Quake

Quake 1: Ray Traced Mod by sultim_t (Dec 2022)

Ricky Grove Blog December 19, 2022 Leave a reply

Even the everyday gamer knows how much graphics technology has advanced over the last few years. The days of the old, pixelated textures on walls and rocks are long gone. So much so that gamers with more advanced skills have gone back to classic games like Doom and have re-coded them to include advanced graphic technology like high-definition textures and ray-traced rendering.

I’m not going to go into detail about ray tracing in this short article. You can find a complete explanation here. Essentially it has to do with how light is reproduced in a 3D game engine. Ray-traced rendering makes everything in a 3D scene look more realistic and believable. This is why adding ray tracing to games like Doom and now Quake is so exciting. The original blocky look to the game is gone. In its place is a more believable environment that adds so much to the atmosphere of horror in the game. This is perfect for those who want to go back and play the original game: it’s a better experience. It is also great for those first-time gamers who didn’t grow up with Doom or Quake.

Although certainly not at the same level of realism as modern games like Elden Ring, the new Quake mod is pretty damn good if you ask me. The sultim_t team deserves a standing ovation for their hard work.

You can download the Quake Ray Traced Mod by clicking the link. We also have a short trailer that sultim_t put on out the mod. The comments for the video are worth a read as well. Of course, you need to buy Quake from Steam in order to get started. The mod is free.


Completely Machinima History with Ben Grussi: Quake III Machinima

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes April 28, 2022 Leave a reply

By Quake III, id Software’s attitude to machinima and modding had changed and consequently few films were made in this engine. Of those that were, Ben highlights the notables from those early years in this episode.



YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes & Links

1.11 Quad God by Tritin Films (Quake III), parts 1-4

screencap: Quad God

5.52 In the Waiting Line by Zero 7 in collaboration with Fountainhead Entertainment (Quake III)

screencap: In the Waiting Line

7.55 Anna by Fountainhead Entertainment’s Anna Kang (Quake III)

screencap: Anna

Completely Machinima History with Ben Grussi: Quake II Machinima

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes March 17, 2022 Leave a reply

In this episode, Ben reviews the notable machinima films made in the early years of the Quake II engine, including skits, a talk show, music videos and some hard hitting documentaries.  This ep also reviews the first real-time live performance of a machinima by The ILL Clan at the Florida Film Festival (2003), which was based on their earlier created characters of Cook Carl and Lenny & Larry Lumberjack. 



YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes & Links

0:36 Hardly Workin’ by The ILL Clan, released 22 August 2000

1:57 Eschaton: Nightfall by Strange Company, released 1 Sept 1999

4:27 Late Nite With Toxy and Essobie, Ep 1, released 24 August 1998

Late Nite with Toxy and Essobie

6:50 Rebel Versus Thug by Ken “3D Filmmaker” Thain, released 10 May 2006

8:10 Rick Jones 2 by Bryan “CrustaR” Henderson, released 25 Nov 1999

9:35 Father Frags Best by Phil Rice (ZS Overman), released 1999

Father Frags Best

13:09 Circus Life Part 1 & Part 2 by Andre “Donnovan” Luis, released August 1998

17:20 Common Sense Cooking With Carl The Cook, realtime performance by The ILL Clan at Florida Film Festival 16 March 2003

The ILL Clan

Completely Machinima History with Ben Grussi: Quake I Machinima

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes February 24, 2022 Leave a reply

In this episode, Ben reminds us where the story of machinima originated in those early Quake movies which have become classic game-based films.  He talks us through the most notable contributions by the pioneers using the Quake 1 engine.  Tune in next month when Ben concludes the history of Quake with reviews of notables in Quake 2 and 3.  You can find links to the films on our blog and some in our YouTube playlist for History of Machinima.



YouTube Version of Episode

Show Notes & Links

Ben reviews classic Quake 1 films from the machinima archives –

0.48 Diary of a Camper by The Rangers, released 26 October 1996

2.00 Torn Apart series by The Rangers, first released 6 November 1996

2.28 Apartment Huntin’ by The ILL Clan, released 17 May 1998

3.23 Eschaton: Darkness Twilight by Strange Company, released 20 January 1998 (by Walking Wounded)

Hugh Hancock, Strange Company

4.30 Blahbalicious by Avatar & Wendigo, released 9 December 1997

5.40 Devil’s Covenant by Clan Phantasm, released 2 August 1998

6.59 Operation Bayshield by Clan Undead, released 24 January 1997

8.02 Zerstorer by Nihilism Unlimited, released 27 September 1997

9.06 Seal of Nehahra by Nehahra Team, released 6 August 2000

9.46 Scourge Done Slick by Quake Done Quick Team, released 25 July 1998

Completely Machinima History with Ben Grussi (January)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes January 27, 2022 2 Comments

Ben reviews some of the major happenings during the month of January in the early days of machinima. Starting with 1997 there’s Operation Bay-Shield. 1998 has the First Quake 2 movie – The Mad Bomber. Rematic, a machinima tool by Anthony Bailey is released in 1999. Also in this year Phil Rice released his notable film, Father Frags Best – a machinima classic. 2000 sees Machinima.com founded and Quad God film was released along with several other notable films. 2002 saw the Reel-Time Challenge contest along with Psyk’s Popcorn Jungle retiring (a big machinima review site). 2003 Anachronox the Movie Part 1 was released. 2004 Red vs Blue second season launched. In 2005 the first noveletta about machinima was written by Mike Hoefflinger called Moving Pictures. In 2006, Hugh Hancock, founder of Machinima.com stepped away from the site to focus on his filmmaking.



youtube version of podcast

Operation Bay-shield (1997) by WendCA

Eschaton: Darkness Twilight (1998) by Strange Company

First Quake 2 Movie: The Mad Bomber (1998)

Rematic (1999) tool created by Anthony Bailey (Quake Done Quick Team). The tool enabled reshoots of existing Quake (1) demos from new perspectives

Father Frags Best (1999) by Phil Rice aka ZS Overman

Quad God (2000) by Tritin Films

A Warrior’s Life (2000) by Donnovan

Ozymandias (2000) by Strange Company

Anachronox: The Movie Part 1 (2003) by Jake Hughes

Rebel Vs Thug (2003) by Ken “3DFilmmaker” Thain – a commercial project with Public Enemy’s Chuck D side project

The Gamer’s Benchmark (2003) by Futuremark released a teaser movies for 3DMark03 – the link is to the full movie after release

Bang the Machine: Computer Gaming Art and Artifacts (17 Jan to 4 April 2004) and The Game Scenes exhibition was created by Stanford Humanities Laboratory and the Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University presented on ‘the pervasive influence of computer game culture’, curated by Galen Davis and Henry Lowood.

Lenny and Larry Lumberjack (2004) by The ILL Clan – a video of excerpts from their premiere performance of On The Campaign Trail at Void in New York City

“Moving Pictures” (2005), a novelette by Mike Hoefflinger, published by Packet Switched Press – the novel is about a group of people who start their own machinima production with the desire to make it to the big time!

I Surrender (2005) by Tristan Pope is mentioned on Blizzard’s World of Warcraft main website page

The Los Angeles Machinima Collective (LAMC) announces their first machinima production William Shakespear’s Mechbeth – the film was never produced!  Ricky was here?!

Ricky Was Here!

Epic Games’ winners of the Grand Finals of the Make Something Unreal Contest (MSUC) for the Non-Interactive Movie Category 2005 –

– The Journey, 1st Place ($25,000)

– Bot, 2nd Place ($15,000)

– Sparked Memory, 3rd Place ($5,000)

– Scrap, 4th Place ($3,000)

– Damnation, 5th Place ($1,500)

Adventures in Dating, first episode (PG13 series) entitled Frustration (2005) by Decorgal