Quake

2025-07-15

TCW Podcast Episode 238 - Quake We dive into the development of Quake, the ambitious and turbulent follow-up to Doom from ID Software. John Carmack set out to build a groundbreaking engine featuring full 3D rendering, dynamic lighting, and client-server multiplayer. This pushed the technical boundaries in a pre-GPU world. To achieve this, he brought in legendary programmer Michael Abrash from Microsoft, selling him on the vision of Quake as a step toward the metaverse as imagined in Snow Crash. Meanwhile, John Romero ...

TCW Podcast Episode 238 - Quake

We dive into the development of Quake, the ambitious and turbulent follow-up to Doom from ID Software. John Carmack set out to build a groundbreaking engine featuring full 3D rendering, dynamic lighting, and client-server multiplayer. This pushed the technical boundaries in a pre-GPU world. To achieve this, he brought in legendary programmer Michael Abrash from Microsoft, selling him on the vision of Quake as a step toward the metaverse as imagined in Snow Crash. Meanwhile, John Romero envisioned Quake as a fantasy RPG inspired by a character from his D&D campaign, but lack of direction and his growing obsession with Deathmatch led to team frustration and eventual fallout. The result was a game that redefined first-person shooters and laid the groundwork for decades of engine development. It also marked the end of an era at ID with the ouster of John Romero.

TCW 030 - DOOM!: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/doom-1479057917/

TCW 197 - The ID of Game Development: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-id-of-game-development/

Doom States and DeHackEd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTa3diypjv4

P2P vs Dedicated Servers?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt3ZLHKcP2U

Token Ring - The Betamax of Networking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjLctlmZSp4

Artie - The Strongest Man In the World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6Bh3LskNbs

Space Strike (DOS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtDdEuKFQps

Cosmic Crusader (DOS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKOTa5iQAw8

Big Top (DOS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXUCacgF72M

Snack Attack II (DOS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu-SEjcnnjo

So You Haven't Read "Snow Crash": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO64ZhBYy9E

Ramblings in Realtime by Michael Abrash: https://www.bluesnews.com/abrash/