Quake Live
Encyclopedia
Quake Live is a first-person shooter
(FPS) video game by id Software
designed to run on x86-based computers running Microsoft Windows
, Mac OS X
or Linux
that is downloaded and launched via a web browser
plugin. It is a variant of its predecessor, Quake III Arena
(Q3A).
Quake Live is free to download and play. Additionally, there are subscription options that include more arenas, game types and game server
options.
. In addition to usability changes, Quake Live has a new, more streamlined HUD
. The game is also censored to remove blood, gore, and satanic references that were found in Quake III Arena
and is the only game in the series
that was developed by id Software
internally to be rated T by the ESRB.
Quake Live registration of a user account is available on the Quake Live website and free to anyone wishing to play. Currently supported platforms include Internet Explorer
7+, Mozilla Firefox
2+ and Safari
3+ web browsers running on Windows XP
, Windows Vista
, Windows 7, Mac OS X
10.4+ (Intel processor only), and Linux
. During the registration process the game and required browser plug-in is automatically downloaded. Updates to the game are continually released and automatically installed as the user logs in.
The browser plug-in does not make use of Flash
to play the game. The software is a modified version of Quake III Gold executed as native compiled
code on the user's computer.
The gameplay of Quake Live consists of players attempting to frag
more of their opponents than any other player or team in a given match. This is achieved by navigating a 3D environment and shooting other players with a variety of weapons, while collecting health, armor, weapons, ammo and various power-ups. As players get more advanced, they use other tricks and techniques such as rocket
and strafe jumping.
Quake Live was released as a free version of Quake III: Gold
(Quake III and its expansion pack, Team Arena) available only through a web browser
. Quake Live is backed financially by in-game advertising
from IGA Worldwide. Skill-based matchmaking is powered by a "metagame engine" developed by GaimTheory. Development of the match-making system was taken on by id Software after GaimTheory's collapse.
During the QuakeCon
2008 keynote speech, John Carmack
stated that Quake Live has no plans to allow user-made modifications, but they have hired successful Quake III mod authors to help them with their project. The majority of the maps are based heavily on originals from Quake III Arena
, Team Arena and popular user-made maps.
During late 2008 and early 2009, Quake Live was in an invitation-only closed beta. A handful of players were selected to begin the testing of the beta and were later allowed to invite a limited number of friends, whom, in turn, were permitted to send out invitations of their own. On February 24, 2009, the game progressed from closed beta to open beta, which caused an increased amount of traffic on the web server
. Queues were organized to limit the stress and prevent the overloading of the servers. Within the first six hours after launch over 113,000 user accounts were created. The queues were removed after several days, and the servers were then upgraded to handle the larger volume of traffic.
Once Quake Live exited its closed beta stage, it was to be funded partially by in-game and website-based advertisements. IGA Worldwide were contracted by id Software
to handle this aspect of the game's marketing. Problems with this model surfaced almost immediately with the announcement by the advertising agency that they were struggling as a result of the financial crisis of 2007–2010. In March 2009, the agency admitted that sale was a possibility if further investments were not forthcoming. With the acquisition of id Software
by ZeniMax Media
, the in-game and web-based advertisements for Quake Live changed noticeably, and began heavily advertising in-house or Bethesda Softworks
products.
At QuakeCon 2009, John Carmack
stated publicly that their financial scheme for the game had so far failed to provide sufficient income to keep the project in the black. As a result, he announced that a premium subscription service was being planned. ShackNews reports him as saying that:
Marty Stratton
, id Software's Executive Producer, has commented that:
On August 6, 2010, the game left its public beta period, and "premium" and "pro" subscription options were announced.
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
(FPS) video game by id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
designed to run on x86-based computers running Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
or Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
that is downloaded and launched via a web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
plugin. It is a variant of its predecessor, Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena , is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game released on December 2, 1999. The game was developed by id Software and featured music composed by Sonic Mayhem and Front Line Assembly...
(Q3A).
Quake Live is free to download and play. Additionally, there are subscription options that include more arenas, game types and game server
Game server
A game server is a remotely or locally run server used by game clients to play multiplayer video games. Most video games played over the Internet operate via a connection to a game server...
options.
Technology
Quake Live runs an updated version of the id Tech 3 engine, granting a few graphical improvements like bloomBloom (shader effect)
Bloom is a computer graphics effect used in computer games, demos and high dynamic range rendering to reproduce an imaging artifact of real-world cameras. The effect produces fringes of light around very bright objects in an image, obscuring fine details...
. In addition to usability changes, Quake Live has a new, more streamlined HUD
HUD (video gaming)
In video gaming, the HUD is the method by which information is visually relayed to the player as part of a game's user interface...
. The game is also censored to remove blood, gore, and satanic references that were found in Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena , is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game released on December 2, 1999. The game was developed by id Software and featured music composed by Sonic Mayhem and Front Line Assembly...
and is the only game in the series
Quake (series)
The Quake series is a line of first-person shooter video games produced by id Software.-Overview:The Quake series is somewhat unusual in that its focus changes frequently; the story of Quake II has nothing to do with Quake, and Quake III Arena has little to do with either of its predecessors...
that was developed by id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
internally to be rated T by the ESRB.
Quake Live registration of a user account is available on the Quake Live website and free to anyone wishing to play. Currently supported platforms include Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
7+, Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
2+ and Safari
Safari (web browser)
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. and included with the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. First released as a public beta on January 7, 2003 on the company's Mac OS X operating system, it became Apple's default browser beginning with Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther". Safari is also the...
3+ web browsers running on Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
, Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
, Windows 7, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
10.4+ (Intel processor only), and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
. During the registration process the game and required browser plug-in is automatically downloaded. Updates to the game are continually released and automatically installed as the user logs in.
The browser plug-in does not make use of Flash
Adobe Flash Player
The Adobe Flash Player is software for viewing multimedia, Rich Internet Applications and streaming video and audio, on a computer web browser or on supported mobile devices. Flash Player runs SWF files that can be created by the Adobe Flash authoring tool, by Adobe Flex or by a number of other...
to play the game. The software is a modified version of Quake III Gold executed as native compiled
Compiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
code on the user's computer.
Gameplay
Frag (video gaming)
Frag is a computer and video game term originating from the word fragging, a term indicating to kill an unpopular superior officer with a fragmentation grenade. A frag is roughly equivalent to "kill", with the typical main difference that the player being "fragged" can instantly respawn in most...
more of their opponents than any other player or team in a given match. This is achieved by navigating a 3D environment and shooting other players with a variety of weapons, while collecting health, armor, weapons, ammo and various power-ups. As players get more advanced, they use other tricks and techniques such as rocket
Rocket jumping
In first-person shooter computer and video games, rocket jumping is the technique of pointing a rocket launcher or other similar explosive weapon at the ground or at a wall then firing and jumping at the same time. The rocket's explosion propels the player to greater heights and distances than...
and strafe jumping.
Quake Live was released as a free version of Quake III: Gold
Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena , is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game released on December 2, 1999. The game was developed by id Software and featured music composed by Sonic Mayhem and Front Line Assembly...
(Quake III and its expansion pack, Team Arena) available only through a web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
. Quake Live is backed financially by in-game advertising
In-game advertising
In-game advertising refers to advertising in computer and video games. IGA differs from advergaming, which refers to a game specifically made to advertise a product.The IGA industry is large and growing...
from IGA Worldwide. Skill-based matchmaking is powered by a "metagame engine" developed by GaimTheory. Development of the match-making system was taken on by id Software after GaimTheory's collapse.
Game modes
Various game modes from Q3A return:- DuelDuelA duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
: Player versus player (1-on-1) combat. Whoever gets the most frags before the time is up wins. - Free For AllDeathmatch (gaming)Deathmatch or Player vs All is a widely-used gameplay mode integrated into many shooter and real-time strategy computer games...
(FFA): Players engage in a match, where everyone fights for themselves. Whoever hits the frag limit first wins and ends the game. When the time limit expires, player with the most frags is the winner.- Instagib: Free for All mode or TDM where players start with only a Railgun. There are no powerups around the map (ie. health, ammo, weapons). Instagib servers are unranked.
- Team Deathmatch (TDM): Same rules as Free for All but in this mode, two teams fight each other.
- Pro Team Deathmatch: a variation on Team Deathmatch for higher skilled players where some of the server settings are changed, such as the respawn time of weapons increased from 12 seconds to 30 seconds.
- Capture the FlagCapture the flagCapture the Flag is a traditional outdoor sport generally played by children, where two teams each have a flag and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base," and bring it safely back to their own base...
(CTF): Each team has a base, holding a flag. To earn points and win the game, a player must take the opposing team's flag and return it to their own base, while his team's flag is secure at his own base.- InstaCTF: Similar to Instagib (i.e. railgun, lack of powerups, etc.) but in a CTF format. Instagib CTF servers are also unranked.
- Clan Arena (CA): Teambased gameplay where everyone starts fully equipped with full armor and weapons. When fragged, the player must wait for the next round to begin. Players can rocket jumpRocket jumpingIn first-person shooter computer and video games, rocket jumping is the technique of pointing a rocket launcher or other similar explosive weapon at the ground or at a wall then firing and jumping at the same time. The rocket's explosion propels the player to greater heights and distances than...
and plasma climb with no health penalty. Players on the same team suffer no damage from their own teammates' weapons. - Freeze Tag (FT): (subscription only) A team based game mode combining elements of Clan Arena and Team Deathmatch. Rather than spectating when one is fragged, one is instead "frozen", and cannot respawn until a player on their team "thaws" them by standing adjacent to them for several seconds. When all players on one team are frozen, the other team wins the round.
- InstaFreeze (IFT): Similar to Instagib (i.e. railgun, lack of powerups, etc.) but in a FT format. Instagib FT servers are also unranked.
During the QuakeCon
QuakeCon
QuakeCon is a bring-your-own-computer computer gaming event with a competitive tournament held every year in Dallas, Texas, USA. The event, which is named after id Software's game Quake, sees thousands of gamers from all over the world attend every year to celebrate the company's gaming dynasty...
2008 keynote speech, John Carmack
John Carmack
John D. Carmack II is an American game programmer and the co-founder of id Software. Carmack was the lead programmer of the id computer games Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Rage and their sequels....
stated that Quake Live has no plans to allow user-made modifications, but they have hired successful Quake III mod authors to help them with their project. The majority of the maps are based heavily on originals from Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena , is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game released on December 2, 1999. The game was developed by id Software and featured music composed by Sonic Mayhem and Front Line Assembly...
, Team Arena and popular user-made maps.
History
On August 3, 2007, at QuakeCon 2007, id Software publicly announced their plans to release a free browser based Quake 3 game titled Quake Zero. In early 2008, the title was officially renamed to Quake Live due to a domain squatting issue.During late 2008 and early 2009, Quake Live was in an invitation-only closed beta. A handful of players were selected to begin the testing of the beta and were later allowed to invite a limited number of friends, whom, in turn, were permitted to send out invitations of their own. On February 24, 2009, the game progressed from closed beta to open beta, which caused an increased amount of traffic on the web server
Web server
Web server can refer to either the hardware or the software that helps to deliver content that can be accessed through the Internet....
. Queues were organized to limit the stress and prevent the overloading of the servers. Within the first six hours after launch over 113,000 user accounts were created. The queues were removed after several days, and the servers were then upgraded to handle the larger volume of traffic.
Once Quake Live exited its closed beta stage, it was to be funded partially by in-game and website-based advertisements. IGA Worldwide were contracted by id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
to handle this aspect of the game's marketing. Problems with this model surfaced almost immediately with the announcement by the advertising agency that they were struggling as a result of the financial crisis of 2007–2010. In March 2009, the agency admitted that sale was a possibility if further investments were not forthcoming. With the acquisition of id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
by ZeniMax Media
ZeniMax Media
ZeniMax Media Inc. is an American media company that develops and publishes computer and video games through its subsidiaries. ZeniMax is known as the owner of id Software , Bethesda Softworks , Arkane Studios , Tango Gameworks and...
, the in-game and web-based advertisements for Quake Live changed noticeably, and began heavily advertising in-house or Bethesda Softworks
Bethesda Softworks
Bethesda Softworks, LLC, is an American video game company. A subsidiary of ZeniMax Media, the company was originally based in Bethesda, Maryland and eventually moved to their current location in Rockville, Maryland...
products.
At QuakeCon 2009, John Carmack
John Carmack
John D. Carmack II is an American game programmer and the co-founder of id Software. Carmack was the lead programmer of the id computer games Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Rage and their sequels....
stated publicly that their financial scheme for the game had so far failed to provide sufficient income to keep the project in the black. As a result, he announced that a premium subscription service was being planned. ShackNews reports him as saying that:
"The in-game advertising stuff has not been big business. That's not going to be able to carry the project... Quake Live is gonna be Quake Live for the foreseeable future... It's only just now that we're going to be able to put it to the test."
Marty Stratton
Marty Stratton
Marty Stratton is the Executive Producer for id Software.-Biography:Marty Stratton was employed previously as a member of Activision's Quality Assurance department in 1996, before becoming a Producer in 1998. In 2000, Stratton was taken on by id Software as their Director of Business Development...
, id Software's Executive Producer, has commented that:
"The plan is to completely integrate the ability to start and manage private games directly through QUAKE LIVE, utilizing all of the friends, awareness and notification features we have available through the site. This ability will be the cornerstone of a QUAKE LIVE Premium Service that will be offered for a small monthly fee (likely less than $5 per month)."
On August 6, 2010, the game left its public beta period, and "premium" and "pro" subscription options were announced.