Post by Dan @ 11:59am 23/06/11 | 50 Comments
Yep, 15 years ago today in 1996 Quake launched and blazed many new trails for the first person shooter genre. The official Bethesda blog has a great note from id Software founder, lead programmer and tech messiah John Carmack describing many of the game's features that were groundbreaking at the time, including support for 3D graphics accelerators and the client/server network model (that many devs and publishers still don't recongised the importance of today).
The internet gaming aspect was almost an accident. I had moved from Doom’s peer-to-peer networking to client/server primarily to allow late game entry, and UDP was supported because I was still doing a lot of the development on NEXTSEP unix workstations. The idea of playing over the internet was always there, but I didn’t think it would be practical for many people due to the long latencies and variable performance of typical connections. When it turned out that people were doing it despite the low quality, it gave me the incentive to develop the alternative QuakeWorld executable with the various latency reduction mechanisms.Check out the complete letter over on bethblog.com where you'll also find a retro video of the 1996 Quakeworld launch event.
Most long-time readers are no-doubt aware that the very roots of the AusGamers site and community sprouted from the early days of Quake LAN gatherings and tournaments and really evolved from there, so it's fair to say that we probably wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for that game and all that stemmed from it. Happy birthday Quake.
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Posted 12:12pm 23/6/11
Posted 12:30pm 23/6/11
Posted 02:49pm 23/6/11
Posted 03:21pm 23/6/11
I think once they get Rage out of the way, they should to a revamp to Quake (while retaining options to have original graphics, settings etc) & release it free on steam, just so the younger generation don't miss out how awesome Quake was, heck 'is', when comparing to other first person shooters of today.
I still tribute all my First person shooter skills & "success" to Quake. Heck I remember spending hours learning how to use the mouse for aiming going through the 1st levels of the single player game :)
Sadly back then my PC was a pile of crap at lans & would always crash, overheat or randomly disconnect, though I did get a good score in Regen Lan's "Frag 1000" back in 98(?)
haha love the screen resolution :P
Posted 03:27pm 23/6/11
I was playing quake online @ vision servers in april of 1996!
Player Clan DM1 DM2 DM3 DM4 DM5 DM6 Total Name/email
Arcane TF 173 205 174 302 251 202 1307 Keith Smith
Ski HS 230 112 110 173 265 195 1085 Scott Fawcett
HTB HS 146 165 139 149 234 191 1024 Michael Heynes
Scorpion HS 206 152 143 191 153 178 1023 Daniel Parkhurst
Fugitive NV 111 105 151 144 163 154 828 Martin Hampson
Ned Flanderz NV 143 90 62 121 145 101 662 James Penny
Hazard NV 121 73 63 140 140 115 652 Richard Collings
Tsar TF 100 74 89 131 117 108 619 Darren Crosswell
Mr Magoo CA 110 117 31 94 141 118 611 Lachlan Abercrombie
Murderer 120 73 72 117 102 126 610 Jamie Somers
(theres some old skool names :D) [top 10 vision servers from october 1997)
I was 10 when I started playing quake online :D
I'll be releasing a Quake Archives website soon with alot of old skool stuff :D
ill upload the proper htm file later if i can signup to some web hosting etc if i can be bothered :)
Posted 03:36pm 23/6/11
Posted 03:36pm 23/6/11
but for truly tiny resolutions... sifn't the 320x240 software screenies :P random powerup ctf screenie...
gg id :D
Posted 03:51pm 23/6/11
Posted 03:54pm 23/6/11
r_mirroralpha
r_wateralpha
OMGOS***********
Posted 04:07pm 23/6/11
Posted 04:11pm 23/6/11
Posted 04:18pm 23/6/11
Shambler's Castle
Posted 04:18pm 23/6/11
Posted 04:27pm 23/6/11
Posted 04:34pm 23/6/11
Posted 04:36pm 23/6/11
Posted 07:51pm 23/6/11
I feel like im missing out
Posted 07:59pm 23/6/11
I had an Orchid Righteous 3D video card that attached to a standard video card and added acceleration.
Adding ram from 32-64 mb actually made a visible difference to the game.
I have had only one player name since Quake 1. It was inspired by the demonic theme of Q1 plus I had not long since moved to Aus from NZ so I gave it a Nuw Zuland spelling.
That Shambler's Castle mod looks good.
Not sure if it is still available but I used to run the game using a mod called FUR Quake that converted the standard install to one that was fully re textured, better lighting and particle effects added. You can even run the modded game from a CD. I had a CD confined for each of 4 people at work and occasionally we would have a bit of lunch time fragging without the game having to be installed on the work machines.
Posted 08:03pm 23/6/11
Posted 08:08pm 23/6/11
I waited til the Voodoo2 before I finally made the plunge, man those things were a beast at the time. I have fond menories of SLI'd Voodoo 2's at 1024x768 playing Unreal. I rember these amazing sceens with like a super reflective checkerboard like tiles in some castle. MIND WAS BLOWN at the time!
Posted 08:10pm 23/6/11
Ahh... This is a game I can play. :)
You know I can't hate on WoW players and the like because, I think I (foolishly or not) invested something like 3 or 4 years pretty solid in this.
15 years! Crikey.
SOOOO annoyed I've lost my screenshots !!!
Posted 11:53pm 23/6/11
one of my hard disks had a conniption in like 2000, otherwise i'd probably still have all those screenshots
Posted 01:48am 24/6/11
Posted 07:49am 24/6/11
Posted 08:01am 24/6/11
Posted 08:28am 24/6/11
Anyways they came up to the Gold Coast as a bit of a clan trip and myself, Warhammer and a few other people drove down to meet with them - I ended up passed out on the beach after boozing on with them.
Don't suppose anyone remembers them?
Posted 08:53am 24/6/11
golsyd was their clan I think
Posted 08:47am 24/6/11
Posted 08:54am 24/6/11
Come at me Bro!
Posted 09:29am 24/6/11
Posted 09:35am 24/6/11
ooooh, clan ez, i remember filling in for a few clan matches for them.
some of the machinima run demos were funny is heck.
Posted 09:38am 24/6/11
I swear Ausgamers got a freebie when Guz decided to sell gamesonline.com.au to the gambling guys rather than develop its community. Used to be heaps of people on that site.
Posted 09:42am 24/6/11
It's so weak how console gaming has devolved this awesome aspect of the PC first person shooter, to a point where it's almost an anomaly for games to offer this functionality at present.
For games like Modern Warfare 2 where the vast majority of players are on 360 or PS3, that functionality just isnt an option there because the owners of the ecosystem deem it too insecure and because of that, it's not worth their while to offer it to PC. A sad state of affairs that I really hope starts to turn around soon.
Posted 09:48am 24/6/11
Edit: I vaguely remember b****ys sister or friend coming up with them on their Gold Coast trip and my god she was hot too.
Posted 10:00am 24/6/11
Posted 10:16am 24/6/11
Posted 10:30am 24/6/11
Posted 10:34am 24/6/11
I dont appear in any of your caps jim, my only conclusion is I was never punished ;p
Good to see names of forgotten friends and clanmates as well in there.
Posted 10:39am 24/6/11
Posted 10:40am 24/6/11
Posted 10:53am 24/6/11
Posted 11:09am 24/6/11
Posted 11:13am 24/6/11
Posted 12:49am 25/6/11
you made lan gaming happen in Tasmania where it couldn't be done, yet some of you were just kids at the time leading the way for Vision and others behind the scenes.
special props to [TF]Guardian aka Geoff Cooper for his work for LAN gaming in his time in Launceston in the early to mid 90s, and his Dad Vere Cooper for his (along with others) help making venues available for kids to rock in with their mum's PC and play some zero ping Quakeworld lubbin'.
last edited by koopz at 00:49:53 25/Jun/11
Posted 09:35pm 25/6/11
WHOS F*****G COPING!!!!
Posted 01:20am 26/6/11
Posted 09:46am 26/6/11
Accept it.
Posted 01:18pm 26/6/11
Posted 03:36pm 26/6/11
Posted 03:44pm 26/6/11