includinganinterpretedlanguage
calledQuakeCthatallowedmodders
todomorethansimplycreate their
ownlevelsandmakethemonsters
looklikeBartSimpson.Theycould
bendtheenginetotheirwishes.
Andthemoddingcommunity ran
withthis.WhenyouboughtQuake,
youwerebuyingintoa whole
universeofcontentonline.Initially
thiswaslimitedtosimple-but-cool
additions,likegivingtheplayer a
grapplinghooktoscaleandswing
aroundlevelsinwaysthathad been
impossiblewithprevious2Dengines.
Experimentsgavewaytofull‘total
conversions’likeAirQuake, which
swappedtheplayersoutforvehicles
andturneddeathmatchintoa 3D
vehiclecombatgame.Othersproved
thattheskywasn’tclosetobeing the
limit.TeamFortress, forexample,
beganasaQuakemod,launching
withtheScout,Sniper,Soldier,
DemomanandMedicclassesand
buildingfromthere.
Theabilitytocreatestages, have
polygonalcharacters,andhave
multiplepeoplecontrolthem in
‘scenes’alsospawnedmachinima
filmmaking.Quake’s earlyexamples
ofmachinimamaybetheFred Ott’s
Sneezeofthegenrebymodern
standards,withcelebratedstuff likedesignedtohandleit.Theresult?Oneofthenet’sfirst
famousspeed-runs,QuakeDoneQuick,inwhichthe
wholegamewasobliteratedinundertwentyminutes
withtrickslikebunny-hoppingtoraiseincrediblespeed,
androcketstohopthroughwhatweremeanttobe
tantalisingdoorsonlyintendedtobeaccessedafter
collectinga keyorgoingallaroundthehouses.
Playingfairlyornot,therawsenseofplaceandweight
that3Dofferedsoonmadethefakeryof2.5Duntenable.It
becameimpossibletoignorethatspriteswerejust
two-dimensional,andthatwhenkilled,theircollapsewas
a totallycannedanimationratherthanreactingproperly
tophysics.(Itwouldn’tbeuntilHalf-Lifethatgamestook
thenextstepandmadeit standardtogivecharacters
skeletonsinsteadofkeyframedanimation,usheringinthe
stillongoingragdollcomedyera).HOLDTHEFORT
WhatallofQuake’s technologyreallyempoweredthough
wasitscommunity.Itwasthefirstgame-as-platform,
madepossiblenotjustbythe3Dengine,butCarmackWHENYOUBOUGHT
QUAKE, YOUWERE
BUYINGINTOAWHOLE
UNIVERSEOFCONTENT
which he’d also envisioned as being
much more of a story-driven
experience than it ended up being.
Luckily, multiplayer was a whole
other matter. Here, the stripped
down simplicity and full 3D allowed
for fantastic arena design in
atmospheric levels full of cubby-holes
to camp and launch assaults from,
and even the occasional gimmick, like
hitting a button to slide back a level’s
floor and drop unwary players into a
pool of lava. It felt great. The
weapons had real kick. Gibbing other
players was a pleasure.
Outside the game, it helped that
by 1996 online play was finally
becoming viable for PC gamers
across the world. While Doom had
spawned a huge scene in its day,
getting online in 1993 was a pipe
dream for most players outside of
universities. At home, gamers were
lucky to have a null-modem cable to
connect two PCs together, never
mind enjoy the fun of epic LAN
parties. Those who could got to enjoy
a truly wonderful experience.
And so, people played Quake, and
saw that Quake was good. The rocket
jump alone took Quake to a whole
new level. This wasn’t an id
invention, but a discovery by fans, so
of course the maps hadn’t been