Hi, I saw the recent PC Games Quake 2 photos and wanted to comment on the NEWER monsters. The Parasite looks Awesome, that robot with the tentacles is interesting, but I honestly must say that I was dissapointed with the female monster. I was expecting a femalish version of the gunner, so her look was surprising. I like all of the current monsters with the exception of her. Hey, I'm not sexist, but I do not like this particular model/skin. Could you post this or raise an opinion poll on the female monster. I'd be curious to see how others feel about this. Q2 will deliver!

Thanx,

Jim Harris

DISCLAIMER: Regardless of what you read below, I agree with you.

I've been reading on the net that the Quake 2 demo will be released in four to six weeks. This is pure speculation.

I want to release a Quake 2 demo. It is uncertain whether the demo will be just a Qtest-like tech demo or a full featured demo. We have certain internal expectations for getting it completed. However, it will be done when it is done. I don't want to raise people's expectations for no reason. Please don't expect a demo in four to six weeks.

Over the last few weeks I've seen a ton of Quake 2 screen shots on the web. Six screens from here, and ten from there have all add up to complete over saturation. It was not my intention to blanket the web with screen shots.

In order to limit distractions, we scheduled a number of magazine visits during the same week. During this period I did not keep a close enough watch on the content of the screen shots or the amount they took. Besides some of the shots being completely boring, many of them are of unfinished areas, or areas that will never make it in the game. This is not the fault of the magazines. Rather I dropped the ball in not properly controlling the release of new screen shots. I apologize for this mistake. In the future I will try not to let it happen again.

I'll be on Quakecast tonight. I don't know what all will be discussed. I am sure the guys there will make it interesting for everyone.

QUAKE 2
Regarding what is going into the game, visa vie features: Some very cool visual effects and physics are making their way into the code right now. This stuff is so cool that I think we should wait until the game ships to even TELL you what they are. I guess you could call them "trade secrets."

More Quake2 memories. Major noticable use of colored lighting, all the weapons that cast light have a slightly different color that reflects of surfaces as they rocket by. The first level I played was in a pretty rough state. There were electrical sparks cating light in cormers and far reached broken walls spurted electrical particals. You can crouch, I know Hexen2 has that function but in Quake it makes a change.

Perhaps the best thing I noticed was certain monsters once killed attract flys. There is literally a cloud of black particles swarming over bodies in some areas of carnage. Excellent.

The Bezerk can gain on you in the most frightening speed. And when you get hi you go flying. His arms rend you into bits quicker than any gun.

Baddies have multiple skins. So once you give a monster a kicking to within an inch of death there stands a bloody wreck infront of you. Another supercool touch. I shot the head off one monster and he fell to the floor with his gun still firing up in the air. Nice touch.

OH, 1 last thing. When carrying guns with the hands visible one hand will drop down when you start running to aid balance and the other hand is continually flexing its fingers and regripping the handle. Cool. Guns also push your sights up so to keep a steady aim is a new skill to be learned.

To any quake2 webpages *GOOD ONES*, i have the doamin of http://quake2.altered.com waiting to be filled.. this domain will be YOURS, ftp uploadable, unlimited email accounts, and all the space you need.. e-mail me at doofoo@altered.com if you have a quake2 site that would like me to look over to see if i could put it there..

After reading on Quake2.com about the correction to the radiosity lighting article, I was prompted to read the article itself. Decent article, but unfortunately it is dead wrong. Radiosity is not a simple lighting technique. I'll try my best to explain it in a few words here. Basically, in radiosity lighting every surface in the map is broken into tiny peices (in the ideal case it would be per atom, but we don't have that sort of processing power). Each of these peices is considered a light emitter, although some peices, called patches, initially emit no light. For the moment, lets assume that each patch is identical in size, because this simplifies things, but often isn't the case (although I believe QRAD uses the existing light map points as patches, which would mean they are identical in size in this case). Now we have all these patches, some with light emission values, some without. We could run the level now, but it wouldn't be very interesting, because nothing would be lit, except for the emitters (imagine a room with a light on, but you can only see the light, everything else is pitch black). Now comes the radiosity part. For each and every patch in the level, checks every other patch first to see if it is directly visible, and if it is, to see how far away it is. If it is visible, it calculates the light falloff, and adds the emitters color, scaled to the falloff, to the current patch's light. Notice there is no reflection calculations going on at all, although light reflection is handled indirectly, but I'll get to that. If you run the level now, it will look a lot like a Quake 1 level, where shadows are complete shadows, if a light cannot directly hit a point it is black. Now you take the new patch light values, and run the radiosity calculations again. Because patches that were previously not emitting light have light values, they emit that light back out to other patches (to a lesser degree), creating reflected light, and the beginnings of soft shadows. Once again in the ideal, you would run this process infinite times, then take the result, but obviously that is impossible, so usually 25 iterations will produce a nice image, and 100 will produce a great image. Hope this helps =)

BTW mirrors in Quake 2 will probably not happen, or they will be a gimmick like in Quake 1. They are a great slowdown, try looking into the mirror on the start map with r_speeds on...And start is a relatively simple map, with no creatures or anything to reflect...
--
Ken Alverson
mailto:KenA@TSO.Cin.IX.Net
St. X Webmaster: http://www.stxavier-cincy.org/

People on the business side of things often ask me why we're bothering to port Quake2 to various platforms that likely won't generate significant sales, for example SGI, DEC Alpha Win32, Linux, and maybe even BeOS.

The answer is real simple: it makes no business sense, but it's cool. John and I really click on this level -- we know when we're supporting something for no good reason other than it's amazingly cool, and we both get a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that software we wrote is running on systems all the way from $250K SGI Onyx2/2 to homegrown Linux x86 machines to good ol' Win32 x86.

We'll probably make a little bit of money from the DEC Alpha and Linux ports, maybe even enough to justify the money and time spent on the porting effort, but none of these ports are being done for financial reasons.

Writing portable code is cool. Writing software that runs on four different processor architectures (Intel x86, MIPS III/IV, PowerPC, and DEC Alpha) and four different operating systems (Win32, Linux, Rhapsody, and Irix) in various mixes is JUST PLAIN COOL.

For those developers and biz folks that think we're being stupid and wasting our time supporting oddball platforms...I pity you, since you don't get it.

Okay, M-x love-fest-mode, so ignore the rest of this update if you only wanted to hear about Quake2. Fair warning.

I love working here. I love working at a company that stands behind its employees, and I love working for a programmer that does things for one of two main reasons:

- it's cool
- it's the right thing to do

I love being able to make the right decision _technically_ and not feel like I have to justify it to management. I love the fact that we're a privately held company that doesn't freak out every time a quarter is ending and no new titles have shipped. I love the fact that I'll never hear John tell me "we can't do that because we need a new SKU out before our quarterly earnings reports are published".

I love the fact that I got beams working tonight finally (thus my good mood).

I love the fact that some of the best Quake players in the world are female.

I love the fact that I work with people who know Trent Reznor.

Alright, enough love fest for one morning. Quake2 will rage and pillage and plunder. Must sleep. Sleep good....

Woo-hoo, on a roll!

Look folks, if you don't like what I say, I am NOT forcing you to read my .plan updates. If you don't like what Steed or anyone else says here, then do NOT read their .plan updates either. You have the freedom to change the channel, as it were.

We are under NO obligation to tell people ONLY what's going on here at id and how Quake2 is going. If we want to rant about music, magazines, chicks, dudes, whatever, that's our choice. I cannot *believe* the crap I've seen on Usenet and other places as some IQ deprived individuals get all pissy because we "waste their time" with our egomaniacal, self-centered rantings that have nothing to do with Quake2.

I guess what some folks are missing is that it's OUR choice to post complete and utter garbage, bad words and all. If I want to post recipes, talk about my dog (Anatolian Shephered "Akira"), say hi to my friends (Hi Taco! Hi Ryan!), talk about the CD I'm listening to (STP "Core") or how I feel about this summer's movies (they all sucked), then I CAN. If I want to give you the list of Hollywood women I'd love to meet, I can (Janeane Garofalo, Gabrielle Anwar, Gabrielle Reece, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan). If I want to tell you what kind of car I'm lusting after, I will (Ferrari F355). If I want to tell you what kind of knives I cook with, I will (Wusthof Classic).

If I want to emulate modem noise, I can (@&%!*MabdA ~~AT!).

If I want to put random Apple ][ instructions up, I will (poke 1012,0).

And if you read this far, it's not because I shoved your head in a vise and attached an ocular speculum to you in some weird Clockwork Orange torture scene. You got this far reading on your own. Ain't no one holding a gun to your head or quizzing you after this.

Ain't no one here forcing anyone to read our bullshit posts. Don't send me mail bitching about how I'm wasting your time (I shit you not -- people have sent me mail saying "Quit wasting our time with your idiotic rantings" and similar sentiment), because you're wasting yet more of your time by bitching at me.

Alright, that's all for now. Next time I post, I swear it'll be about Quake2.

Ahhhh...much better now.

Before the European Computer Trade Show had even begun, we'd completed objective no.1, to play Quake II, at an Activision preview. While id weren't happy with the multi-player graphics and wouldn't let us touch it, the single player version is simply stunning.

Running through 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics, the game looks and moves superbly with crisp levels and barely a hint of brown scenery. While some tinkering is required with the monster AI, the creatures are fearsome, each comes with multiple attacks. Shoot them and they can blow apart, lose their heads or collapse in agony to be engulfed by streams of black flies. You too get knocked all over the place when hit by weapons or physically struck, which gets very disorientating.

But the stars of the show are the new weapons, from the rotary cannon with its barrel that speeds up the longer you hold the trigger to the laser with its blue swirling beam. There's also an array of rockets, grenades and much more. The surprise of the game, the plot and the rendered intro, so it's not just going to be mindless violence then!

This comment was bestowed upon us during the interview with king ass whille getting a question about the whole id reaper source code.

<Redwood> I think that the accusation is probably from an Unreal fan that is worried that Quake 2 is going to slaughter their beloved Unreal and have to make stuff up to feel better about themselves.

We need to do something about this

Yup, I'm starting another page on 3Dx, this time it is actually a part of 3Dx and not a subdomain.
What it is, is basically a diary with a list of all future activities, such as interviews, release dates, etc. for Quake-related games. So, if someone wants to know what will happen tomorrow, for example, they can simply look and they'll find out.

I'd just like to say that I believe the Crackwhores are chicks. I'm not too sure their pics are legit, but JoJo's stats seem believable. Candy wrote me at my request for ideas on a taunt for the fpc. Other news today would be the colorful e-mail exchanges I've engaged in as a result of my last post. Quake2's player character will have 500 frames of animation. For a taunt I have the guy grab his crotch and the girl will shake her chest at you and wiggle her rear as she slaps a cheek. I think as a salute I'll have the fpc blow you a kiss (I already have the dude pop one cool salute in your direction).

Other than that, what can I say? The game is shaping up most awesomely and word from ECTS isn't amazing, but people seem to dig the game quite a bit. I heard we're showing the game on 15" monitors, though. Bummer. Regardless, it seems you all will have to be shelling out quite a bit of dosh this X-mas for lots of cool games coming out. Lots of crap coming out as well.

Thanks to all of you out there in the community who support id, psteed and the betterment of mankind.

I LOVE YOU GUYS!

ps

Even though I've been avoiding frequent posts because of work that needs to be done, I feel that I need to talk a little due to some recent correspondence I've trade with several people (Jeff and Andy mostly).

I work at id. I've been here nearly a year now and it still feels quite exhilarating and new to be wandering these halls. I still geek out sometimes around the owners and I still feel very, very privileged to be here. At other companies I've worked I always climbed the corporate ladder or been recognized for working hard and doing cool stuff. Sometimes those two methods of advancement didn't seem to mix very well because more times than not climbing any type of corporate ladder isn't directly connected to the quality of work you do.

When I started posting my plans it was a barrage of 'step off' commentary aimed primarily at you all know who. This was due to an even greater barrage of events that led up to the point I began posting. Believe it or not (Jeff and Andy don't) these quips and chest-beating diatribes were light-hearted flexings of my passion and appreciation for my fortunate situation here. I don't feel the 'need' to defend anything. Id stands on the merit of its work and that work will definitely stand up again in the near future. Quake2 is just ONE of many good games coming out this year. For some odd reason, I only feel qualified to defend IT when someone spews some inaccuracy or undeserved negative comment about it.

Generally, I can't possibly believe that the public would want me to exhibit the aloof calmness and boring attitude that most 'established' people give off. I was a huge fan of id's before I got here so as I've said in previous posts, I feel sometimes like I owe it to other fans (you) to share my enthusiasm and experiences here at id without betraying the privacy and confidences of those others who work here.

Granted, my Saturday post where I used profanity was facetious and immature. I just feel that if you say the word or you say 'f@#!', people know which word is being used. I swear too much. I know that. In conversation I have to catch myself all the time and use other words to convey the same meaning. But I don't need some stranger flaming me because I used a bad word that will poison the minds of the youths who read it. I'll make the decision to swear less on my own, TYVM.

If through one of my posts I have offended you or yours in a completely irreconcilable way then I truly apologize. Although I feel strongly the need to have and express an occasional opinion, I by no means want to hurt anyone unintentional (I think you know if I'm trying to hurt you intentionally). Myscha and I made up and plan to have drinks one day. My attack on him hurt his feelings and I sincerely apologized and would hope that he meant his reciprocation. That is truly the only time that I've thought twice about the point of my actions and the abusive power these plans can have. I don't feel bad directing the comments toward him, I just should have e-mailed the content of my anger TO him instead of posting it.

Finally I am making no excuses or apologies for appearing (to some) to act like a 10 year old in my postings. If I took myself as seriously as people like Jeff and Andy do then I probably wouldn't be here right now, I'd probably never have had the opportunity to share my knowledge, experiences and attempts at wit with such an amazing audience, and I'd definitely be one unhappy individual due to the fact I was so goddamn anal.

Keep up your enthusiasm for id and my work on our games. Keep up your interest in the computer world and definitely remember that if it weren't for people like you, no one would ever know about people like me.

ps

...No. Considering that;

a) We've never seen the reaper bot source and
b) Quake II doesn't use QuakeC

Actually Disruptor wasn't totally correct, but it was just because of something he didn't know.

I was talking with Steve Polge back when he was still with IBM. He did send me a version of the Reaper bot source at that time. We agreed that it was for research only and that I would not release or use it without his permission. When he changed jobs shortly thereafter I figured it was best for both of us if I didn't even use it as a research base. So, even though I did have the source I never inhaled.. ummm, used it. Nobody else here even had access to it so I can safely state that nobody at id has ever seen the source (I hadn't yet had the time to look at it when he made his job change). I just wanted to make this clear so that Steve doesn't think that there's something fishy going on. He's a good guy doing good work.

Been examining your vast list of screenshots and notice that none of them contain shots of the mechanoid/cyborg dog thing. I was at ECTS in London yesterday and managed to get to play Quake2 for about 15 minutes and believe me when I tell you that any screenshots do it no justice, to see it the motion of the monsters, the hands gripping and regripping the gun, the chain gun spinning down after a quick release of lead and the colored lighting. Well it is nothing short of Godsent. Cyborg/dog thing it looked amazing: Metal body with tooth humanoid head and the motion is unbeatable. Everything moves so well. Hit a rocket at the floor near anyone and they will be thrown spining into the air like a rag doll. I snuck up upon a tank and shot a round into his chest with the doublebarrelled shotgun and the tank turned tail and ran off and hid, found the bastard behind some crates.

Quake, Quake 2, and the stylized are registered trademarks of id Software, Inc.