Quake

Quake

Update: 2025-07-15
Share

Description

TCW Podcast Episode 238 - Quake


 


We dive into the development of Quake, the ambitious and turbulent follow-up to Doom from ID Software. John Carmack set out to build a groundbreaking engine featuring full 3D rendering, dynamic lighting, and client-server multiplayer. This pushed the technical boundaries in a pre-GPU world. To achieve this, he brought in legendary programmer Michael Abrash from Microsoft, selling him on the vision of Quake as a step toward the metaverse as imagined in Snow Crash. Meanwhile, John Romero envisioned Quake as a fantasy RPG inspired by a character from his D&D campaign, but lack of direction and his growing obsession with Deathmatch led to team frustration and eventual fallout. The result was a game that redefined first-person shooters and laid the groundwork for decades of engine development. It also marked the end of an era at ID with the ouster of John Romero.


 


TCW 030 - DOOM!: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/doom-1479057917/


TCW 197 - The ID of Game Development: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-id-of-game-development/


Doom States and DeHackEd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTa3diypjv4


P2P vs Dedicated Servers?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt3ZLHKcP2U


Token Ring - The Betamax of Networking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjLctlmZSp4


Artie - The Strongest Man In the World: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6Bh3LskNbs


Space Strike (DOS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtDdEuKFQps


Cosmic Crusader (DOS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKOTa5iQAw8


Big Top (DOS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXUCacgF72M


Snack Attack II (DOS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu-SEjcnnjo


So You Haven't Read "Snow Crash": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO64ZhBYy9E


Ramblings in Realtime by Michael Abrash: https://www.bluesnews.com/abrash/


QuakeWorld Launch Event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXw6BkZ-gdY


Quake (DOS 6.22): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyLC1vR9oGk


Quake Longplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7GagGXXUtI


Excerpt Quake Postmortem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2OE-74bTQw


 


New episodes are on the 1st and 15th of every month!


 


TCW Email: feedback@theycreateworlds.com 


Twitter: @tcwpodcast


Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theycreateworlds


Alex's Video Game History Blog: http://videogamehistorian.wordpress.com


Alex's book, published Dec 2019, is available at CRC Press and at major on-line retailers: http://bit.ly/TCWBOOK1


 


 


Intro Music: Josh Woodward - Airplane Mode -  Music - "Airplane Mode" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/song/AirplaneMode 


Outro Music: RoleMusic - Bacterial Love: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Rolemusic/Pop_Singles_Compilation_2014/01_rolemusic_-_bacterial_love 


 


Copyright: Attribution: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Comments 
In Channel
RCA Studio II

RCA Studio II

2025-10-0101:22:38

Fumito Ueda

Fumito Ueda

2025-09-1501:24:16

Quake

Quake

2025-07-1501:21:48

Jordan Mechner and Karateka

Jordan Mechner and Karateka

2025-06-1501:23:51

Coin-op Legends of Japan

Coin-op Legends of Japan

2025-06-0101:21:08

Yu Suzuki

Yu Suzuki

2025-05-1501:32:23

Baldur's Gate

Baldur's Gate

2025-05-0101:17:28

All the Other Home Pongs

All the Other Home Pongs

2025-04-1501:28:41

Street Fighter 2

Street Fighter 2

2025-04-0101:28:50

US Gold

US Gold

2025-03-0101:09:51

PopCap Games

PopCap Games

2025-02-1501:39:01

Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong

2025-02-0101:28:22

Ray Kassar

Ray Kassar

2025-01-1501:27:11

Games by Apollo

Games by Apollo

2025-01-0101:29:55

loading
00:00
00:00
x

0.5x

0.8x

1.0x

1.25x

1.5x

2.0x

3.0x

Sleep Timer

Off

End of Episode

5 Minutes

10 Minutes

15 Minutes

30 Minutes

45 Minutes

60 Minutes

120 Minutes

Quake

Quake

Alex Smith, and Jeffrey Daum