Options For A Free OpenSource "Quake" Download

[QuakeRoot]

I don't want to help start momentum for a great idea, only to watch is slowly die. If something like this needs to wait a few years to have a real shot at "life" - I'm fine with that.

I've been kicking around this idea for some time.

It should have the following features:
* Free - Open Source Download (With full single/multi player functionality).
* Close enough to the feel of "Quake" to be enjoyable to everyone here.
* Community input and activity.
* There is no single "Boss" of the project - there is delegation and voting,
* No Prima Dona's - it's a community effort.

A project being Open Source can cause a few problems, no one can technically be banned if they make a nuisance of themselves. They can be "shouldered" out of the way, and made unwelcome until they get the hint, but not banned. If I've made too much a nuisance of myself already I will finish up what I've got, release it - such as it is - and deliberatly bow out.

What I have is still very basic. I started by forking textures, models, and sound from OpenGameArt.org and the (now defunct) Open Quartz project. As I started researching I also forked copiously from the OpenArena (Quake3 Opensource) project. As I was digging through OpenArena, I found (amongst other excellent custom maps) they're using the Quake1 maps that were released to GPL by John Romero. I didn't think much of this as OpenArena feels very different than Quake1. It was interesting, but the interest didn't last long.

Then I started forking from Xonotic, at the time I didn't fully realize... what it was. Most of you probably already know about Xonotic - it started as a Quake1 mod then became it's own deal... and it's a big deal. They have a lot of active contributors and it is an AMAZING piece of work. Xonotic has implemented the Quake1 maps & it feels very Quake like. The project is free, open source, and... it's fun, really fun. I have to ask at this point, with such an amazing product - would the QuakeOne community even be interested in their own project? Xonotic, in it's current state has already blown a lot of my ideas out of the water. I don't feel great about promoting another site and another product on QuakeOne but - it's quality stands for itself.

However, Xonotic has evolved in a different direction of gaming. It's not as "True" to Quake as, many here (I believe) would like to see. I'm asking for all ya'lls opinion. Is there enough people here to do such a project? People often get really excited about something and burn out fast (Open Quartz being a primary example) and years later people wandering the web find it's bones lying around and think about doing something with it - and then give up before they start because those before them... have already given up.

As I said before, I don't want to start momentum, only to watch the baby die. It de-motivates everyone.

If there IS interest, I'm willing to work and learn (unless I'm asked to leave before it begins); let me know if there is any interest. Eventually programmers, animators, artists, testers, and random "idea guys" would be needed.

One final note: if momentum does get rolling, there needs to be a measurable stride of improvement. To quote R00k:

The real future of Quake, is players and modders. Players get bored of the same game over and over and cry for change. Modders shake-n-bake new gameplay ideas to entertain the players. Diehard players might not want gameplay changes but more information about how they are doing; like stats tracking. Also increased performance from their engines, and lower pings help perpetuate the players lure to play more...

...Any legit future to Quake, will end up being a game that isnt Quake, but a combination of changes by players and modders to renew ideas and fix bugs, to expand the experience.

Does Quake stay "Quake" or does it evolve here as it did for the Xonotic project? How would that be measured? What can be implemented while keeping the "feel" of Quake1? Does it truly need to evolve? What changes do YOU want to see, my ideas take a backseat to yours.

[Mindf!3ldzX]

Your last question about 'Staying Quake' or 'Evolve' , the real answer is both.
We have too many valuable assets like ;Playerbase , Mods, Servers.

Any new project should at minimum afford Backward Compatibility to current "Classic Q1" servers.

It should be able to absorb Quake1 as it currently sits, singleplayer and multiplayer aspects fully intact (but not being named Quake is mandatory).

[QuakeRoot]

Your last question about 'Staying Quake' or 'Evolve' , the real answer is both.
We have too many valuable assets like ;Playerbase , Mods, Servers.

Any new project should at minimum afford Backward Compatibility to current "Classic Q1" servers.

It should be able to absorb Quake1 as it currently sits, singleplayer and multiplayer aspects fully intact (but not being named Quake is mandatory).

I agree, those are very 'common sense' statements. What would your recommend for the name of such a project?
I don't believe Xonotic has backwards compatibility, nor does it allow most current mods to be implemented.

I like your suggestion earlier: Tremor
I also like the thought of: Open Idea
It's not "Quake-ish" but it puts forward a good philosophy. I don't have my heart set on anything, but "Ideas" are where everything starts.

[Mindf!3ldzX]

I don't believe Xonotic has backwards compatibility, nor does it allow most current mods to be implemented.

That sounds like a huge gamble, Xonotic did not retain any backwards compatibility for Nexuiz servers?

[Spike]

why do you need backwards compat when the new version is freely downloadable?

[QuakeRoot]

That sounds like a huge gamble, Xonotic did not retain any backwards compatibility for Nexuiz servers?

It may be backwards compatible with NEXUIZ, not necessarily with Quake.
That doesn't mean we can't fork code from their project and make a project of our own. Everything is still do-able.

Xotonic is a branch of of Nexiuz. Nexuiz was started as an open-source project, and later was sold as a commercial endevour. I don't know all the details, I do know that a lot of the Xotonic crowd are still butt hurt over it. The point is not so much that there are products that evolved in such a way that they are no longer backwards compatible.

The point is we can make one, and use a plethora of code forked from other open-source projects to help us along the way, (But this is not a point on which to rely, only to help out)

[Mindf!3ldzX]

The only problem with forking off from some other point outside our own realm, would be getting the physics to match up entirely.

Quake has a distinct feel to it, that I have never seen replicated in another game.

[QuakeRoot]

The only problem with forking off from some other point outside our own realm, would be getting the physics to match up entirely.

Quake has a distinct feel to it, that I have never seen replicated in another game.

I think your forgeting the term "fork" can pertain to anything including models, sounds, textures, and other more physical aspects of a program vs. straight code. In this case, this is more what I'm referring to.

[powerzord]

Will there be the touch buns mod?

[sock]

* Free - Open Source Download (With full single/multi player functionality).
* Close enough to the feel of "Quake" to be enjoyable to everyone here.
* Community input and activity.
* There is no single "Boss" of the project - there is delegation and voting,
* No Prima Dona's - it's a community effort.

A project like this would require a vision and overall leader to get it done. Designing games by committee's just produces water downed products. Also lack of any SP content will just make this look like the thousands of other MP only games that already exist. The community is made up of SP and MP players and ignoring one part of the community is not a good idea.

One thing you are seriously overlooking is that the art style of a game has to be consist, you cannot just glue together a bunch of free open source stuff and expect it to look good together. Quake does have an art style and most importantly does look consistent. Designing all of the assets to look and feel like they work together is what makes a game feel right.

[Baker]

A gem ^^^.

[QuakeRoot]

A project like this would require a vision and overall leader to get it done. Designing games by committee's just produces water downed products. Also lack of any SP content will just make this look like the thousands of other MP only games that already exist. The community is made up of SP and MP players and ignoring one part of the community is not a good idea.

One thing you are seriously overlooking is that the art style of a game has to be consist, you cannot just glue together a bunch of free open source stuff and expect it to look good together. Quake does have an art style and most importantly does look consistent. Designing all of the assets to look and feel like they work together is what makes a game feel right.

To all of your statements: You are correct.
I have glossed over several things and omitted many details. More than anything I want to know if the community thinks "something" like this can be done, if the support is here, then we can all hammer out the details.

I don't want to be the leader. I want to be an idea guy, and tinker with code. If we have enough resources here, lets make something, if not - maybe a few years down the road.

-----EDIT----
I've not previously worked on a project like this, if I miss things - I'm still learning as I go. Which is another reason why I don't think I'd be a good choice to run this baby. As far as 'cobbling' together things from other projects.... well - it's a good rough start, a start is a start. I never intended it to stay there.

There's been a bit of debate on where we will get things - if we want "Insta-Content" it's available (it might start looking like crap, but everything looks like crap when it starts ). If we want to make things from scratch - Do we have people who are willing to do that?? Or nod their head, say "yes" and then do nothing?

I'm looking from a minamalist perspective.

[golden_boy]

what sock said.

[QuakeRoot]

A gem ^^^.

I hope this is not a sarcastic reference to something I don't have hope of seeing. So far this idea is far from a gem and more like a hairy nightmare, but the best ideas come from nightmares/dreams. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.

P.S. apparently you have three eyes, which is also nice.

[Baker]

To all of your statements: You are correct.
I have glossed over several things and omitted many details. More than anything I want to know if the community thinks "something" like this can be done, if the support is here, then we can all hammer out the details.

I don't want to be the leader. I want to be an idea guy, and tinker with code. If we have enough resources here, lets make something, if not - maybe a few years down the road.

-----EDIT----
I've not previously worked on a project like this, if I miss things - I'm still learning as I go. Which is another reason why I don't think I'd be a good choice to run this baby. As far as 'cobbling' together things from other projects.... well - it's a good rough start, a start is a start. I never intended it to stay there.

There's been a bit of debate on where we will get things - if we want "Insta-Content" it's available (it might start looking like crap, but everything looks like crap when it starts ). If we want to make things from scratch - Do we have people who are willing to do that?? Or nod their head, say "yes" and then do nothing?

I'm looking from a minamalist perspective.

To complete a project, a project requires:

1. A commitment to do it.
2. A leader
3. Sacrifices.
4. Hard work.
5. Occasionally doing hard things you do not want to do.
6. Helpful: That someone has completed a past project of the same theme but with a smaller scope.

How many of these boxes would you personally check?

You know how in multiplayer, experienced players trash talk to see how you will react as a measure of sizing you up (do you run in fear? Do you put your gameface on? Do you brush it off and double down, letting your gameplay speak for you?)

Likewise, any modding project both WILL and SHOULD be the recipient of people looking to pick apart your ideas. To see how you react. Do you bring credibility or fear? Do you show commitment or wanna run? Do you seem like you could captain the ship? This happens because a prerequsite for any project is members that are aren't afraid of their own project and have the self-confidence that breeds more confidence among other participants.