Well, not really. There /is/ a game being developed that will be using
the Doom engine, and -based solely on its proposed title, "Motor"- it
will be a game involving cars. But very little else is known about it,
since all that's known about it is taken from a trademark filing.*

But I just couldn't resist the topic line.

Idtech -the brand name for the core software used in Id's various
games from 1993's "Doom" through "Quake" and up to the most recent
"Doom Eternal"- occasionally incrementing its version number as the
years went by and the technology improved. idTech 1 was "Doom"; idTech
2 was used in "Quake"; idTech 3 was "Quake 3", and so forth. "Doom
Eternal" used idTech 7; the general assumption is that the next game
("Doom: The Dark Ages") will be using idTech 8. It's been frequently
licensed to other developers (most prominently in the idTech 3 years,
when it was incorporated into 20+ games) and for a long time it's
always been something of a wonder when first released. Together with
Epic's Unreal Engine, it was seen as the 'high end' of modern gaming
software.

Or at least it used to be. Ever since Carmack left the company, idTech
has lost a lot of its allure and marvel. It's not that it isn't a
powerful engine, but it seems a lot less cutting edge than it once
did. Whether this is because that Id has lost its way or that its
competitors have caught up to Id's prowess is debatable. Even before
Carmack's departure, idTech was starting to trail behind. IdTech4
("Doom 3") did a lot of neat stuff with lighting and bump-mapping, but
it was reputedly hard to work with and didn't output visuals
generationally ahead of any other system. IdTech 5's ("Rage") main
advantage seemed to be 'megatexture' rendering technology, which
didn't offer any significant advantages and fit in poorly with
developer work-flows. IdTech 6 and 7 lacked any real innovations at
all, instead following up on ideas already implemented elsewhere.

So seeing a game advertised as 'powered by idTech' is a lot less
exciting than it used to be. I mean, why should I care? Other than
branding -and nostalgia- what does it mean for the end-user over any
other game-engine?

* here's the filing:
https://trademarks.justia.com/986/07/motor-powered-by-98607273.html

On Sat, 22 Jun 2024 15:41:05 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

> Well, not really. There /is/ a game being developed that will be using
> the Doom engine, and -based solely on its proposed title, "Motor"- it

Something like https://www.moddb.com/mods/quake-rally ?

George Musk <grgmusk@skiff.com> wrote at 21:55 this Saturday (GMT):
> On Sat, 22 Jun 2024 15:41:05 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
>> Well, not really. There /is/ a game being developed that will be using
>> the Doom engine, and -based solely on its proposed title, "Motor"- it
>
> Something like https://www.moddb.com/mods/quake-rally ?

Or more disconnectedly, Sonic Robo-Blast Kart 2 (since thats based on
SRB2 which uses a modified doom engine)
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

On Sat, 22 Jun 2024 21:55:48 -0000 (UTC), George Musk
<grgmusk@skiff.com> wrote:

>On Sat, 22 Jun 2024 15:41:05 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
>> Well, not really. There /is/ a game being developed that will be using
>> the Doom engine, and -based solely on its proposed title, "Motor"- it
>
> Something like https://www.moddb.com/mods/quake-rally ?

Probably not, but who knows. After all, the only information available
is that it's a trademark for a product called MOTOR - POWERED BY
IDTECH", it has something to do with entertainment software, and its
owned by ZeniMax Media.

In truth, it may not even be a game. Id/Bethesda/Zenimax/Microsoft may
just be packaging IdTech as a development engine (hence, 'motor') to
be licensed to others, or even used internally.

But a lack of facts shouldn't stop rampant speculation, so everybody
go wild! ;-)

BTW, hats off to remembering "Quake Rally". I had a lot of fun with
that mod back in the day. I recall being quite impressed that the
Quake engine could be modified so it became a racing game. These days
that achievement seems a lot less significant but back then engines
were often incredibly tailored to a specific task, and modifying them
to do anything else was an extremely inefficient use of resources.

Like, sure, maybe you COULD get turn the engine behind "Super Mario
Brothers 2" into a first-person shooter, but you'd have to do so much
of a rewrite that you'd have been better off just starting from
scratch (the end result would probably run better too).

But QuakeC was such a powerful scripting language that all sorts of
mad projects were possible, even by amateur programmers. It led the
way for Unreal Engine, Lithtech, Unity, and even RoBlox. And
"QuakeRally" was an early indicator of the engine's potential.

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

>
>Well, not really. There /is/ a game being developed that will be using
>the Doom engine, and -based solely on its proposed title, "Motor"- it
>will be a game involving cars. But very little else is known about it,
>since all that's known about it is taken from a trademark filing.*

So something along the lines of the very old game Quarantine?

Xocyll

On Sun, 23 Jun 2024 19:05:17 -0400, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> wrote:

>Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the
>entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
>say:
>
>>
>>Well, not really. There /is/ a game being developed that will be using
>>the Doom engine, and -based solely on its proposed title, "Motor"- it
>>will be a game involving cars. But very little else is known about it,
>>since all that's known about it is taken from a trademark filing.*
>
>So something along the lines of the very old game Quarantine?

Nobody knows. ;-)

But, oh god, does that name take me back. "Quarantine" was a terrible
game but it was technically impressive for its time; it was
essentially "Doom" in appearance but with a massive map, NPCs, and
side-quests. Oh, and what felt like the longest FMV intro cinematic
ever made. Plus a real digitized music (I think alt rock?) soundtrack.

It controlled like ass, was incredibly 90s in tone and was ruthlessly
hard at times, but it felt incredibly innovative.

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

>On Sun, 23 Jun 2024 19:05:17 -0400, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> wrote:
>
>>Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the
>>entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
>>say:
>>
>>>
>>>Well, not really. There /is/ a game being developed that will be using
>>>the Doom engine, and -based solely on its proposed title, "Motor"- it
>>>will be a game involving cars. But very little else is known about it,
>>>since all that's known about it is taken from a trademark filing.*
>>
>>So something along the lines of the very old game Quarantine?
>
>
>Nobody knows. ;-)
>
>But, oh god, does that name take me back. "Quarantine" was a terrible
>game but it was technically impressive for its time; it was
>essentially "Doom" in appearance but with a massive map, NPCs, and
>side-quests. Oh, and what felt like the longest FMV intro cinematic
>ever made. Plus a real digitized music (I think alt rock?) soundtrack.
>
>It controlled like ass, was incredibly 90s in tone and was ruthlessly
>hard at times, but it felt incredibly innovative.

The controls were, well, pretty typical for the era, but all in all I
rather liked the game.

One of the very few games where you drove not walked, and the upgrading
and passenger taking to earn money and ...

It was so much deeper than a DOOM or Quake.

Hrm read the wiki, and I think maybe Joss Whedon might have played it...

"Ten years later OmniCorp decided to test the behavior altering chemical
Hydergine 344 on the population of KEMO. This chemical was supposed to
pacify the citizens and distributed through the city's water supply.
Unfortunately, OmniCorp failed to predict the chemical's reaction to
stagnant water, resulting in massive brain damage and insanity in the
many citizens. More than half the population became crazed killers
overnight."

Sure sounds like the whole Miranda and the Alliance adding G-23 Paxilon
Hydrochlorate killing most and creating the Reavers thing from Serenity.

Xocyll