Editing Quake (video game) (section)

====As a melee action game (1994-95)====
A return to the ''Quake'' concept was raised by John Romero in a meeting in late 1994, when discussing the next [[Game engine|engine]] and main project after the completion of ''[[Doom II]]''. Newer members of the team, including [[American McGee]] and [[Sandy Petersen]], had not been present for the original D&D campaign or game project, but were on board with the idea after it was explained to them, and the team was then in agreement about the broad direction of the title. In a December 1, 1994, post to an online bulletin board, John Romero wrote, "Okay, people. It seems that everyone is speculating on whether Quake is going to be a slow, RPG-style light-action game. Wrong! What does id do best and dominate at? Can you say "action"? I knew you could. Quake will be constant, hectic action throughout – probably more so than Doom".<ref>{{Cite journal |date=October 1995 |title=Quake Short Stories |journal=Maximum: The Video Game Magazine |publisher=[[Emap International Limited]] |issue=1 |page=135}}</ref>

The team entered into an R&D phase while Carmack was working on the engine. By 1995, the outline for the game included a medieval setting, hand-to-hand combat, thrown weapons, an area of effect attack with the hammer, and feeding souls to the Hellgate Cube.<ref name="doomguy 198-213" /> Some early information on ''Quake'' was released publicly, focusing on a [[Thor]]-like character who wields a giant hammer.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Longden |first=Willie Francis |date=June 1994 |title=This Horse Is A Norse |url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=119 |department=The Rumor Bag |magazine=Computer Gaming World |pages=178}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Lombardi |first=Chris |date=July 1994 |title=To Hell and Back Again |url=http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1994&pub=2&id=120 |magazine=Computer Gaming World |pages=20–24}}</ref><ref name=Max6>{{Cite journal |last1=Jevons |first1=Daniel |last2=Leadbetter |first2=Richard |date=May 1996 |title=The Maximum id Inquisition Begins Here! |journal=Maximum: The Video Game Magazine |publisher=[[Emap International Limited]] |issue=6 |pages=96–97}}</ref> A close up of Quake holding his hammer was on the cover of ''[[PC Gamer]]'' for the October 1995 issue, and screenshots showed medieval environments and a dragon.<ref name=PCGamer/> Romero revealed in 2023 that the dragon model was never actually implemented, and had simply been placed in the sky for the screenshot. The plan was for the game to have more role-playing-style elements.<ref name="doomguy 214-235">{{harvnb|Romero|2023|pp=214–235}}</ref> An ''[[Aztec (video game)|Aztec]]'' style texture set was developed for the project, but the set was not used due to artistic opposition from American McGee, who preferred a more heavy metal themed look for his levels. This second texture set was used for the Vaults of Zin.<ref>{{harvnb|Romero|2023|pp=236–247}}</ref>

Before gameplay could be worked on in earnest, Carmack would need to build the game engine which was a significant undertaking, and took much longer than anticipated.<ref name="doomguy 198-213" /> Carmack was not only developing a fully 3D engine, but also a TCP/IP networking model. Carmack later said that he should have done two separate projects which developed those things- the networking model first, used for a game which was otherwise in the ''Doom II'' engine, and then the 3D overhaul for a second title.<ref name="doomguy 248-274">{{harvnb|Romero|2023|pp=248–274}}</ref> The [[Quake engine|''Quake'' engine]] popularized several major advances in the genre: polygonal models instead of [[prerendered]] [[sprite (computer graphics)|sprites]]; full 3D level design instead of a [[2.5D]] map; prerendered [[lightmap]]s; and allowing end users to partially program the game (in this case with [[QuakeC]]), which popularized fan-created [[Mod (computer gaming)|modifications (mods)]].