Editing Quake (video game) (section)

====As a first person shooter (1995-96)====
Working with a game engine that was still in development presented difficulties for the designers.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=October 1997 |title=The Great Escape |magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]] |publisher=[[Imagine Media]] |issue=34 |page=44}}</ref> Around fifty levels were developed during the R&D process, but engine changes meant that the team was frequently having to redo work. Much of this needed to be scrapped by the time the engine was completed in late 1995. The team was burned out from the process, and raised the idea of using the existing demo levels for a first person shooter, as it would be faster and less risky.<ref name=Max6/> Romero opposed the change, but relented. The creative differences would ultimately lead to his departure from the company after completing ''Quake''.<ref name="doomguy 248-274" /><ref name=nextgen>{{Cite magazine |date=June 1997 |title=Does John Romero Still Enjoy Shooting People? |url=https://archive.org/stream/NextGeneration30Jun1997/Next_Generation_30_Jun_1997#page/n9/mode/2up |magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]] |issue=30 |pages=9–12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=May 2, 1997 |title=An Audience with John Romero |url=https://archive.org/details/EDGE.N045.1997.05/page/n17/mode/2up |magazine=[[Edge (magazine)|Edge]] |issue=45 (May 1997) |pages=18–23 |quote=My original idea was to do something like ''Virtua Fighter'' in a 3D world, with full-contact fighting, but you'd also be able to run through a world, and do the same stuff you do in ''Quake'', only when you got into these melees, the camera would pull out into a third-person perspective. It would've been great, but nobody else had faith in trying it. The project was taking too long, and everybody just wanted to fall back on the safe thing – the formula.}}</ref>

''Quake'' was programmed by John Carmack, [[Michael Abrash]], and John Cash. The levels and scenarios were designed by [[American McGee]], [[Sandy Petersen]], John Romero, and [[Tim Willits]], and the graphics were designed by [[Adrian Carmack]], [[Kevin Cloud]] and Paul Steed. Cloud created the monster and player graphics using [[PowerAnimator|Alias]].<ref>{{Cite journal |date=April 1996 |title=Earth-Quake! |journal=Maximum: The Video Game Magazine |publisher=[[Emap International Limited]] |issue=5 |pages=124–9}}</ref> Initially, the game was designed so that when the player ran out of ammunition, the player character would hit enemies with a [[gun-butt]].<ref name=Max6/> Shortly before release this was replaced with an [[axe]]. id Software released ''QTest'' on February 24, 1996, a technology demo limited to three multiplayer maps. There was no single-player support and some of the gameplay and graphics were unfinished or different from their final versions. ''QTest'' gave gamers their first peek into the filesystem and modifiability of the ''Quake'' engine, and many entity mods (that placed monsters in the otherwise empty multiplayer maps) and custom player skins began appearing online before the full game was even released.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Davison |first=Pete |date=August 2, 2013 |title=Blast from the Past III: Quaking in Fear |work=[[USgamer]] |url=https://www.usgamer.net/articles/blast-from-the-past-iii-quaking-in-fear |access-date=November 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130804120931/https://www.usgamer.net/articles/blast-from-the-past-iii-quaking-in-fear |archive-date=2013-08-04}}</ref>

Morale on the project was low, and developers were under [[Crunch (video games)|crunch]] from December 1995 through to release in June 1996. Romero has described the process as one of the hardest grinds of his career. He was the only member of the team to attend the office on launch day to upload the files.<ref name="doomguy 248-274" />