Quake
Launched: 1996
Quake is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by GT Interactive in 1996.
The game combines skill and reflexes. The protagonist, playing in a first-person perspective, must shoot enemies on different levels.
The action is set in an apocalyptic future, and weapons range from rifles to plasma launchers. Weapons can be upgraded, and more ammunition or hit points can be obtained by collecting items from different corners of the screen.
When a player is killed, they are revived at another point in the stage.
It was one of the first games to popularize online multiplayer.
Players are grouped into two teams (blue and red) on online servers.
There are various game modes; the most popular involves stealing the enemy flag and bringing it back to the same base, killing players on the other team to achieve the highest score.
Development
Quake introduced some of the greatest advances in the 3D video game genre: it uses three-dimensional models for players and monsters instead of two-dimensional sprites; and the world in which the game takes place is created as a true three-dimensional space, rather than a two-dimensional map with height information represented in three dimensions. It also incorporated the use of light maps and real-time light sources, abandoning the static, sector-based lighting of previous games. It offered, at the time, one of the most realistic physics engines programmed for a video game up to that point. To the point that many believe it provided the platform for the independent 3D graphics card revolution, GLQuake was the first application at the time to truly demonstrate the capabilities of 3DFX's Voodoo Graphics chipset.
The majority of the Quake engine programming was done by John Carmack.
It was enhanced by Michael Abrash, a software performance optimization specialist, who was hired to help make the software rendering engine possible given the speed of the hardware at the time. The musical composition, which highlights the game's atmosphere, is by Trent Reznor of the band Nine Inch Nails, who also provided the sound effects.
