Quake II engine
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2017) |
Developer(s) | id Software (John Carmack, John Cash, and Brian Hook) |
---|---|
Final release | 3.21
/ December 22, 2001 |
Repository | github.com/id-Software/Quake-2 |
Written in | C, Assembly (for software rendering & optimization) |
Platform | Windows, Mac OS 8, Linux, PowerPC Macintosh, Amiga, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Xbox, PlayStation 2 |
Predecessor | Quake engine |
Successor | id Tech 3, GoldSrc |
License | GNU GPL-2.0-or-later |
Website | www |
The Quake II engine is a game engine developed by id Software for use in their 1997 first-person shooter Quake II.[1] It is the successor to the Quake engine. Since its release, the Quake II engine has been licensed for use in several other games.[2]
One of the engine's most notable features was out-of-the-box support for hardware-accelerated graphics, specifically OpenGL, along with the traditional software renderer.[2] Another interesting feature was the subdivision of some of the components into dynamic-link libraries. This allowed both software and OpenGL renderers, which were selected by loading and unloading separate libraries. Libraries were also used for the game logic, for two reasons:[citation needed]
- id could release the source code to allow modifications while keeping the remainder of the engine proprietary.
- Since they were compiled for specific platforms, instead of an interpreter, they could run faster than Quake's solution, which was to run the game logic (QuakeC) in a limited interpreter.
The level format, as with previous id Software engines, used binary space partitioning. The level environments were lit using lightmaps, a method in which light data for each surface is precalculated (this time, via a radiosity method) and stored as an image, which is then used to determine the lighting intensity each 3D model should receive, but not its direction.[citation needed]
id Software released the source code on December 22, 2001 under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2.0 or later.[3]
Games using the Quake II engine[]
Games using a proprietary license[]
- Quake II (1997) by id Software
- Quake II Mission Pack: The Reckoning (1998) by Xatrix Entertainment
- Quake II Mission Pack: Ground Zero (1998) by Rogue Entertainment
- Heretic II (1998) by Raven Software
- SiN (1998) by Ritual Entertainment
- SiN: Wages of Sin (1999) by Ritual Entertainment
- Kingpin: Life of Crime (1999) by Xatrix Entertainment
- Soldier of Fortune (2000) by Raven Software
- Daikatana (2000) by Ion Storm
- Anachronox (2001) by Ion Storm
- Dawn of Darkness (1999) by Ward Six Entertainment
Games based on the GPL source release[]
- UFO: Alien Invasion (2003) by UFO: Alien Invasion Team
- Gravity Bone (2008) by Blendo Games
- Warsow (2012) by Warsow Team
- Thirty Flights of Loving (2012) by Blendo Games
- Alien Arena: Warriors of Mars (2017) by COR Entertainment
Ports[]
- Jake2 is a Java port of the Quake II engine's GPL release. It has since been used by Sun as an example of Java Web Start capabilities for games distribution over the Internet.[4] In 2006, it was used to experiment playing 3D games with eye tracking.[5] The performance of Jake2 is on par with the original C version.[6]
- vkQuake2 is the original Quake II engine with additional Vulkan renderer created by Krzysztof Kondrak, a programmer from Poland. It was originally released in December 2018 under the GPLv2.[7][8]
See also[]
- List of game engines
- Quake engine
- Id Tech 3
- Id Tech 4
- Id Tech 5
- Id Tech 6
- First-person shooter engine
References[]
- ^ Grant, Christopher (August 9, 2011). "id Software looking to shorten dev cycles, stop building new engines for every game". Joystiq. AOL. Archived from the original on August 28, 2011.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Technology Licensing: id Tech 2". Archived from the original on November 8, 2009. Retrieved September 17, 2008.
- ^ DiBona, Chris (December 22, 2011). "Quake 2 Source Code Released Under the GPL". Slashdot. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
- ^ "JDK 6u10: Jake2: Quake II in Java". Sun Microsystems. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
The Jake2 applet example shows the future of game distribution over the Internet. Jake2 is a port of id Software's Quake II to the Java platform developed by Bytonic Software. (...). With the new Java Plug-In, it is now possible to deploy the game directly into the web page with full hardware acceleration and rock-solid reliability.
- ^ "Play with your eyes". Joystiq. March 3, 2006. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
- ^ "Q24j: Jake and Java-gaming Viability". O'Reilly Media. November 28, 2005. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
This is a great show of 3D prowess. Things like this, as well as the Narya 2D open source engine from ThreeRings really are starting to at least show Java can serve as a first-class gaming platform. More than that, just having seen all the… *cough* horrible code in games before, having things like Java’s threading model, network and database support might really make it a BETTER platform for a lot of forthcoming games than C.
- ^ Kondrak, Krzysztof (December 20, 2018). "Quake 2 Gets A Vulkan Renderer 21 Years After Release - Phoronix". phoronix.com. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
- ^ "vkQuake2 on GitHub".
External links[]
- "Official Quake II engine website". Archived from the original on November 8, 2009. Retrieved August 4, 2007.
- Official Quake II engine source code, as originally released at GitHub
- Official Quake II engine source code, version 3.21[permanent dead link] at id Software
- 1997 software
- Formerly proprietary software
- Free game engines
- Game engines for Linux
- Id Tech
- Quake (series)