Another iPhone 'Quake' Port Strives for App Store Acceptance
posted by Blake Patterson on November 25th, 2008 10:11 AM EST in Shooter, Upcoming Games, iPhone games, iPod touch games
Kevin Arunski of TMSOFT contacted us regarding a port of Quake that he and developer Todd Moore have created based on id Software's GLQuake source code.
Quake is heavily dependent on using a keyboard and mouse so adapting player controls that didn’t take away from game play was very important. The accelerometer was used to handle player movement by tilting left, right, forward, and backward. The iPhone's ability to track up to 5 individual touches at the same time meant the touch screen could easily support free look while pressing jump or fire.
The graphics were rotated to landscape mode using the full screen resolution of 480×320 and native Open GL ES. Numerous optimizations were added to make full use of the iPhone’s PowerVR MBX GPU. The game currently runs at 20 to 30 frames per second and includes effects like perspective correct multi-textured polygons, trilinear/anisotropic filtering, alpha blended explosions, and depth testing.
The sound was implemented using Open AL and network support enabled using the WiFi connection. The menu system received a button overlay for the arrow keys, escape, and enter buttons along with a keyboard popup for entering things like player name or IP address
Features:
- Native OpenGL ES – optimized for the iPhone
- Keyboard and menu – all console commands supported
- Accelerometer controls player movement
- Multi-touch controls – free look, fire and jump
- Multiplayer support using Wifi network
The developer informs us they are currently looking at options for licensing the game from id and publishing it through the App Store.
While the Quake source code and original map files for all of the levels are released under the GPL, signoff from id Software would be required for the game to make it into the App Store. id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead recently contacted us regarding homebrew maverick ZodTTD's announcement that he would be bringing a Quake port to the App Store. Hollenshead informed us that ZodTTD's port would be illegal and not sanctioned by the company and, as such, not allowed in the App Store.
Many of our readers have expressed an eagerness to see Quake running on their iPhone. Here's hoping we see an official release before long.
Id prob. wants to make some money out of this deal
so either the developer would have to pay a hefty licensing fee, and would they release it to the app store for free?
or Id releases it
i figured the other announcement for it being released for free was kinda sketchy…cause the guy didn't own the game
but hey, we have cube
I've got to say that Quake is a lot better a game than Cube.
Id should be thrilled that people are keeping there work alive.
Charge 5 bucks, give a dollar to apple, a dollar to Zod, and the rest to Id.
They would easily have 100k downloads by the end of the week.
Kneel before Zod.
/geek
THAT looks like a game, not just like a tech demo.
Seems to have good and FULL controls and a niiice framerate
Damn licensing stuff…..please make it happen.
@ Hutch,
@ 5 bucks, and apples 30%, they will take no less than $1.50
but i do agree…Id could make a lil bit of cashflow off of this
i wonder if they actually have it being ported by themselves right now
This port is the best that I've seen so far and TMSOFT is an actual company with existing iphone products so maybe there is a chance for this to happen… From the video it looks like they have done a good job mapping the accelerometer and freelook controls. I really hope licensing doesn't get in the way as I would love to be able to play this on my iphone. I wonder what they would charge?? $5 seems reasonable as mentioned above, but I would go as high as $10 to get a good playable full version.
I agree, I think that using the accelerometer for movement and a touch based freelook is the way to go. The hard part that many of these FPSs are going to run into is shooting and jumping since you have to cover up part of the screen (as well as freelook). Oh well, this is a great step in the right direction.
Now, bring on the Red Alerts of the world!!!!!
I'm thinking between this video and what I've seen from Cube, the iphone isn't really a good platform for FPSs. Those controls look ridiculously frustrating.
jailbroken ftw
@rafael
ive played quake on my jailbroken 2.2 ipod touch, and the controls are NOT frustrating at all.
Why must such talented people waste their time messing around other people's ip? It seems to me they had all the talent to rip off Quake so flawlessly, they aught to have the talent to make their own ip which they can legally give away for free.
way to go!
@ArtOfWarfare
While I agree with you in principle, this is a PORT from an existing code base and existing assets. My guess is that the developers have neither the time or talent to make this game from scratch, not to mention the assets.
why does this stuff even receive press if we know it wont get accepted. Correct me if im wrong but didnt the shareware of quake consist of the first episode??? If they released just the shareware would it still be illegal? They could release that and provide the level of interest to id and move on from there
Quake is quake…. why not mod it? Levels, bad guys… what not.
Call it Kwaic. I'd still buy it if it had the game play.
Apple… if your stealthly looking in on these posts… just put you foot down and let us know what is what. The money will flow and Steve likes money!
Do the same with Duke Nukem 3D and I'll be in heaven!
wolfenstein 3d and doom, in that order
needs new assets. can't use id's graphics. go with some mod.
Ipod touch GTA FTW!!!
No matter what I've been playing ZOD's version since, 2.0 was jailbreaked, (in other words LONG BEFORE you guys started making a Quake port, in which already was started on before FW versions of iPhones, but the 2.0 version was created for the AppStore idea)
Anyways, ID it wont be accepted your version, and if it were, you probably have to pay allot for the license(and keep paying them till iPhone App Store dies, they won't simply pay 1 fee, they would charge you % of your winnings on every sale). Thats what the original Quake owners will do to you, as for reality.
The only good idea… yes as mentioned before here, MOD IT to be a different game, and you would be well off Really good Accepted on AppStore
The problem for id Software… they don't want to see Apple Inc. profiting from Quake while they make ZIP! Yes, even if its released FREE in the AppStore, Apple can run a commercial showing off the Quake app and increasing iPhone and Ipod Touch sales by another 2.5% for the quarter. And Apple WILL do it!!
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like iD is being very clear here on the legalities associated with the GPL. Fortunately, I can be clear where they chose not to be:
http://www.christopherprice.net/quake-on-iphone-illegal-isnt-id-really-needs-spoeksperson-756.html
@Christopher. I haven't looked into the terms and what's included in Quake source release, but I assumed that it was the Quake graphics/maps that ID laid claim to, rather than the source.
Arn, as I indicated on my blog article on the matter… if that was the reason, there are several (perfectly legal) ways to work around that (already in use on other App Store ports and games).
For example, the app could download the shareware version of Quake from ID's web site, extract it, and deploy the maps inside of it. Alternatively, the iPhone could allow emailing or uploading of maps from another legal copy. Or, they could simply enable a switch for third-party mods and ignore the original maps completely.
None of these iD addressed, part of why I'm ticked that they so broadly over-generalized, poisoning the idea pool… it's really a chilling effect when a large company is willing to say something like that, I won't go as far as to call it a lie of omission… but it's certainly misleading to say any port of Quake is prohibited from the App Store.
I agree. It is clearly possibly for a dev to make a port that will creep by apple restrictions.