Quake (video game)

In Quake single-player mode, players explore levels, facing monsters and finding secret areas before reaching an exit. Switches or keys open doors, and reaching the exit takes the player to the next level. Before accessing an episode, there is a set of three pathways with easy, medium, and hard skill levels. The fourth skill level, "Nightmare", was described by the game manual to be "so bad that the entry is hidden, so people won't wander in by accident". Quake single-player campaign is organized into four individual episodes with seven to eight levels in each (including one secret level per episode, one of which is a "low gravity" level that challenges the player's abilities in a different way). If the player's character dies, they must restart at the beginning of that level. The game may be saved at any time in the PC versions and between levels in the console versions. Upon completing an episode, the player is returned to the hub "START" level, where another episode can be chosen. Each episode starts the player from scratch, without any previously collected items. Episode one (which formed the shareware or downloadable demo version of Quake) has the most traditional layout with a boss in the last level. The ultimate objective at the end of each episode is to recover a magic rune. After all of the runes are collected, the floor of the hub level opens up to reveal an entrance to the "END" level which contains a final puzzle. In multiplayer mode, players on several computers connect to a server (which may be a dedicated machine or on one of the player's computers), where they can either play the single-player campaign together in co-op (cooperative) mode, or play against each other in multiplayer (see LAN party). When players die in multiplayer mode, they can immediately respawn, but will lose any items that were collected. Similarly, items that have been picked up previously respawn after some time, and may be picked up again. The most popular multiplayer modes are all forms of deathmatch. Deathmatch modes typically consist of either free-for-all (no organization or teams involved), one-on-one duels, or organized teamplay with two or more players per team (or clan). The gameplay in Quake was considered unique for its time because of the different ways the player can manoeuvre through the game. Bunnyhopping or strafe-jumping allow faster movement, while rocket jumping enables the player to reach otherwise-inaccessible areas at the cost of some health. The player can start and stop moving suddenly, jump unnaturally high, and change direction while moving through the air. Many of these non-realistic behaviors contribute to Quakes appeal. Multiplayer Quake was one of the first games singled out as a form of electronic sport. A notable participant was Dennis Fong, who won John Carmack's Ferrari 328 at the Microsoft-sponsored Red Annihilation tournament in 1997. Synopsis (pictured in 1934) |alt=Black and white photo of the head and shoulders of a man wearing glasses In the single-player game, the player takes the role of the protagonist, unnamed in Quake but referred to as Ranger in later games (voiced by Trent Reznor), who is sent into a portal in order to stop an enemy code-named "Quake". The government had been experimenting with teleportation technology and developed a working prototype called a "Slipgate"; the mysterious Quake compromised the Slipgate by connecting it with its own teleportation system, using it to send death squads to the "Human" dimension in order to test the martial capabilities of humanity. The sole surviving protagonist in "Operation Counterstrike" is Ranger, who must advance, starting each of the four episodes from an overrun human military base, before fighting his way into other dimensions, reaching them via the Slipgate or their otherworld equivalent. After passing through the Slipgate, Ranger's main objective is to collect four magic runes from four dimensions of Quake; these are the key to stopping the enemy and ending the invasion of Earth. The single-player campaign consists of 30 separate levels, or "maps", divided into four episodes (with a total of 26 regular maps and four secret ones), as well as a hub level to select a difficulty setting and episode, and the game's final boss level. Each episode represents individual dimensions that the player can access through the Slipgate or magical portals (in the case of the latter three episodes) that are discovered over the course of the game. The various realms consist of a number of gothic, medieval, and lava-filled caves and dungeons, with a recurring theme of hellish and satanic imagery reminiscent of Doom (such as pentagrams and images of demons on the walls). The game's setting is inspired by dark fantasy influences, including H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Dimensional Shamblers appear as enemies, the "Spawn" enemies are called "Formless Spawn of Tsathoggua" in the manual, the boss of the first episode is named Chthon, the main villain is named Shub-Niggurath and is explicitly stated to be an Old One, and the four episodes all have Lovecraftian names. ==Development==

(pictured in 2006) programmed Quake|alt=Black and white photo of the head and shoulders of a man wearing glasses In the early 1990s, the staff at id Software had a private Dungeons & Dragons game, which would go on to inspire a number of elements in their titles over the following years. With John Carmack as DM, the campaign featured a group of adventurers named the Silver Shadow Band. The group were named for the silver dragon on which they flew, and each represented one of the core stats of the game. Among them was a powerful character named Quake, representing strength, who fought with a magic hammer capable of destroying buildings. Quake was accompanied by a floating magic artefact named the Hellgate Cube which attacked his foes with lightning bolts. John Romero described fighting alongside Quake as the most fun they had playing D&D. The Silver Shadow Band did "contract work for Justice, an even more powerful group". The original campaign concluded in early 1992, after Romero's character made a deal with a demon, exchanging a book called the Demonomicron for a magic sword called the Daikatana, which resulted in a demonic invasion that wiped out the Material Plane. A preview included with id Software's first release, 1990's Commander Keen, advertised a game entitled The Fight for Justice as a follow-up to the Commander Keen trilogy. It would feature a character named Quake, "the strongest, most dangerous person on the continent", armed with thunderbolts and a "Ring of Regeneration". Conceived as a VGA full-color side-scrolling role-playing video game, The Fight for Justice was never released. The team briefly explored making the project in 1991 but abandoned the idea as the technology for it simply did not exist at the time. The project was only in development for about two weeks. The team entered into an R&D phase while Carmack was working on the engine. By 1995, the outline for the game included a medieval setting, hand-to-hand combat, thrown weapons, an area of effect attack with the hammer, and feeding souls to the Hellgate Cube. A close up of Quake holding his hammer was on the cover of PC Gamer for the October 1995 issue, and screenshots showed medieval environments and a dragon. An Aztec style texture set was developed for the project, but the set was not used due to artistic opposition from American McGee, who preferred a more heavy metal themed look for his levels. This second texture set was used for the Vaults of Zin. Before gameplay could be worked on in earnest, Carmack would need to build the game engine which was a significant undertaking, and took much longer than anticipated. The Quake engine popularized several major advances in the genre: polygonal models instead of prerendered sprites; full 3D level design instead of a 2.5D map; prerendered lightmaps; and allowing end users to partially program the game (in this case with QuakeC), which popularized fan-created modifications (mods). Working with a game engine that was still in development presented difficulties for the designers. Around fifty levels were developed during the R&D process, but engine changes meant that the team was frequently having to redo work. Much of this needed to be scrapped by the time the engine was completed in late 1995. The team was burned out from the process, and raised the idea of using the existing demo levels for a first person shooter, as it would be faster and less risky. Quake was programmed by John Carmack, Michael Abrash, and John Cash. The levels and scenarios were designed by American McGee, Sandy Petersen, John Romero, and Tim Willits, and the graphics were designed by Adrian Carmack, Kevin Cloud and Paul Steed. Cloud created the monster and player graphics using Alias. Initially, the game was designed so that when the player ran out of ammunition, the player character would hit enemies with the butt of a gun. Morale on the project was low, and developers were under crunch from December 1995 through to release in June 1996. Romero has described the process as one of the hardest grinds of his career. He was the only member of the team to attend the office on launch day to upload the files. The game includes an homage to Reznor in the form of ammo boxes for the "Nailgun" and "Super Nailgun" decorated with the Nine Inch Nails logo. The idea to use Nine Inch Nails for the soundtrack was raised by American McGee, who had been listening to their album The Downward Spiral during his work on the game. Romero was initially skeptical as he had envisioned a more ambient tone, but was open to the idea of the band composing with that tone in mind. id approached the band's agents, and the group had agreed to do the soundtrack by the following day as they were Doom fans and excited by the project. McGee handled the delivery of the soundtrack from there on. A legal issue that rose late in development with the record company meant that the code to play the audio from the CD was among the final changes made before release. The Quake official soundtrack garnered favorable reviews, with many critics noting how effectively the music enhances the game’s immersive mood. In his 1996 evaluation of the game for GameSpot, Trent Ward stated, "Simply put, this is the greatest soundtrack ever produced for a PC game." Ward further explained that the chilling audio elements and disturbing ambient effects amplify the title’s already intense and suspenseful environment. Major Mike of GamePro commented that "With heavy, driving guitar riffs and eerie, subtle synthesizers, the soundtrack complements each stage flawlessly and significantly strengthens the overall mood." Writing for Destructoid, Peter Glagowski remarked, "Not only did it illustrate that the industry was progressing beyond a strictly child-oriented audience, but it also intensified the gameplay’s action dramatically." ==Release==

Ports Quake was ported to multiple platforms. The first port to be completed was the Linux port Quake 0.91 by id Software employee Dave D. Taylor using X11 on July 5, 1996, unlike similar unofficial ports for OS/2, Amiga, Java VMs, and Mac OS. The first commercially released port was for Mac OS, done by MacSoft and Lion Entertainment, Inc. (the latter company ceased to exist just prior to the port's release, leading to MacSoft's involvement) in late August 1997. Finally in 1999, a retail version of the Linux port was distributed by Macmillan Digital Publishing USA in a bundle with the two existing add-ons as Quake: The Offering. port of Quake is the only version of the game that includes a "T" rating by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Quake was also ported to home console systems. On December 2, 1997, the game was released for the Sega Saturn. Initially GT Interactive was to publish this version itself, but it later cancelled the release and the Saturn rights were picked up by Sega. Sega took the project away from the original development team, who had been encountering difficulties getting the port to run at a decent frame rate, and assigned it to Lobotomy Software. The Saturn port was developed with Softimage 3D and uses Lobotomy Software's 3D engine, SlaveDriver (also used in PowerSlave and Duke Nukem 3D for the Saturn). It is the only version of Quake rated "T" for Teen instead of "M" for Mature. Quake was ported to the PlayStation by Lobotomy Software, but the company was not able to find a publisher for it. A port for the Atari Jaguar was reported as 30% complete in a May 1996 issue of Ultimate Future Games magazine, but it was never released. A port of Quake was planned for Panasonic M2 prior to cancellation of the system. On March 24, 1998, the game was released for the Nintendo 64 by Midway Games. This version was developed by the same programming team that worked on Doom 64, at id Software's request. The Nintendo 64 version was originally slated to be released in 1997, but Midway delayed it until March 1998 to give the team time to implement the deathmatch modes. Both console ports required compromises because of the limited CPU power and ROM storage space for levels. For example, the levels were rebuilt in the Saturn version in order to simplify the architecture, thereby reducing demands on the CPU. The Saturn version omits the four secret levels from the original PC version of the game, replacing them with four exclusive secret levels: Purgatorium, Hell's Aerie, The Coliseum, and Watery Grave. It also contains an exclusive unlockable, "Dank & Scuz", which is a story set in the Quake milieu and presented in the form of a slide show with voice acting. There are no multiplayer modes in the Saturn version. The Nintendo 64 version includes 25 single-player levels from the PC version, though it is missing The Grisly Grotto, The Installation, The Ebon Fortress, The Wind Tunnels, The Sewage System, and Hell's Atrium. It also does not use the hub map where the player chooses a difficulty level and an episode; the difficulty level is chosen from a menu when starting the game, and all of the levels are played in sequential order. The Nintendo 64 version, while lacking the cooperative multiplayer mode, includes two player deathmatch. All six of the deathmatch maps from the PC version are in the Nintendo 64 port, as well as an exclusive deathmatch level, The Court of Death. In 1998, LBE Systems and Lazer-Tron released a prototype titled Quake: Arcade Tournament Edition in the arcades in limited quantities. R-Comp Interactive published the game for RISC OS as Quake Resurrection in 1999, including the total conversion Malice and expansion Q!Zone, although community-made source ports such as ArcQuake were also available. An unreleased Game Boy Advance port of Quake was in development from Randy Linden in 2002, and was pitched to id Software in that year. The port was rejected by the company, and Linden's work would remain unused until prototypes of his work were dumped in June 2022. Two homebrew ports of Quake for the Nintendo DS exist, QuakeDS and CQuake. Both run well; however, multiplayer does not work on QuakeDS. The Rockbox project also distributes a version of Quake that runs on some MP3 players. In 2005, id Software signed a deal with publisher Pulse Interactive to release a version of Quake for mobile phones. The game was engineered by Californian company Bear Naked Productions. Initially due to be released on only two mobile phones, the Samsung Nexus (for which it was to be an embedded game) and the LG VX360. Quake Mobile was reviewed by GameSpot on the Samsung Nexus and they cited its US release as October 2005; they also gave it a "Best Mobile Game" in their E3 2005 Editor's Choice Awards. It is unclear as to whether the game actually did ship with the Samsung Nexus. The game is only available for the DELL x50v and x51v, both of which are PDAs, not mobile phones. At the launch of the 2021 QuakeCon on August 19, 2021, Bethesda released an "enhanced" version of Quake for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S consoles, developed by Nightdive Studios. In addition to support for modern systems and improved rendering techniques, the enhanced version includes both mission packs, Scourge of Armagon and Dissolution of Eternity. It also includes two episodes created by MachineGames: the previously released Dimension of the Past and a new one called Dimension of the Machine. A port of Quake 64 was also included in its entirety via the newly implemented "Add-On" menu. ==Reception==

Quake was critically acclaimed on the PC. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the original PC version 93% and 94/100, Less than a month after Quake was released (and a month before they actually reviewed the game), Next Generation listed it as number 9 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", saying that it is similar to Doom but supports a maximum of eight players instead of four. In 1996, Computer Gaming World declared Quake the 36th-best computer game ever released, and listed "telefragged" as #1 on its list of "the 15 best ways to die in computer gaming". In 1997, the Game Developers Choice Awards gave Quake three spotlight awards for Best Sound Effects, Best Music or Soundtrack and Best On-Line/Internet Game. Entertainment Weekly gave the game a B+ and called it "an extended bit of subterranean mayhem that offers three major improvements over its immediate predecessor [Doom]." He identified these as the graphics, the audio design, and the amount of violent action. Next Generation reviewed the Macintosh version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "Though replay value is limited by the lack of interactive environments or even the semblance of a plot, there's no doubt that Quake and its engine are something powerful and addictive." The Saturn version received mostly negative reviews, as critics generally agreed that it did not bring over the elements that make the game enjoyable. In particular, critics reviled the absence of the multiplayer mode, which they felt had eclipsed the single player campaign as the reason to play Quake. Most critics did find the port technically impressive, particularly the added light sourcing. Even Rich Leadbetter of Sega Saturn Magazine, which gave the port a 92%, acknowledged that it was a proverbial dancing bear, noting several conspicuous compromises the port made and stating as his concluding argument, "Look, it's Quake on the Saturn - the machine has no right to be doing this!" GameSpot opined that the game's lack of plot makes the single-player campaign feel too shallow and lacking in motivation to appeal to most gamers. while Next Generation was more moderate, concluding that "As a whole, Quake 64 doesn't live up to the experience offered by the high-end, 3D-accelerated PC version; it is, however, an entertaining gaming experience that is worthy of a close look and a nice addition to the blossoming number of first-person shooters for Nintendo 64." Most reviews found fault with the multiplayer, stating that the frame rate takes a hit in this mode, In 1998, PC Gamer declared it the 28th-best computer game ever released, and the editors called it "one of the most addictive, adaptable, and pulse-pounding 3D shooters ever created". In 2003, Quake was inducted into GameSpot's list of the greatest games of all time. Sales According to David Kushner in Masters of Doom, id Software released a retail shareware version of Quake before the game's full retail distribution by GT Interactive. These shareware copies could be converted into complete versions through passwords purchased via phone. However, Kushner wrote that "gamers wasted no time hacking the shareware to unlock the full version of the game for free." This problem, combined with the scale of the operation, led id Software to cancel the plan. As a result, the company was left with 150,000 unsold shareware copies in storage. The venture damaged Quakes initial sales and caused its retail push by GT Interactive to miss the holiday shopping season. Following the game's full release, Kushner remarked that its early "sales were good — with 250,000 units shipped — but not a phenomenon like Doom II." In the United States, Quake placed sixth on PC Data's monthly computer game sales charts for November and December 1996. Its shareware edition was the sixth-best-selling computer game of 1996 overall, while its retail SKU claimed 20th place. The shareware version sold 393,575 copies and grossed $3,005,519 (~$ in ) in the United States during 1996. It remained in PC Data's monthly top 10 from January to April 1997, but was absent by May. During its first 12 months, Quake sold 373,000 retail copies and earned $18 million in the United States, according to PC Data. Its final retail sales for 1997 were 273,936 copies, which made it the country's 16th-highest computer game seller for the year. In 1997, id estimated that there may be as many as 5 million copies of Quake circulating. The game sold over 1.4 million copies by December 1997. Sales of Quake reached 550,000 units in the United States alone by December 1999. Enhanced version Nintendo Life gave the Switch version a rave review, saying it "wisely avoids tinkering with the magic formula that made the game so great in the first place, instead keeping the look and feel of the original intact whilst carefully adding all manner of modern bells and whistles in a feature-packed port that's an absolute dream to spend time with." They particularly praised the level designs, puzzle elements, atmospheric game world, and numerous configuration options for the graphical upgrades and multiplayer sessions. They argued that the smooth performance in both docked and handheld mode and ability to play the game as portable makes the Switch version the definitive version of the game. ==Legacy==

The source code of Quake was released on December 22, 1999. The id Software maps, objects, textures, sounds, and other creative works remain under their original proprietary license. The shareware distribution of Quake is still freely redistributable and usable with the GPLed engine code. One must purchase a copy of Quake in order to receive the registered version of the game which includes more single-player episodes and the deathmatch maps. Based on the success of the first Quake game, Quake II, Quake III Arena, and Quake 4 were published, with Quake 4 being developed by Raven Software using the id Tech 4 engine from Doom 3. Quake was the game primarily responsible for the emergence of the machinima artform of films made in game engines, thanks to edited Quake demos such as Ranger Gone Bad and Blahbalicious, the in-game film ''The Devil's Covenant, and the in-game-rendered, four-hour epic film The Seal of Nehahra. On June 22, 2006, it had been ten years since the original uploading of the game to cdrom.com archives. Many Internet forums had topics about it, and it was a front-page story on Slashdot. On October 11, 2006, John Romero released the original map files for all of the levels in Quake''. Quake has four sequels: Quake II, Quake III Arena, Quake 4, and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. In 2002, a version of Quake was produced for mobile phones. A copy of Quake was also released as a compilation in 2001, labeled Ultimate Quake, which included the original Quake, Quake II, and Quake III Arena which was published by Activision. In 2008, Quake was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for advancing the art form of user modifiable games. John Carmack accepted the award. Years after its original release, Quake is still regarded by many critics as one of the greatest and most influential games ever made. In 2025, The Strong National Museum of Play inducted Quake into its World Video Game Hall of Fame. Co-creator of Quake, John Romero, attended the induction ceremony. Lindsey Kurano of The Strong Museum said "Quake’s legacy lives on in its atmospheric single player campaign, its influence in how online games are played, its active modding community, and its creation and shaping of esports." As an example of the dedication that Quake has inspired in its fan community, a group of expert players recorded speedrun demos (replayable recordings of the player's movement) of Quake levels completed in record time on the "Nightmare" skill level. The footage was edited into a continuous 19 minutes, 49 seconds demo called Quake done Quick and released on June 10, 1997. Owners of Quake could replay this demo in the game engine, watching the run unfold as if they were playing it themselves. Most full-game speedruns are a collaborative effort by a number of runners (though some have been done by single runners on their own). Although each particular level is credited to one runner, the ideas and techniques used are iterative and collaborative in nature, with each runner picking up tips and ideas from the others, so that speeds keep improving beyond what was thought possible as the runs are further optimized and new tricks or routes are discovered. Further time improvements of the continuous whole game run were achieved into the 21st century. In addition, many thousands of individual level runs are kept at Speed Demos Archive's Quake section, including many on custom maps. Speedrunning is a counterpart to multiplayer modes in making Quake one of the first games promoted as a virtual sport. Sequels After the departure of Sandy Petersen, the remaining id employees chose to change the thematic direction substantially for Quake II, making the design more technological and futuristic, rather than maintaining the focus on Lovecraftian horror. Quake 4 followed the design themes of Quake II, whereas Quake III Arena mixed these styles; it had a parallel setting that housed several "id all-stars" from various games as playable characters. The mixed settings occurred because Quake II originally began as a separate product line. The id designers fell back on the project's nickname of "Quake II" because the game's fast-paced, tactile feel felt closer to a Quake game than a new franchise. Since any sequel to the original Quake had already been vetoed, it became a way of continuing the series without continuing the storyline or setting of the first game. In June 2011, John Carmack made an offhand comment that id Software was considering going back to the "...mixed up Cthulhu-ish Quake 1 world and rebooting [in] that direction." Aftermath and controversies Quake drew criticism for its intense graphic violence, including detailed blood effects, gore, and enemy dismemberment, building on the debates sparked by id Software's earlier game Doom. Though the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), established in 1994, rated Quake "Mature" for players 17 and older, the game remained part of broader 1990s concerns about video game violence and its potential effects on young players. The controversy surrounding Quake and similar titles intensified after the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, where reports noted that the perpetrators were fans of id Software games, including Quake II and Doom. This led to renewed media scrutiny and political calls for regulation of violent video games, with critics arguing that such titles could desensitize players to real-world violence or contribute to aggression. In response to the backlash, id Software co-founder John Carmack emphasized that the company focused on creating games they personally enjoyed, stating, "We make the games we like to play and throw them out into the world... We don’t get involved in politics". Petersen claimed in July 2021 that the lack of a team leader was the cause of it all. He volunteered to take lead as he had five years of experience as project manager in MicroProse, but he was turned down by Carmack. Romero has discussed their relative lack of experience at the time and failure to communicate with one another, and has stated that there is no long-lasting animosity between the staff. In 2000, Romero released Daikatana, the game that he envisioned Quake being, and despite its shaky development, and being considered one of the worst games of all time, he said Daikatana was "more fun to make than Quake" due to the lack of creative interference. ==Notes==