Quake continues to claw its way through competitive gaming
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Gaming

Quake Champions and the return of the Arena shooter

Arena shooters used to rule the roost, but slowly faded many moons ago. Now with esports on the rise, more ubiquitous technology and a thirst for 'what's old is new again', they're coming back!
By Kosta Andreadis
8 min readPublished on
Quake Champions Community Manager Joshua Boyle likens the long journey to becoming a fully fledged free-to-play release as akin to making the change from crawling to walking. Not only in terms of the current state of the game, its features, map count, online experience, and overall polish, but also in the long-standing legacy of living up the name – Quake. Which is one of the reasons why it went through an extended pre-release period before making the jump to free-to-play.
“We already had a core audience, which is an interesting position to be in for any game that starts," he explains. "We didn’t want to open the gate and have people, like, ‘Oh, this doesn't make sense’. And that's not just someone’s random opinion, they could potentially have 20-plus years of experience playing different Quake games...”

1996 - aka 20-Plus Years Ago

Already established in the first-person shooter space as the creators and leaders of the genre, id Software took its next big technological leap with the release of Quake in 1996. Featuring full-3D graphics, across both enemies and environments, the cutting-edge presentation also meant a complete rethink and redesign of just how a shooter could be played. For Quake, the answer was fast, fluid, and intense. From there the terms ‘Arena’ and ‘Deathmatch’ entered the lexicon of players the world over as the breakneck speed and verticality of Quake proved to be a defining moment not only for the genre -- but also for the concept of competitive multiplayer games.
Death Knight almost needs his own game he looks that cool

Death Knight almost needs his own game he looks that cool

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Since that time there have been several notable Quake releases, from titles that focused on individual deathmatch, team-play, the introduction of vehicles, and even changing things up with a cinematic single-player campaign. But, it’s that core multiplayer experience, built off the foundation of the iconic 1996 original and the high-speed precision of Quake 3 that defines the franchise. Which has in many ways led to the development of Quake Champions, a title that both id Software and Bethesda plan to support for years.
Where Quake Champions differs from previous Quakes though, is all in the title. Which refers to a cast of Champions, selectable by players, that each provide abilities and traits that don’t so much alter the Quake experience as they subtly change the flow to suit different playstyles. And leveraging id Software’s long history the cast of Quake Champions also includes iconic characters from both Doom and Wolfenstein
This change in overall setup proved to be a challenge for the team, requiring several months of balancing and using both closed beta feedback and professional tournament data to fine tune how it all worked. A process that will continue as more Champions are added to the game. “Balance is unique for this game,” Joshua explains. “In the sense that it’s almost like a fighting game. We've got a constantly evolving balance now because every Champion we add, every tournament we have -- even adding new players to the game -- they discover certain things that you could never, no matter the amount of QA you do, figure out.”
Say hello to my little friend

Say hello to my little friend

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The Hero-Based Arena Shooter

In 2018 the concept of a 'Hero Shooter' isn’t new, but it is very much of the moment. Something along the lines of Blizzard’s Overwatch, where class, role, and special abilities add personality to what would otherwise be a mostly character-free experience. Quake Champions does things very differently, which is born from the fact that Quake is still very much an Arena Shooter. And being an Arena Shooter in 2018 makes Quake Champions stand out.
“We're the only arena first-person shooter in the market right now,” a statement that once said out loud makes Joshua Boyle pause for a moment. “Some players just aren't used to playing in that smaller space, where they have to learn how to control the environment and how to control themselves -- and the speed. So, how do we onboard people or introduce them to an experience that they're not used to? Adding more in-depth tutorials, adding bots, safe spaces where players can practice and learn.”
Although the Quake franchise has a rich history dating back decades, it presents a style of game rarely seen today – where technical skill drives almost everything...
From a raw number perspective, the scope of Quake may sound old-school – eight players at maximum with small maps to play in. But it’s within this smaller space that the ‘Quake-feel’ thrives. “I think that a lot of people playing a lot of games that are more of the flavour of the month, or Battle Royale or these kinds of games, there's a lot of randomness in the sense that you could potentially get dropped anywhere, or there could be different things in different places,” Joshua continues. “The actual intimacy of who you're playing with and what that space feels like, is something that we kind of lost. That's why I'm so happy to see that in Quake Champions, just like all the Quakes we've ever had, the arena is only so big, there's only so many players involved. The idea with that is you're actually going to die a lot, which again, games have sort of strayed away from.”
Although the Quake franchise has a rich history dating back decades, it presents a style of game rarely seen today – where technical skill drives almost everything. Something that can seem daunting at first, but also fun and exciting. “It's a very different environment to bring players into, but one that we're obviously very excited about,” adds Joshua, while noting that it’s also something that id Software has a long-standing history with - introducing players to new experiences and ways to play.
ROCKET JUMP!

ROCKET JUMP!

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A Brief History of Rocket Jumping

Broken down into easy to digest steps the idea of rocket jumping, as made popular by the original Quake, sounds ridiculous. The idea is simple – aim your rocket launcher at the floor and moments before you fire ‘jump’ to propel yourself into the air. By jumping, this negates most of the damage meaning that you can stay within the blast radius of a rocket without dying and only incurring an injury that a band aid could fix. An unintended outcome that was born from player experimentation and understanding that the damage or area of effect, at the pure programming level, could result in triggering a ‘blown-away’ animation when facing a rocket blast at a certain distance. One that could be used to fly around a map instead of being a funny way to die.
Rocket jumps soon became associated with Quake multiplayer, something that the team working on Quake Champions is keenly aware of. “Strafe jumping or circle jumping and even rocket jumping, as we know, were absolutely not intended [as key mechanics in the original] Quake,” Joshua explains. “We've now added immediate rewards to these things, so you get more speed. More speed means more control, which means you can have more fun by doing even better in the game. And bringing people in and showing them that this is what an arena game is, I think they'll fall in love with it the same way that we did.”
In the modern climate releasing any online title without regular and constructive community engagement is, well, a recipe for failure. Exactly how each developer and publisher manage this though, varies. The Quake franchise is steeped in community engagement and using feedback to inform design. Rocket jumping which became a key part of subsequent games, was simply due to how people chose to play.
Yeah, look we just REALLY dig the Death Knight

Yeah, look we just REALLY dig the Death Knight

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Building a Community and Pitching a New Event

During its journey to free-to-play Quake Champions no doubt had its fair share of issues, glitches, bugs, or even server-side problems. But in keeping communication channels open with the community this allowed for not only the collection of feedback or releasing patch notes but working alongside players to shape the overall experience.
“It's definitely a two-way street,” adds Joshua, when discussing the team’s interaction with the Quake Champions community. And thanks to modern online tools, this means immediate and meaningful changes. “CTF (Capture the Flag) is a perfect example, that was way further down the pipeline for us. We had a bunch of things ahead of it that we were working on already, but because of the player feedback, because of how strong players felt that CTF needed to be in the game sooner, we moved that forward.” And with the help of test-servers the team will deliver the new CTF mode to players in a rudimentary form, so it can be shaped and iterated on to ensure that both the development team and community are happy before it hits the live game.
In talking about Quake Champions with Joshua, it was hard not to look back on the legacy of the franchise and see just how accurately this new Quake captures the spirit and feel of the original Arena Shooter. And so, as our discussion with him was wrapping up we decided to pitch an in-game event. A celebratory anniversary map with accompanying Champion skins to give players the feel of modern Quake Champions but with a look that is Quake from sometime in the late 90s. Pixel-heavy character, textures that look blocky up close. “Like, get them blockier, and get them, like, ‘That's a big hit box, what is that guy?’,” Joshua replies with a smile. “I do like that idea a lot, so maybe I'll take that back and see what we can do with it.”
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