Skip to main content

John Romero celebrates Quake’s 20th birthday with ancient FAQ and long-lost screencaps

Wow. Talk about feeling old. Some of us remember id Software’s now-classic first-person-shooter Quake before it hit store shelves, playing the “legendary” QTest multiplayer demo that the developer launched back in February 1996 to see how well the upcoming polygon-based game would run. For some of us, the demo showed that the machine capable of running Doom like a blazing demon from hell wouldn’t run id Software’s next shooter without a component called a math co-processor. Later on, we needed a new thing called a graphics processor to make the game look and run even better.

What’s crazy to fathom is that Quake launched exactly 20 years ago on Wednesday (June 22, 1996). The game changed the industry, setting the use of polygons as the standard way to render objects. Quake enabled players to create their own levels, skins, and mods. It also introduced players to the chaos of Internet-based multiplayer gaming, and opened up the virtual world by allowing players to look in all directions simply by moving a mouse.

What a golden age in gaming that was.

Recommended Videos

Back then, Tim Willits, Sandy Peterson, American McGee, and John Romero were designers at id Software. They created a unique, medieval, somewhat devilish world that was heavily inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Unfortunately, both American McGee and John Romero left the company, and even John Carmack, the mastermind behind id Software’s idTech engine, recently jumped ship and joined Oculus VR.

Quake was really John Romero’s baby, and he may be missing that baby to some degree. How do we know? He recently coughed up a document originally posted in October 1995 by Joost Shuur, released many months before the final game went retail. It was called Quaketalk 95, and is basically a roundup/FAQ of everything that was posted on the Internet regarding Quake up until that date.

“Joost did a great job scraping this information together,” Romero writes. “You can see the original design thinking behind Quake while we were making it. Just one month after this Quaketalk 95 FAQ was released was our fateful, big company meeting that determined the final direction of the game into the Quake that was released. It bears little resemblance to the designs discussed here, but it lets you see how volatile game design processes can be.”

In addition to the document, Romero posted the first screenshots of Quake id Software distributed to the Internet back on August 3, 1995, along with the associated document. The screenshots were originally unleashed in a 320 x 200 resolution, but Romero enlarged them for a better viewing, which in turn shows how Quake was rendered without a standalone graphics chip. Needless to say, 3DFX (Voodoo) and Rendition (Vérité) definitely cleaned up all those jagged edges quite a bit!

Finally, Romero posted on his blog a set of Quake-based trading cards generated by an unknown fan. They’re cool to say the least, even more so if you’re a big fan of this specific Quake title.

Recently, Bethesda and id Software rejected John Carmack’s previous idea of revisiting the original world of Quake in a new campaign, and decided to pursue a multiplayer-only game called Quake Champions instead.

Kevin Parrish
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
3 PlayStation Plus games to play this weekend (May 16-19)
sonys-bend-studio-is-working-on-a-very-exciting-new-ip

The middle of the month is always a bit of an awkward spot when it comes to PlayStation Plus games. Plenty of us will be ripping through Doom: The Dark Ages this weekend, but that kind of gory, heavy metal FPS game isn't for everyone. There's also the sad news we got a few weeks ago about Lost Soul Aside being delayed out of this month, leaving a big hole for us PlayStation gamers. Not to worry, though, because I haven't forgotten my duty of finding the best games in the PlayStation Plus catalogue to make sure you have something amazing to play each and every weekend. For this weekend, I've found an alternative FPS, an overlooked open world adventure, and a more cozy experience. Let's check them out.

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Read more
3 new Xbox Game Pass games to play this weekend (May 16-19)
The Doom Slayer appears in Doom: The Dark Ages.

As with every game subscription service, some weeks are weaker while others are incredibly strong. We're pleased to say that this week easily falls into the latter category. There's one huge day one game that has been sitting at the top of our most anticipated upcoming Xbox games for months, but there are two other surprise additions to Game Pass that we're equally excited to recommend. As always, we strive to offer a diverse selection of games across multiple genres, not just the best FPS games on Xbox. So, if you're ready to get in some quality gaming time this weekend, these are the games we can't stop playing.

Doom: The Dark Ages

Read more
This budget-friendly Allied gaming PC is on sale for just $600
The inside of the Allied Stinger gaming PC.

Gamers who want a budget-friendly upgrade should check out the Allied Stinger gaming desktop while it's on sale at Best Buy. Its configuration with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics card is already relatively affordable at its original price of $880, but it's currently down to just $600 following a $280 discount. That's one of the lowest prices you'll see for a solid machine from gaming PC deals, and you're going to have to hurry with your purchase if you're interested because the stocks up for sale may run out at any moment.

Why you should buy the Allied Stinger gaming PC

Read more