It was a deathmatch only, three level, monsterless game world, but it was Quake. We could walk around inside it, touch the walls and live inside the legend. Whether id released the deathmatch demo to steal Duke Nukem 3D’s thunder will remain known only to id, but the end result is that we got a look at Quake sooner than we’d expected.

The demo is both primitive and immensely impressive. On the primitive scale, the 3D engine is not fully optimised for speed and as mentioned before, is a barren place for all but network equipped multi-players. Or at least that ought to have been the case, but being Doom’s big brother, Quake was natural prey for hackers. It didn’t take long at all, within two days of deathmatch Quake’s appearance a tired and gifted hacker had released a patch that set free the monsters that were imbedded in the code. Again, whether id intended this to be discovered will remain their secret, but the assumption has to be the either they planned on this happening, or simply, someone stuffed up big-time.

The hackers continued relentlessly. By day three a basic level editor was posted and on day four, a texture editor allowing tailor made wall and object textures. At the time of writing, only two weeks have passed since deathmatch Quake was released, but 57 known editors/utilities and custom levels have already been posted. Among them are editors of increasing user-friendliness, patches that allow modem play, weapons modifications, new sounds and levels, as well as texture patches that change the look of deathmatch characters to the likes of Boba Fett, the Terminator, the Predator, Henry Rollins and naturally, the original Doom space marine among many others. And they’re still coming. This is insane, this is fantastic.

While the game itself isn’t expected until the end of the year, it’s clear that id will sell every CD they care to press. Ostensibly a network/modem game, Quake will still offer probably the greatest one player action experience yet. Something for everyone, in other words. Here’s what we know so far:


The Quake world will be medieval, with rambling castle-style architecture. Incongruously though, high-tech weaponry like grenade and rocket launchers are in there too. None of this matters much, Quake probably won’t have a plot to speak of. The id philosophy is simply that the game world should be complex, but not the controls or devices. This isn’t a role playing game, it’s a fully 3D environment (Duke Nukem 3D isn’t) that encourages and rewards combat prowess. Playing deathmatch Quake is a far more absorbing experience than Doom (bless it) ever was. We’ll keep you posted on Quake news as it develops.