id Tech

This article is about the game engines. For the summer computer camp company, see Internal Drive.

Quake family tree, showing games and engines based on the Quake engine.

id Tech is a series of separate game engines designed and developed by id Software. Prior to the presentation of the id Tech 5-based game Rage, the engines lacked official designation and as such were simply referred to as the Doom and Quake engines, from the name of the main game series the engines have been developed for. "id Tech" numbers 2, 3, and 4 have been released as free software under the GNU General Public License, along with the source code to Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake.

According to Eurogamer.net, "id Software has been synonymous with PC game engines since the concept of a detached game engine was first popularised." However id Tech 4 had far fewer licensees than the Unreal Engine from Epic Games, and id planned to regain the momentum with id Tech 5,[1] until they were bought by ZeniMax Media which intends to keep the id Tech engines exclusively for id's sister studios.

Predecessors

id Software had developed 3D engines for several games before Doom. Each game's engine had progressively more advanced 3D technology.

id Tech 1

Main article: Doom engine

Previously known as the "Doom engine". The Doom engine powers the id Software games Doom and Doom II: Hell on Earth. It was created by John Carmack, with auxiliary functions written by Mike Abrash, John Romero, Dave Taylor, and Paul Radek. Originally developed on NeXT computers, it was ported to MS-DOS for Doom's initial release and was later ported to several game consoles and operating systems. The code was also reused for other titles, such as Heretic and Hexen: Beyond Heretic (by Raven Software), and Strife: Quest for the Sigil (by Rogue Entertainment).

id Tech 2

Main articles: Quake engine and Quake II engine

Previously known as the "Quake engine" and/or "Quake II engine", and originally written to power 1996's Quake, written by id Software. It featured true 3D real-time rendering and is the first id Tech engine to use the client–server model.

The Quake engine was updated with a new executable titled QuakeWorld that contained code to enhance the networking capabilities of Quake in response to the demand for across-internet network games that arose as a result of Quake's usage of UDP for networking. It was later updated again for Quake II with enhancements such as colored lighting and a new MD2 model format.[3]

id Tech 3

Main article: id Tech 3

Previously known as the "Quake III Arena engine", is a game engine developed by id Software for their video game Quake III Arena.

The Quake III Arena engine was updated to patch 1.26 and later versions are called "Quake III Team Arena engine" with a new MD4 skeletal model format and huge outdoor areas. It was later updated again for the "Return To Castle Wolfenstein engine" and included a new single player scripting system.

id Tech 4

Main article: id Tech 4

Previously known as the "Doom 3 engine", id Tech 4 began as an enhancement to id Tech 3. During development, it was initially just a complete rewrite of the engine's renderer, while still retaining other subsystems, such as file access, and memory management. The decision to switch from C to the C++ programming language necessitated a restructuring and rewrite of the rest of the engine; today, while id Tech 4 contains code from id Tech 3, much of it has been rewritten.[4]

id Tech 5

Main article: id Tech 5

This engine is being used for id Software's franchise "RAGE". The engine based on the file system frameworks, some technologies included are the GUI system from id Tech 4, including a new renderer, MegaTexture 2.0 technology, soft shadows and more. id is requiring companies that use the engine to publish their games through id's sister company, Bethesda Softworks.[5]

id Tech 6

Main article: id Tech 6

id Tech 6 is an upcoming game engine with "Doom" under development by id Software.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Tom Bramwell. "id Tech 5 : Steve Nix on the growth of id's next engine]". eurogamer.net.
  2. ↑ "Shadowcaster at Ravensoft.com". Raven Software. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
  3. ↑ Archived id Tech2 page mentioning Hexen II and QuakeWorld as examples of the engine, and referring to the "QUAKE and QUAKE II sections" of their technology download page.
  4. ↑ Q&A with John Carmack, E3 2002 Archived January 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-08-12-id-tech-5-only-for-bethesda-titles

External links

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