DeFRaG
Encyclopedia
DeFRaG is a free software
modification
for id Software
's first-person shooter
computer game Quake III Arena
(Q3A). 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. For further reading, see techniques section. It aims at providing a platform for self-training, competition, online tricking, machinima
making, and trickjumping. Hence it constitutes an exception among other Q3A mods.
The mod includes a variety of features—timers and meters, ghost mode, cheat
prevention and learning tools. Specially designed maps
are provided that will rely on the player's movement abilities to be completed up to the finish line, while standard Q3A maps and Capture the Flag
(CTF) fast captures are supported as well. Furthermore gamespace physics
from both the original Q3A and the Challenge ProMode Arena
(CPMA) mod are supported.
The modification was released to the public in ca. October 2000. In 2002 DeFRaG was selected as "Mod of the Week" at Planet Quake.
DeFRaG was initially designed for making possible a new kind of competition based on timed runs. Those competitions called "DeFRaG runs" differ from common speedrun
s in several ways. Unlike speedruns, DeFRaG runs are not done in maps from an out-of-the-box original game, but in specially designed and customed DeFRaG maps, and there are no opponents to be vanquished during the run. Because of their design many of these maps cannot be completed by normal player skills; rather trickjumping skills are indispensable. Furthermore start-, checkpoints-, and stop-triggers are built into the maps. As a proof of the accomplishment the mod automatically records a demo of every map completed successfully. Along with the demo, the precise time in which the map was completed is stored.
" came of age with Doom and was also in Q3A, the latter being dedicated to multiplayer competition. From these games electronic sports
, and particularly its professional variant emerged. The same games drove the computer games and violence controversy
to unprecedented heights. While the Doom series was heavily criticized for its gory content, the problem with Q3A was seen to be its focus on deathmatch, because in this discipline the ultimate objective is to kill ("frag
"), as many other players as possible. But in DeFRaG' s [sic] gameplay modes killing opponents has no place whatsoever. DeFRaG gameplay is all about improving the skills to exploit the peculiarities of the Q3A physics in order to move faster, to navigate along courses through the map topographies formerly deemed to be impossible, or to perform moves as yet unseen. In consequence, the in-game weapons are no more regarded as instruments of destruction. Rather DeFRaG players use them as tools for moving around gamespace. This transformation of a first-person shooter into a vehicle for "virtual gymnastics" meanwhile has gradually been recognized by mainstream media. It is thrown into the public discourse as a counterweight to the stereotype of computer games fostering violent behaviour. The DeFRaG mod stars prominently in this.
phenomenon which originates from the speedrun community of Quake, the first game in the series
. By following the argumentation of Stanford historian of science and technology Henry Lowood, DeFRaG can be called an instance of transformative high-performance play.
Some of these movies won gaming industry awards. For instance the freestyle trickjumping movie Tricking iT2 by Jethro Ryan "jrb" Brewin won five Golden Llamas Awards in 2004. The categories were: Best Picture, Best Audio, Best Tech, Best Editing and Direction, and Best Quake Movie. In the following year the trick-stunt movie Reaching Aural Nirvana by "mrks" won a Golden Llamas Award in the category Best Audio. Also in 2005 the art-house short movie defragged directed by Margit Nobis, an instance of Q3A machinima (its name is borrowed from the DeFRaG mod) was shown at numerous prestigious festivals, including the Vienna Independent Shorts
festival.
All maps share the common objective of finishing in the fastest time possible, but there are variations on how this is achieved. Run mode is a flat-out race which the objective is to finish line. In accuracy mode, map is completed after a certain number of targets have been hit with the railgun (a Q3A sniper rifle). Level mode is similar to run, but map provide a number of alternative ways of reaching the finish line. In fast caps mode, the time is measured since the flag has been taken. Training mode usually requires the successful usage of a particular technique in order to complete the level. There also "freestyle" maps without primary objective, but where the player may practise particular techniques. The type of map can usually be seen in its name, although some do not follow this convention.
There are two game physics
and ruleset modes—Vanilla
Quake 3 (VQ3) and Challenge ProMode (CPM). VQ3 is an original Q3A physics and game ruleset; CPM is an altered game physics delivered from Challenge ProMode Arena
modification. It provides a gamemode which includes physics allowing for better air-control, rebalanced weapons, fast weapon switching and improvements of jumping techniques.
, air strafing, strafe-jumping
, circle-jumping, ramp-jumping, etc.
Bunny-hopping is the most basic method of fast movement in which player is jumping repeatedly instead of running in order to move faster. Strafe-jumping (SJ) is a technique necessary to complete the majority of DeFRaG maps, and is considered to be the most fundamental technique in trick jumping. It is only possible because of a specificity of the game's physics unintentionally allowing moving vectors to add up to greater acceleration. Basically, no matter if the player's character is moving on the ground (running) or is airborne (jumping), the game engine
always strives to limit its speed. However, already in the original Quake it was discovered that by non-trivial timed sequences of striking the direction keys (involving moving sideways, "strafing
" in gamer language) and movements of the mouse, this limitation of speed could be overcome. As the Quake engines are the basis of many games, the possibility of strafe jumping is existing within other games, too. But Q3A' s trickjumping community has done the most thorough research on strafe-jumping, and also developed several distinct sub-techniques including single-beat strafe-jumping,Single-beat strafe-jumping is the most common variant of strafe-jumping. The player runs forward, jumps off the ground, in addition to the forward key immediately presses and holds one of the sidestepping keys, and, by moving the mouse, looks into the same direction as the initiated sideways movement. Very shortly before hitting the ground again, the player once more hits the jump button (this way contact with the ground is minimized and friction cannot set in) and immediately strafes and looks into the other direction. By flawlessly repeating this sequence, acceleration can be increased. But with gaining velocity, the angle of the mouselook
has not only to be adjusted, but has also to be ever more precise, which makes strafe-jumping a demanding task. single-beat strafe-jumping with airchange,Single-beat strafe-jumping with airchange is essentially the same as single-beat strafe-jumping with the difference that the direction of the sideways movement and of the mouselook is turned to the opposite side in the middle of the second jump after takeoff instead of immediately turning after the first jump. After those first two jumps, the players usually do not apply this technique anymore. double-beat strafe-jumping,Double-beat strafe-jumping is essentially the same as single-beat strafe-jumping with the difference that the direction of the sideways movement and of the mouselook is turned to the opposite side not every, but only every second jump. half-beat strafe-jumping,Since acceleration only depends on the vectors of input, there are alternate ways to strafe-jump. The basic idea of half-beat strafe-jumping is to reduce the mouse movement by starting with a normal strafe-jump and then continue by only pressing the sideway movement key of the other direction. The vector (and thus the place where to point the mouse) is very close to the vector of the first normal strafe-jump. Hence the name half-beat. and inverted strafe-jumping.Inverted strafe-jumping is, since all strafing techniques are one kin, just another way to use the acceleration vectors. The idea is to only use the sideways movement keys, which will result in the exactly inverted movement of normal single-beat strafe-jumping. The DeFRaG mod includes a helping tool, the Camping Gaz Head-Up Display
(CGazHUD), which provides conveniently graphically formatted real-time feedback on acceleration and angles involved.
Circle-jumping (CJ) is based on the same principles as strafe-jumping; circle-jumping more often than not is used as the starting technique for a strafe-jumping run.In circle-jumping the player starts by facing at an angle of 90°
to the direction she/he intends to go. Then she/he starts going forward, adds sideways movement into the intended direction, and simultaneously turns the mouselook into the same direction. When facing into the intended direction she or he hits the jump button, keeps pressing forward and strafe, and goes on turning the mouselook. When flawlessly executed speeds of more than 500 ups can be achieved. Another technique involves ramped surfaces and it's called ramp-jumping; jumping on a ramped surface gives a height boost.
Air strafing can be done when the player is in the air, simply keeping him-/herself aligned at the optimal angle in relation to where the player wants to go, making the player go farther and faster whilst airborne; one of the methods for reaching difficult places.
Weapon-jumping techniques requires the player jumps off the ground and, by using the proper weapon, immediately afterwards fires a bullet (rocket, grenade, plasma or BFG plasma) onto the spot on the floor exactly or very near beneath her/him. The shockwave of the resulting blast delivers momentum to the player's character and propells her/him higher into the air than possible by regular jumping. The gain in momentum can be used for vertical, horizontal, and diagonal movement. In Q3A four weapons makes self-splash damage and can be combined with each other—rocket and grenade launcher, BFG10K and plasma gun.
Rocket-jumping (RJ) is the only tricking technique using a weapon that can commonly be observed in Q3A professional deathmatch competition—in spite of the resulting cost in health with self-inflicting splash damage
enabled in this game mode. Depending on the size and topography of the map and proper synchronisation, two or larger number of rockets can be timed to impact on the very same spot a fraction of a second or n-th after the player arrives there. Thus the player can capitalize on the added momentum furnished by the detonation of multiple projectiles, accelerate substantially and travel long distances airborn. When playing in DeFRaG' s multiplayer mode, projectiles fired by other players can be used as well.
Grenade-jumping (GJ) is a technique which demands more exacting timing, because the grenade-launcher's projectile ricochets after it is launched, and its detonation is delayed. Combining more than one grenade in order to make GJ is also possible but may require more players due to detonation delay. BFG-jumping is a technique kin to rocket-jumping, and only insofar different as the BFG has a higher rate of fire
and makes more splash damage. Plasma-jumping, also called plasma-hopping, is a technique in which plasma gives slight boost to the jump.
Team tricking weapon-jumpings requires teamwork with minimum one additional player. In DeFRaG every weapon can be used in this technique; the other player's weapon may deliver additional momentum. Most common team techniques includes gauntlet-, rocket-, grenade- and rail-jumping.
The plasma gun can be used to climb along walls (a technique called plasma-climbing). The vertical climb is the most basic variant. The successive recoil of the gun's rapid fire then lifts the player up the wall. By various combinations of direction-keys and mouselook horizontal and diagonal paths are possible as well. Expert performers can change the directions of travel en-route, climb down and up again, climb along curved walls, and hit high walls from mid-air to plasma-climb in any direction.
in the game engine which in some maps lend special qualities to certain locations resulting in Q3A physics anomalies.
If at particular spots the player falls from a certain height to the ground, they will be catapulted up again, although no jumppad is present (the technique is named overbounce). Overbounces can be combined with weapon techniques. The DeFRaG mod includes an "overbounce detector", a tool helping the player to identify locations in maps where an overbounce is possible. A variety of overbounce opportunities has been discovered, made into techniques, and have been named accordingly: vertical,Vertical overbounce (VOB), sometimes referred simply as Overbounce (OB)—The player falls from a certain height, without any sideways movement whatsoever, and is propelled up vertically again without loss of damage. It occurs when a player has 0 velocity in the XY components of the velocity vector (no horizontal speed). horizontal,Horizontal overbounce (HOB)—The player falls and has lateral movement. When hitting the ground she/he will receive substantial momentum and be catapulted in the direction of the prior lateral movement. It occurs when a player has more than 0 velocity in the XY components of the velocity vector (horizontal speed exists). sticky,Sticky overbounce (SOB)—The gamephysics allows the players to have tiny offsets from the ground. These height changes occasionally produce new overbounce heights. Usually the sticky offset also produces an ob height to the ground the player is standing on, which can be used for small speed gains. There are two types of sticky overbounces—same height platforms and different height platforms. Same height platforms variation essentially cause the player to overbounce on the next jump, assuming that the landing will be on the same platform where the jump originates, or another platform that is at the same height. Different height platforms variation may also create an overbounce height for a platform below, for a height that is not normally an OB height. Sticky overbounces for same height platforms are useful for small speed boosts. diagonal ("weird"),Diagonal overbounce (DOB), also called weird overbounce (WOB)—As with the horizontal overbounce, the player falls and has lateral movement. When hitting the ground she/he taps the backward-key and is propelled diagonally into the air. zero-ups diagonal,Zero-ups diagonal overbounce (ZDOB), also called zero-ups weird overbounce (ZWOB)—An overbounce very similar to the DOB, just that it occures if the player hits the ground with zero X- and Y-axis speed and adds a very small movement at that very frame. This will result in a propelling comparable to the DOB, but more efficient. and slippery diagonal overbounce.Slippery diagonal overbounce (SDOB)—When the player hits a slippery surface out of an overbounce height with a small speed from 1 to 6 Quake ups, he/she will be propelled diagonally into the air, basically behaving like a DOB or a ZDOB.
At certain locations when a player steps near a wall and jumps to it she/he will end up "sticking" to the wall in mid-air. Now the player can perform a speed-gaining technique like strafe-jumping without her/his character moving from the spot, but "accelerating" nevertheless. This is a real anomaly as the player character does not move in gamespace, but the game engine ascribes ever higher speed to it. The player then can "unstick" from the wall by firing a splash damage weapon into it, and subsequently will move with the speed gained "on the spot". This technique is called "sticky wall" or "rebounce".
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
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). 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. For further reading, see techniques section. It aims at providing a platform for self-training, competition, online tricking, machinima
Machinima
Machinima is the use of real-time 3D computer graphics rendering engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation...
making, and trickjumping. Hence it constitutes an exception among other Q3A mods.
The mod includes a variety of features—timers and meters, ghost mode, cheat
Cheating (video games)
Cheating in video games involves a video game player using non-standard methods for creating an advantage beyond normal gameplay, usually to make the game easier, or may also create unusual effects which do not necessarily make the game easier to play, such as giving characters different...
prevention and learning tools. Specially designed maps
Level (computer and video games)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
are provided that will rely on the player's movement abilities to be completed up to the finish line, while standard Q3A maps and 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) fast captures are supported as well. Furthermore gamespace physics
Game physics
Computer animation physics or game physics involves the introduction of the laws of physics into a simulation or game engine, particularly in 3D computer graphics, for the purpose of making the effects appear more real to the observer...
from both the original Q3A and the Challenge ProMode Arena
Challenge ProMode Arena
Challenge ProMode Arena is a freeware modification for id Software's first-person shooter computer game Quake III Arena . CPMA includes modified gameplays that feature air-control, rebalanced weapons, instant weapon switching and additional jumping techniques...
(CPMA) mod are supported.
The modification was released to the public in ca. October 2000. In 2002 DeFRaG was selected as "Mod of the Week" at Planet Quake.
Overview
Speedrun
A speedrun is a play-through, or recording thereof, of a whole video game or a selected part of it performed with the intent of completing it as fast as possible, optionally under certain prerequisites, mainly for the purposes of entertainment and competition...
s in several ways. Unlike speedruns, DeFRaG runs are not done in maps from an out-of-the-box original game, but in specially designed and customed DeFRaG maps, and there are no opponents to be vanquished during the run. Because of their design many of these maps cannot be completed by normal player skills; rather trickjumping skills are indispensable. Furthermore start-, checkpoints-, and stop-triggers are built into the maps. As a proof of the accomplishment the mod automatically records a demo of every map completed successfully. Along with the demo, the precise time in which the map was completed is stored.
Competition and community
The mod's competitive method is lent to it by an online infrastructure which has triggered the formation of a transnational community. Players download custom-designed maps (more than 5,000 DeFRaG maps are available) and aim to complete the map's objectives in the shortest time possible. The best times can be submitted to online high score tables, which are keeping track of the fastest times for particular maps. These online scoreboards can be global or encompass certain regions only. During the mod's highest popularity, the DeFRaG development team periodically released new map packs, containing a number of officially sanctioned maps. These are generally the only maps on which times are accepted for the official website high score tables. In consequence the DeFraG community's individual members engage and specialize in one or more different practices: trickjumping itself, movie making, map making, coding, maintaining websites, portals (for interaction and as archives for maps and movies), and online scoreboards.Violence
The DeFRaG modification is completely taking out violence from a first-person shooter. The gameplay mode or discipline called "deathmatchDeathmatch (gaming)
Deathmatch or Player vs All is a widely-used gameplay mode integrated into many shooter and real-time strategy computer games...
" came of age with Doom and was also in Q3A, the latter being dedicated to multiplayer competition. From these games electronic sports
Electronic sports
Electronic sports comprises the competitive play of video games. Other terms include competitive gaming, professional gaming and cybersports...
, and particularly its professional variant emerged. The same games drove the computer games and violence controversy
Video game controversy
Violent video game debates often center on topics such as video game graphic violence, sex and sexism, violent and gory scenes, partial or full nudity, portrayal of criminal behavior, racism, and other provocative and objectionable material. Video games have been studied for links to addiction and...
to unprecedented heights. While the Doom series was heavily criticized for its gory content, the problem with Q3A was seen to be its focus on deathmatch, because in this discipline the ultimate objective is to kill ("frag
Frag (video gaming)
Frag is a computer and video game term originating from the word fragging, a term indicating to kill an unpopular superior officer with a fragmentation grenade. A frag is roughly equivalent to "kill", with the typical main difference that the player being "fragged" can instantly respawn in most...
"), as many other players as possible. But in DeFRaG
Movie making
The high-skill requirement of the game, along with the fast pace, cause that game movies are often made using content created by playing DeFRaG game modes. Within the community's tradition, especially the fastest runs, difficult trickjumping techniques are included in sequence. The DeFRaG demo-playback system includes settings to view the primary player from various angles and perspectives. This is in line with the history of the machinimaMachinima
Machinima is the use of real-time 3D computer graphics rendering engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation...
phenomenon which originates from the speedrun community of Quake, the first game in the series
Quake series
The Quake series is a line of first-person shooter video games produced by id Software.-Overview:The Quake series is somewhat unusual in that its focus changes frequently; the story of Quake II has nothing to do with Quake, and Quake III Arena has little to do with either of its predecessors...
. By following the argumentation of Stanford historian of science and technology Henry Lowood, DeFRaG can be called an instance of transformative high-performance play.
Some of these movies won gaming industry awards. For instance the freestyle trickjumping movie Tricking iT2 by Jethro Ryan "jrb" Brewin won five Golden Llamas Awards in 2004. The categories were: Best Picture, Best Audio, Best Tech, Best Editing and Direction, and Best Quake Movie. In the following year the trick-stunt movie Reaching Aural Nirvana by "mrks" won a Golden Llamas Award in the category Best Audio. Also in 2005 the art-house short movie defragged directed by Margit Nobis, an instance of Q3A machinima (its name is borrowed from the DeFRaG mod) was shown at numerous prestigious festivals, including the Vienna Independent Shorts
Vienna Independent Shorts
Vienna Independent Shorts is an international short film festival held annually in May in Vienna. It is the largest short film festival in Austria.- History :...
festival.
Gameplay
| Major versions history | |
|---|---|
| 1.92.02 (unstable) | September 11, 2010 |
| 1.92.01 (unstable) | July 9, 2009 |
| 1.91.20 | October 11, 2009 |
| 1.91.08 | October 2, 2005 |
| 1.91.02 | March 30, 2005 |
| 1.91 | April 4, 2004 |
| 1.90 | July 11, 2003 |
| 1.80 | October 19, 2002 |
| 1.70 | August 10, 2002 |
| 1.50 | March 19, 2002 |
| 1.43 | January 4, 2002 |
There are two game physics
Game physics
Computer animation physics or game physics involves the introduction of the laws of physics into a simulation or game engine, particularly in 3D computer graphics, for the purpose of making the effects appear more real to the observer...
and ruleset modes—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 3 (VQ3) and Challenge ProMode (CPM). VQ3 is an original Q3A physics and game ruleset; CPM is an altered game physics delivered from Challenge ProMode Arena
Challenge ProMode Arena
Challenge ProMode Arena is a freeware modification for id Software's first-person shooter computer game Quake III Arena . CPMA includes modified gameplays that feature air-control, rebalanced weapons, instant weapon switching and additional jumping techniques...
modification. It provides a gamemode which includes physics allowing for better air-control, rebalanced weapons, fast weapon switching and improvements of jumping techniques.
Techniques
The completion of a DeFRaG map requires the use of a variety of trickjumping techniques. Most Training maps involve only one or two methods, but some more complicated Run and Level maps can require any number. Various map sections can require quick timing, combination, and flawless execution of several techniques.Jumping techniques
Jumping techniques allows a player to move faster, farther and/or jump higher. The most common techniques included in Q3A and DeFRaG itself includes bunny-hoppingBunny hopping
Bunny hopping, or bunny jumping, is a term used in video games to describe the basic movement technique in which a player jumps repeatedly, instead of running, in order to move faster.-Concept:...
, air strafing, strafe-jumping
Strafe-jumping
Strafe-jumping is a form of trickjump used to increase a player's speed in computer games based on the Quake engine and now the Doom 3 engine...
, circle-jumping, ramp-jumping, etc.
Bunny-hopping is the most basic method of fast movement in which player is jumping repeatedly instead of running in order to move faster. Strafe-jumping (SJ) is a technique necessary to complete the majority of DeFRaG maps, and is considered to be the most fundamental technique in trick jumping. It is only possible because of a specificity of the game's physics unintentionally allowing moving vectors to add up to greater acceleration. Basically, no matter if the player's character is moving on the ground (running) or is airborne (jumping), the game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
always strives to limit its speed. However, already in the original Quake it was discovered that by non-trivial timed sequences of striking the direction keys (involving moving sideways, "strafing
Strafing
Strafing is the practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. This means, that although ground attack using automatic weapons fire is very often accompanied with bombing or rocket fire, the term "strafing" does not specifically include the...
" in gamer language) and movements of the mouse, this limitation of speed could be overcome. As the Quake engines are the basis of many games, the possibility of strafe jumping is existing within other games, too. But Q3A
Free look
Free look describes the ability to move the mouse to rotate the player character's view in video games. It is almost always used for 3D game engines, and has been included on role-playing games, real-time strategy games, third-person shooters, first-person shooters, racing games, and flight...
has not only to be adjusted, but has also to be ever more precise, which makes strafe-jumping a demanding task. single-beat strafe-jumping with airchange,Single-beat strafe-jumping with airchange is essentially the same as single-beat strafe-jumping with the difference that the direction of the sideways movement and of the mouselook is turned to the opposite side in the middle of the second jump after takeoff instead of immediately turning after the first jump. After those first two jumps, the players usually do not apply this technique anymore. double-beat strafe-jumping,Double-beat strafe-jumping is essentially the same as single-beat strafe-jumping with the difference that the direction of the sideways movement and of the mouselook is turned to the opposite side not every, but only every second jump. half-beat strafe-jumping,Since acceleration only depends on the vectors of input, there are alternate ways to strafe-jump. The basic idea of half-beat strafe-jumping is to reduce the mouse movement by starting with a normal strafe-jump and then continue by only pressing the sideway movement key of the other direction. The vector (and thus the place where to point the mouse) is very close to the vector of the first normal strafe-jump. Hence the name half-beat. and inverted strafe-jumping.Inverted strafe-jumping is, since all strafing techniques are one kin, just another way to use the acceleration vectors. The idea is to only use the sideways movement keys, which will result in the exactly inverted movement of normal single-beat strafe-jumping. The DeFRaG mod includes a helping tool, the Camping Gaz Head-Up Display
HUD (computer 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...
(CGazHUD), which provides conveniently graphically formatted real-time feedback on acceleration and angles involved.
Circle-jumping (CJ) is based on the same principles as strafe-jumping; circle-jumping more often than not is used as the starting technique for a strafe-jumping run.In circle-jumping the player starts by facing at an angle of 90°
Right angle
In geometry and trigonometry, a right angle is an angle that bisects the angle formed by two halves of a straight line. More precisely, if a ray is placed so that its endpoint is on a line and the adjacent angles are equal, then they are right angles...
to the direction she/he intends to go. Then she/he starts going forward, adds sideways movement into the intended direction, and simultaneously turns the mouselook into the same direction. When facing into the intended direction she or he hits the jump button, keeps pressing forward and strafe, and goes on turning the mouselook. When flawlessly executed speeds of more than 500 ups can be achieved. Another technique involves ramped surfaces and it's called ramp-jumping; jumping on a ramped surface gives a height boost.
Air strafing can be done when the player is in the air, simply keeping him-/herself aligned at the optimal angle in relation to where the player wants to go, making the player go farther and faster whilst airborne; one of the methods for reaching difficult places.
Weapon techniques
Splash damage
Splash damage, also known as radius damage, is a term used in several types of games, most notably in first-person shooter and real-time strategy computer games, to refer to damage taken by players or objects in the area surrounding a point of weapon impact...
enabled in this game mode. Depending on the size and topography of the map and proper synchronisation, two or larger number of rockets can be timed to impact on the very same spot a fraction of a second or n-th after the player arrives there. Thus the player can capitalize on the added momentum furnished by the detonation of multiple projectiles, accelerate substantially and travel long distances airborn. When playing in DeFRaG
Grenade-jumping (GJ) is a technique which demands more exacting timing, because the grenade-launcher's projectile ricochets after it is launched, and its detonation is delayed. Combining more than one grenade in order to make GJ is also possible but may require more players due to detonation delay. BFG-jumping is a technique kin to rocket-jumping, and only insofar different as the BFG has a higher rate of fire
Rate of fire
Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. It is usually measured in rounds per minute , or per second .-Overview:...
and makes more splash damage. Plasma-jumping, also called plasma-hopping, is a technique in which plasma gives slight boost to the jump.
Team tricking weapon-jumpings requires teamwork with minimum one additional player. In DeFRaG every weapon can be used in this technique; the other player's weapon may deliver additional momentum. Most common team techniques includes gauntlet-, rocket-, grenade- and rail-jumping.
The plasma gun can be used to climb along walls (a technique called plasma-climbing). The vertical climb is the most basic variant. The successive recoil of the gun's rapid fire then lifts the player up the wall. By various combinations of direction-keys and mouselook horizontal and diagonal paths are possible as well. Expert performers can change the directions of travel en-route, climb down and up again, climb along curved walls, and hit high walls from mid-air to plasma-climb in any direction.
Techniques exploiting bugs
Techniques exploiting bugs capitalize on flawsSoftware bug
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
in the game engine which in some maps lend special qualities to certain locations resulting in Q3A physics anomalies.
If at particular spots the player falls from a certain height to the ground, they will be catapulted up again, although no jumppad is present (the technique is named overbounce). Overbounces can be combined with weapon techniques. The DeFRaG mod includes an "overbounce detector", a tool helping the player to identify locations in maps where an overbounce is possible. A variety of overbounce opportunities has been discovered, made into techniques, and have been named accordingly: vertical,Vertical overbounce (VOB), sometimes referred simply as Overbounce (OB)—The player falls from a certain height, without any sideways movement whatsoever, and is propelled up vertically again without loss of damage. It occurs when a player has 0 velocity in the XY components of the velocity vector (no horizontal speed). horizontal,Horizontal overbounce (HOB)—The player falls and has lateral movement. When hitting the ground she/he will receive substantial momentum and be catapulted in the direction of the prior lateral movement. It occurs when a player has more than 0 velocity in the XY components of the velocity vector (horizontal speed exists). sticky,Sticky overbounce (SOB)—The gamephysics allows the players to have tiny offsets from the ground. These height changes occasionally produce new overbounce heights. Usually the sticky offset also produces an ob height to the ground the player is standing on, which can be used for small speed gains. There are two types of sticky overbounces—same height platforms and different height platforms. Same height platforms variation essentially cause the player to overbounce on the next jump, assuming that the landing will be on the same platform where the jump originates, or another platform that is at the same height. Different height platforms variation may also create an overbounce height for a platform below, for a height that is not normally an OB height. Sticky overbounces for same height platforms are useful for small speed boosts. diagonal ("weird"),Diagonal overbounce (DOB), also called weird overbounce (WOB)—As with the horizontal overbounce, the player falls and has lateral movement. When hitting the ground she/he taps the backward-key and is propelled diagonally into the air. zero-ups diagonal,Zero-ups diagonal overbounce (ZDOB), also called zero-ups weird overbounce (ZWOB)—An overbounce very similar to the DOB, just that it occures if the player hits the ground with zero X- and Y-axis speed and adds a very small movement at that very frame. This will result in a propelling comparable to the DOB, but more efficient. and slippery diagonal overbounce.Slippery diagonal overbounce (SDOB)—When the player hits a slippery surface out of an overbounce height with a small speed from 1 to 6 Quake ups, he/she will be propelled diagonally into the air, basically behaving like a DOB or a ZDOB.
At certain locations when a player steps near a wall and jumps to it she/he will end up "sticking" to the wall in mid-air. Now the player can perform a speed-gaining technique like strafe-jumping without her/his character moving from the spot, but "accelerating" nevertheless. This is a real anomaly as the player character does not move in gamespace, but the game engine ascribes ever higher speed to it. The player then can "unstick" from the wall by firing a splash damage weapon into it, and subsequently will move with the speed gained "on the spot". This technique is called "sticky wall" or "rebounce".
External links
- Official website
- Former official website at Internet Archive Wayback MachineInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
- Breakdown-HQ—Community
- Genesis – The Beginning Of—A tutorial video of the most common techniques used in DeFRaG, including the training map
- Arenas Episode 5: DeFrag—A machinima movie about DeFRaG