Fifteen years ago today, the first game in the Quake series was released on PC by id Software. It wasn't the company's first foray into the world of first-person shooters, having already debuted the Wolfenstein and Doom series earlier in the decade. Quake set itself apart with its 3D engine and online multiplayer. It would lead to the creation of three direct sequels and a great number of ports, as well as several spin-offs, including Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.
It was worked on by the likes of John Carmack (who is still at id and is at work on Rage and Doom 4), John Romero (perhaps best known for the Daikatana advertisement that used his name), American McGee (who just released a sequel to American McGee's Alice, Alice: Madness Returns), and Michael Abrash (who joined Valve this year).
Carmack offered up some thoughts on the anniversary today, talking about how difficult the development process was. He also highlights the concern id had at the time with free-look mouse control, something that's been taken for granted for more than a decade now, and how online support "was almost an accident."
"I have a bit more subdued memory of Quake than many of our other projects, because the development was so tough. It was the first project where I really had to grapple with my personal limitations; I had bitten off a little more than I could chew with all the big steps at once -- full 3D world, 3D characters, light maps, PVS calculations, game scripting, client / server networking, etc. No matter how hard I worked, things just weren't getting done when we wanted them to.
"My defining memory of the game was fairly early in development, when I no-clipped up into a ceiling corner and looked down as a Shambler walked through the world with its feet firmly planted on the ground. This looked like nothing I had ever seen before; it really did seem like I had a window into another world. Of course, as soon as he had to turn, the feet started to slide around because we didn't have pivot points and individual joint modifications back then, but it was still pretty magical."
One of the biggest impacts Quake ended up having on the industry was quite unexpected. User-made mods running on the Quake engine became extremely popular after it was released; Team Fortress, which has since become a Valve property, began as a Quake mod before the development team was hired by Valve.
If you've never had the opportunity to play Quake for yourself, it's available on Steam.
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