Quake III arena

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Quake III arena
Studio	id software
Publisher	Activision
Senior Developer	Graeme Devine
Erstveröffent- lichung	Windows December 5, 1999 1999 Linux December 27, 1999 Mac OS January 3, 2000 Dreamcast October 21, 2000 2000 PlayStation 2 March 28, 2001 April 6, 2001 August 30, 2001 Xbox 360 (Xbox Live) December 15, 2010
platform	Windows and Linux , Mac OS X , PlayStation 2 , Xbox 360 , Dreamcast
Game engine	id tech 3
genre	Ego shooter
Game mode	Multiplayer
control	Keyboard mouse joypad joystick
system advantages preconditions	Pentium II 266 MHz, 8 MB graphics card
medium	CD-ROM , GD-ROM , DVD , download
language	English
Age rating	PEGI
information	indexed in Germany ; PEGI approval affects Arcade version for Xbox 360 Live

Quake III Arena is a computer game and the third part in the Quake series . The first-person shooter from id Software came the end of 1999 on the market. In Germany, Quake III was indexed by the BPjS (now BPjM ) in January 2000 .

Quake III Arena was next to Unreal Tournament one of the first games that was designed purely for the multiplayer mode and therefore has practically no plot. A single player mode is available, but with the help of AI-controlled “bots” the gameplay of the multiplayer mode is simulated, which is to be understood as training for the game against human opponents in the network.

General

The graphics engine of Quake III Arena ( "id Tech 3") began with the publication of new standards and was even a few years later as the basis for games and as a benchmark used for the processor and graphics performance.

Quake III Arena was id's last major iteration of the Quake game engine . With the game Doom 3 a graphics engine was developed from scratch.

Quake III was released for the Windows , Linux , Mac OS X operating systems and the PlayStation 2 and Dreamcast consoles . An implementation appeared for the Xbox , but it was created with an unlicensed Xbox Development Kit and is therefore not legal and can only be played on modified Xbox consoles. The porting benefited from the fact that the Quake III graphics are based on the platform-independent programming interface OpenGL . The Dreamcast version offered the opportunity to play with four players on the Internet against owners of the PC version.

Most of the game was programmed in C. Only the map editor and some interfaces to external code were implemented in the C ++ language .

License and offshoot

The source code of the game engine - but not the game content such as figure models or textures - was published on August 19, 2005 under the software license GNU General Public License . Among other things, this resulted in the OpenArena fan project (based on ioquake3, a community-based version of the Quake III engine that is still maintained today), which aims to carry out the non-free parts of the game such as the models to replace your own, free models - OpenArena is 100% free and free of charge and you don't need an original copy of Quake III to play.

An originally free, ad-supported version of Quake III Arena with a few additions was released under the name Quake Live in 2010 after a public beta test started in 2009 .

Goal of the game

The goal of the basic Deathmatch mode of Quake III is to get the highest number of points by killing opponents ( Frags ).

There are two possible limitations:

1. Time limit: The aim is to score as many kills as possible in a certain time (used in 1-on-1 or 4-on-4 games with a limit of 15 minutes)
2. Points limit: The aim of the game is to be the first to achieve a certain number of kills (often 20–50 kills on the Internet, then the map is usually changed)

There are different game modes to choose from , typical of multiplayer :

1. Deathmatch , basic game mode in which everyone fights everyone.
2. Tournament: duel.
3. Team Deathmatch. Here kills are only credited if the opponent belongs to the opposing team. Accidental kills by players of your own team will be punished with minus points.
4. Capture the Flag (German: flag robbery). Two teams try to steal each other's flag and bring it to their own base. If this is done, the team receives one point.

Game elements

There are the following power-ups in the game that give the player special abilities for a short time:

• Quad-Damage: The damage effect of the weapons is tripled (despite the name).
• Battle Suit: Protection against lava, acid, drowning and against the explosion radius ( splash damage ) of the weapons.
• Flight: Flight bonus, the player can fly for a certain time. This item is only available on a single map in multiplayer mode (Q3DM19 - Apocalypse Void).
• Invisibility: Invisibility, the player can only be vaguely recognized. In the game mode Capture the Flag , however, the captured flag remains fully visible.
• Haste: increased speed, the running speed of the player and the rate of fire of the weapons are increased.
• Regeneration: The player's life energy is increased by 5 every second as long as the effect lasts. The increase pauses at 200 life points and starts again when the player is injured.
• Personal Teleporter: Teleports the player to a random starting position on the map (portable object).
• Medkit: Portable item that increases the player's hit points (life energy) to 125 if required . It cannot be used if the player has more than 125 life points.
• Mega Health: Color: Blue. Increases the player's life energy by 100 to a maximum of 200.
• 50 Health: Color: Orange / Gold. Increases the player's life energy by 50 (up to a maximum of 100).
• 25 Health: Color: Yellow. Increases the player's life energy by 25 (up to a maximum of 100).
• 5 Health: Color: Green. Increases the player's life energy by 5 to a maximum of 200.
• Heavy Armor: Color: Red. Increases the player's armor by 100 to a maximum of 200.
• Armor: Color: Yellow. Increases the player's armor by 50 to a maximum of 200.
• Armor Shard: Color: Green. Increases the player's armor by 5 to a maximum of 200.

Armor has the following effects: If a player suffers damage, the armor absorbs 66% of the damage (with a corresponding deduction of armor points) and only the rest is subtracted from the life energy. For example, if a player with 100 life points and 100 armor is hit by the "Railgun" (which causes 100 points of damage per hit), he still has 66 life points and 34 armor .

weapons

• Gauntlet ( gauntlet ): A melee weapon that every player owns from the start and that, unlike all other weapons, does not require ammunition. Each contact with an enemy causes 50 points of damage. Rate of fire: 0.4 seconds.
• Machinegun (machine gun): The standard weapon that every player has from the start. The machine gun deals 7 points of damage per shot, and the projectiles hit their target immediately. The machine gun has a slight scattering effect. Rate of fire: 0.1 seconds.
• Shotgun ( shotgun ): 11 projectiles are fired with high dispersion per shot, each projectile causing 10 points of damage, rate of fire: 1 second.
• Grenade Launcher (grenade launcher): Throws grenades in an arc, which explode after a short time or on contact with an enemy and thus can cause up to 125 points of damage, rate of fire: 0.8 seconds, maximum grenade duration: 2.5 seconds.
• Rocket Launcher : Fires rockets in a straight line that explode ( causing so-called splash damage ) as soon as they hit an object. Missiles cause up to 100 points of damage, rate of fire: 0.8 seconds.
• Lightning Gun : Fires a continuous electric beam at the highest rate of fire, but has a limited range, rate of fire: 0.05 seconds (damage: 5 per hit).
• Plasma Gun : Fires flying plasma projectiles at a high rate of fire. The projectiles have a slight explosion radius. Each shot can cause up to 20 points of damage. Rate of fire: 0.1 seconds.
• Railgun (magnetic rail rifle ): The railgun is a precision rifle that shoots a uranium bolt ( slug ) just below the speed of light, which leaves a trail of ionized gas in the air (this is to prevent so-called camping ). 100 points of damage. Rate of fire: 1.5 seconds.
• BFG10K: The game's super weapon. In terms of effect, it can be compared to a rapid-fire rocket launcher. A slightly smaller area damage (explosion radius), but a significantly higher rate of fire. Each shot deals up to 100 points of damage. If a shot hits the BFG10K directly, it does not cause any area damage. Rate of fire: 0.2 seconds. (BFG stands for "Big Fucking Gun", 10K means 10,000. The weapon has its origins in the computer game Doom .)

During the course of the game, the following awards ("medals") can be called out and displayed for a player:

• Excellent: Award for 2 kills within 2 seconds.
• Impressive: Awarded for 2 successive hits with the Railgun.
• Frags: Awarded for 100 kills (only at the end of a match).
• Accuracy: Award for a hit rate of more than 50%.
• Humiliation: Award for a question with the gauntlet ( gauntlet ).
• Perfect: Award for a victory in which the player was not killed once.

Quake III: Team Arena

Quake III: Team Arena is the official expansion for Quake III Arena . It was released in 2000 and was also developed by id Software. While the main game Quake III Arena focused on the various Deathmatch game modes, Team Arena focused on the team-based game mode Capture the Flag and similar team game modes.

In addition to improving the graphics, which was also implemented for the main game via patch, new maps (including extensive outdoor levels), characters with their own language samples, as well as new game modes, weapons and power-ups have been added.

New modes

• One Flag CTF: There is a white flag, which is located in the middle between the two bases and must be brought to the opposing team's fixed flag to score.
• Harvester: Each defeated enemy generates a skull in a place in the middle of the map. To score, the skulls must be picked up by team members and brought to their own base. The opposing team can kill a carrier, which means that the captured skulls are lost.
• Overload: To score, an obelisk must be destroyed in the opposing base, while the obelisk must be protected in your own base.

New weapons

• Chaingun: The Chaingun is a heavy automatic fire rifle which is designed according to the Gatling principle. It's not very accurate, but it has the highest rate of fire in the game.
• Nailgun: The nailgun shoots a fast cloud of nails. The weapon is similar to the shotgun. A shot takes longer, but a single nail does more damage than shotgun shrapnel.
• Proxmine launcher: This weapon fires proximity mines that stick to any surface. If they are not triggered by an enemy, they will explode by themselves after a while. The mines can be destroyed by weapons with splash damage (e.g. the Rocket Launcher ).

New power-ups

• Kamikaze: Triggers a huge explosion that kills the player himself and everyone in his vicinity.
• Invulnerability: impenetrable protective shield for 30 seconds. The player cannot move while the protective shield is active.

Runes

Unlike normal power-ups , runes remain in effect until the player dies:

• Guard: Life energy and armor are increased to 200 points when admitted, and the life energy is then always regenerated to 200 points.
• Scout: The player runs faster and has a higher rate of fire, but cannot pick up armor.
• Doubler: The player's weapons deal double the amount of damage.
• Ammo-Rain: All ammunition is regenerated by itself over time and the rate of fire is increased slightly.

Quake III modifications

Over time, some of the game's numerous modifications have become very popular. Urban Terror , OSP ( Orange Smoothie Productions ), CPMA ( Challenge Pro Mode Arena ), Rocket Arena and Threewave Capture the Flag have proven to be extremely successful , and they significantly expand and complement the game. Since some game fraudsters tried again and again to use unauthorized aids (e.g. aiming aids called Aimbot or wallhacks , with which it was possible to look through walls), additional protection mechanisms were added, such as the anti-cheat program PunkBuster , which prevents cheating should prevent. Since version 1.32 was released, PunkBuster can be activated on request and is now mandatory on public servers.

Various "mods" are examined in more detail below:

• OSP (Orange Smoothie Productions) : A modification that supports tournament games (1 against 1, 2 against 2, 4 against 4) with additional statistics and settings. The standard in tournaments until 2006. However, it is no longer developed.
• Rocket Arena 3 : You play team-based or in a 1-on-1 duel. Players have all weapons (variable) from the start, there are no items such as ammunition or armor. Whoever remains last wins the round (similar to the “Last Man Standing” or “ TAM ” known from Unreal Tournament 2004 ). Rocket Arena was originally developed as a modification for Quake .
• CPMA (Challenge Promode Arena) : Very fast and fluid gameplay, which uses elements from Quakeworld and Quake II in gameplay and game physics . The physics of the game is changed by the modification so that, for example, when jumping with 90 ° changes of direction, the starting speed is not necessarily reduced (centrifugal force), as is the case in normal mode. To this day, CPMA has a relatively small community with particularly experienced players. It became popular with the decision of the CPL to use Quake III Arena as a World Tour game in 2006 with CPMA for tournaments (but with the normal Quake physics). In the meantime, as far as tournament modifications are concerned, CPMA has taken the place of OSP, as the latter is no longer being developed.
• DeFRaG : Trick jump modification, which is played in two variants and with strict separation of two physics systems (Standard Quake3 and Challenge Pro Mode, see above): On the one hand, "Freestyle" on the well-known Q3 standard maps and "Jumpmaps" specially built for this mod ", On the other hand" runs ", in which an obstacle course must be completed with jumping techniques and with the help of the available weapons on time. Record times are recorded on some websites, but overall they are not completely up to date. Since the DeFRaG version 1.91.02 this modification can also be played on the Internet.
• UFreeze : A team deathmatch modification in which the opponents are not shot down, but frozen. As soon as a team has frozen all opponents, it wins the round and receives one point. If a player stays in the immediate vicinity of a frozen team member for 3 seconds, they will be thawed again and can participate in the game again. This gives this mode enormous tactical potential. The name alludes to the English command to stop / stand still ("You! Freeze!").
• Excessive : A quite trivial, but still popular modification that exists in different variants (e.g. Excessive Plus!). At the beginning, all weapons with modified strength and firing sequence are available. In addition, armor and life energy are greatly increased. Most of the time, the modification also allows an extended jumping ability (five jumps in a row), which leads to real flights through the map.
• Chili Quake XXL : A graphics modification that aims to improve the graphics of Quake III Arena to the point where it is comparable to current games. Chili Quake XXL (formerly "Quake 2005 Revolution") uses an improved version of the Quake III graphics engine called "Evolution Q3". This enables the use of fragment and vertex shaders.
• High Quality Quake : This graphic modification created by ZerTerO increases the quality of all buttons, level shots and icons in the game (HUD + Simple Items) and in the main menu. In addition, some bug fixes (from 'The Unofficial Patch') are included.
• NoGhost : A modification developed by Maverick that gives an antibot and the ability to change various variables in the game. In addition, the Mod 3 brings its own game types, "Freezetag", comparable to Ufreeze, "Last man standing" (The last player killed gets the point and the Muckleball type, in which a player gets an advantage through certain power-ups and thus stays alive longer.) NoGhost is mainly played in the 1.16n release (in which there is no PunkBuster yet) which is why the Antibot needs constant updates. The antibot consists of a server and a client modification. To play in leagues, you need both modifications because of the antibot. On ClanBase you can find 3 NoGhost leagues, as well as z. Z. a cup championship (Cup).
• BMA (Black Metal Assault) : BMA is a server-side modification that can be set up on so-called hook servers with the game types Free for All , Team Deathmatch and 1-on-1 . Hook (= Offhandhook, Grapple, Lightining Robe) is an option that allows the character to shoot a kind of grappling hook and pull himself to the point of impact, allowing very quick changes of position. This modification does not require any additional client-side installation, except for Quake III in versions 1.11 or 1.16. The game settings and weapons can be changed in many ways. Some main features are, for example: display of detailed player information ( IP address , character , country recognition, name recognition based on the IP address, connection settings of the client ), bots with 3 different hook speeds, a versatile reward system with which you can play well with different weapons and / or power-ups are rewarded, a complex referee system, cluster grenades which explode at the push of a button into several grenades, as well as into rockets, BFG10k and plasma projectiles. This modification has existed since 2004, but still under the name <666>. In mid-2006 it was renamed BMA. It is updated at regular intervals. Small tournaments and leagues are often held.
• Q3Rally : Q3Rally is one of the most unusual modifications for Quake 3 Arena. It converts the entire gameplay into a racing game, in which, however, armament plays a role that should not be underestimated. After the mod was abandoned by the original team in 2004, it has been brought back to life since 2007. A new version came out in 2007 and an update in 2009. In the meantime, the mod based on ioquake3 has been upgraded to a standalone game. Quake3Arena is no longer necessary to play Q3Rally. The last version was published on May 19, 2016. An updated snapshot version is also available in SVN . This synchronizes the codebase to the status of the last ioquake3 version and allows Q3Rally to be started as a mod for ioquake3.
• Monkeys of Doom : A total conversion that works with cel shading . The current version is specially designed for playing on smartphones and is controlled via touchscreen and acceleration sensor. Symbian OS and Android are currently supported .

Web links

• Quake III Arena at MobyGames (English)
• planetquake.de - German community site with a focus on Quake 3 Arena

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Quake III: Arena Review , ign.com
2. ↑ Quake III Arena , ign.com
3. ↑ Quake III: Arena Review , ign.com
4. ↑ Quake III Arena Arcade Review , ign.com
5. ↑ PEGI approval ( Memento from August 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
6. ↑ Quake 3: Arena Source GPL'ed . In: Slashdot . August 20, 2005. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
7. ↑ ioquake3
8. ↑ excessiveplus.net
9. ↑ http://www.zertero.de
10. ↑ BMA Mod: www.bmamod.6x.to
11. ↑ Q3Rally 1.33 Update: www.q3rally.com
12. ^ Monkeys of Doom mobile