IF Quake Takes Fragging To Whole New Level

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IF Quake Takes Fragging To Whole New Level

Posted by simoniker on Wednesday March 31, 2004 @06:36PM from the typing-of-the-gib dept.

Thanks to ShackNews for pointing to the impressive technical feats showcased at the unofficial IF Quake page, which bills itself as "...a port of id Software's Quake 1 engine to the Inform programming language." The site includes riveting in-game screenshots, and the FAQ page has important info on bugs with this genuinely playable, downloadable Alpha release, noting: "IF Quake interfaces directly with the Quake engine, which was obviously not designed for [this advanced] output. The errors you see related to audio and OpenGL are due to the fact that the engine is being tricked into thinking it's running normally." Rumors that John Carmack will be switching Doom 3 to this impressive new engine are yet to be substantiated, however.

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Re:Are the downloads real? by simoniker · 2004-03-31 18:43 · Score: 3, Informative

The game is fully playable, and actually pretty good fun, too.
Re:FPS games are just not playable with text by citizenc · 2004-03-31 18:56 · Score: 4, Informative

Check out TTYQuake. :)
works by Profe55or+Booty · 2004-03-31 18:56 · Score: 5, Informative

if anyone's waiting for someone to confirm, there is an actual game on that site. obviously not as advertised, but there's a game. haven't found anything too interesting yet, but i'll be damned if i don't beat this thing.

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sig - .
A somewhat real mirror by Adam9 · 2004-03-31 19:08 · Score: 2, Informative

The site is getting pounded. Here's part of it..

Mirror
Re:This is lame by Ziffy · 2004-03-31 19:10 · Score: 2, Informative

not a very good start for April Fools.

I agree, a wee bit too contrived. The best 4/1 jokes slip right past you. I think over the years we have all learned to become hyper critical of stories posted on 4/1 thus making it harder and harder to slip one by.

It's funny you two should say that, for two reasons...

First, this isn't the first 4/1 joke. The poll and the Gmail story must have slipped by you.

Second, this isn't a joke. I downloaded it and I'm playing it right now.
Re:FPS games are just not playable with text by Sancho · 2004-03-31 19:18 · Score: 2, Informative

I think you want this.
Re:Are the downloads real? by lxs · 2004-03-31 19:18 · Score: 4, Informative

No, you just need the quake.z5 file in the ifquake folder and an infocom interpreter like frotz. Basically, it's a text adventure that pokes some gentle fun at quake 1.
>n East Slipgate Room As you walk up the plain wooden stairs, the metal bars retract into holes in the ceiling, like some sort of medieval supermarket door. To call the area you walk into next a room would be a deep insult to rooms everywhere (and lord knows they're an easily offended lot). This closet has two very small bodies writhing in agony on the walls and an archaic-looking metal slipgate in front of you to the north. And that's it. Clearly the designers of this room expected you to be wowed by the aquatic passageway they installed in lieu of a normal door to the previous room. >examine bodies The bodies are crucified to the walls on your right and left. They seem to be emaciated, but also rather small in comparison to your ample girth, suggesting that these were perhaps some unfortunate Leprechauns who had one too many drinks on St. Patrick's Day. Interestingly, they appear to be thrashing about in near unison, making you wonder if they were in fact some sort of synchronized agony team. >
and so on.
Re:Inform programming language? by darc · 2004-03-31 19:19 · Score: 5, Informative

The inform language is an object orienated programming language designed for easy implementation of text based adventure games. It uses a well defined object hierarchy structure, that allows you to define parent child relationships easily, as well as move stuff around. The syntax is similar to C, but not quite, and a bit quirky with commas in parts.

Most uses of inform are with the Library, a selection of functions and support thingies written to facilitate IF writing.

It's turing complete, if you were wondering.

Very nifty. Chief competetor is TADS.

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Tired of legitimate data sources? Try UNCYCLOPEDIA
"Complete" list of April Fools Jokes for 2004 by Urgo · 2004-03-31 19:37 · Score: 5, Informative

I'm trying to keep a list of all the sites pulling pranks for 2004. Visit the site to see the up to the minute list and to submit new ones.

Current list:

www.urgo.org
mrtwig.net
southparkx.net
www.suprnova.org
www.cowsponge.com
Google
Slashdot
fark.com
www.thinkgeek.com
www.pimpworks.org
www.whirlpool.net.au
planetnintendo.com
Google Job
evercrest.com
www.heise.de (not sure if its a joke.. german)
www.homestarrunner.com
Weekly World News

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Belive in Technology and AMAZE yourself. -- RIP ZDTV/TechTV
Re:Inform programming language? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-03-31 21:57 · Score: 1, Informative

There are several other systems as well. For example Quest would let you make multiplayer version. You'd need to be quite a fast typer to play a deathmatch I suppose.
Screenshots from Others Quake1 Engines by Tei · 2004-04-01 00:38 · Score: 2, Informative

Here:
http://wiki.quakesrc.org/index.php/Engines

This is a short list of actual Quake engines. You can pick DarkPlaces and ZQuake has the best Linux/Windows engine (QW and NQ), and fuhquake/Darkplaces/Telejano has the better Windows engines (QW,NQ and NQ respectively).

If you want to jump directly to the cool stuf, go here:
http://wiki.quakesrc.org/index.php/The%20be st%20of %202003%20Screenshots%2C%20by%20Tei

If you use linux, copy and paste the url, if you use windows, type it carefully (naa.. j/k)

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-Woof woof woof!
Files mirrored by loonyboi · 2004-04-01 03:31 · Score: 4, Informative

Hi everyone...I've moved the actual downloadable files to FileShack, as my server's being hammered relentlessly:

All three versions can be downloaded here:

http://www.fileshack.com/file.x?fid=4807

Thanks!

-jason

PS: YES, this is a real game.
Re:Maybe I'm the only one PLAYING the game... by loonyboi · 2004-04-01 05:53 · Score: 2, Informative

That's a bug, I'm afraid...you have to press the button on the wall, except there's no way of knowing it's actually there!

Just type "press button" and it will work.

Sorry about that. In the rush to get it out last night, I missed that one. :(

(This will be fixed in a release tonight)
Re:Are the downloads real? by Schnapple · 2004-04-01 05:56 · Score: 2, Informative

Yeah, I'm suprised it's not some april fools joke.
It's sorta an April Fool's joke. The joke is that it's a "port" - this joke is supported by the notion that the game pulls some tricks like it's the GLQuake console, and the website implies that you need the PAK files from a shareware or registered Quake. You don't. It's not a port at all - it doesn't use Quake code or use any Quake resources.
What it really is is just damn clever. It would be interesting to see if this provokes a more mainstream interest in interactive fiction.

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Schnapple