It's a very interesting look into the shift from plain game logic to cinematic style that happened across the Quake series and games in general, and also the ways that narrative can come through...
It's a very interesting look into the shift from plain game logic to cinematic style that happened across the Quake series and games in general, and also the ways that narrative can come through outside of the modern cinematic style.
I remember as a kid being very confused and disappointed by the lack of connection between the story in the manual of the original Quake and the actual game. I wanted to daydream in the settings of games I played and see the game interact with the ideas of my daydreaming, and no experience in playing Quake fit with my early conception of it. Later on, Quake 2 with its actual coherent narrative felt like an acknowledgment of my desire. And then much later on Quake 4 seemed to answer my desire even further. For a while, it really felt like games adopting more of a cinematic style was huge progress as a part of the shift to 3d and realistic graphics. It was brand new and cool. Games that didn't have that style suddenly felt dated and ready to be replaced.
But now the cinematic style is the norm in games. We've seen it explored in tons of ways now. Quake 4 banked on "Quake 2 but modernly cinematic" being enough to carry it, but it was a little late to that. To people no longer starving for the cinematic style, it feels a bit generic outside of a few signature moments. The older games now feel much more distinct with their more experimental approaches to narrative and level design.
I'm really glad the video continues from there by exploring the throwbacks that are the recent Quake 1 and 2 expansions. It's very cool to see the ways the level design can evolve once the designers are unshackled from the idea that Quake campaigns need to get more cinematic to get better for modern sensibilities. I really agree with the video that this was a better way to follow up Quake than a remake or a sequel, and that it's a shame the new levels haven't gotten more attention.
Within just one of five units of the new campaign [Dimension of the Machine], the developers demonstrate complete tonal mastery over the conflicting elements of sci-fi and fantasy that the original completely failed to resolve. Here they are in actual harmony, a sci-fi civilization using their slipgates to explore a magical universe filled with dark secrets man was not meant to know, hidden horrors never meant to be unearthed. The Realm of the Astrologers, using only level design, creates a more coherent narrative than anything in the first game, and a more creative narrative than anything in the second game.
Call of the Machine is so conscious of how the fact that Quake has never had much of a plot or much consistency is actually a kind of artistic freedom if you're willing to look at it that way. It can be reshaped and newly molded into so many strange configurations and still remain faithful to the original campaign.
An even longer video would have something to say at this point about the revival of "boomer shooters" as an indie game genre including Dusk, or about the mapping community that still exists for Quake with the amazing work that is Arcane Dimensions, but this is probably more than enough for one video.
One thing about the original Quake's very loose non-cinematic approach to narrative is that it makes it the perfect base for user-made levels, because tons of styles fit in with it and it's acceptable for a level to provide just mere gameplay arenas without much narrative of its own.
It's a very interesting look into the shift from plain game logic to cinematic style that happened across the Quake series and games in general, and also the ways that narrative can come through outside of the modern cinematic style.
I remember as a kid being very confused and disappointed by the lack of connection between the story in the manual of the original Quake and the actual game. I wanted to daydream in the settings of games I played and see the game interact with the ideas of my daydreaming, and no experience in playing Quake fit with my early conception of it. Later on, Quake 2 with its actual coherent narrative felt like an acknowledgment of my desire. And then much later on Quake 4 seemed to answer my desire even further. For a while, it really felt like games adopting more of a cinematic style was huge progress as a part of the shift to 3d and realistic graphics. It was brand new and cool. Games that didn't have that style suddenly felt dated and ready to be replaced.
But now the cinematic style is the norm in games. We've seen it explored in tons of ways now. Quake 4 banked on "Quake 2 but modernly cinematic" being enough to carry it, but it was a little late to that. To people no longer starving for the cinematic style, it feels a bit generic outside of a few signature moments. The older games now feel much more distinct with their more experimental approaches to narrative and level design.
I'm really glad the video continues from there by exploring the throwbacks that are the recent Quake 1 and 2 expansions. It's very cool to see the ways the level design can evolve once the designers are unshackled from the idea that Quake campaigns need to get more cinematic to get better for modern sensibilities. I really agree with the video that this was a better way to follow up Quake than a remake or a sequel, and that it's a shame the new levels haven't gotten more attention.
An even longer video would have something to say at this point about the revival of "boomer shooters" as an indie game genre including Dusk, or about the mapping community that still exists for Quake with the amazing work that is Arcane Dimensions, but this is probably more than enough for one video.
One thing about the original Quake's very loose non-cinematic approach to narrative is that it makes it the perfect base for user-made levels, because tons of styles fit in with it and it's acceptable for a level to provide just mere gameplay arenas without much narrative of its own.