Prophecy is designed in the same vein as MageSlayer and Take No Prisoners, focusing on arcade combat action and exploration, with plenty of carnage along the way, and a bit of magic and powerups.
It will be an episodic singleplayer/coop title released in multiple commercial chapters, and uses the DarkPlaces engine, with per pixel lighting and other features.
Jehar, the host of the 2008 Quake Expo has announced the starting date of August 5th, and the event is likely to last up to two weeks. It is a bit later in the year for the Expo, but this prevents any sort of conflict with QuakeCon, and gives everyone a little more time to get their projects done.
Urre has posted in the forums an update to SuperTraceWalk, a derivative of TraceWalk for the sake of smoother easier AI work. SuperTraceWalk adds features such as:
Time limited calculation! Significantly increases performance
No airborne stairstepping to match Quakes behavior
Better goal matching, with option to use old behavior
Supports regular SV_PlayerPhysics without modification
Swimming!
This should help solve a lot of common headaches for anyone doing AI in qc, now get to coding that MafiaBot and get struck by a smooth criminal!
PlanetQuake updated with a link to Will Wright's Top 8 on GamesRadar. This top 8 is featured in the KRAZY! exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Wright is a curator for the video game section, and amongst his choices is our dear and loved Quake.
"I’ve never had a more immersive gaming experience than playing QUAKE in a dark room, sitting with my face right up to the monitor,” confesses Wright. But even though Wright gives designer John Carmack credit for his subtle manipulation of lighting, graphics and sound, that give the game its frightening feel, it seems that Wright also chose QUAKE for the modding community that evolved after the game was released."
I wonder what Wright would think of now, in regards to standalone games being made with Quake, different genres being made in it such as Prydon Gate, and The Ascension of Vigil. Never mind longer than feature length machinima being made, namely the Nehahra film. I can stand in agreement with Wright that Quake is art, and continues to be art in its own way, as it survives and persists long after its release.
You may say Quake is dying, or dead, but Quake is simply getting leaner, more fit, as each moment it ages, its quality increases, and you can particularly see that in the fan created content.
Better late than never? This news submission somehow escaped my eye for far too long. GingerFish of clan CNN has informed us of a Thunderwalker CTF revival, and a site dedicated to it, taking the form of forums. There you can find general chat, strategy discussion, demos, screenshots, and most importantly, necessary downloads to play this great old mod. You can also find them on irc at irc.enterthegame.com #twctf.
Jim has released a demo of Cold Reality Heat. Though technically a standalone project, this release lacks menu graphics so it would be better to run it from your Quake directory as a mod. It requires DarkPlaces to play.
The release is available in two forms, with the difference being in texture quality.
Stating that this is more likely to be the final version, and closer to his original vision, RenegadeC has brought in a few more gameplay changes, features, and a host of optimizations and bugfixes:
Added extra support for observers in multiplayer, along with some creepy ambiance for them
Brand new roaming AI
New and additional sounds
Boosted the usefulness of the wall hugging
Adjusted AI to allow for cooperative kills, or coming to another player's aid much more effectively
A whole host of bugfixes and general improvements
You can read more in the thread here. Give it a download, and find new reasons to fear the light.
Willem has released a new version of Qonquer fixing a number of issues and adjusting the difficulty scaling for a bit of an extra challenge on Hard and Nightmare.
Heres a list of changes:
added “impulse 12” for cycling to the previous weapon with ammo
fixed the ‘Elder Arena’ on Easy skill (no monsters were spawning!)
minions will no longer hurt each other or the player
made the minions stand further away from the player so they won’t trap you in the corner
increased various limits, tweaked various times, based more values on skill level
added finale screen (take a screenshot, impress your friends)
Inside3d is proud to announce a new direction. We have embraced the design revolution, and will from now on specialize in tutorials focusing on depth of field, bloom, and implementing middleware!
Inside3d recognizes the brilliant innovations in gameplay that the industry has brought us, gameplay innovations such as shiny objects, gritty sweat lined faces, World War 2 soldiers, and only doors you need to go through being functional! In recognition of such progressive action, we are dropping our support of the original Quake, as it no longer meets our polygon count requirement, and texture resolution requirement. Its a bit too old now, and as industry has proven time and time again, newer, is better!
StealthQuake has arrived, and you didn't see it coming for good reason. RenegadeC has created what could be described as Thief in Quake, only with survival rather than burglary being the goal, all the while living in fear of your surroundings. You navigate levels, armed with only an ax and a handful of rocks, or maybe a pistol if you are so fortunate, doing your best to escape the notice of any foul beast, knowing that they could easily dispatch of you. You will do your best to sneak up on the loners, killing them silently, and luring others away from your intended path by throwing rocks, or whistling.
StealthQuake uses a fear system, where your player can be intimidated by the attacks of monsters, getting too close, or even simply looking at them. Beware, fear leads to dementia, and who knows just what may come to you at that point.
Featuring dynamic music and tons of replayability, along with coop support, StealthQuake can be played in a DarkPlaces flavor which can be found here or a WinQuake friendly version here. The DarkPlaces version provides:
Higher Quality music & sounds
Dynamic shadows from torches and monsters
Skybox (depending on the engine you're using) that helps the mood
Music that isn't position dependant (once again, engine dependant)
Better graphics overall
A great chunk of additional atmosphere
You can read the announcement thread here. Now go, get scared back into hiding!
