magazine article, or a posting made by id maybe. if you have a private email, please check with the sender, before you have it published here. please remember to add the source and date of the material you're sending too. my email adress is joost.schuur@student.uni-tuebingen.de (this has changed against since qt 2.10, so please use this one instead) ------------------------------------ [0.1 - the doom-editing mailing list:] ------------------------------------ you'll see several references to the doom editing mailing list. this is a mailing list on 'advanced doom editing' that john romero from id is on. this is _not_ a quake discussion forum. we discuss all aspects of doom editing (.exe hacks, wads, be it levels, music, sound, editor/utility writing e.g.) if you would like to join, send mail to majordomo@nvg.unit.no with the following in the body of the mail: subscribe doom-editing bare in mind that this is not a newbie forum. we like to keep the noise down a bit, so please don't post unless it's of an advanced nature. ------------------------- [0.2 - on version numbers:] ------------------------- quaketalk is updated whenever i get new facts on quake. i'll increase the version number according to how much the new stuff is. future versions may include other segments on quake, maybe not just direct quotes from id people. i'm open for suggestions, if there's something you want to see here, let me know. updates will carry a '->' in the first collumn. these will be the updates since the last copy. check out the version history at the end too. readers of the html version of qt will find it very helpfull in tracking down recent changes. ------------------------------------------ [0.3 - quaketalk by mail, finger, ftp, www:] ------------------------------------------ -> in the past there was a fingerable address to receive the latest copy -> of quaketalk. 'finger quaketalk@doomgate.cs.buffalo.edu' should work again -> soon. the latest copy is also available via www at the following url: -> http://doomgate.cs.buffalo.edu/games/quake/quaketalk.html -> note that the url has changed slightly since the last announcement. the -> mailing list i started earlier this year has been terminated since it grew -> too big and was never used anyway. i don't want to run an alt.games.quake -> type of mailing list just yet since most of it will be speculation. i know -> not everyone gets alt.games.quake, but trust me, you're not missing -> anything. i will consider emailing the latest copies of quaketalk out to -> interested persons later, but for now check the quake and doom newsgroups -> or try the following ftp site: -> ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/idgames/docs/faqs/qtalk???.txt -> where ??? stands for the version number. ----------------------- [0.4 - a real quake faq:] ----------------------- -> originally i had planned on bringing a real faq out by now together -> with hank leukart by now, summarizing the info in quaketalk into a true -> faqish form. i do not consider quaketalk a real faq even though many -> refer to it as such. i didn't want to bring the faq out without id's -> cooperation and we have agreed with id to wait a few more months until -> they are ready to revail many more cool details about quake. -> a few people have already shown interest in helping me with the -> faq. i appreciate the help offers, but right we cannot say what type -> of additional help we need (well, aside from lots of info from id ;) -> and if you haven't already gotten in touch with us to work on the faq, -> please don't do so now. it's hard to maintain a real faq with too many -> authors. this doesn't go for people submitting information on quake -> they found on the net of course. please continue to send that in. ----------------- [0.5 - disclaimer:] ----------------- i should clarify that allthough i maintain id's ftp site, i am _not_ an official member of id and do _not_ claim to run an 'official' newsletter on quake. i merely gathere all the interesting tidbits on the net on quake and put them in .txt form. everything i know about quake is in here, so don't mail me for more details ;) --------------------------- [0.6 - and what else is new?] --------------------------- -> i've been a bit quiet for a while. i finally have access to -> alt.games.quake, so i'll be posting this there on a semi regular basis -> too. -> some of you seemed to think id promosed to announce lots of cool new -> quake info in april. well, april came and went by and guess what? no -> official new info. face it everyone, id is busy working on the game -> itsself and doesn't want to speculate until things have gotten a bit -> stabler. ------------------------------------ [1 - magazine articles and the likes:] ------------------------------------ from the july '94 issue of computer gaming world (taken from the original quake faq): shakin' and quakin' "what is the next huge leap? they wouldn't say much, still in the idea phase and reluctant to build expectations too early, but they did tell me thisthe name is quake, the game engine is completely brand new, and the 3d world will be so complete and characters will have depth, rather than being flat sprites. the current setting (notice i didn't say the evil s-word, "story") is a fantasy world where the player becomes a thor-like being weilding a giant hammer, which he can throw at or bludgeon anything that moves. the world will have some real physics, so that characters will tumble when when they fall from heights, and be knocked flat on their backs. as romero was describing the multiplayer quake of his imagination, he was literally hopping out of his seat and pantomiming the violent drama between two warrior gods, punctuating the action with sound effect (which he is given to in most conversation). if they can calm romero down long enough to get some work done, id hopes to start working on quake in september and a release date of christmas '95." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from the august '94 copy of pc format: quake to hit in '95 id software's doom 2 is released on on 10 october, but details are already beginning to emerge about quake, its successor which is scheduled for release in the latter half of '95. quake features a thor-like character who, armed with a massive hammer, likes nothing better than to bludgeon his victims to death. id is hoping to include some real physics in the game, so that characters will twist and tumble through the air when they fall from a great height, or be knocked flat on their back from a heavy blow. in-game sprites will also be depicted in 3d, unlike the flat two-dimensional characters that inhabit the doom games. there will almost definitely be a multi-player link-up, as well as a vr tie-in with a majoe manufacturer. the last point is probably the most exciting, as many of the vr exhibitors at ces used doom to show off their respective helmets' abilities. by producing a game with a specific headset in mind, id software could finally kick-start the vr market in a b-i-g way. prices of vr-headsets are already in freefall - five manufacturers were showing off cheap sub-$200 helmets at the show - so a game designed to work with them would be an instant hit and could even be part of a bundling deal. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from the october issue of pc gamer: pc gamer: "you've been reasonably quiet about the new project, quake, so far. there must be something more you can tell us about it.?" jay wilbur: "we're getting it together at the moment, it's in concept stage. i'm reluctant to build up expectations, but i will say that it will be a quantum leap over doom. currently the idea is to have more realistic gameplay. in doom, for example, the characters are all bitmaps and they're set in their ways. when you shoot a character, he reacts in a programmed manner. maybe he throws his arms out and leans his head back. and every time you shoot him, no matter where you shoot him, he does the same thing. it's like a dance. in qauke, we have polygon characters like those seen in virtua fighters. we may texture map them so they have a more realistic look, maybe not - that's in discussion right now. but the idea is that if you shoot one of these characters in the upper left quadrant, for example, his left shoulder will be blasted back, he'll react more naturally. we'll add the ability to look and move up and down. if you're pushed off a ledge, physics comes into play. in doom, you just kind of drop down, but in quake, if you fall of an edge and your top heavy, you'll tumble. and your view will tumble with you. of course it'll be very fast, but the whole world will react accordingly." pc gamer: "it all sounds very complex. the trick is, i suppose, to add all this stuff while still keeping the game simple and intuitive" jay: "absolutely. it has to be an intuitive game to play, so the player can achieve instant success. with doom, all you need are the four arrow keys, the fire button and the open door key. other than that you don't need anything. you can achieve instant success. you walk in, find somebody, press fire a couple of times - and your successful. in quake, there'll be more complex controls to deal with; you'll be able to take, for example, an axe in your hand and slash it around, but the control will be intuitive, like using the mouse." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from the november issue of multimedia magazine: [...] yet even as doom ii is hitting the street, the people at id software (developers of the game) are already looking toward the future. john romero, a lead designer and programmer at id, says the team is hard at work on id's next generation game, quake. like doom, quake will be a first-person, action-oriented, multiplayer shoot-'em-up -- but it will take every element, from graphics to sound to game play, to an entirely new level. "the technology in quake will be much better than in doom," romero says, "the graphics will use 3-d rendered models, unlike the 2-d images in doom. so if you walk around a pillar, you'll see it in full 360 degrees, as opposed to only eight different rotations in doom. you'll also be able to move in six different directions, and they'll be much better animation. we're also adding cool cinematic sequences that take place while you're playing the game. basically, doom will feel stiff compared to quake." beyond enhanced visuals, quake will use additional techniques to make the world appear more lifelike to the player. "we want quake to be as realistic as possible, so there's no music in the background." says romero. what you'll hear are "environmental sounds -- of owls and crickets and monsters -- that are triggered by where you walk and look. for instance, you're going along and you hear something. you turn toward a cave and the sound, now ominous, grows louder. then, as you walk toward the cave, the sound gets even louder, and a pair of red eyes appear -- next thing, a monster's coming right at you, and you better get the f___ out of there. just looking around makes it happen. another major innovation accompanying the game's release will be the free distribution of a server utility, which will allow the creation of "remote, quake-based entertainment networks," according to romero. dozens of players will be able to enter a game simultaneously, even if they're playing on different machines. (quake will likely be released on every computer and video game platform except those made by nintendo -- a result of id's righteous indignation over the censorship of its first hit, wolfenstein 3-d, when it was portthen everyone gets into the market. and they may have good technology, but they don't understand design. they just don't know what it takes to make a a cool game," he says. "in the meantime, we've already moved on to the next thing. so we're not worried at all. like our other releases, quake will be the first of its kind. nothing else will ever be close." prepare to be shaken and stirred. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from the doom 2 strategy guide, an interview between ed dille and john romero: ed: "what is your development process?" jr: "quake will require a totally new editor. that's going to take a long time to do. with quake, there isn't even a premise yet. there's just kind of a feel for the thing. there isn't any story.... well, there is kind of a vague story, but there isn't anything solid because halfway through the development of the game we'll probably have to throw it out and redo it. because we'll have learned so much about the technology and the way the engine works and what's cool that what we did before will suck. so we'll do a lot of development for the game, then probably throw it out about halfway through. that way, when a game comes out, it's great. that's how we learn and make cool games." ed: "how is id improving its game design as time goes on?" jr: "with quake, we're going to move the [3d] design along further. the 3d engine has gotten to the point where it's going to be almost as much fun to experience the environment as it is to actually play the game. you should be walking around in quake just in awe, looking around and going, "this is awesome!" and there won't be background music. in every game we've done there has always been background music and sound effects, right? the soundtrack is always there while you're playing. there will be no soundtrack. we're going to make you feel like you're in a real world. there will be bugs and birds flying around. you'll be looking around, going, "this is great! hey, i wonder what's over there?" so you start walking over toward some forest. there will be a lot of cinematic things in the game. of course, we'll never stop the game just for a cinematic. we never do that. what we will do [is something] like this: say you're walking into a forest, which looks just awesome, and all of the sounds are different, and it's dark, and to the right you see this dark cave or something. as soon as you look at that cave, something is going to happen. you'll hear some kind of low, evil kind of sound, and something will trigger, even just from your looking at this area. maybe some red eyes will start glowing in there and maybe a growl or something. so you can take off or you can charge in there, whatever you want to do. of course, you'll still be able to pulverize stuff. that's just something to do and it's a lot of fun. i mean, when you play deathmatch, it's just great blowing people away. it is just totally fun. and we think that's still important. you get lots of feedback from it. it's a fun thing that you can't do in real life unless you want to go to jail, and it's a guy thing. so you're still gonna kill things in quake, but not like in doom ii. in doom ii, you mow things down by the dozen. in quake you'll fight, say, three monsters at the max. probably you'll fight three guys, but it's going to be like a virtual fighter. there will be more skill involved in the fighting. you won't be holding the gun in front of you. in the games you've played before, you're still kind of distanced from the death. you're pointing the shotgun at something, you're pulling the trigger, and it shoots and the thing is dead. all you had to do was press the button. - you move the mouse and press the button - and it's as easy as that. in quake, you'll really have to kill things. you won't just press the trigger and hit it, you'll have to really beat the living shit out of the thing until it's dead. so you'll have this huge hammer and you'll pound it into blood paste on the floor, and you're going to have to take awhile, too. you're going to have to work on it. you won't just have this arrow point-and-click kind of thing. ...quake will be the ultimate. you are not going to believe quake. quake is going to be an industry when it comes out." ed: "[grunt of disbelief]" jr: "it will! we're going to encourage people to start businesses based on quake. we'll upload the server software for quake onto the net, which means that anyone can take the quake game and create a whole new game off it, a totally different game off the server software. like a location based center. we're going to allow people to go location based quake as much as they want. no fees. we upload the server software and if you want to start a location-based quake center, do it. the only way we make money is that you have to buy the client. so let's say someone wants to start a location-based quake center and they think this sgi is an awesome powerhouse server that can supply 10 nodes with no problem. so they buy this awesome sgi machine, they recompile quake on the machine because we've supplied a full the source code, and then the pcs are hooked into the sgi for the playing of the game. the client - the code that runs on the pcs - the guy has to buy from us. so we just sold 10 copies of the game to this guy; that's it. we sold 10 copies of the game and we're happy. and the guy got himself a business where people come in and pay him to let them play quake. it's gonna be great! we're going to let people create new games. the game industry will really have kind of a tough time with it, because we're going to give away the ultimate game engine for free and let people create whatever they want. there won't be any licensing-the-technology thing. it will just be "buy the client from us." there's gonna be kind of a mini-shakedown-type thing about who's going to take the quake technology and create games and who isn't. i mean, why waste you own development effort when the coolest 3d engine is out there? and we'll develop another one and do the same thing. so we'll supply you with the industry while everyone else is using it for cool stuff. and [the users] can rewrite the rules of the game - no problem - because they have the server software to create any game they want based off it. and they have this incredible 3d universe where they can create any kind of game they want and they don't have to pay for it, except for the client, which interprets all the information being sent and does the actual 3d rendering. so quake will be huge when it comes out." ed: "how do you feel about the creeping up of the hardware standards for games?" jr: "we think that when people get the game, most of them should have a fun time. the people who won't have a fun time are people who we consider are going into the dark ages; they should consider upgrading. you need to look at the benchmark systems that people have - what does everyone have? most of them have 486s. so even quake, when it comes out in the fall of next year, is going to be built for a 486; it isn't going to be built for a pentium." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from the january '95 issue of computer gaming world: the programmers at id have chosen pure ansi c to code their next project entitled quake. they work with pcs set up with the nextstep operating system (from the folks who gave us the now defunct next computer). "nextstep is basically the best development environment in the world," says john romero, who is in charge of all tools programming, as well as game design and areas of game programming in quake. "quake won't even run under dos for many months to come. It is totally nextstep based." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- a quake announcement dating back to 1990 (!) from a commander keen .zip: coming soon from id software as our follow-up to the commander keen trilogy, id software is working on "the fight for justice": a completely new approach to fantasy gaming. you start not as a weakling with no food--you start as quake, the strongest, most dangerous person on the continent. you start off with a hammer of thunderbolts, a ring of regeneration, and a trans-dimensional artifact. here the fun begins. you fight for justice, a secret organization devoted to vanquishing evil from the land! this is role-playing excitement. and you don't chunk around the screen. "the fight for justice" contains fully animated scrolling backgrounds. all the people you meet have their own lives, personalities, and objectives. a 256-color vga version will be available (smooth scrolling 256-color screens--fancy that)! and the depth of play will be intense. no more "whack whack here's some gold." there will be interesting puzzles and decisions won't be "yes/no" but complex correlations of people and events. "the fight for justice" will be the finest pc game yet. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -> a press release from the hardware manucaturer crystal river engineering -> on their new line of 3d sound cards also mentions quake: -> "crystal river is working closely with many innovators in the developer and -> hardware manufacturing communities. dave taylor, co-author of doom at id -> software, helped define the audioreality game api with crystal river to -> the specific needs of game and audio developers. dave warns, "prepare to -> be flattened by the unearthly power of true 3d audio in our next game -- -> 'quake!'". " ----------------------------------------- [2 - irc, mail and usernet posting quotes:] ----------------------------------------- from the doom-editing mailing list (doom-editing@nvg.unit.no) on fri, 5 aug 94 11:38:19: quake will be totally externally programmable. a planar surface (as opposed to line triggers, switches, etc.) will have an activation tag. anything with a matching tag will contain the action that should be performed on itself. thus, walking on a certain surface with an activation tag will make the program search the world for matching tags. a match will make the program check the object for the type of action to be done. this allows one action to affect many actions, i.e., walking into a large room can close the door behind you, turn the lights off, raise 5 staircases and release 10 monster holding pens. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from the doom-editing mailing list (doom-editing@nvg.unit.no) on fri, 5 aug 94 17:25:53: quake will be extremely modular -- doom was just the tip-of-the-iceberg experiment. we will be more cooperative than you can imagine -- how does uploading the quake server code sound? that way, anyone could recompile quake for any super server system. quake is in true 3-d. not faked doom 2-d/ 3-d. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from the doom-editing mailing list (doom-editing@nvg.unit.no) on fri, 5 aug 94 15:56:23 (on sector tagged actions): total freedom. nothing will be hard coded into the executable. more than likely, the action will be a text descriptor that will match a function name or somesuch. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from the doom-editing mailing list (doom-editing@nvg.unit.no) on fri, 5 aug 94 16:02:48 (on scanning for sector tags) for speed, of course we'll be using index lookups. i'm trying to describe the overall idea, not the actual implementation. and depending on our long-range goals with quake, we may not even use indexes if we want the gameworld to be continuously modifyable -- esp. for real-time multi-player connections where a "god" person is building a new structure in the world where 100 people are playing at the same time as the level design in the level they're playing. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from the doom-editing mailing list (doom-editing@nvg.unit.no) on fri, 5 aug 94 16:02:48: (much programming structure and ideas deleted) don't worry. quake will be done right. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from ddt@idsoftare.com on sun aug 7 21:53 cdt 1994: (credits to scott bessler (scott@grayfox.svs.com)) : ... i have a question about quake, you have been quoted : as saying it'll support 100 players. not me, man. that sounds like something romero would say. the truth is that we have no clue how many players it will support until we're done writing it. the game will be well-geared to pay-for services where you have a nice server like a medium-end workstation. it will allow more users and still offer smooth play. the required line speed will depend on a lot of factors. we'll have no idea how fast it will need to be until we've coded it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from the doom-editing mailing list (doom-editing@nvg.unit.no) on tue, 9 aug 94 10:09:21 quake has gravity. down is down. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from the doom-editing mailing list (doom-editing@nvg.unit.no) on mon, 8 aug 94 10:59:20 in quake, we're aiming for a total d&d fantasy adventure and, yes, there will be dragons! (we hope. remember, we could be lying. :) that's how quake will be programmed! not one single bit of information will be hard-coded -- everything's external! we will supply a language compiler for the c-type language that we'll use for quake's external code modules. id software will never again get any code programmed by an outside source (in doom, the only external id code was the sound code.) we will program our own sound code, but are planning to use the vesa sound spec. quake will be client/server only -- even a single-player quake session will, inreality, be a client/server setup with the client process and server process residing in the same system. we will make the setup as painless as possible. quake's shareware exe will only work with the shareware version, unless you register (the client), in which case you will be able to play the registered version and all the wads available. probably an oversight. quake will use none of doom's code. except for the memory zone allocation. the wad utilities will be revised. quake will run well on a pentium, but a 486 is required. it's just a notch up from doom's requirements386 required, 486 recommended. hopefully, the initial shareware release will handle real dynamic maps. id's quakenet will definitely have this ability. we're hoping to start another small company that is a pure 24-hour quakefest! (hey -- we want a piece of the action, too!:) it might be a couple dozen players modem-linked into a lightning-speed server, but we're really targeting quake to be the first home cable game -- brought to you through your set-top box and played on your huge tv screen! quake's level editor is true 3-d. we've just started quakeed. quakeed is using a real-time 3-d bsp generator. it will be optimized. bsps are awesome tools -- they can be used in many different types of applications. quake will probably use a few different types of bsp trees. the guy that invented bsps visited us and taught carmack even more shit. quake will not have 1 sprite in it -- all objects will be hi-res 3-d models. texture-mapped polygons, but hi-res so they're not bad-looking. much better than alone in the dark's. i didn't mention this before, but sound is a major integral part of the quake design and, yes, you will be able to wear a headphone/microphone unit (which we will also sell -- made by koss) and speak to each other (over a lan only) -- but not as a headset comm. you will be "speaking into" the game world, so the closer you are to someone, the louder your voice is. and the monsters have ears, too! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from johnr@idsoftware.com on thu 11, aug 94 12:25:59 the quake-by-cable will definatly won't be in the first release -- it's a couple years away at the least :) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from jay wilbur on irc wed aug 24 21:35:32 mesz 1994: 'quake is working. carmack is testing the concepts.' 'a quake faq...already? ... bitchin!' (on quaketalk ;) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from american mcgee on irc september 3rd, 1994: 'yes. this is something that will go into it first thing' (on slippery floor) 'for everyone else it will be very hard. for us it should not be to hard. we will be running it on very fast hp geckos.' (on making a quake level) 'it should not be much larger than doom.' (the size of quake on your hd) 'it will be more of an action game' (as opposed to an rgp/mud) 'we are still working on that idea. i think the only thing you will gain is a killed/kills thing.' (on players gaining experience) 'ideal would be pentium' (on the ideal system for quake) 'the interactive-ness of the people who will be playing.' (on the most major golly-gee-wizz-bang feature of quake) 'the resolution will be much better.' 'yes, headsets will be a big thing in quake. lan = headset.' 'hammers for sure. i don't know what else.' (on weapons) 'this is one of the main features of quake.' (on 3rd party quake addons) 'there will be some sort of demo out soon enough.' 'there will be some sort of quake start-up package for those of you who want to buy a quake server.' 'there will be gravity.' ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from john romero's posting to aol, 1 dec 1994 01:46:36: okay, people. it seems that everyone is speculating on whether quake is going to be a slow, rpg-style light-action game. wrong! what does id do best and dominate at? can you say "action"? i knew you could. quake will be constant, hectic action throughout -- possibly moreso than doom. i will be concentrating on making quake the most disquieting and upsetting game on the planet. very, very evil. doom's "evil" was really non-existent. quake must be evil -- but correctly done evil that doesn't become tiring and sophomore-ish. it must be honestly and truly disturbing. what's cooking with quake at this minute? well, we have our sgi (indigo2) running alias, which is the modeller we are using to create everything with, except the maps. quakeed is in its we have multi-player working right now with lots of connections. players are able to hop in and connect to the quakeserver at any time while a game is going. you can also hop out at will and rejoin later. yes, it is working right now. oh yeah, our alias to idmodel converter is finished and we have actual alias models in quake's 3d engine. oh yeah, the 3d engine is up and running right now, although it's unoptimized and the texture mapping isn't being done properly yet. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -> american mcgee and i exchanged a serious of emails in may '95 when i -> still hoped to bring a real quake faq out soon. here some excerpts: -> : - is id open to suggestions about q? do you guys read alt.games.quake? -> not really, but we do read them. -> : - what plattforms is q being developped on? nextstep, sgi and linux, -> : right? (btw, are those next cubes or pc's runing intel nextstep?) -> we are doing most of the coding under next, and dave works under linux. -> we run next on hp 712/80's with 64mb of ram. -> : - is public/outside beta testing ever planned? -> never again. -> : - a while back i heard of plans of id to tailor quake to certain hardware -> : extensions or even make quake specific hardware, such as network cards, -> : video cards and headphone sets. any news on that? -> we are not going to do this. -> : and now for the toughie engine/game feature questions: -> : -> : are you planing to add/working on: -> : -> : - water to wade through -> maybe -> : - slippery ice -> don't think so. I would have to say no. -> : - wind and other weather affects -> yes. -> : - vertical slopes -> done. -> : - day/night -> maybe. -> : - 'sectors above sectors' (i.e. a cave under an accessable plain) -> done. -> : - characters tumbling/falling on their backs -> leaning over yes, falling no. -> : - players affected by wounds -> yes. -> : - play 'experience' and other attributes, that will be kept from -> : one game to the other. -> maybe. -> : - polygon mapped items/characters -> done. -> : - shops/inns -> maybe... you would be able to put this in yourself. -> : - npc interaction (npc = non player character) -> maybe. -> : - godlike players that can change the environment during an active -> : game -> done. -> : -someone mentioned you were marvelling about the new lighting (lighting?) -> : affects id just added to quake on irc. can you describe this? -> the lighting is awesome. It works just like true lighting with shadows, -> diminishing etc... -> : -how are the levels for quake developing currently? how big are they, how -> : complex, how many do you have? -> they are coming along very fast, although there are none that you would -> call finished. -> : -will you be able to play crossplattform netquake? -> yes. definitely. -> : -are any enemies for quake done yet? what can you tell me about the -> : monster ai you're working on. -> there are very few models done right now... because until just a few -> days ago there was no way to see them in the game... now they look very -> good. There is not much to be said about the ai... it will be better -> than doom's. -> : -how much research did you put into muds, mucks, mushes etc to find -> : ideas and concepts for quake (if any). do you see quake as a (albeit -> : less complex) 'graphical mud'? -> a lot. Yes, I *want* it to be a "graphical mud". -> : can you mention some of the new features of new hardware that quake -> : might support then? 3d sound? polygon accelarators? anything? -> well, we will be supporting hmds, some of the accelerator cards, and 3d -> sound. really, anything that you would like to see supported can be put -> in... we may not be the ones who put it in, but it is possible. -> : can you elaborate a little about the 'programming language' within -> : quake? you mentioned once it was forth based? is it precompiled or parsed -> : at run time? -> it is not forth based. it is parsed at run time. There is not much else i -> can say about it right now, except that everything in the world (doors, -> monsters, fountains, etc...) will have it's own piece of code to make it -> run. -> : and finally, weapons. i hear you are moving away from the previous -> : plan of only having a hammer as a weapon. will quake have the full range -> : of fantasy themed weapons or at least the possibility to write them -> : ourselves? -> we are not sure about which weapons will make it in yet... regardless you -> should be able to add your own pretty easily. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from dave taylor's posting to comp.os.msdos.djgpp, 8 Jun 1995 14:12:25: -> hello, i'm one of the authors of doom, and for a while we've been -> developing our next game quake using djgpp v1. our plans are to -> release the game as a series of .o files and source code so that -> programmers can write their own modules and plug them in during the -> setup program which actually performs the final link. we will be -> including djgpp on our distribution cdrom to make this easier for -> people. note that we won't be releasing all the source code, just -> enough so that people can write their own low-level modules to support -> new devices. ------------------- [3 - people's .plan:] ------------------- from johnr@idsoftware.com's .plan: the next game is going to blow doom all to hell. doom totally sucks in comparison to our next game, quakethe fight for justice! quake is going to be a bigger step over doom than doom was over wolf3d (ya know -- doom = pong). we won't start developing quake until fall'94... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from help@idsoftware.com's .plan, on july 25th 6:14pm: this will not be out until sometime next summer. john carmack is currently designing the engine. multi-player should go something like this: someone owns a fast server somewhere. you dial in and join the game in progress. ten or more people at a time can be in the world. you will not need a pentium to play quake. everyone knows you don't need one for doom either... but it doesn't hurt anything. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from help@idsoftware.com's .plan: status of quake---updated: tue, aug 9th 11:38am john now has a simple (slow) engine running. it uses converted doom maps and runs them with flats for textures. it looks really cool. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from help@idsoftware.com's .plan, on september 2nd: ok, imagine this. you have a health thing and you don't need it. you meet someone in the game who has a nice weapon but is really low on health. you guys decide to exchange items. you don't really trust this guy so you bring along a friend and tell him to hide out somewhere with a bead on the other guy's head. you meet somewhere in the middle of a field and face off. you drop your health, he drops his weapon and you both strafe over the object of your desire. you start to back away (not turning your back on him) and suddenly decide you're going to whack this guy before he gets a chance to use that health. you move towards him and draw back with your hammer. he notices this and starts to duck, but it's too late. you smash him in the head and watch him fly down to the ground, landing on his side. you smash his still body a few more times and cause him to explode! now you and your friend pick up all of the items your dead friend left on the ground. as you are walking off you pick up his severed head and put it in a bag. that will come in useful later... when you need something to sacrifice to a demon. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from help@idsoftware's .plan, on sat, oct 29th 4:21pm: john has a faster engine working now. groundwork for network play has been finished. looking _very_ cool. for those of you who still have a wife, kids, a job, and a life after doom, this game is for _you_. you doom junkies will have a new fix... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from john romero's aol profile: quote: quake will rule the cosmos. doom will then crumble. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from help@idsoftware's .plan, on sat, dec 2nd 2:20pm: this will not be out until sometime next winter. ok, ok... you guys wanted more. as of today the following things are working/semi-working: network play basic engine object modeling map editor network play: server/client code is functioning great. set up a quake server on a next, linux, or sgi box. once the server is running you get on another machine (next, linux, sgi) and log into the server. a play window opens and you can see the other players, move around, quit out, get back in, etc... there is no deathmatch yet, but this will be the first part of the game to be working... monsters etc, will be added in later. basic engine: this is running pretty fast. in network mode it slows down somewhat, but this will be reversed soon. (network will be faster than single player.) right now we are using a part of doom map 1 1 to test the engine. object modeling: kevin created a model of a person that only consists of about 200 polygons. this model looks surprisingly good... we had thought we would need more polygons per model to create the amount of detail we want. so far this is the only "thing" in the game. he does not animate, but it is still cool to watch him be "born". at the moment he is textured with the art from the cyberdemon. map editor: john also has a map editor in the works. at this point it looks somewhat like 3d studio, with a camera view and a top down view of the thing you are working on. you can add and subtract blocks of "material" from the view. these are the building blocks of the world... no, you will not be limited to blocks in the finished game. all of this will come together very soon to create one of the most awesome network/3d games in the world... if not the most awesome (ok, who are we kidding? it will be the most awesome hehe.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from help@idsoftware's .plan, on tue, jan 24th 8:48pm: we will not be adding anything new to this for a while. there are many cool new things going into the game right now, but we do not want to give it all away just yet. we have been creating small test levels for the past few weeks, and these are looking awesome. the general game idea has started to solidify, but please do not write asking what it is. i will add some new stuff here when there is *alot* more to add. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- from john romero's alt.games.quake posting, 30 Dec 1994 00:07:05 latest quake info: * quakeed is working and it totally rocks! this is the easiest 3-d editor i've ever experienced. We're just getting a taste of the incredible architecture we'll be able to create. * sound code is great -- no interrupts necessary. this is a good thing. * sound effects : thomas dolby is very interested in doing them. * id staff addition: we're about to hire a major, major programmer. look for an announcement after he comes on board. you coders out there will be very surprised! * some people were hoping we'd sink big bucks into the character graphics. we've dumped $20K+ into alias, we have an indigo2 system with another on the way. we just bought a $40k hp system and a $20k hp system for development. the models look very cool. there will be no sprites in quake (except for status bar stuff -- maybe); everything is a 3-d model. * the project is proceeding faster than we were expecting it would. network code will be up within a month! * deathmatch is highest on our priority list. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -> from john romero's .plan, 28 mar, 1995 22:46: -> latest news: -> we're working on quake! that's right! most of the textures for the -> first episode are finished - kevin and adrian have been clicking wildly -> for a while. now they are about ready to fire up the indigo2's and -> start modeling! -> michael abrash, our programminggod (tm), is here and pumping away on -> some really complex bsp/beamtree code for quake's refresh! carmack -> and abrash just found a way (on pentiums only) to interleave the refresh -> code so all our divs are free!!!! even though quake's architecture is -> more complex than doom's, quake's refresh will be faster than doom's. -> no shit. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -> from mike abrash's .paln, 11 jun, 1995 10:55: -> busy working on quake. It's going to be cooler even than i expected. -> check back in a few months... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -> from american mcgee's, idtypical, enthusiastic .plan, 11 jun, 1995 -> ok, when you saw wolf you spooged on your own knees right? -> Then doom came out and you spooged all over yourself again, -> only this time more. "wow!" you thought, "i didn't know i -> could spooge _that_ much!" -> just wait till quake, you'll be mopping spooge for days. ---------------------------------------- [4 - screenshots, previews, demos, betas:] ---------------------------------------- now that your mouth is watering after all that you've read about quake, you'll probably want to see more, right? hehe. i thought so. well, watch this space in the future for any info on screenshots, previews, demos, betas or the likes. as i've said before, quake is still far from being finished and you can take my word on this, there are no betas available, no matter what your /<-rad friends said they found on their 31337 ftp/fsp sites. let me relay a quote of ddt on irc late november '94: " lot, wish we had a quake beta." 'nuff said, come back in half a year ;) here a cute little _faked_ id posting to alt.games.doom on the subject of illegal quake qlpha/beta testers: 'it seems you guys have gotten ahold of alpha versions of both out vr quake and neural quake and i have to say i am not happy. it is not the fact that you are using stolen software that bothers me, it is the fact that you are putting your lives at risk. just last week a beta-tester lost 33.3% use of his brain testing quake ii on the intel/RS686 for win '98.june. if you guy really want some quake action i suggest you stick quake, winquake, and powerquake. for all you asking where to get it, it is ftp-able from 127.0.0.1 in the /pub/id/quake/incoming directory. have fun and see you on the quakeservers!!!' for that matter, the new .plan at help@idsoftware.com is quite obvious as far as far as betas go, as it literally yells at us (caps removed to preserve sanity ;): 'there is no beta version of this out *anywhere* there is nothing for anyone to test right now either we are still very much in development' -> jay wilbur himself points out id's current beta testing policy very -> nicely (reprinted with permission of Keith Cohen): -> "Sorry, we will not be using any outside testers. After the problems we had -> with DOOM we decided to keep all the testing in-house." -> jay has very clear ideas about the release date of quake. read his .sig: -> "The official release date of all id's products: -> _as soon as it is finished_!" -> eventhough help@idsoftware.com's .plan has a slightly different version: -> this will not be out until sometime in the winter of '95. -> **that's this coming christmas for those of you who don't -> **understand what i mean. like that chris guy. Man, what a 'tard. ----------------------- [5 - unconfirmed rumors:] ----------------------- -> in a mail on june 10th, 1995, american mcgee from id software talks -> about a possible participation of nin inch nails for the music in -> quake: -> "if trent reznor does music for quake it will work something like this: -> on the part of the cd we do not use for game data we will record music. -> if trent does the music then you will listen to trent making cool music -> while playing the game. i think that if we have him do the music, people -> who don't even want to play the game (yeah, right... like there are people -> like that) will buy the cd just to hear trent make noise. i know i would." -> he goes on to warn people who take quaketalk too serious: -> "btw: all of you quakefaq guys are being totally lied to! nothing in here -> is anywhere near true. this is like that whole "2 weeks!" thing. we are -> just playing with your heads and making you worship satan. hehe -> ok, ok... maybe some of this is true... but satan doesn't like us to tell -> the truth, so don't tell him. hehe." ---------- [6 - outro:] ---------- no outro yet. maybe next time ;) i know, i know. i keep saying that. heck, what do you want to see in an outro? -------------- [6.1 - credits:] -------------- me (lotlhwi@irc) for doing most of the work ;) william lachance for the pc format article rick hammerstone for getting me a copy of the original quake faq scott bessler (jackyl@irc) for an excerpt from his mail with ddt toby nichols for the october pc gamer article alex lee (sirace@irc) for the november multimedia magazine article art s. for john romero's profile from aol jordan feinman for john romero's first posting to alt.games.quake dan cerman for filling my mailbox with all kinds of neat quake stuff ;) david laprad for the dille/romero interview from the d2 strategy guide scott starks for the second romero posting from alt.games.quake ed belisle for the cgw '95 sniplet. -> american mcgee -> for numerous mails. (it's probably best not to ask him about quake right -> now though ;) -> keith cohen -> for jay's comments on id's beta testing policy -> john wakelin -> the first of numerous people to send me ddt's djgpp posting -> stuart west -> for the crystal waters engineering press release -> murray chapman -> for johnr's updated .plan ---------------------- [6.2 - version history:] ---------------------- 1.00 (08/09/94) - first edition. i simply cut and pasted all the quake quotes from romero and the .plan's in a file and spiffed it up a bit. 1.01 (08/16/94) - added credits to ddt's email about quake and changed the intro. 1.10 (08/22/94) - added the magazine article section and the version history. 1.11 (08/24/94) - jayw's brief quake comment on irc added. 1.20 (08/31/94) - pc format article added. credits section. 1.50 (09/02/94) - quake stuff from help@id's .plan added. 1.55 (09/03/94) - mcgee's comments on quake on irc. 1.55a (09/12/94) - i'm no longer looking for the original quake faq, thanks to all those who sent me a copy. finger me at zxmsu01@hp10.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de for the latest issue of quaketalk. 1.70 (10/14/94) - october pc gamer article added. comments on a true quake faq. slight restructurisations. 2.00 (10/23/94) - multimedia article added. table of contents. 2.05 (11/04/94) - new help@id's .plan info, different email adr. of mine, typos added. 2.10 (11/09/94) - newest quaketalk now available by mail. new intro. 2.30 (12/03/94) - id's more detailed quake status info from their .plan, screenshots, previews, demos, beta section. yet another (minute) change in my email adress) 2.40 (12/04/94) - john romero's first posting to alt.games.quake 2.60 (12/12/94) - romero/dille interview from the d2 strategy guide 2.80 (01/05/95) - a further romero posting to alt.games.quake, a section on 'unconfirmed rumors' 2.90h (02/01/95) - first official html version. cgw jan '95 sniplet, new finger service, minor quake update from id. 2.91 (02/02/95) - i forgot to include the 'cgw sniplet' in 2.90h 3.00 (02/13/95) - disclaimer, 'what's new?' section, romero alpha tester warning, vintage quake announcement. -> 3.20 (06/11/95) - nin music for quake?, jay's beta testing policy -> and .sig, djgpp and quake, progress on the real -> quake faq, qt availability, mcgee's random comments, -> 3d sound for quake, various .plans -j