Challenge ProMode Arena
Encyclopedia
Challenge ProMode Arena (CPMA, formerly Challenge ProMode (CPM), unofficially Promode) is a freeware
modification
for id Software
's first-person shooter
computer game Quake III Arena
(Q3A). CPMA includes modified gameplays that feature air-control, rebalanced weapons, instant weapon switching and additional jumping techniques. It also supports the unmodified vanilla
Quake III (VQ3) physics, multi-view GameTV and demos, enhanced bot
s artificial intelligence
, new maps, highly customisable HUD
and many other features.
Challenge ProMode Arena has become the standard competitive mod for Q3A since the Cyberathlete Professional League
announced CPMA as its competition mod of choice. The mod has its own division in Cyberathlete Amateur League, is used in Electronic Sports World Cup
, and has its own competitions and leagues.
Promode physics have been implemented in other Q3A notable modifications—DeFRaG
and Orange Smoothie Productions
(OSP).
Before the design team began their work the CPM team asked the community to brainstorm
a list of possible changes. The designers used these suggestions in a process of tweaking and testing to develop the Challenge ProMode gameplay. Two public beta versions were then released for feedback and input from the community.
On August 28, 2000 the final version, 1.0, was released which was followed in December 2000 by the project changing its name to Challenge ProMode Arena to reflected the added multi-arena capability as Kevin "arQon" Blenkinsopp became the lead programmer.
(FFA), Team Deathmatch (TDM), Tournament
(DM\1v1), Capture the Flag
(CTF)—CPMA features new game modes: HoonyMode (HM), Not Team Fortress
(NTF), arQmode (APM), Clan Arena (CA), Freeze Tag (FTAG\FT), and Capture Strike (CTFS\CS).
. During the warm-up, each player chooses a spawn-point
or they are randomly generated if none are chosen. One player typically has a "stronger" spawn and the other a "weaker" one. When the game begins the player with the stronger spawn is considered to have the "serve" and each player death is treated as a point. After each point is scored players and the arena are reset and a new point is played; players switch spawn-points, so the player who had the "weak" spawn for the previous point now has the "strong" one, effecting a change of serve. All in-game behaviour (i.e. weapons, physics, etc.) remains the same as in the standard deathmatch.
in which every player spawns with weaponry, health and armor and only respawns after one side has won the round by killing the opposition.
. Teams take turns being Offence or Defence and battle until one team is dead, or the Offence team captures the flag." Each player respawns with weaponry, health and armor.
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
modification
Mod (computer gaming)
Mod or modification is a term generally applied to personal computer games , especially first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and...
for id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
's first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
computer game Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena
Quake III Arena , is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game released on December 2, 1999. The game was developed by id Software and featured music composed by Sonic Mayhem and Front Line Assembly...
(Q3A). CPMA includes modified gameplays that feature air-control, rebalanced weapons, instant weapon switching and additional jumping techniques. It also supports the unmodified vanilla
Vanilla software
Vanilla software is computer software that is not customized from its delivered form - i.e. it is used without any customizations applied to it...
Quake III (VQ3) physics, multi-view GameTV and demos, enhanced bot
Computer game bot
A bot, most prominently in the first-person shooter types , is a type of weak AI expert system software which for each instance of the program controls a player in deathmatch, team deathmatch and/or cooperative human player. Computer bots may play against other bots and/or human players in unison,...
s artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
, new maps, highly customisable HUD
HUD (video gaming)
In video gaming, the HUD is the method by which information is visually relayed to the player as part of a game's user interface...
and many other features.
Challenge ProMode Arena has become the standard competitive mod for Q3A since the Cyberathlete Professional League
Cyberathlete Professional League
The Cyberathlete Professional League , founded on June 27, 1997 by gaming entrepreneur Angel Munoz, is a professional sports tournament organization specializing in computer and console video game competitions....
announced CPMA as its competition mod of choice. The mod has its own division in Cyberathlete Amateur League, is used in Electronic Sports World Cup
Electronic Sports World Cup
The Electronic Sports World Cup is an international professional gaming championship.Every year winners of national qualifier event around the world earn the right to represent their country in the ESWC Finals...
, and has its own competitions and leagues.
Promode physics have been implemented in other Q3A notable modifications—DeFRaG
DeFRaG
DeFRaG is a free software modification for id Software's first-person shooter computer game Quake III Arena . The mod is dedicated to player movements and trickjumping.Trickjumping is an integral part of the game allowing a player to jump higher, farther and move faster...
and Orange Smoothie Productions
Orange Smoothie Productions
Orange Smoothie Productions is a PC game mod team which started programming modifications in February 1998 at the University of Kansas by releasing a mod called King of the Hill for Quake II. Although first created for Quake II, OSP is probably best known for modding games based on id Tech 3...
(OSP).
Development
The Challenge ProMode project was created by Richard "Hoony" Sandlant in May 1999, following the release of Q3Test, the beta version of Quake III Arena. Its goals were to make a more exciting and challenging game in the hope that this would help advance Q3A as a professional sport. John Carmack, lead programmer of Q3A, suggested a more challenging version of the game might be better for professional gamers:Before the design team began their work the CPM team asked the community to brainstorm
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which a group tries to find a solution for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members...
a list of possible changes. The designers used these suggestions in a process of tweaking and testing to develop the Challenge ProMode gameplay. Two public beta versions were then released for feedback and input from the community.
On August 28, 2000 the final version, 1.0, was released which was followed in December 2000 by the project changing its name to Challenge ProMode Arena to reflected the added multi-arena capability as Kevin "arQon" Blenkinsopp became the lead programmer.
Game modes
Among typical Quake III Arena modes—Free for AllFree For All
Free For All is a television episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 20 October 1967. This episode was filmed second, and was titled "Episode Two"...
(FFA), Team Deathmatch (TDM), Tournament
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
(DM\1v1), Capture the Flag
Capture the flag
Capture the Flag is a traditional outdoor sport generally played by children, where two teams each have a flag and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base," and bring it safely back to their own base...
(CTF)—CPMA features new game modes: HoonyMode (HM), Not Team Fortress
Team Fortress
Team Fortress is a team- and class-based online multiplayer video game mod based on id Software's Quake. Team Fortress was designed and written by Robin Walker, John Cook and Ian Caughley in 1996. The mod's gameplay has caught on with a large following of fans, which has spurred many developers to...
(NTF), arQmode (APM), Clan Arena (CA), Freeze Tag (FTAG\FT), and Capture Strike (CTFS\CS).
HoonyMode
HoonyMode is a form of tournament introduced in November 2003 which is loosely based on the rules of tennisTennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
. During the warm-up, each player chooses a spawn-point
Spawning (computer gaming)
In video games, spawning is the live creation of a character or item. Respawning is the recreation of an entity after its death or destruction....
or they are randomly generated if none are chosen. One player typically has a "stronger" spawn and the other a "weaker" one. When the game begins the player with the stronger spawn is considered to have the "serve" and each player death is treated as a point. After each point is scored players and the arena are reset and a new point is played; players switch spawn-points, so the player who had the "weak" spawn for the previous point now has the "strong" one, effecting a change of serve. All in-game behaviour (i.e. weapons, physics, etc.) remains the same as in the standard deathmatch.
Not Team Fortress (NTF)
Not Team Fortress is a class-based form of Capture the Flag introduced in April 2004. Players spawn with no armour and weapons determined by their class with health and armour regenerating during play. By default, there are four classes—Fighter, Scout, Sniper and Tank which can all be customised by the server administrator.arQmode
arQmode is a test mode which in 2003 became the official ruleset of Challenge ProMode, also known as PM2 (PMC or Promode Classic being PM1). The main aim of mode is to decrease the damage and knock-back of high-damage hit-scan weapons to reward use of predictive weapons as well as reduce the randomness in the spawn system. arQmode is now used to mean the development mode used to test new changes at the beta stage.Clan Arena
Clan Arena is a team-play mode similar to Rocket ArenaRocket Arena
Rocket Arena is a free modification for the multiplayer first-person shooter games Quake, Quake II, Quake III Arena and Quake 4. There are also ports for Half-Life and Unreal Tournament...
in which every player spawns with weaponry, health and armor and only respawns after one side has won the round by killing the opposition.
Freeze Tag
The aim of Freeze Tag is to freeze the entire enemy team. Players are frozen instead of killed and teammates can rescue them by standing next to the icy body for three seconds. This frees the player to join the battle once more.Capture Strike
Capture Strike is a CTF-variant similar to the Threewave CTF mod. According to the official Threewave CTF manual "Capture Strike is a fast paced blend of Capture the Flag, Rocket Arena, and Counter-StrikeCounter-Strike
Counter-Strike is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Corporation which originated from a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe...
. Teams take turns being Offence or Defence and battle until one team is dead, or the Offence team captures the flag." Each player respawns with weaponry, health and armor.
Variants
The mod features three different promode gameplays—Challenge ProMode II (CPM\PM2), ProMode Classic (PMC\PM1), and Challenge Quake3 (CQ3), as well as vanilla (i.e. standard) Quake 3 (VQ3) physics and ruleset.External links
- Official website (as of 09/26/11, the domain name as not been renewed)