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Quake's lightning gun bug explained [video]

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Re: Quake's lightning gun bug explained [video]

#21
post #5

They missed the 3rd(!) bug in those few lines of code? The normalization was done before zeroing out the Z component, so the resulting vector isn’t actually normalized.

Not saying I never conjure the spaghetti but whoever coded that really was deep into the tail end of a caffeine, coding and sleep deprivation binge ;)

>whoever coded that really was deep into the tail end of a caffeine, coding and sleep deprivation binge ;)

That's most indie game devs of the period, but more so at id Software which splintered the team during Quake's development due to internal squabbles, causing John Romero and others to leave id.

You can even tell that from the quality of Quake's levels which start with beautifully crafted and intricate levels, and as you approach the end, progress into "whatever, let's just ship it, this is gonna sell" kind of levels that were mostly just boring repetitive filler to pad the play time.

Re: Quake's lightning gun bug explained [video]

#23

Quake was the first PC game I played and still in my top 10 favorite games of all time. The movement STILL feels fresh!

The movement? It was just dull but they fixed it with QuakeWorld.

Bunny hopping is fun until you encounter stairs. They fixed that mechanic in Quake 2 but then everything else about this game is crap. Q3 was OMG, simply amazing

Movement wise, CPM/CQ3 or QuakeLive is where things became fun again

Re: Quake's lightning gun bug explained [video]

#24

Quake was the first PC game I played and still in my top 10 favorite games of all time. The movement STILL feels fresh!

The movement? It was just dull but they fixed it with QuakeWorld. Bunny hopping is fun until you encounter stairs. They fixed that mechanic in Quake 2 but then everything else about this game is crap. Q3 was OMG, simply amazing Movement wise, CPM/CQ3 or QuakeLive is where things became fun again

Modern QuakeWorld has the option of enabling ‘air step’ which allows surfing up stairs. I don’t think the deathmatch purists use it, but it’s become standard in FortressOne (modern QWTF fork).

Re: Quake's lightning gun bug explained [video]

#25
post #5

They missed the 3rd(!) bug in those few lines of code? The normalization was done before zeroing out the Z component, so the resulting vector isn’t actually normalized.

Not saying I never conjure the spaghetti but whoever coded that really was deep into the tail end of a caffeine, coding and sleep deprivation binge ;)

Good chance it was John Carmack, probably one the top 10 programmers of all time. He basically built the Quake engine himself. There is a pretty decent analysis of it here:

* https://fabiensanglard.net/quakeSource/index.php

I recommend checking it out.

EDIT: i was thinking of the analysis done on Quake 2, which is more about the engine:

* https://fabiensanglard.net/quake2/index.php

while the one about is regarding the multiplayer system, which is still an amazing bit of dev.

Github:

* https://github.com/id-Software/Quake

Re: Quake's lightning gun bug explained [video]

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not saying I never conjure the spaghetti but whoever coded that really was deep into the tail end of a caffeine, coding and sleep deprivation binge ;)

>whoever coded that really was deep into the tail end of a caffeine, coding and sleep deprivation binge ;) That's most indie game devs of the period, but more so at id Software which splintered the team during Quake's development due to internal squabbles, causing John Romero and others to leave id. You can even tell that from the quality of Quake's levels which start with beautifully crafted and intricate levels, an…

Yep I’m in this code base a lot, and there’s a lot of this. Some of it by John’s own hand. But you know, if it works, it works. I’ve added plenty of my own bugs in the same spirit.

Re: Quake's lightning gun bug explained [video]

#27
post #10

I don't follow. This code is not C or C++, so it's not actually from Quake. So what's with "this is how this was coded" and "here are the bugs, but it's only my guess"? The code is avaialble, why guess at all?

It's QuakeC - quake's proprietary scripting language that compiled down to a file called progs.dat

I remember Carmack announcing that the scripting language for Quake will be "interpreted ANSI C". Never checked how standard he made it though.

That was back when he posted dev updates in his .plan file.

Re: Quake's lightning gun bug explained [video]

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not saying I never conjure the spaghetti but whoever coded that really was deep into the tail end of a caffeine, coding and sleep deprivation binge ;)

Good chance it was John Carmack, probably one the top 10 programmers of all time. He basically built the Quake engine himself. There is a pretty decent analysis of it here: * https://fabiensanglard.net/quakeSource/index.php I recommend checking it out. EDIT: i was thinking of the analysis done on Quake 2, which is more about the engine: * https://fabiensanglard.net/quake2/index.php while the one about is regarding th…

>probably one the top 10 programmers of all time

By what metric?

Popularity? PR? Net worth? Complex software? Competitive programming? Impact?

For every "top" SE there are tens of similarly skilled engineers that you have never heard of

Re: Quake's lightning gun bug explained [video]

#30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good chance it was John Carmack, probably one the top 10 programmers of all time. He basically built the Quake engine himself. There is a pretty decent analysis of it here: * https://fabiensanglard.net/quakeSource/index.php I recommend checking it out. EDIT: i was thinking of the analysis done on Quake 2, which is more about the engine: * https://fabiensanglard.net/quake2/index.php while the one about is regarding th…

>probably one the top 10 programmers of all time By what metric? Popularity? PR? Net worth? Complex software? Competitive programming? Impact? For every "top" SE there are tens of similarly skilled engineers that you have never heard of

Amount of tickets closed on JIRA lmaoo
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