Quake Retrospective

Lewis Denby did a great job writing a Quake retrospective.

“It’s a 16-year-old shooter, yet I remember it as if it were just last week. I remember the pre-release buzz. Here was id Software’s follow-up to Doom, a spiritual successor that rendered the entire world and all its contents in an astonishing three dimensions. I remember the demo, a stunning three-hour chunk of the game that no modern publisher would consider giving away for free. I remember the rumours of what would follow in the full product. Was there really a level that took place almost entirely underwater? Would there honestly be a lightning gun that electrocuted you if you fired it in liquid? Was it true that those collectible runes unlocked a secret fifth segment, accessible from the episode selection room? Did the full game really devour an unprecedented 64 megabytes of hard drive space?”

It’s what we’ve all been through a long time ago, and some of us are still experiencing today. A great game, great atmosphere, and inspiring architecture. I, for one, will never rid my mind of the Quake halls and corridors.

“What else? Oh, so, so much. The boss fights, for one. Quake knew not to have its bosses just hammer you for five minutes in a sort of horrendous, fist-eating difficulty spike. No, Quake had you use your wits. When the fiery Chthon arose in E1M7, launching rockets into his molten chest did nothing. Solving an electricity-based puzzle on the walkways above was your road to success. And what about Shub-Niggurath? A big, dopey, seemingly docile tentacle beast in the middle of a pool of lava, she initially seemed like a rather uninspiring way to end the game. Except, how did you kill her? Bullets, again, did nothing. But what was that floating spike ball that occasionally passed through her belly? And what happened if you jumped in that teleporter at exactly the right moment?

And Wind Tunnels. Oh, man, Wind Tunnels. A sprawling, epic level of interconnecting areas, with enormous tubes that sucked you up and hurled you majestically into the next room. And what about the secret low-gravity mission? And all the other secret bits, for that matter. There’s just so much. So many glorious memories.”

Reference: Retrospective article at play.tm

Quake 1 QC Tips and Tricks

Are you getting “Too few parameters” error for droptofloor() function?

Be sure to modify line 602 in defs.qc,

float(float yaw, float dist) droptofloor= #34;    // TRUE if landed on floor

with this one

float() droptofloor= #34;    // TRUE if landed on floor

Function droptofloor() is a float and should return TRUE or FALSE. Drops self to the floor, if the floor is less than -256 coordinates below. Returns TRUE if landed on floor. Mainly used to spawn items or walking monsters on the floor.

Quake Rants

After cleaning up a bit the former PlanetQuake archives, there’s still a lot to do to optimize the sites.

I started the Quake Source project. It’s based on the idea of OpenQuartz. Quake Source will feature new, royalty-free textures, fonts and graphics. Thanks to Baker from QuakeOne.com, I found the GPL’s map sources released by ID Software, but I’m not sure I’m going that way. OpenQuartz featured several maps created from scratch. Quake Source will contain several maps to emphasize all map features: foliage, terrain, fog, indoors, outdoors and everything else I might think of.

I also started a small mod database, with all modifications and addons I could find. Everything is still in alpha state.

Wiki Documentation

I did a few upgrade tasks lately, in an effort to add Wiki features to the site. I’m going to add documentation for Quake, QC, maybe some programming additions. Going live with the Wiki features in 2010.

Also, I noticed a few DarkPlaces updates, Kleshik updates, probably after the discussion on Inside3D. I’m glad to see that. I’m also working on an abandoned Quake engines repository, like Telejano or Nehahra. Who knows when those sites will go down?

Flash Quake

Here’s what I found via QuakeOne.com forums. A port of  Quake for Flash. Check it here: http://www.xgenstudios.com/play/quake-flash

2010 Projects

Welcome again to QuakeWiki.net! Check out the current projects on the left menu, or visit the archives.

Project 1

I took over OpenQuartz and started to create a fork of it. It will feature photorealistic textures, improved effects and GPL’d content.

Project 2

The second project is based on DarkPlaces engine and features powerful CSQC effects. It is a survival game, might have some horror accents to it, but that’s all. No more details.

Project 3

The third project is the completion of the former PlanetQuake sites archiving. Also, a lot of content from other sources will join the archives.

I finally managed to take a hold of it, and I started working on the projects. It will be a tedious work, but I’m determined to do it. Follow the updates on the site to see what’s new.

QuakeWiki is Live!

QuakeWiki.net is finally live. For the moment it only hosts most of the PlanetQuake archives that are due for deletion on August 31st. I intend to add more info on Quake 1 programming, editing, mapping and more. Along with sources, links and references.

Welcome to Quake Wiki (quakewiki.net)

This domain hosts all Quake archives that are to be deleted by IGN from planetquake.com.

Announcement on func_messageboard:

http://www.celephais.net/board/view_thread.php?id=60337

Announcement on Inside3D:

http://forums.inside3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=1585

I want to thank everyone helping me save the Quake archives.

The link archives are hosted on quakewiki.net/archives/namehere and will be arranged by type, such as mods, levels, tutorials, engines and any other category that I missed. The sites will be kept relatively intact in terms of graphics, as this is the purpose of this action: keeping an archive. All the links will be repaired, fixed, synchronized with other mirrors, and completed if missing.

For any requests, find me on Inside3D forums, as Chip.