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Quake: New cross-platform level editor TrenchBroom

FPS, Game Development, Gaming, Indie Games No Responses »

Mar 232013

If you played FPS’s in the 90′s, theres a good chance that you’ve dabbled in map editing and level design. Many games had easily available map editors such as Quake, and some even included it, like Unreal. Sadly, most of those tools are antiquated, no longer updated, or simply don’t work anymore. I found this brand new level editor called TrenchBroom for id Software’s 1996 classic, Quake via John Carmack’s Twitter.

It’s pretty cool looking allowing you to work on levels with a 3D view. One of it’s main features is that it has a lot of documentation. This means less googling for “how to remove leaks” and more working on your levels. Many of you youngins may laugh at making levels for such an old game but you’d be surprised how many game developers began their career making maps for Quake. This can be a great, simpler way to get started with 3D game design and show off your great ideas. Furthermore, if you’re an indie developer, you can make a whole game with the Quake Engine because it’s under GNU General Public License. Just make sure you don’t use any Quake assets (images, textures, models etc).

Check out this video demonstrating TrenchBroom’s nifty features…

TrenchBroom is for Windows PCs and Mac OS X. There’s also a source for Linux users.

TrenchBroom Official Site

Grab an official Quake & Doom Shirt on Bethesda’s brand new online store

Collectibles & Toys, FPS, Gaming, RPG No Responses »

Mar 132013

In the old PC days of gaming, we were starved of awesome merchandise; and whenever there was merch, it was extremely limited edition. Here’s your chance to wear your video games on your chest and get some official id Software and Bethesda shirts. There’s actually quite a bit of stuff on the store including a Skyrim statue, Dishonored tee-shirts, and Fallout sneakers.

Check out these simple, but great Quake and Doom shirts…

But seriously now, if you love Bethesda games, there’s tons of stuff for Dishonored, Skyrim and Fallout. Definitely a must see for fans. Now can we get a little bit of Rage love Bethesda?

The Bethesda Store

Quakecon 2013 Announced

Action Adventure, FPS, Gaming, Industry & Professionals, Quakecon No Responses »

Feb 282013

id Software’s yearly event has finally been announced. Quakecon is one of the world’s largest LAN parties often called the “woodstock of gaming.” Fan’s of id Software and Bethesda are the focus here, although there are all types of games being played in the BYOC room. That’s Bring Your Own Computer. Besides that, id Software usually shows off something new and juicy for fans including panels with industry giants including Valve and more. Last year’s was great, showing off the Oculus Rift, where we were on the scene and got to try it out (amazing by the way). John Carmack gave an almost 3 hour keynote, and he, along with Palmer Lucky and Michael Abrash, discussed virtual reality. This year, there is a possibility we may finally see some Doom 4 footage. Here’s hoping for Quakecon: Doomcon Edition.

Quakecon Official Site

id Software & Bethesda release 35GB RAGE Mod Toolkit via Steam

Action Adventure, FPS, Game Development, Gaming, Hacks & Mods, Tech, Video No Responses »

Feb 112013

Prolific FPS game studio Id Software has finally released the mod tools for 2011′s RAGE. While it was quite a long wait, it looks like it will prove to be worth it. The RAGE Mod Tools are basically the same tools (id Studio) that id Software used to make RAGE and presumably what they’re using to make Doom 4. With these tools you can modify the RAGE game in various ways, including changing weapon functions, making new levels, adding customized elements to the game, character skins and more. Basically, you get to work directly with the ID TECH 5 engine.

While the RAGE Mod Toolkit is free, there is a performance and time cost that will make this tool newbie prohibitive. It’s a 35GB install, and if you install it how id Software recommends, it actually takes up about 43 gigs. While these numbers may see shocking to some, industry veterans know that it’s not uncommon to have a AAA game engine with built in assets go into the dozens of gigabytes. John Carmack, who wrote the ID TECH 5 engine (and all previous id Software engines), gives fair warning to aspiring modders, “The toolkit release is not something that we consider consumer friendly, but it does let you get a look inside the construction process.” He goes on to say, “Doing significant work will require patience, because internally we use a 300 core renderfarm for megatexture creation.”

For many game developers, they got their start in the industry by modding PC games. Heck, a large portion of id Software’s staff came from the (Doom & Quake) modding community, including their studio director Tim Willits. RAGE Mods are already being made, including the first one thats been publicly shown. A rocket turret by modder havok13888.

Check out the first public RAGE Mod below (go fullscreen for larger image)…

As you can see in the video, it’s running quite choppy. As mentioned above, the system requirements for the RAGE Mod Tools are very high. The faster and more beefy your system specs are, the better it will run. havok13888 recorded the video with his iPad because screen capturing would’ve made it even worse. Once he exports the mod, it will run with normal performance in the game.

The RAGE Mod Toolkit is downloadable via Steam in the Tools section.

Now then, who’s gonna make Doom’s E1M1 map for RAGE first?

You can read the RAGE Toolkit FAQ and Getting Started Guide on Bethesda’s blog.

RAGE on Steam

Id Software Twitter