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Mass Appeal & Promotion
Right off the bat, id Software will have a sizable group
of hardcore fans who will give Quake Live a chance. They will have to make the initial experience players have enjoyable and easy. Starting a wiki or producing video tutorials like was done with Enemy Territory: Quake Wars would be a great idea to introduce beginning players into the game. I believe the hardest group to reach will be those labeled as causal gamers and those focused with other gaming genres such as massive multiplayer online role-playing games. Running contests for money prizes and other incentives could help greatly in spurring interest with those who wouldn't give Quake Live a chance starting out. Online tournaments with prizes would be a great way to help spur interest once the game is released. Whether it be ladders or sponsored tournaments, Quake Live's competitive online presence has a great chance of taking off. Officially sponsored tournaments by id Software would be a great way to inaugurate
the game.
Miss Communication
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| Video of id CEO Todd Hollenshead announcing the Quake Live concept and other id projects at QuakeCon 2007. |
From the day id Software announced Quake Live, formally known as Quake Zero, the common misconception has been that the game would be some sort of shockwave based game. While this misconception has spurred the game's discussion online, it probably hasn't helped in defining what id is really trying to accomplish with Quake Live. From the beginning, Quake3 lacked polished in-game GUI features such as server browsers, statistics, and community features such as matchmaking and voice chat. id Software tried to rectify this problem with the Team Area add-on pack, but that attempt did not fix the problem. Although Team Arena featured a new slick GUI and server browser, it still lacked any online companion such as global statistics or player community features. The Quake3 community choose to stay fragmented, with players meeting on Instant Relay Chat channels or using software such as XFire to find opponents. Thankfully, this misconception is now largely understood now after a recently disseminated press release stating that Quake Live will offer gamers
"a downloadable Client allowing them to launch into an updated free-to-play iteration of the game."
Isn't Quake3 Already Free?
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| A screenshot from the Urban Terror modification, now available as a free stand-alone game based using the Quake3 engine. |
At QuakeCon 2005, John Carmack announced that like the rest of
the id catalog, Quake3's source code would also be released for free. While this technically opens the game to be modified and distributed by anyone, all of the game's graphics, maps, and other content are still copyrighted and are unable to be distributed for free. Sadly, this great chance to make the most of having the game's base code available for developing new content has not been exploited to its full potential. FrozenSand LLC., developers of the Urban Terror modification
are one of the few organizations that have used the Quake3 source to release a
full-stand alone game. While the specifics of Quake Live are not known yet, the general idea of the project could have been already designed and implemented by a third party if they choose to. What id Software brings to the table is a highly skilled development team with a proven track record of doing their best to make
games succeed. They are also are the most familiar with the Quake3 code base and have the financial and marketing muscle to make the concepts associated with Quake Live have the best chance of succeeding. While not officially announced, we can most likely expect all of the classic Quake3 maps along with a selection of new content. New and current level designers at id Software have been assigned to assist on the Quake Live project.
Improving a Proven Product
Bringing a new game to the market is always a risky endeavor
for any company. Companies such as id Software, which finance their projects
internally, can afford to take more chances than the average small gaming
developer being financed by a publisher or investors. Developing the Quake Live
concept was really a brilliant idea. The project turnaround time will be relatively low and the brand is always an established commodity. The challenge comes in marketing Quake Live to the general gaming community. It is easy to tell that id Software is deeply committed to making the project become a success, going as far as forming a separate team inside their small organization that is focusing on Quake Live.
While Quake3 evolved into a highly polished work of art in many respects, the game's graphical user interface, server browser, and ease of use features such as auto downloading left a lot to be desired. While not an issues to the majority of Quake3 players
today, editing your config file for widescreen support is not something that Quake Live players should have to do. Along with having true widescreen support, the game should have a plethora of options available inside a re-designed options menu. The work id Software has done with Quake4's GUI is a great example of how Quake3 should have been.
From the moment I heard the Quake Live concept announced
at QuakeCon 2007, I was excited and interested in how the idea would be played out. I believe players will be comfortable playing inside an advertisement driven environment as long as the content delivered is high quality and the community is vibrant. Plans have to be put in place to spur initial interest in the game. This will attract new players to the game along and lure the old guard back to the game they loved. id Software must take advantage of the large amounts of community developed content already available and allow it to be ported over to Quake Live. Establishing a payment system for developers to earn money from their freely distributed creations would bring a needed added incentive.
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