qtalk400.txt

ATTENTION: THIS DOCUMENT IS VERY OUTDATED AND KEPT HERE ONLY FOR HISTORICAL
           PURPOSES.

================================================================ build 400 ==
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================================================================= 10/22/95 ==
 "it should be renamed to liesdamnitlies" - dave taylor (id software)
 "nothing in here is anywhere near true"  - american mcgee (id software)
 "oh god. a log. again." - john romero (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 like
[2] irc, mail and usenet posting quotes
[3] peoples' .plan

[4] quake on the net
   [4.1] screenshots
   [4.2] demos, previews and betas
   [4.3] quake www sites

[5] unconfirmed rumors

[6] outro
   [6.1] credits
   [6.2] version history



 ----------
[0 - intro:]
 ----------

   quaketalk is an unofficial newsletter dedicated to _quake_, a new fantasy
role playing/action game being made 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 publish whatever quotes and facts (if they can be called that), 
i found. thus, bear in mind that everything here could be a 
total lie, like american mcgee likes to put it.

   feel free to spread this file 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
it has some factual basis, e.g. 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 prefered email address is jschuur@ftp.cdrom.com. please use this
one, as it is more stable than my previous one at my university in
germany.


 ------------------------------------
[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 <your_email_adress>

   remeber, 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 since the last copy will carry a '->' in the first column. check
out the version history at the end too. readers of the html version of qt
will find it very helpful in tracking down recent changes.

   as of version 3.63, i'll be using a new naming convention. the name
new title will be 'quaketalk '95, build xxx' where xxx is the version
number. pretty funny, huh?


 ------------------------------------------
[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 from the following url:

   http://doomgate.cs.buffalo.edu/games/quake/

   josh michaels has done a fine job htmlizing the new qt for me and
i'm looking forward on cooperating on the quake section at doomgate with
him.

->    his html copy of quaketalk is available at:

->    http://www.prairienet.org/joshm/qtalk/

   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 expected that hank leukart and i would have completed
an actual faq by now. 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 revael 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 now 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.

->    i've started posting a mini quake faq that should answer the most
-> common questions about the game on a weekly basis to the relevant
-> rec.games.computer.doom.* newgroups and alt.games.quake. the file is
-> also available via ftp at:

->    ftp://ftp.mantis.co.uk/pub/doom/periodic/quakefaq


 -----------------
[0.5 - disclaimer:]
 -----------------

   i should clarify that although 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
and doesn't want to speculate until things have gotten more stabler.



 ------------------------------------
[1 - magazine articles and the like:]
 ------------------------------------


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 major 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 fuck 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!'". "

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

from the may '95 issue of electronic entertainment:

doom maker id software has reportedly created a multiplayer internet 
protocol that will form the basis for multiplayre action in quake, the much 
anticipated successor to doom 2.  the company has reportedly proposed that
the protocol be used by other game makers as a standard way to create
multiplayer games on the internet.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

an interview between jay wilbur and flux magazine:

flux:   what if anything can you tell us about quake?

wilbur: well, anything i tell you today could be a complete lie tomorrow,  
        because things are changing so rapidly.  in all of our games, we
        take what we learn from the past and we amplify the bitchin' stuff.
        let's take wolfenstien to doom. in wolf, we had that smooth
        scrolling 3-d world and saw that it worked.  so we enhanced the 3-d
        world and cut our teeth on the multiplayer option.  now, what we'll
        do with quake is to continue to make it realistic and enhance that
        3-d world, making it true 3d in doom, the environement is actually
        2-d.  you neve have a room on top of a room in a level.  but quake 
        will be true 3d, and with the tools we have in-house, you can
        architect anything-and i do mean anything.

        probably one of the most exciting part is that it will have a 
        client/server-based technology.  doom allowed four players,
        peer to peer on a participants in the game will only be limited
        by the number of clients your server can handle.  if your network
       computer can handle 20 people at a time then 20 people can play at
        one time.

flux:   a number of games only run on high-end machines. how does this
        trend affect quake?  will most people be able to run it?

wilbur: the target machine is 486/66 and by the time the game is out that 
        should be the median market.  we will likely have the game set up
        so it takes advantage of extra hardware that you might have under
        the hood-if you have a pentium, if you have some kind of graphics
        accelerator.  just like having a sound card, it will make the game
        more exciting and give more features.  but we take a machine and
        make it our target, and before we release a game, we make damn sure 
        that it runs correctly on the target.

flux:   what can you tell us about the general plotline of quake?

wilbur: nothing. it's yet to be developed.  let's say fantasy/medival maybe,
        and leave it at that.  during the developement the last thing we
        apply is the story.  it's the least important part of the game.
        we have to develope the great technology first.  imagine doom with
        a different set of graphics terrorists, for example- you can still
        make the game work.  but in order to give you that nightmarish
        feeling, we decided to go with demons or aliens. when it was
        finished, the story of demons from hell coming through to our plane
        of existence had been fully flushed.  so who knows where quake will
        go?

flux:    will quake be shareware?

wilbur:  yes it will still be shareware first, retail second.

flux:    any kind of projected release date?

wilbur:  no, the official release date is "when it's finished."  and we
         never miss that date, by the way. [laughs] our job is to make
         sure you, the user, have fun.

flux:    but still, quake will be geared toward people who love doom-those
         who love a bloody, violent firefight, right?

wilbur:  oh, yes. according to some of he developers, quake will make doom
         look like a walk in the park.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

from the online version of computer gaming world magazine:
(http://www.zdnet.com/~gaming/features/9508/topten.html)

"everyone is anxious to see whether quake will offer the same seismic bang
 for the buck as its predecessor, doom. if graphics are any indication, the
 gothic setting may well envelope (sic) gamers in a gaming environment that
 is even richer than doom's. we're definitely impressed with the art and
 lighting effects we've seen, but unfortunately id hasn't released screen
 shots yet."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

from the august '95 issue of the german magazine 'pc games' (translation 
provided by olivery meyer):

[note the german magazine isn't allowed to mention the game 'doom' directly]

is it possible, to excel the most successful computer game of the last
decade? dave taylor from id software thinks, that their newest
product, quake, is much much better than both its predecessors. why
this is true, our us-correspondent markus krichel tries to find out in
an interview with dave taylor.

pc games:  how does it feel to be the absolute shooting star under the
           software companies?

dave taylor: actually, we thought very high of us, before. the success
             was just the logical consequence of our work in the 3d
             sector, there is no point in cinematic scenes, only the fun
             playing a game counts for us. the gamers spoke and said we
             are right.

pc games:    how does the development on quake look like, today?

dave taylor: two years ago, when i saw xxxx in development for the
             first time, i was overwhelmed. since then, id software
             expanded a lot and quake has the same effect on the new
             employees. for the old stuff of the company quake means a
             resurrection of that old excitement and moral.

pc games:    please compare play ability, graphics, speed and so on of
             xxxx and quake for us.

dave taylor: xxxx really was a '2.5d-program', i. e. it was a 2d
             environment with a 3d view. quake on the other hand uses
             complete 3d. also its texture mapping engine is designed to
             make use of the new acceleration cards and is even in normal
             mode quite fast. network-power is the major gain compared to
             xxxx. since we are still working on it, i don't want to say
             anything about it, except that there is nothing comparable at
             the moment.

pc games:    until now id gave their worldwide fans the possibility to
             become creative themselves, to design their own levels,
             create monsters, etc. do you have the same plans with quake?

dave taylor: and even more, we expanded that aspect in a wide way. this
             time a free c-compiler. we call djgpp, comes with the
             program. it works like this: on the cd we publish along with
             a game a whole bunch of source code. this way the user is able
             to reprogram the game by using the compiler. we give the player
             the chance to work as a game programmer.

pc games:    will quake be a dos- or a windows game?

dave taylor: we program under linux. so we can easily switch to any
             platform. there will be a dos-version for sure, a windows 95
             version is very likely to come. windows 95 seems to become more
             and more a real games-platform. good for us!

pc games:    and what kind of creatures will you send after the poor player
             this time?

dave taylor: how they will look like exactly should remain a surprise. 
             that they will look better is guaranteed. in stead of using
             scaled sprites we use real 3d models in quake.

pc games:    in germany your games came on the index of the bps, because of
             the violence, at once... [oliver: this means, that such
             software is a danger to younger people. you may not advertise
             such a program in public, nor may you sell it to a person under
             18.]

dave taylor: ... and we thank them for it. we couldn't wish us any
             better pr.

pc games:    is your games design influenced by such indexing? do you
             say: "in the next game we have to cut down on violence a bit?"

dave taylor: you must be joking. where will it end, if we let us influence
             by censorship? for gods sake, who do those people think they
             are, to give the players orders.

pc games:    so you expect quake on the index?

dave taylor: absolutely! our selling figures in germany couldn't be better.
             in no way, we'll think about such things when designing
             quake. quake will probably be a few steps harder.

pc games:    which release date is planned?

dave taylor: thats hard to say. this year for sure.

pc games:    thank you!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

from spin magazine, sept. '95:

meanwhile, back in the kingdom of doom, the id team is hard at work on
quake, the kick-ass sequel they're hoping to ship for x-mas 95.
while still pretty tight-lipped about details, id confirms the game
is another first-person action game ("quake is the name of the main
character, not a seismic event).  the programmers are jazzed that if a
bad guy is lurking around a corner and there's a light source behind
him, youll see his shadow falling in front of you and be ready to blast
him when he leaps out.  the real key to quake, though, is major multi-player
network action.  doom and its siblings are limited to four players at a
time.  when connected to a powerful network server, conceivably thousands
of quake players will be able to inhabit the same world simultaneously
and blow each other's cyber-brain's out!!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-> john carmack speaks on 3d accelerators from rendition inc at
-> http://www.rendition.com/isvid.html
 
->    we at id have been fans of the vérité architecture since we first
->    saw the spec, several months back. now that we have some
->    experience with the chip, we're even more pleased with it; in
->    fact, it's our clear favorite among 3d accelerators. our quick,
->    unsophisticated port of quake to vérité is already running at
->    respectable framerates, and looks very good indeed. the hardware
->    and microcode has proven to be solid, and performance will get
->    dramatically better when we start pushing the architecture.
    
->    even better, from our perspective, is the fully programmable,
->    overlappable nature of vérité, due to dma support and the 
->    availability of a powerful risc processor. together, these allow
->    for excellent load-balance capabilities, and further allow us to
->    tailor the accelerator's operations to our needs. we expect that
->    once quake is fully ported to vérité, quake will often run twice
->    as fast on vérité as on a more traditional accelerator, and that
->    vérité will be the premier platform for Quake.
    
->    _john carmack_
->   chief technical officer
->   id software
   
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-> an unnamed source (hullo, mr. unnamed source) had the chance to see
-> _quake_ with a few other journalists at the european computer trade
-> show in london in september '95:
 
-> 1) jay had quake running on a dell P75 with 8mbs ram and a 1mb local bus 
-> video card. it was running in low-res at about 15fps. he didn't engage 
-> the already-implemented hi-res mode because "he didn't want to push the 
-> video card too much".
 
-> 2) the version we saw had been knocked up by id a couple of days before 
-> the visit. It was a single, small level with a central arena surrounded 
-> by balconies, accessable by two spiral staircases. It had 'monsters' 
-> (about twelve sort of zombie knights) and although there were no player 
-> graphics, there was a weapon implemented (a kind of steel bowling ball 
-> which exploded on impact). 
 
-> 3) the purple sky was implemented and looked very cool. It looked all 
-> mushy and was constantly churning.
 
-> 4) jay explained that the BSP they were using to render the levels was 
-> very advanced and processor-intensive. he said it took their dec alpha 
-> half-an-hour to process a small, simple level. before the trip one of the 
-> programmers had knocked up a scaled down version of the bsp which took 10 
-> minutes on p133 with loads of ram. but it took shortcuts, and these 
-> shortcuts were present on the map as 'grey areas' where no textures had 
-> been aligned. other than that, the level was fully textured and 
-> light-sourced (roof, floor, walls etc), and had some very cool looking 
-> stained glass windows and candelbras.
 
-> 5) bizarrely, this version of quake seemed to support every vesa mode 
-> imaginable. jay stepped through from 320x200 to 320x240, to 265x180, and 
-> other weird values i can't remember. maybe this will be a replacement for 
-> doom's low detail mode?
 
-> 6) the zombie knights looked very strange. they didn't seemed to be 
-> polygon based at all. Although they did react with the scenery. You could 
-> shoot them off the balaconies and they died when they hit the ground. 
-> this was an early version, I guess.
 
-> 7) perhaps most tellingly, jay said the control system revolved around a 
-> three button mouse, with looking up and down on the third button. using 
-> just the mouse, he zipped around the level, looked up, and strafed very 
-> naturally. he also said you could program each mouse button as you 
-> wished, so if you wanted one button to flick you 180, it wouldn't be a 
-> problem.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

->    a finnish computer magazine (pellit) interviewed sandy petersen in
-> september:
 
-> if you try to ask sandy about the story in quake or the main idea, he
-> just grins and shakes his head, like if you had asked about the meaning
-> of life.
 
-> "at first, we design a game. after that we add some kind of a story
-> behind that game. quake's designing started, when we realized we wanted
-> to make a game that, when compared to doom, would be something like doom
-> was compared to wolfenstein. a game that would be an improvement over
-> doom as big as doom was an improvement over wolfenstein.
 
-> "quake is more visual, and is meant for close combat. the main weapon
-> is a hammer, and there will be lots of close combat, something that's
-> new in our games. nobody really used berserk or chainsaw in doom that
-> much.
 
-> "yes, quake will have long range combat also. there are spells and
-> you _can_ throw the hammer. or you can smash the hammer to the ground,
-> so that a crack will start snaking towards the enemy, and upon hitting
-> them will cause a big disaster. and you can throw lightning bolts with
-> the hammer too. or set the enemy on fire. and if you have enough energy,
-> you can hit the floor with the hammer, so that the whole level will
-> tremble in an earthquake and everyone will stumble.
 
-> "and, uh... you can do all kinds of cool things with the hammer. in
-> doom, you shot a guy from a distance, they screamed "aargh" and froze
-> to their places. in quake, you go and hit the enemy with the hammer, so
-> that he stumbles to the ground. then when he tries to rise up, you hit
-> him  again and he stumbles again, rolls a little distance, jumps up and
-> starts to run away. he limps, bleeds, and you can follow him by the
-> trail of blood drops on the floor. now that's violence!
 
-> "quake's violence isn't only blood and guts flying around everywhere.
-> the player even acts very brutally, and what could be better? :) of
-> course, all of this can be just a big lie. it may be that none of these
-> abilities i mentioned here will be in quake. you see, it still won't be
-> ready and shipping for at least a few months."
 
->     according to that, monsters could even have brains.
 
-> "actually, that blood trail thing is meant only for deathmatch. of
-> course, monsters will act differently than in doom. they will act
-> more smartly and can flee to healing pools of something. but they
-> won't make ambushes together or do anything that intelligent."
 
->     many of you might have been waiting for quake to be something more
-> of a role-playing game. but apparently this is a very frequently asked
-> question, because sandy looks up to the ceiling and sighs desperately.
 
-> "you have to remember, that id has done good violent action games.
-> we do like roleplaying games and computer rpgs. they are quite okay.
-> but they really aren't in id's style. we think that we serve players
-> much better when we make action games, because that's where we are
-> at our best. so we leave the other games to others, who may be better
-> than us in making those.
-> 
-> "role entertainment is making a roleplaying game with doom's engine.
-> we think that quake will be an engine for many crpgs, but id isn't
-> going to make them. and that's it. quake is not meant to be a rpg, we
-> don't want it to be a rpg. we want action!"
 
->     oh great. no roleplaying game and all those fun shooting weapons
-> are away too. what can quake have that makes it better than doom and
-> all of its clones then? hasn't the one year of design time done anything
-> good?
 
-> "quake is really 3d, and all of the game's objects are real objects.
-> for example, a door sliding into a wall can't slide into a wall if
-> there isn't empty space allowing that. all of the objects can move into
-> every direction. not just up and down as in doom. doors can break (and
-> can be broken) free from their hinges, as in real life.
 
-> "all the monsters in quake are 3d models, using usually about 100-200
-> polygons. we have succeeded in developing a special texture system, with
-> which we can make a cube look like a sphere. monsters are fully texture-
-> mapped and look very real. only movements will look slightly sprite-like
-> because they use frames, but they won't be nearly as jerky as in doom.
 
-> "if you kick a monster down from a cliff, it won't just fall down. it
-> will spin round and round and flail with its arms. and you can cut an
-> enemy's neck and take its head to sacrifice it to the gods of darkness,
-> or wherever you might need the head. at this time, the head is a separate
-> model so the enemies can look up and down and to different directions.
-> and if you hit a monster to the head or upper part of the body, it may
-> stumble backwards. and if you hit it to the legs, it may stumble forward.
-> or if you see a guy standing on the edge of a tall cliff, you can run
-> and kick him. he will fall down from the cliff, and get a big headache.
 
-> "quake also has a realistic lighting system. now we have light sources
-> that cast real shadows. you can get a little idea of this by looking at
-> our screenshots, but it looks much better in action!
 
-> "quake will look much better than doom. we had a little group of
-> magazine writers looking at quake in action, and the usual comment
-> was "holy shit! this is much better than doom!". and it is!
 
-> "you can also use svga resolution in quake. it is meant for pentiums,
-> but we think that a normal quake player will have a pentium. after a
-> year we will have sold a reasonable amount of quake, and then everyone
-> will have a pentium.
 
-> "this doesn't mean that quake would need a pentium, though. if we take
-> a level from doom and convert it to quake, it will run with exactly the
-> same speed as in doom, or even faster. but quake will be more complex.
-> when playing in vga, 486/66 is enough, but of course, having some extra
-> memory will help.
 
-> "many companies are already writing agreements to run quake servers, and
-> there will be many servers only for quake. the idea behind all of this
-> is that you can phone from anywhere to any of these megaservers and start
-> to play. those servers could run 60 guys on different levels at the same
-> time. you can run from one level to another while some guys are chasing
-> you, and you go and try to get a magical hammer from a secret compartment
-> you discovered earlier, but there are already four guys guarding the
-> place so you run away to another levelandtherearesomeotherguysandyousayto
-> themthatpleasehelpmetokillthoseidiotswhoarecomingafterme......."
 
->     (sandy's speech accelerates into an unbelievable stream of words
-> right after one another...)
 
-> "now you can play deathmatch and cooperative at the same time. you can
-> be in a gang with other dm:ers who try to defeat an enemy gang of
-> players who are after one of your friend gangs. and that will be fun!
 
-> "we aren't yet sure how you can identify players from each other, but
-> you can assign different colors to your head and your body.
 
-> "in quake, you can easily change the rules. for example, it will be
-> much easier to make a crpg version of quake than of doom. just make a
-> level, add some objects and monsters who talk and stuff. it will be more
-> difficult to make levels to quake than to doom, but players will make
-> their own levels, and we will sell them the information about how to
-> make them.
 
-> "we have no idea what will come after quake. we haven't had the time to
-> think that far. but it will probably be a 3d action game."



 -----------------------------------------
[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 series 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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

from 2 mails between american mcgee and lithium@silicon.net, 20 jun 1995:

: like in wolf3d you had people walking around...being directed by those
: arrows.  this was pretty cool. it would be neat if in quake there were
: monsters sleeping, eating, patrolling, building weapons or whatever,
: activating switches to crush you....
: this would make them seem more believable!

this is something we are planning on doing.

: will quake be able to be run on game connection(sirdoom) and apci do you
: suppose?

you will not need a service like that in order to play multiplayer
quake games.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

according to peter taylor <staylorm@cc.curtin.edu.au> on jul 18th, 1995,
micheal abrash says he's currently working on "speeding up the drawing
of sky". whatever that means ;)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

john romero appeared on irc several times in the month of june '95 on the
#dwango and #doom channels. here a summary of what he said:

'quake should be out by christmas. we hope.'
'looking up/down is automatic and is also available w/keys'
'quake will run the same speed as doom on same system.'
'but you'll need 8mb ram.'
'yes, nin is doing sfx'
'looking up/down with the mouse does not work well.'
'we don't use opengl in quake, we use span-blitting.'
'no music in quake.'
'quake screen res: whatever you can handle.'
'we are supporting video coprocessors, but not thru opengl!'
'music: maybe little blits of music, but not a soundtrack per map'
'i'm not sure if we're using the 3d-ddi.'
'# of players: whatever the server can handle/has connections.'
'os's - dos and win95 first. then all other systems.'
'netplay: all possible types of connections.'
'win95 will run same speed.'
'probably os/2, but not immediately.'
'weapons: so far, a hammer.'
'...and a hellgate cube'
'keyboard input: prolly as many keys as heretic'
'we will not miss the music, i guarantee it.'
'deathmatch = 14.4 no prob.'
'player = two models, body and head. head will tear off.'
'you will be able to customize all keys used in quake, even debugkeys.'
'we do not want music - you are going to be in a total environment.'
'imagine a dark swamp at night. what would that sound like?  :)'
'we will have 3d sound.'
'sound is 16-bit.'
'22khz'
'vr headsets will be supported.'
'all sound cards with digital output will be supported.'
'quake = lots of magic!'
'there's no comparison between quake and heretic (or anything else).'
'h2 will come sooner.'
'plot? ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!'
'quake makes doom look like a sad little cartoon.'
'you'll thank me much more for quake.'
'screen shots: in about a couple months.'
'quake's net code is the next generation. you'll see.'
'we won't be uploading screenshots until we get some models in
 the game...which will be pretty soon now.'
'we have sprites, brushmodels and alias models in the engine
    right now, but no real models done yet.'
'quake's engine is so damn fast right now. we're about to get
    another 50% speedup pretty soon.'
'we're having to clip speed to 70fps.'
'we will be supporting lots of vesa modes as well as 3 standard
    vga modex modes.'
'our source graphics are 256 color, but with lighting we are
    supporting 24-bit.'
'quake controls will be just like doom controls with some extra
    keys that are not mandatory to use.'
'look - doom was the first multiplayer game, 4-player was great
    back then.  everyone else just improved on it, as we expect them to do.'
'yes, monsters will be cool. better than doom. they'll have
    leaders and followers.'
'we're playing with a few different ways of doing realtime
    shadowing.'
'our main objective is to keep the speed up, so if the shadowing
    is a little cheesy, it was because of speed.'
'well, gonna take off now. gotta do some stuff on my huge
    swamp wizard's castle.'

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

   an abbridged log from a stay of dave taylor ('iddt') on #doom,
late jul 95:

<_avatar_>  ddt: like hows that animated sky coming along?
<iddt>      avatar, um, animated.  looks really neat, though.  the engine
            is still kinda raw.
<netshadow> iddt: are there any major engine improvements over doom, and
            what kind of modularity will there?  i.e. a .wad style drop-in
            additions? (ie doom level, (better?))
<iddt>      netshadow, no wads necessary.  you can make your sound files
            .wav or .aiff, your quake programs are text files, the entity
            lists are text, the maps are text, the gfx are .lbm...
<_avatar_>  iddt: how bout models? coming along (i ask cause we've been
            told we'll see screen shots when models are in there)
<iddt>      avatar, the models are in an alias format.
<rukh>      iddt: will quake use multiple levels or one really huge one.
<iddt>      rukh, multiple levels.
<|nurgle|>  iddt- one thing i have been dying to know is if wither there
            will be more than one weapon :)
<iddt>      nurgle, me too.  not sure yet.  i think there will be.  there's
            this rather lame idea about a hammer i'm quietly trying to
            destroy.
<_avatar_>  iddt: okok.. but the models haven't been put in yet?
<iddt>      avatar, there are only a couple models in.  a bat, a sorta
            biped baddy, a human.  they don't do anything clever.  just
            sorta sit there.  no rush right now.  plenty of architecture
            to go.
<calabraun> iddt: okay.. lets see.. are the text files for quake levels in
            an ascii map format, or lines of code which translate to a map?
<iddt>      cala, here's some lines from a map file...
<iddt>      4 wall14_5 0 0 0 0 0 0
<iddt>      (0,912,176,144) (0,928,176,144) (16,928,176,144) (16,912,176,144)
<iddt>      4 wall14_5 0 0 0 0 0 0
<iddt>      (192,928,144,0) (192,1040,144,0) (208,1040,144,0) (208,928,144,0)
<iddt>      it's like coordinates specifying a brush and a texture and some
            other stuff.
<dnormlguy> ddt: are you using any human input devices for character
            movements, like suits with sensors, or is it more by hand??
<iddt>      dnorml, i want to support the virtual i/o i-glasses, but
            honestly the best control will be a mouse and keyboard.
<iddt>      cala, my point is that someone will be able to quickly write a
            graphical editor because the file format is so simple.
<hankle>    iddt: so what kind of theme is this levitating toward?
<iddt>      hankle, dunno.  fantasy of some sort.
<meredith>  ddt: can you explain a little more how the monster ai code 
            will interface with the main exe?  function calls?
<iddt>      mere, it's an interpreted language.  want to see some?
<iddt>      here's some code that generates thunder..
<iddt>      thunder ()
<iddt>      {
<iddt>         local rnd;
<iddt>         rnd = random() * 40 + 10;
<iddt>         sound (self,0,thund);
<iddt>         self->nextthink = time + rnd; 
<iddt>         self->think = thunder;
<iddt>      }
<|nurgle|>  rnd = random() * 40 + 10;   <---- is that the duration?
<iddt>      nurgle, that's the time between this thunder and the next one
<_avatar_>  iddt: k, and as nurgle once mentioned, won't you have to
            download all sorts of stuff whenever you connect to a server to
            play in that world of sorts? (assuming it'll be like a bid mud)
<iddt>      avatar, yes it'll cache whatever it doesn't have based on what
            appears to be new or different, so if you frequent the server
            often, you should only be hit with the cache the first time.
<|nurgle|>  ddt- okl.. so if you szy,  created a new weapon, it wouldn't be
            active on a server that didn't have it?
<iddt>      nurgle, the server is god.  if it has the weapon in it, the
            weapon is in it.  the clients have no say in the matter.
<meredith>  carmack has also said that ai's are overrated as a game element
<iddt>      avatar, the sad truth is that interesting ai gets expensive so
            fast that the cycles are almost always better spent doing
            something else.
<_avatar_>  iddt: textures, good, but what about completely customizing the
            way you look? wouldn't it be great to go into the game and have
            people recognize you on sight!
<iddt>      avatar, we're prolly going to let the players have completely
            different skin textures.
<|nurgle|>  ddt- how about riding animals  liie horses or somthing, also it
            would be rad to be able to give yourself an appearance
<iddt>      nurgle, we're pretty sure that's what we want to do
<netshadow> iddt: what would be the most common connection medium for a
            quake server (if there would be one) .. i remember hearing
            something (i think romero said something about cable boxes?!?)
            .. but would there be server/clients on the net? or dwango-ish??
<iddt>      netshadow, it'd be modems of course.  prolly a large terminal
            server.
<hankle>    iddt: under windows, it will support winsock, correct?
<iddt>      hank, prolly, but we'll need to get someone knowledgable about
            winsock to code it.  we've never touched the stuff.
<_avatar_>  iddt: and as people've asked, will quake have any music code
            whatsoever?
<iddt>      avatar, a big maybe.
<netshadow> iddt: speaking of which, did the nin deal have anything to do
            with the 'secret' nin in e4m1?
<iddt>      net, not really.  american, carmack, and i are just huge nin
            fans and so we started going to his concerts and found out trent
            was a huge doom fan.  sort of a mutual thing.
<|nurgle|>  ddt- will you be ablke to record a game wihtout everyone else 
            having to?
<iddt>      nurg, if you're running the server
<|nurgle|>  i'd say mkae trent make some sfx for lots of weapons :)
<iddt>      nurgle, he's concentrating on environmental and demonic sounds
            right now.
<|nurgle|>  ddt- demonic? so quake will have an evil kinda setting? one that
            will  make every christian in the world foamm at the mouth?
<iddt>      nurg, that's the goal
<meredith>  ddt: people will be able to write their own input device drivers
            for quake, right?  how exactly will that work?
<iddt>      mere, yep.  the setup program is actually a disguise for the
            final linking step.  the game as delivered is still .o files.
            you link it with the right modules before running it.
<meredith>  ddt: any chance of having monster ai's as .o files to be linked
            instead of intpreted code?  it'd be a lot more mem/clock
            efficient
<iddt>      mere, i'm of the same opinion but couldn't convince carmack of
            that. he has a good point.  w/interpreted code, you can reload
            it hot without restarting the game.
<meredith>  ddt: is network 'talk' still in?
<iddt>      mere, it's not in yet, but i'm glad you reminded me.  should get
            to that.
<_badcrc_>  iddt: i request that you guys don't give out any cheats...maybe 
            even disable them ;)
<iddt>      bad, there will be cheats, but why does that bother you?
<hankle>    iddt: as long as they're not in multipolayer.
<iddt>      hankle, won't be
<kane>      iddt: in deathmatch, when the characters change weapons will it
            show this?
<iddt>      kane, hm. we're thinking about it.
<paradox2>  iddt: what kind of dramatic bsp enhancments are we going to see
            in quake?
<iddt>      para, i'm not terribly familiar with the modelling internals.
            it still uses a bsp, but it's 3d now, and there is a seperate
            visibility list structure in every subvolume for faster
            clipping to the view volume than doom.
<dv8]>      i heard the ligthing system is badass in quake...is it state
            of the art or is someone else usin it already?
<iddt>      dv8, definitely state of the art
<iddt>      it'll run fine on a 28.8k.  we're rather determined about that.
<_avatar_>  iddt: fine at 28800 in 2 player or more than 2 player?
<iddt>      avat, the game will be architected to drop information to the
            client bandwidth, so theoretically any # of players, but the
            reality is that it'll start dropping too much useful
            information.  once again, we'll have to just check it out.
<|nurgle|>  ddt- but seperate players can be  on seperate levels?
<iddt>      nurg, yes
<paradox2>  iddt: one rumor about quake i cant belive yet - but, they said 
            it will work like www, you log on to a sever and download all 
            the seperate special graphics for that server, as well as the
            special gfx for each player?
<iddt>      para, yeah
<hankle>    iddt: in a month? [re: screenshots -jschuur]
<iddt>      hank, i don't know honestly.  screen shots are a sort of
            mystical thing.  we've been talking about doing it for the past
            couple weeks, so i wouldn't be surprised if it happened w/in a
            month.
<_badcrc_>  ddt: how much disk space will quake use do you think?
<iddt>      bad, 5.73mb.  no idea, dude.  it'll be more than doom, though.
<dv8]>      iddt, is there going to be weather in quake, like snow and rain?
<iddt>      dv8, no dude
<waffles>   ddt:  i still want swinging doors
<iddt>      waff, we got em
<_avatar_>  iddt! what is the hellgate cube!?!??!?!?!
<iddt>      avatar, it's this cube that spins over your head and sucks
            souls and acts as sort of a friend sometimes and other times
            changes loyalty.  it's just a concept right now. 
<_avatar_>  iddt: how much control over yer guy'll you have in quake? the
            usual + what?
<iddt>      avatar the ususal plus yer head. 
<iddt>      mouse will be just about required.
<_avatar_>  iddt: hahaha.. no climbing or jumping?
<iddt>      avatar, jumping prolly
<|nurgle|>  ddt- will you be releasing a special quake controller?
<iddt>      nurgle, a company that split off from logitech will
<ceebee>    iddt: i realize you don't like the virtua fighter stuff but...
            will quake contain complex combat stuff along those type lines?
<iddt>      cee, no way.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

derek strutman had the oportunity to talk to some of the id guys at a
book siging late aug '95. here his report:

i asked him if it would need a pentium, he says it plays awesome on a
dx2. i asked about how many people could fit in a "world" at one time,
and he said

  "about 64 people can fit in a world on a p90.  the way it will work is
   if you try to exit to a world that is full, something will happen (we
   don't know what, yet.)  you cannot advance until the world (which is
   another server) has an open slot...maybe you hang around and keep
   beating people up, maybe you keep pounding the door until you can get
   in."

he asked me if i had gotten the screenshots...i mentioned that everyone
cracked the zip to steve and he kinda laughed.  it was for a magazine,
and they were supposed to get "exclusive" shots...now they have to make
more.

quake betas will be the client only... so to test it, you will only be
able to connect to the id server.  since this is around 64 people or so,
lots of people will be trying to get in!  :)

i asked about the sounds...he says it will be ambient sounds, like a
movie...little evil sounds in the background, etc.  he said trent has
already sent them a few.

he also mentioned that porting will take place very quickly... and on
net play, he says it will be more responsive the closer you are to the
server.  (lag fellas...our old friend come back to haunt us)  most all
processing is done on the server.  the client is essentially a shell,
just doing video and etc.  the game's lighting and stuff is pre-calced.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

dave taylor (ddt) visited irc's #doom channel the day quake screenshots
were first released on aug 5th, 1995. here an abbridged logfile:

<pete_>     ddt: does quake support user sound banks for the  awe-32? cause
            the awe-32 sucks without sound banks
<ddt>       pete, oh i thought you meant the on-board ram.  no, not going 
            to do midi music.
<pete_>     ddt: awe-32 user sound banks - does quake support them?
<ddt>       pete, not yet.  plan to, not for music tho
<[[baron]]> ddt: will quake work with an 8-bit sbpro by any chance? :p
<ddt>       baron, yes
<obscurity> ddt: at a rough guess, how far through coding quake are you
            guys (50% ? 75% ? etc)
<ddt>       obscur, way far.  75% is a good estimate, but the tough stuff 
            is finished.
<ev|genius> ddt: does quake have real physics? ie standing on a floor makes 
            you slip downwards, at an icreasin rate?
<ddt>       evl, physics as real as convenient.  :)
<ev|genius> ddt: will quake gravity be confiogurable?
<ev|genius> ddt: ie we can make mnars or earth or the moon
<ddt>       evl, prolly
<_avatar_>  ddt: rockin.. q6.gif is my windows background (am i right in
            thinking i'm not alone in that?:)
<ddt>       avatar, the dragon's done. :)
<_avatar_>  ddt: you've got some people here that say it's a wyvern :)
<ddt>       avatar, it's a dragon without legs because it's a waste of
            polies.
<ev|genius> ddt: will quake have any of dooms annoying limits like visplanes 
            etc that make design tough to make detailed objects?
<ddt>       evl, works differently.  takes longer to make levels, but they
            do more.
<ev|genius> so quake'll be able to recreate anthing?
<ev|genius> ddt: can we recreate the eartyh in detail exactly in quake?
<ddt>       evl, i think you'll majorly dig its flexibility.
<obscurity> ddt: how big will quake be (level wise) compared to, say, doom ?
<ddt>       obscurity, about the same size.  don't want to require everyone
            to have 32mb ram.  :)  you need to keep a level in memory.
<_avatar_>  ddt: how're you doing the animation? strictly on the sgi or 
            with a monkey or humans?
<ddt>       avatar, strictly in alias by hand.
<_avatar_>  ddt: ouch.. that's not that great..
<_avatar_>  ddt: rob has been telling me horror stories about alias'
            animation program..
<ddt>       avatar, it's not too fun
<pete_>     ddt: use vesa page flipping :)
<ddt>       pete, using it
<_avatar_>  ddt: whataya think will be in the next pix we see
<ddt>       avatar, probably more characters and action scenes.
<_avatar_>  ddt: ...and weapons?
<ddt>       avatar, and weapons.
<_avatar_>  ddt: weapons, plural?! ::::))))
<ev|genius> ddt: so hwo is the automnap going to be handled?
<ddt>       evl, good question.  no plan to have an automap right now.
<pete_>     ddt: if you ever do put an automap in , make it like dark forces
            so you can see the map and the player view at the same time
<ddt>       pete, good idea
<ddt>       obscur, it's kinda hard in 3d.  did you see descents?
<||baron||> ddt: will quake have limitations to the shape of the objects' 
            geometry or not?
<ddt>       baron, no limits, except that brush objects must be convex.
            character objects don't need to be.
<ev|genius> ddt: can we configyre the keyboard setup as we want
<ddt>       evl, yes and portably.  much better system for that, has macros
            too
<ddt>       fire, no automap is a good way.
<_avatar_>  ddt: how bout an object you get that you can throw up in the
            air and you see from it's view for a few seconds?
<_avatar_>  ddt: sorta like a momentary bird's eye view that would let 
            you see opponents too.. it could be an actual item
<ddt>       avatar, wow- cool idea!
<ddt>       avatar, oughtta make it the severed heads of monsters.. :)
<_avatar_>  ddt: yup, that's the advantage of having the head able to be
            severed from the body :)
<ddt>       avatar, we're definitely gonna go heavy into mutilation.
<pete_>     ddt: what about if enemies could nick your items if they came
            close enough to you..
<ddt>       pete, kinda not fun when you get pinched in games, turns out.
<||baron||> ddt: what are brush objects?
<ddt>       baron, will explain later
<ev|genius> ddt: will quake have lmps will ful vcr control?
<ddt>       evl, prolly not
<_avatar_>  ddt: how manipulatable will the monsters be?
<ddt>       avatar, totally customizable
<ruined>    ddt: if quake will be able to be played over internet, would 
            it be like confirmed kill, you telnet it, or like kali, ppp
            connection?
<ddt>       ruined, direct connection (not telnet)
<jco>       ddt: will the ememies be controlled by a .o file?
<ddt>       jco, no it's a c-like interpreted language
<jco>       ddt: ya, but will the monsters' ai be completely externaly 
            programmable?
<ddt>       jco, y e s
<_avatar_>  ddt: any idea how customizable your appearance will be?
<ddt>       avatar, hm, not yet
<waffles>   ddt:  how are the up and down controls handled?  auto like rott?
<ddt>       waff, auto or manual.
<_avatar_>  ddt: ok, so you'll have a 24 bit mode then too?
<ddt>       avatar, yes
<jco>       ddt: the screen shots were 128 colours.  won't the game be at
            least 256?
<ddt>       jco, it's already 256.  it's just that there weren't more than
            128 colors in those particular scenes.
<ronh>      ddt: one sugestion for doom flamethower, enemies aflame and
            dying!!!
<ddt>       ronh, already in strife and a cool origin game called crusader
            (almost done).  we'll prolly do it in quake, but flamnes don't
            look too hot in the engine.
<pete_>     ddt: how about morphing into other creatures? good for
            deathmatch, you can hide in a pack of monsters or somink..
<ddt>       pete, not to program.
<_avatar_>  ddt: and have ya started on real3d support yet? i wanna know 
            what that'll be like.. the card sounds great..
<ddt>       avatar, not yet, but it'll likely be in there.
<waffles>   after seeing these screen shots tho i really dont know about 
            the name quake.  it doens't fit at all.  i mean..thor in a
            castle?! uhm...hmmm
<waffles>   even if it isn't thor actually
<ddt>       waff, i agree with you 100%, convince the others here.
<_avatar_>  ddt: will we have to use a preset 256 color palette to make 
            textures such?
<ddt>       avatar, yes, unless you replace all the textures or remap 
            their colors.
<firehawk>  ddt: the lightning sounds cool, but will it light stuff on fire
            like trees and other objects? 
<ddt>       fire, prolly not i'm guessing
<_avatar_>  ddt: dang, well if it'll be shaded in 24bit in the game i guess
            it isn't that huge a problem.
<zaph95>    ddt: abrash is god for fast anim, eh?
<ddt>       zaph, no one is as good as carmack, but he is outstanding.
<kelsey>    ddt will it have daggers and axes??
<ddt>       kelsey, prolly so
<zaph95>    ddt: is carmack self taught?  any formal training, or just the
            inborn desire?
<ddt>       zaph, self taught and unbelievable.
<_eliteman> ddt: how will quake handle video display, do you need at least
            1 or 2 megz video ram?
<ddt>       elite, you only need 64k technically, but i recommend more.
            more than 1mb certainly won't do you any good.
<pslam>     ddt: only 64k? no vga page flip?
<ddt>       pslam, if you've got the memory, it'll page flip
<naveed>    ddt: is romero self taught?
<ddt>       naveed, yep
<naveed>    ddt: what about you?
<ddt>       naveed, mostly.  took some classes in school, tho
<_eliteman> ddt:  ok, kewl, also what did you say was the minimum system
            requirements i heard that it will run decent on the same
            system as doom except you need 8 megs of ram, is this true?
<ddt>       elite, the min system requirements are upped a bit. somewhere
            between 486/66 and p60.
<ddt>       and 8mb minimum.
<_avatar_>  ddt: what sort of detail adjustments will you be able to make?
            like how in doom you could change the screen size and detail
            level..
<ddt>       avatar, screen size for sure.  prolly not much else.
<obscurity> ddt: any advantage for over 8meg ?
<ddt>       obscur, definitely
<dnormlguy> ddt; with the flame thrower, will the monsters get set aflame,
            it would be cool if when they did..if there was water near,
            they would run to the water for to put out the flames
<ddt>       dnorm, prolly not.  poly flames don't look good.
<dnormlguy> ddt: you can put some sprites in there you know
<dnormlguy> please put in fire, sprites are fine with me
<ddt>       dnorm, yeah, but trust me.
<ddt>       avatar, it's a question of aesthetics.  if it looks like shit, 
            we don't do it.
<ddt>       waff, yeah, 100% poly except for little things like torches 
            that don't look good in polies (little triangle flames blow)
<_avatar_>  iddt: true.. but fire can look good as a well animated sprite.
            plus it doesn't have to be done from different angles..
<ddt>       avatar, don't beat this one to death.  if it looks good we'll
            do it, but it prolly won't.
<ddt>       pslam, i doubt it.  we'll release the source code, and if you
            want to write it, go ahead.
<pslam>     ddt: to what extent do you mean -release source code-? all of
            it?
<ddt>       pslam, all the low-level dos code and device-specific stuff.
<_avatar_>  ddt: okok.. so have you guys decided to have multiple weapons 
            yet?
<ddt>       avatar, still up in the air
<ddt>       avatar, ya know.  lightning, fireballs, magic missiles, the
            works.
<hygelic>   any spells?
<ddt>       hyg, spells in teh form of magic weapons for control reasons
<hugh_jass> ddt: we beg you guys to put in an axe/sword for another weapon
<ev|genius> ddt: doom had the ebst weapon mix.....we need that same type
            mix in quake
<_avatar_>  ddt: what sorta spells?
<_avatar_>  ddt: rockin, rockin.. you could do tons of cool stuff with that
<obscurity> ddt:what's the 1 aspect of quake that's had you people most
            excited ?
<ddt>       obscur, to me, the command-line interface built-in.  no menus.
<_avatar_>  ddt: didn't catch your anser on this yet.. how's the real3d
            support coming along?
<ddt>       avatar, we're not doing it ourselves.  but it'll get done.
<_avatar_>  ddt: rockin.. and the spells?
<ddt>       avatar, magic weapons.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-> ddt spoke a bit about the plattforms _quake_ will be available for
-> on irc...:

-> <ddt> bmetz, the linux version of quake is written and ready.
-> <bmetz> ddt : So id is just going to start releasing ports whenever they're
->         ready to go, not in any order?
-> <ddt> bmetz, no we'll do linux and nextstep first because they're non markets
->       and we can afford to easily send out ports without getting lots of "i
->       have an irq conflict" crap which doesn't help

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-> ...and john romero had a few words to say on quakec:

-> QuakeC is a subset of C. It's not a full implementation because a
-> game doesn't need that much.  But QuakeC IS object-oriented, in
-> a different kind of way...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-> american mcgee had a small update on the weapons he has been
-> developing:

-> :    speaking of weapons. it sounds like you guys have finally 
-> : decided to include more weapons to the game then?

-> yeah. i have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what
-> kind of weapons to put it. i have already created two cool ones
-> and i am working on two more. i just need to make sure that
-> these weapons do not suffer from the same problem as the heretic
-> weapons (no real feedback from the weapon since you are not
-> sure what the weapon really is:). right now i have this spike
-> shooter thing that is really cool and this power-up item
-> that spawns little balls o' death around you that attack people
-> when they come into view. it is pretty cool too... but not actually
-> something you use since they act by themselves.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-> john romero posted some minor facts to the quake-servers mailing list
-> about.. well.. quake servers:

-> 1. you will be able to have multiple quake servers connected over a
->    lan, but they won't be able to have one world simulated on 2
->    servers. you can have multiple worlds on one server, but not one
->    split across several.

-> 2. we will be implementing a spectator camera that will enable you
->    to be non-corporeal and float at will within the world, watching
->    everything. we will also (in a future patch, prolly) enable you
->    to change your view to be one of the monsters on the level.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-> 'murray' (from australia i believe) sent me an excellent summary of
-> an irc visit of 4 of id's people:

-> <romero2> = john romero
-> <ddt> = dave taylor
-> <id_shawn> = shawn green
-> <tokay> = american mcgee

-> [ hardware / platforms ]

-> <askanison> romero: will a pentium opperate as an ok server machine for quake?
->             _quake_
-> <romero2>   a pentium will be cool for the server.
-> <romero2>   quake should be close to doom speed. faster when netplaying.

-> <riot>      romero: have you tested out ony 3-d accell cards?
-> <romero2>   we have the rendition board working in 640x480 at 20fps.

-> <hankle>    romero: How many fps in 640x480 on standard card, such as the
->             stealth 64? (p100 or so)
-> <romero2>   stealth64 (640x480) is around 8fps.
-> <romero2>   not real fast.
 
-> <funkyboss> ddt : what will a dX4/100 with 16mb and an ati mach64 do with
->             quake? anything better than 320x200x24bit?
-> <ddt>       funky, yeah you can do 8bit 512x384 which looks really good,
->             better than 320x200x24.
-> <ddt>       hank, can't compare it to doom very easily.  only one resolution 
->             remember. and it's a very very different engine. it's running 
->             15-35 fps on our machines, largely pentiums.
 
-> <inigo>     is there a point to runnng quake on a 486DX2/66, 16mb ram, 
->             hercules (2nd fastest) dynamite video?
-> <ddt>       inigo, you bet.  the 16mb helps a ton
-> <ddt>       inigo, the memory is the thing.

-> <tormentum> ah, another useless question:  is quake for linux going to have
->             8-bit sound support this time, or do we unprivileged 8-bit sound
->             card kids have to wait for a hack?
-> <ddt>       torm, already does.  very flexible this time, much better, way
->             more efficient.
 
-> <[raptor]>  how well is quake gonna run on my 2 computer workgroup here, like
->             1 pentium and 1 486 dx/2 66?
-> <ddt>       raptor, it'll run great.  you'll be a walking erection.
 
-> <taki>      id-guys: have you tested out creatives 3-d blaster yet?
-> <ddt>       taki, the "eagle"?  michael has been playing with it.
-> <taki>      ddt: cool... what he think of it?
-> <ddt>       taki, didn't ask.  he's enamoured of rendition's 3d board with 
->             its own risc chip. looks like the first board we're gonna support.
 
-> <funkyboss> ddt : what 3d accelerator standards will quake support? 3ddi?
-> <ddt>       funky, its own.  we'll release the source code and let the
->             board manufacturer write their own module for it.
 
-> <yossman>   so far, does it look like there will be a DOS and Win95 client
->             for Quake?
-> <ddt>       yoss, starting to look that way. the net code for win95 is just 
->             too elegant to ignore.
 
-> [ abrash ]
 
-> <romero2>   not just optimizing, but implementing new technologies.
 
-> [ nin ]
 
-> <myyrh>     ddt:was trent renzor drooling  when he met you  guys?
-> <ddt>       myyr, there was massive mutual drool.
-> <romero2>   yes, all of nin hung out at id. we went out to dinner and 
->             drinking and shit.
 
-> [ weapons ]
 
-> <[nurgle]>  ddt- what's the hammer situation, my man?
-> <ddt>       nurg, it's still there. dave glowers. bug romero.  :)
-> <[nurgle]>  riff- I'd rather kill someone with a axe. ior best case a
->             shotgun
-> <ddt>       nurg, american is adding some cool projectile weapons. got
->             guided fireballs in and he's going to add a spike storm thing i
->             suggested tomorrow. can't wait.  :)
 
-> <muzzle>    tokay: ddt tells us about a "spike shower"... what's that?
-> <tokay>     muzzle: just a cool weapon I put into quake last night.
-> <tokay>     muzzle: something he asked for that I created in about 20 mins.
-> <muzzle>    tokay: that's cool... added via .qc code?
-> <tokay>     muzzle: everything is.
-> <calabraun> tokay: what kinda weapon?
-> <tokay>     cala: uh, it is just this spike shooting thing... but it looks
->             really good.
-> <calabraun> tokay: so if there were two monsters right on top each other,
->             which monster would this spike go for? ;)
-> <tokay>     cala: some would go for one guy and some would go for the other.
-> <tokay>     cala: it shoots out four spikes.
 
-> <ddt>       this guided fireball american just did is way cool. looks like
->             those phot on torpedoes in star trek 2.  yummy.
-> <ddt>       or no, like that guided one in star trek 6, right?
-> <ddt>       but no, it's not gonna come out of a bazooka or anything.
-> <muzzle>    ddt: is the fireball also a "light source"?
-> <ddt>       muzz, no
-> <[nurgle]>  ddt so if you shoot it down a long hallway it won't illuminate as
->             it goes along?
-> <ddt>       nurg, no. see descent for that effect. soak it up, then quit and
->             play quake.
 
-> [ game architecture ]
 
-> <romero2>   the shadows are precalced in the bsp generator.
-> <romero2>   no realtime ones ... yet!
 
-> <muzzle>    ddt: what are you personally working on for quake?
-> <ddt>       muzz, sound engine mainly.
-> <muzzle>    ddt: are there sound echoes / tricks in quake?
-> <ddt>       muzz, not many.  pretty straightforward sound engine.
 
-> <muzzle>    ddt: can light sources move?
-> <ddt>       muzz, no
 
-> <_Yogre_>   ddt: will quake have a "heads up" map display?
-> <ddt>       yog, no map
 
-> <Avatar>    ddt: will quake have separate floor and wall textures or will
->             everything like that be treated the same?
-> <ddt>       avatar, there are no floors and walls in quake. how would you
->             describe a flying buttress?  you put down 6-sided "brushes" like
->             lego blocks and specify a texture on each side.
 
-> <bloom>     ddt:  are you guys using jurasic park tech to get the movement
->             right? they built models and then moved the arms and legs and 
->             recorded the motion that way...
-> <ddt>       bloom, no. they're seperate model frames, hand-animated
-> 
-> <muzzle>    tokay: do clients send more than controller state to the server?
-> <tokay>     muzzle: They don't send controller states at all.
-> <muzzle>    tokay: ah.  so some sort of object updates?
-> <tokay>     muzzle: they only send their intended velocity.
 
-> [ editors / customizability ]
 
-> <romero2>   the server is totally modifiable.
-> <wintr>     romero: could i turn quake into a 3d mud with enough work, 
->             creativity, and programming talent? (for example could I
->             program a npc??)
-> <romero2>   yes, you could turn quake into a mud.
 
-> <archvile>  ddt: will quake have the editor built in too?
-> <ddt>       arch, no, but the data format is really easy to read and write
->             code for
-> <ddt>       avatar, shawn is working on a windows editor, but even if it isn't
->             released with the game, editors will pop up literally within the 
->             first week.  mark my words...
-> <ddt>       shawn may release windows version.  not sure yet tho
-> <id_shawn>  prolly with source.
-> <id_shawn>  i'm sure someone will figure it out.....
 
-> <avatar>    ddt: so quakeed is a true 3d editor, it just happened to be
->             photo'd from a direct over head perspective??
-> <ddt>       avatar, it's true 3d, but you look at the level from overhead
->             and specify z information from the side.
 
-> <muzzle>    ddt: is abuse monster ai similar to quake?
-> <ddt>       muzz, not at all.
-> <muzzle>    ddt: abuse ai = parameters, quake ai = .qc code????
-> <ddt>       muzz, abuse ai = lisp, quake ai = .qc
 
-> [ misc ]
 
-> <muzzle>    ddt: If you could name a movie that is most like quake, what
->             would it be?
-> <ddt>       muzz, er.  wish i could.  no idea.
 
-> <muzzle>    ddt: what do you like most about quake?
-> <ddt>       muzz, the dragon
-> <muzzle>    ddt: dragon looks v. cool. does it flap wings, etc?
-> <ddt>       muzz, yppr.  :):):)
 
-> <avatar>    everybody thinks the dragon in q6 and such is pasted
-> <ddt>       avatar, it's real, very.  my fav character so far
 
-> <mal>       ddt: i wanna visit id , can i =)
-> <ddt>       mal, sorry.  no visitors
 
-> <muzzle>    ddt: so what's after quake?
-> <ddt>       muzz, no idea
 
-> <mal>       ddt out of curiousity what parts of the games does romero code
-> <ddt>       mal, he doesn't really. does levels and quake c.
 
-> <avatar_>   ddt: and will all players look the same too?
-> <ddt>       avatar, we'll find some way to differentiate them

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-> another log back from august woth romero (yes he does have and use a
-> netcome account), supplied to me by _avatar_ from irc.

-> <_Avatar_>  romero: So what's new?
-> <Romero>    well, we have a really cool badass knight with a sword
->             that runs at you and slices ya.
-> <Romero>    looks real cool.
-> <_Avatar_>  ever read alt games quake?
-> <Romero>    yes, i read it.
-> <Romero>    we have some new monsters that are rather disturbing.
->             new weirdness.
-> <Romero>    we have a cool new sinusoidal noise map for slime textures
-> <Romero>    no more texture animation to animate slime - it's an
->             algorithm now.
-> <_Avatar_>  how're the weapons coming along?
-> <_Avatar_>  Most people seem to be worried about being stuck at hand to hand 
->             hammer combat..
-> <Romero>    you'll definitely be holding a hammer in one hand and attack 
->             artifacts in the other.
-> <_Avatar_>  and how will the great DOOM control system be improved upon?
->             Is it possible?
-> <Romero>    combat in Quake isn't as fast as in DOOM, we've slowed
->             the player down a little to make combat a little more strategic.
-> <_Avatar_>  slowed the player down..
-> <_Avatar_>  no strafe run?
-> <Romero>    yes, strafe-run.
-> <_Avatar_>  you can?
-> <Romero>    but not with the goofy 45 angle bug
-> <_Avatar_>  how then?
-> <Romero>    running will NOT be as fast as in DOOM. you'll see when you play
->             it.
-> <_Avatar_>  although the 3x wall run will have to go
-> <Romero>    all running bugs are gone
-> <_Avatar_>  haha.. so running into certain walls won't jam you all the hell
->             up?
-> <_Avatar_>  whereas others you slide along
-> <_Avatar_>  don't ya HATE getting stuck on walls?
-> <Romero>    this is a totally new engine
-> <_Avatar_>  romero: Will control be improved upon?
-> <Romero>    control in quake is awesome.
-> <_Avatar_>  and will combat really be more hand to hand?
-> <Romero>    you will want to fight someone hand-to-hand because you can
->             pummel them off cliffs. Depending on your orientation to your
->             target, you will hit them differently.
-> <_Avatar_>  good
-> <_Avatar_>  what about logitech's controller?
-> <Romero>    the Wingman Warrior is good for DOOM, but useless for Quake.
-> <_Avatar_>  would you be better off using that or the mouse?
-> <Romero>    the mouse is the definitive quake controller.
-> <_Avatar_>  ew.. so we'll never get beyond the mouse? Not that that's a
->             bad thing..
-> <Romero>    when you use the mouse, you'll totally agree. it's awesome
->             control.
-> <Romero>    it's so good, that VR helmets really suck compared to it.
-> <_Avatar_>  I know a vr helmet would suck
-> <_Avatar_>  I was arguing with some poor guy that thought it'd be cool to
->             be realistic like with VR.. do a 360 and strangle yerself!!
-> <_Avatar_>  Romero: How bout lookin up and down?
-> <_Avatar_>  Has that been decided on yet?
-> <Romero>    the mouse controls everything.
-> <_Avatar_>  even circle strafing and running back and forth??
-> <Romero>    it's funny to go back & play Heretic & Dark Forces with look
->             up/down.
-> <Romero>    totally horrendous compared with quake's control
-> <_Avatar_>  I can't stand using the buttons to do it..
-> <_Avatar_>  but it's awesome how in Heretic you can find new
->             uses for the weapons by bouncing them off the ground..
-> <Romero>    i predict that jumping over your opponent will be more
->             popular than circle-strafe
-> <_Avatar_>  Anything new from the world of Quake then?
-> <_Avatar_>  how bout BBS play? Will quake support it better than DOOM?
-> <_Avatar_>  In DOOM, 4 people on a bbs = slow
-> <Romero>    Quake's networking code is the Next Generation Standard for
->             games. you'll see.
-> <Romero>    Hey - Sony PSX DOOM totally rocks.
-> <Avatar>    in what way?
-> <Avatar>    frame rate etc?
-> <Avatar>    so ya think it'll be DOOM all over again?
-> <Romero>    PSX DOOM has all new music & sfx. the music feels like a movie, 
->             there's colored lights...lots of stuff.
-> <Romero>    the title track sounds like Terminator 2 and Hellraiser mixed
->             together.
-> <Avatar>    Will that sorta thing also be taken to a new level in quake?
-> <Romero>    you will be able to play CaptureTheFlag with lots of people
->             on your team
-> <Avatar>    Capture the flag! Ra! 
-> <Avatar>    I've always been for that idea
-> <Avatar>    but how is weapons and shit handled?
-> <Romero>    we don't have weapons in yet.
-> <Avatar>    but assumadly ya don't have capture the flag yet either
-> <Avatar>    so conceptually..
-> <Romero>    the gameplay stuff is barely getting in right now.
-> <Romero>    we've been working on architecture and the engine all year.
-> <Avatar>    I'd assume ya wouldn't start off with all yer guns blazing
-> <Avatar>    ya shootin for January still?
-> <Romero>    shooting for Dec 10th
-> <Romero>    we have deathmatch in
-> <[NuRgLe]>  So romero.. is that a Wyvren or a dragon in q6.gif?
-> <Romero>    a dragon
-> <[NuRgLe]>  romero- a hatchling then?
-> <Romero>    it was drawn smaller than it really is. it's currently 30ft long
-> <MeRliN}>   romero, what is a good system for running Quake on?
-> <Romero>    the fastest system you can get is the best system to run it on
-> <_Darkside> Romeor how will quake run with win95?
-> <Avatar>    still win95 = dos speed?
-> <Romero>    yep
-> <[NuRgLe]>  Will linux have any advantages over dos or win95 as a qauke
->             platform?
-> <Romero>    shouldn't be any advantages
-> <Romero>    all quake's creatures look so damn cool.
-> <Romero>    no - you will have a hammer in one hand.
-> <Avatar>    and yer nards..
-> <Romero>    the other will be your attack artifacts.
-> <Romero>    you will see someone running at you with a colored globe in his
->             hand...
-> <Romero>    if you're in the water, better hope he doesn't drop a
->             lightning globe in...
-> <Romero>    you will be able to keep smashing dead things.
-> <Avatar>    romero: Artifacts... please elaborate..
-> <Avatar>    and will everybody's Norse God be identical?
-> <Avatar>    in appearance and ability?
-> <Romero>    you will be able to change your SKIN in quake.
-> <Avatar>    romero: Yer skin, but nothing else? Your abilities
->             will always be equal?
-> <Avatar>    dark: I'm asking in a sideways fashion.. will there
->             not be character classes?
-> <Romero>    no - you will have a LEVEL, like in AD&D.
-> <Romero>    no - experience might only be had by killing humans in
->             deathmatch.
-> <[NuRgLe]>  romero- you don't think that the idea of only 1 weapon is
->             somewhat limiting?
-> <Romero>    no - attack artifacts provide infinite expansion
-> <Romero>    there will be a DOOM->Quake converter out DAYS after Quake is
->             released.
-> <Romero>    you can do ANYTHING in Quake. you want a new artifact?
->             create one & program it in. no problem!
-> <[NuRgLe]>  romero- why a hsammer and not an axe or sword?
-> <Romero>    a hammer is a blunt, brutal instrument. just like quake.
-> <Avatar>    Romero: will weapons in your hand also be polys? NO
->             sprites but for status bar?
-> <Romero>    yes, polys.
-> <Romero>    no status bar.
-> <Romero>    yes - you will run through a mysterious door and be
->             connected to some server somewhere and you'll see such 
->             things on that server that never existed in quake before.
->             and they will exist ONLY on that server, unless the 
->             server owner uploads the code to the net, or someone just
->             reverse-engineers it (which is easy.)
-> <Avatar>    romero: What if you grab something in one server and
->             take it to the other? Is it like the holodeck, it'll
->             dissappear?
-> <Romero>    yes. it will disappear if the new server doesn't have
->             that object.
-> <Avatar>    That's hilarious.. ya run into the other server and
->             suddenly yer nekked
-> <Ratio>     Romero: You know what I like about QUAKE? Not enough hype.
-> <Romero>    where's the hype? i speak the truth here.
-> <Avatar>    romero: How bout this: Will Quake be much fun in one player?
-> <Romero>    quake will be MUCH more fun single-player.
-> <Romero>    486 DX66 is minimum



 -------------------
[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 .plan, 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. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

help@id's plan was updated on jun 6th, 1995 to include a brief status
report on quake:

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.

[aparently 'chris' pointed out that it was already winter in australia]

network play:
[...]
this is still the same. there have been no changes.

basic engine:
[...]
this is running faster everyday. we are using other maps to test on
now and things are looking very awesome.

object modeling:
[...]
we have a couple of different monster and person models now.
the all look very good.

map editor:
the map editor is completely finished. we have been working with
it for a while now, creating new levels.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

id's .plan wad updated on fri, aug 28th 1995:

things that work:
network play, mouse control
sprite engine, sound, entity programming
polygon engine, map editor

things we are working on:
speed, speed, monsters, speed, maps
sound effects w/help from trent:)
and a lot more.

network play:
server/client code is functioning great. set up a quake server on
a dos, next, linux, or sgi etc... box. once the server is running you
get on another machine (dos, next, linux, sgi, etc) and log into the
server. a play window opens and you can see the other players, move
around, quit out, get back in, etc... deathmatch is working a little
now and we can run around and shoot each other with fireballs.

engine:
this is running very fast. we have completed some really great
looking levels that we are running around in. the lighting is
too good to believe. there are doors/plats/switches/etc... in
the game now.

object modeling:
kevin is working on creating the monsters/players and michael
is making the draw really fast. these are looking great. sprites
suck compared to proper models.

map editor:
the map editor is completely finished. we have been working with
it for a while now, creating new levels.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-> it seems as if quaketalk has found a mentioning in the
-> help@idsoftware.com .plan. here a recent addition:
 
-> Status of QUAKE---Updated: Tue, Aug 29 at 11:47pm
 
-> Please do not send us mail about Quake. It just slows us down.
-> Thanks.
 
-> Well, we just got sprite 'models' animating with frame changes and rotational
-> changes totally moved over to the client. The server is runnin' really well 
-> now!  There's a really cool Pain Barrier (and Health Field) that just looks
-> great with animating and rotating sprites. Um, and yes, there are sprites in
-> the game - for very good reason: there's not an amazing level of detail to
-> be had in a total polygon environment.  Sprites are faster to render and 
-> besides, they make great torch holders!  They also look cool for magical
-> effects!
 
-> Programming the entities in the game is one of the most amazing and
-> rewarding parts of Quake development.  You program in Quake-C (.qc) and the
-> instant you save your file, you tell Quake to reload and parse it. It
-> takes about 1 second.  Then, you get to see your changes implemented right
-> then - and that's while you're programming in a C-like language! No compiler
-> in the middle; instant execution.  Too cool for words.
 
-> There. I just wanted to add something new for QuakeTalk. :)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-> the .plan was updated later that month again to include more info
-> about the new quake c language and monsters:
 
-> carmack just finished changing over the structure/compiler for
-> the quake interpreted language. it needed to be optimized. We
-> spent some time changing our old code over, and now things
-> are working great again.
-> we have two functioning monsters in right now. One is the
-> knight that you saw in the screen shots and the other is an
-> ogre that just got finished. the knight chases you around and
-> slashes at you with his sword and the ogre has a huge axe and
-> a missile attack. both of these monsters look extremely cool.
-> the artists are currently working on new monsters and on
-> some nice demonic textures for the game. we are starting to
-> get some of the really disturbing art in now... makes doom
-> look like a place to take children instead of the zoo:)
 
-> some misc. things we have been working on: some changes to
-> lighting, network code, getting the game running on some
-> accelerator boards, getting new monsters in, working on environmental
-> hazards, levels, etc... etc...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

->    asside from the main help@id .plan, a few people at id have
-> updated their own to include interesting _quake_ facts. here
-> john romero's...:

-> latest _quake_ news:

-> just for the record (8/4/95):
-> * quake is a total action game, not an rpg.
-> * the external programming language is a c variant.
-> * looking around is now done properly with the mouse; keyboard-only
-> 	is, of course, supported with auto look up/down and, soon,
-> 	auto-aiming (keyboard only). you can set/unset any of these options.
-> * the new style of mouse movement will set the standard for all future
-> 	action games; it's that amazing.
-> * all options are totally changeable, while you play the game. you
-> 	want to increase your normal walking speed threshold to the running
-> 	speed threshold, no problem. (this means that you won't have to hold
-> 	down a 'run' key, it will always be running! the run key can be used
-> 	to slow you down if you want.) this works with any controller used
-> 	with quake.	everything can be changed in real time.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

->    ...and american mcgee's:

-> we have completed quite a few small maps and
-> several larger maps. creating quake maps is a lot more
-> detailed than making doom maps. since you have so many
-> options now you spend a lot of time trying to figure out
-> which of your cool ideas to use... instead of having to
-> throw them away because the engine cannot handle what
-> you want to do. creating floors above floors is very cool
-> and creates some really beautiful scenes. the lighting
-> is a lot of fun... but if you are not careful you can
-> spend way too much time just moving lights around to
-> see what things look like:)
-> i am also working on the doors/plats/buttons/triggers
-> and weapon code. creating doors and other simple objects
-> is the game is a breeze. you simply create the model
-> that you want to represent the object... write some
-> code for when it is "touched" and "used" and then throw
-> it into the map. object like weapons are much the same.
-> You just think of the type of weapon you want to have,
-> figure out how to make it work, code it in, and then
-> throw it into the map.
-> btw: The maps we are working on are going to be very
-> cool for dm. quake maps will be small to medium in size
-> because we have found that maps this size are more fun
-> to play in single and multiplayer. there will be some
-> larger maps... but in general we are trying to keep
-> the sizes down.



 --------------------
[4 - quake on the net]
 --------------------

   the followign section covers other quake files available from
the internet.


 -----------------
[4.1 - screenshots]
 -----------------

   finally, on august 5th, 1995, a series of much awaited early
screenshots were released by id software. they can be obtained from
id's ftp site at

      ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake/quakepix.zip

   or viewed on their web site at

      http://www.idsoftware.com/qss.html

   these screenshots show the architecture of the levels that can be
built with the new engine (levels over levels and vertical sloped are
seen e.g.) as well as certain lightinng effects (shadows e.g.) but
the only monster to be seen is a dragon flying through the air out
of the distance. likewise, no status bar is visable either, merely a
red '100' at the bottom of the screen (probably the players health).

   i was truely amazed by the screenshots and anyone who wasn't should
consider that we are not seing the actual game in motion, but merely
still images. i'm sure quake will be more than 'just another doom' as
skeptists have been saying.

->   after a while, even more screenshots related to _auek_ were released.
-> an example of john romero's level edit, quaked, can be found at

->   ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake/qe_dev.gif

->   it's running under nextstep and there seem to be no plans to release 
-> this particular editor. shawn green however is rumored to be working on
-> a ms windows version of a quake editor.

->   id showed an example of 2 completed polygon monsters in action in 4
-> new screenshots at

->   ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake/qpix.gif

->   american mcgee commented on these in the help@idsoftware.com .plan:

->   "we have two functioning monsters in right now. one is the
->    knight that you saw in the screen shots and the other is an
->    ogre that just got finished. the knight chases you around and
->    slashes at you with his sword and the ogre has a huge axe and
->    a missile attack. both of these monsters look extremely cool."


 -------------------------------
[4.2 - demos, previews and betas]
 -------------------------------

   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:

"<dtaylor> 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 alpha/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. 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_!"

   even though 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.


 -----------------------
[4.3 - quake www sites ]
 -----------------------

   a (still) small list of web sites that cover quake right now.
should you know more, let me know.

->    - the quake section at doomgate:
->      http://doomgate.cs.buffalo.edu/games/quake/

->    - the id software quake screenshots page:
->      http://www.idsoftware.com/qss.html

->    - hank leukarts quake section:
->      http://www.portal.com/~hleukart/rumorsquake.html

->    - josh micheals html quaketalk:
->      http://www.prairienet.org/joshm/qtalk/

->    - jason vanfickell's unofficial quake homepage:
->      http://www.hal-pc.org/~jasonv/quake/

->    - colin card's quakepage:
->      http://www.islandnet.com/~ccaird/doom/quake.html

->    - john orazem's quake page:
->      http://www.io.org/~jco/quake/

->    - gary hillard's quake screenshots page:
->      http://www.trader.com/quake.htm

->    - ttm & associates - 3rd party quake programming:
->      http://info.pitt.edu/~brianm/quake/



 -----------------------
[5 - unconfirmed rumors:]
 -----------------------

   in a mail on june 10th, 1995, american mcgee from id software talks
about the possibility of nine inch nails making the music for 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 seriously:

"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:]
 --------------

   quaketalk couldn't be possible without contributions from a bunch
of people. many thanks to all of them. my apologies if you submitted
something and aren't mentioned here. sometimes i received the same
logfile from several people and forgot to mention you.

me <joost.schuur@student.uni-tuebingen.de> (lotlhwi@irc)
   for doing most of the work ;)
william lachance <ad904@freenet.carleton.ca>
   for the pc format article
rick hammerstone <rickh@gcctech.com>
   for getting me a copy of the original quake faq
scott bessler <scott@grayfox.svs.com> (jackyl@irc)
   for an excerpt from his mail with ddt
toby nichols <toby_nichols/t/gb/3com%3com@3mail.3com.com>
   for the october pc gamer article
alex lee <alee@access.digex.net> (sirace@irc)
   for the november multimedia magazine article
art s. <arts8@aol.com>
   for john romero's profile from aol
jordan feinman <jordanf@globalone.net>
   for john romero's first posting to alt.games.quake
dan cerman <decerman@ouray.cudenver.edu>
   for filling my mailbox with all kinds of neat quake stuff ;)
david laprad <psc10003@mtsu.edu>
   for the dille/romero interview from the d2 strategy guide
scott starks <starks@cs.ucdavis.edu>
   for the second romero posting from alt.games.quake
ed belisle <ed_belisle@mcimail.com>
   for the cgw '95 sniplet. 
american mcgee <american@idsoftware.com>
   for numerous mails. (it's probably best not to ask him about quake right
   now though ;)
keith cohen <conquest@mercury.interpath.net>
   for jay's comments on id's beta testing policy
john wakelin <johnw@datametrics.com>
   the first of numerous people to send me ddt's djgpp posting
stuart west <west_stuart@jpmorgan.com>
   for the crystal waters engineering press release
murray chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>
   for johnr's updated .plan
<lithium@silicon net>
   for two excerpt's from his mails with american mcgee
bernd kreimeier <bernd.kreimeier@nero.uni-bonn.de>
   for the may electronic entertainment quote
<jreda@interlink.net>
   for the flux magazine interview
dave kirtley
   for the computer gaming hyperlink
oliver meyer <omeyer@i3.informatik.rwth-aachen.de>
   for the german pc games article
mackey mccandlish <avatar@widomaker.com>
   for the romero irc logs (he was one of several people to supply me
   with them) and for a more recent ddt log.
blain newport <blain.newport@789.gigo.com>
   for proof reading qt
peter taylor <staylorm@cc.curtin.edu.au>
   for the qug 28th help@id .plan update
joseph paul jenkins <jjenkins@whale.st.usm.edu>
   for the sept '95 spin magazine article
derek stutsman <dereks@metronet.com>
   for the report on his meeting with shawn and romero


 ----------------------
[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.

1.70  (10/14/94)    - october pc gamer article added. comments on a true quake
                      faq. slight reorganizations.

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

3.50  (07/26/95)    - update on quake's status from help@id's .plan,
                      small excerps from several mails with mcgee,
                      electronic entertainment quote on quake's network
                      protocol, an interview between jay wilbur and
                      flux magazine, computer gaming's web site on quake,
                      abrash and the 'speed of the sky', german 'pc games'
                      magazine interview with dave taylor, romero talks
                      on #doom and #dwango, lots of terrible spelling
                      errors removed and new ones added. ddt irc log.

363  (08/10/95)     - new version numbering scheme, new html version,
                      new email address, aug 28th help@id .plan update,
                      derek's small talk with id, spin magazine article,
                      yet another ddt #doom log, screenshots out!
                      quake web sites.

-> 400  (10/21/95)     - more _quake_ screenshots, help@id .plan
->                       updated several times, ddt on _quake_ ports,
->                       romero on an object orientated quakec, romero
->                       and mcgee's new .plans, mcgee on _quake_
->                       weapons, romero on quake servers, 3d
->                       accelerator cards from rendition inc, sandy
->                       petersen pellit interview, irc logs with ddt,
->                       shawng, romero and mcgee, another romero log,
->                       the quake minifaq, more quake web sites

      _  ___  ___  
=====| |/ _ \/ __|===========================================================
     | | (_) \__ \   jschuur@globalnewe.com                      lotlhwI on IRC
    _/ |\___/|___/   http://home.pages.de/~jschuur/           go away
===|__/================================================nuqDaq 'oH puchpa''e'=