Q1 - In the Shadows

[sock]

Finally after months of testing, tweaking and huge amounts of coding, drawing and level design I present version 1 of my MOD 'In the Shadows' which features three maps, two game play modes (vanilla/stealth) and a readme file packed full of hints to help ease your way into the MOD.

For people not familiar with the state of Quake 1 nowadays, there are several engine replacements that extend the original format so that more can be done. This MOD relies on the new engines to work with the old Quake 1 assets. You will need a full version of Quake 1 to get this working, so check out steam for a cheap copy. Then download the custom engine (links below) and setup a shortcut using the extra parameters I have specified in the readme file. Once that is done (I know, a bit complex and long winded) you can play the MOD and enjoy the new gameplay modes and have a good old fun journey down memory lane.

Things to note, this is old tech, monsters have square bounding boxes and simple graphics, when playing stealth be aware that hit detection will not be precise and try to learn what size monsters really are. If you are curious to see this in action, drop down the console and type 'r_showbboxes 1' and it will draw they hit detecton bounding box. This will be more apparent in stealth mode because you are trying to avoid waking up the AI and need to distract them with objects around them.

The MOD features, new maps, mapmodels, monsters, animations, texures, sounds, sprites and crazy amount of new code (quake scripting about 3-4K new lines) to create the new game mode, stealth. The maps all support new AI features and they are not the usual quake style, they will hunt you down and play more like DM style bots.

Please take the time to record some demo's with Fitz because this will be the perfect way for me to understand how you played the maps. If there any problems or things you think should be different, please let me know.

Download v1.1 Link (16.6mb)

Web Page v1.1 Readme Moddb

Recommended Engines:

Fitz0.85 Mark V

Game play video's on my youtube channel

Screenshots (1024x768)

Edited April 10, 2013 by sock

[Trempler]

Okay i watched your gameplay vid @ moddb looks pretty cool and i love oldschool stuff, maybe i try it out need to buy q1 again

Edited December 10, 2012 by Trempler

[ShadoW_]

Wow, nice, must to check it later.

[Kedhrin]

freaking awesome dude! did you do a light patch with dark places by any chance?

[-HP-]

This is so full of win.

[Skacky]

Indeed! This is what I wrote on func_msgboard:

I just finished the demo with most of the secrets found, and I have to say this is something. I spent three hours on it and didn't see the time fly. Really awesome cloak & dagger gameplay with great levels and cool situations that make you think. Some parts are really tricky. Stealth games are my favorite genre and it's easy to make a lot of gameplay or level design mistakes, however it works wonders here and the demo is very solid. The only thing I would've liked is footsteps, but the gameplay is still very good as it is.

Amazing architecture and style, it's among the best I've seen in Quake. The castles feel very run-down and at the same time really impressive and somehow alive, with some mysterious aura surrounding them. It's pretty uncanny, even for Quake. I loved the new animations for the monsters. The flavor text was really cool too, with some nice little hints and a cool backstory. I couldn't resist knocking on every door in the second map.

I still need to do these demos, heh.

Edited December 10, 2012 by Skacky

[D3ads]

Damn that looks brilliant, makes me want to reinstall Quake again!

[2d-chris]

nice one

[sock]

This place always surprised me, I really was not expecting anyone to pay much attention to this because, well it is Quake and damn old! My reasons for picking this engine was even after all this time I still think the style and atmosphere are just so good regardless if they are pixelated and made up of crude shapes. Yeah I think you have to be a fan of Quake to really do anything with it nowadays.

I know most people here won't have access to Quake (this is mostly a HL centric site) but I have another video showing some more of the stealth gameplay which was my primary focus for the MOD. I also added a vanilla gameplay setup because I know not everyone in the Quake communities are Thief fans, but I do think the levels really come alive when played in stealth mode instead.

So here is a short video of Stealth gameplay but using the Avoidance system. It is very much like a puzzle where you need to learn where things are going to be and what routes offer the least amount of resistance to being discovered. It also demonstrates all the extra locations and features that have been specially added to create the stealth gameplay experience.

(youtube video with an HD option if you got the bandwidth)

[Skacky]

Well you know, I make maps for Thief which was released in 1998 and I love it.

I wouldn't mind trying to make something with your mod once everything gets released, I really dig the concept and it plays really well.

[PhilipK]

oh quake 1 should try this out

[mjens]

Arcanum Bonus Maps by Tronyn forced me to instal my copy but still I didn't have time to play it... I miss VHE and good old Q1 mapping times!

[sock]

Daz from custom gamer has posted a video review of the start map.

@kedhrin, I have not created any assets (light patch) for DP, this MOD is designed for pixel loving engines!

@seir, nothing like a trip down memory lane, install quake!

[mjens]

Damn, Daz is doing such a great reviews - great to see him still active!

I need to finish my MatSP3... What kind of editor you're using? VHE?

[sock]

What kind of editor you're using? VHE?

I personally use Radiant because I love the floating window arrangement and using one large 2D window. The latest version of radiant even has a special Quake mapping pack so that it can read the old texture format. The compiler tools have command switches for radiant editors so you can use func_groups as well. I know a lot of quake mappers use WC 1.6 and there plenty of tutorials and support files for this version.