Id Tech
Encyclopedia
id Tech is the family of 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...

s designed and developed by 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...

. Prior to the presentation of the id Tech 5
Id Tech 5
id Tech 5 is the latest proprietary game engine being developed by id Software, currently still being actively upgraded, and follows its predecessors, id Tech 1, 2, 3 and 4. It is a major advancement over id Tech 4. The engine was first demonstrated at the WWDC 2007 by John D...

-based game Rage, the engines lacked official designation and as such were referred to as the Doom and Quake engines, from the name of the main game series the engines have been developed for. id Tech numbers 1, 2 and 3 have been released as free software
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...

 under the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....

.

Predecessors to id Tech

id Software had developed 3D engines for several games before creating id Tech 1. Each game's engine had progressively more advanced 3D technology.
  • Hovertank 3D
    Hovertank 3D
    Hovertank 3D is a vehicular combat game developed by id Software and published by Softdisk in April, 1991. It is considered a significant precursor of the first-person shooter genre, made popular by id Software's subsequent releases, Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM...

    (1991) used solid-color drawn walls and scalable sprites.
  • Catacomb 3-D (1991) added texture mapping
    Texture mapping
    Texture mapping is a method for adding detail, surface texture , or color to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. Its application to 3D graphics was pioneered by Dr Edwin Catmull in his Ph.D. thesis of 1974.-Texture mapping:...

     to the walls.
  • Wolfenstein 3D
    Wolfenstein 3D
    Wolfenstein 3D is a video game that is generally regarded by critics and gaming journalists as having both popularized the first-person shooter genre on the PC and created the basic archetype upon which all subsequent games of the same genre would be built. It was created by id Software and...

    (1992) increased the color palette from 16-color EGA
    EGA
    EGA may stand for*EGA: estimated gestational age, medical*Eagle, Globe, and Anchor, the emblem of the United States Marine Corps*Egyptian German Automotive Company, the Mercedes-Benz manufacturer in Egypt*Elegant Gothic Aristocrat, a fashion line...

     to 256-color VGA. The game engine
    Wolfenstein 3D engine
    The Wolfenstein 3D engine is the engine that powers Wolfenstein 3D.The biggest part of the engine is programmed by John Carmack. It is written in C and x86 assembly language. It features graphics , sound , player physics and game control.-Features and limitations:To render the walls in pseudo-3D,...

     was also licensed out to other companies.
  • Shadowcaster
    Shadowcaster
    ShadowCaster is a first-person/role-playing computer game from 1993 developed by Raven Software. It was released by Origin Systems after Electronic Arts acquired them...

    (1993) features diminished lighting, texture mapped floors and ceilings, walls with variable heights and sloped floors.

Doom engine

Sometimes known as id Tech 1
Id Tech 1
- See also :*List of game engines*First person shooter engine*id Tech*Doom engine*Doom *Quake engine*Quake *List of first-person shooter engines...

(Not to be confused with the Quake engine
Quake engine
The Quake engine is the game engine that was written to power 1996's Quake, written by id Software. It featured true 3D real-time rendering and is now licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License ....

, which can also be referred to as id Tech 1
Id Tech 1
- See also :*List of game engines*First person shooter engine*id Tech*Doom engine*Doom *Quake engine*Quake *List of first-person shooter engines...

), is the game engine that powers the id Software games Doom and Doom II.
It was created by John Carmack, with auxiliary functions written by Mike Abrash, John Romero
John Romero
Alfonso John Romero is a game designer, programmer, and developer in the video game industry. He is best known as a co-founder of id Software and was a designer for many of their games, including Wolfenstein 3D, Dangerous Dave, Doom and Quake...

, Dave Taylor
Dave D. Taylor
Dave D. Taylor is an American game programmer, best known as a former id Software employee and noted for his work promoting Linux gaming.In 1993 he graduated from University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering....

 and Paul Radek. Originally developed on NeXT
NeXT
Next, Inc. was an American computer company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets...

 computers, it was ported
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...

 to MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...

 for Doom's initial release and was later ported to several game consoles and operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

s.

Commercial games using Doom engine

  • Doom – id Software
  • Doom II: Hell on Earth – id Software
    • Final Doom
      Final Doom
      Final Doom is a first-person shooter video game that uses the game engine, items and characters from Doom II. It consists of two 32-level megawads , The Plutonia Experiment by the Casali brothers, and TNT: Evilution by TeamTNT. Final Doom was released in 1996 and distributed as an official id...

      – id Software
  • Heretic – Raven Software
    • Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders – Raven Software
  • Hexen: Beyond Heretic
    Hexen
    Hexen is a first-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software, published by id Software, and distributed by GT Interactive beginning on September 30, 1995. It is the sequel to 1994's Heretic, and the second game in the Serpent Riders series...

    – Raven Software
    • Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel – Raven Software
  • Strife – Rogue Entertainment

Quake engine

Less commonly, but also known as id Tech 1
Id Tech 1
- See also :*List of game engines*First person shooter engine*id Tech*Doom engine*Doom *Quake engine*Quake *List of first-person shooter engines...

, the Quake engine is the game engine that was written to power 1996's Quake, written by id Software. It featured true 3D real-time rendering and is the first id engine to use the client–server model.

QuakeWorld

The Quake engine was updated with a new executable titled QuakeWorld that contained code to enhance the networking capabilities of Quake in response to the demand for across-internet network games that arose as a result of Quake's usage of UDP
User Datagram Protocol
The User Datagram Protocol is one of the core members of the Internet Protocol Suite, the set of network protocols used for the Internet. With UDP, computer applications can send messages, in this case referred to as datagrams, to other hosts on an Internet Protocol network without requiring...

 for networking.

Commercial games using Quake engine

  • Quake (1996) – id Software
  • HeXen II
    Hexen II
    Hexen II is a first-person shooter developed by Raven Software from 1996 to 1997, published by id Software and distributed by Activision. It was the third game in the Hexen/Heretic series, and the last in the Serpent Riders trilogy. It was made available on Steam on August 3, 2007...

    (1997) – Raven Software
    Raven Software
    Raven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...

  • Half-Life (1998) - Valve Corporation
    Valve Corporation
    Valve Corporation is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States...

     (Half-Life uses the Quake-based GoldSrc
    GoldSrc
    GoldSrc, or Goldsource, is the retronym used internally by Valve Software to refer to the heavily modified Quake engine that powers their science fiction first-person shooter Half-Life ....

     engine)
  • Laser Arena
    Laser Arena
    Laser Arena is a FPS PC game designed to simulate laser tag. Play modes include Free for All , Team Match, Duel, Domination and Mega Target. Players have 3 "health canisters", and every hit diminishes one of them...

    (2000) – Trainwreck Studios
  • CIA Operative: Solo Missions (2001) – Trainwreck Studios
  • Urban Mercenary (2001) – Moshpit Entertainment
  • Silver Wings (2005) – Bampusht! (Silver Wings uses a heavily modified version of Telejano v7)

id Tech 2


Previously known as the "Quake II engine". id Tech 2 is based on the Quake engine
Quake engine
The Quake engine is the game engine that was written to power 1996's Quake, written by id Software. It featured true 3D real-time rendering and is now licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License ....

, and features some enhancements such as colored lighting and a new model format. Game code is now written in C and loaded from a DLL, in place of the original Quake engine's "QuakeC
QuakeC
QuakeC is an interpreted language developed in 1996 by John Carmack of id Software to program parts of the computer game Quake. Using QuakeC, a programmer is able to customize Quake to great extents by adding weapons, changing game logic and physics, and programming complex scenarios...

" scripting language.

Commercial games using id Tech 2

  • Quake II
    Quake II
    Quake II, released on December 9, 1997, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Id Software and distributed by Activision. It is not a sequel to Quake; it merely uses the name of the former game due to Id's difficulties in coming up with alternative names.The soundtrack for Quake II...

    – id Software
  • Heretic II
    Heretic II
    Heretic II is a fantasy action-adventure game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision in 1998 continuing the story of Corvus, the main character from its predecessor, Heretic....

    – Raven Software
  • SiN – Ritual Entertainment
  • Kingpin: Life of Crime
    Kingpin: Life of Crime
    Kingpin: Life of Crime is a first-person shooter developed by Xatrix Entertainment and published by Interplay Entertainment in June 1999. The game begins with the player character wounded and beaten up by the Kingpin's henchmen, and the story follows his thirst for revenge...

    – Xatrix Entertainment
  • Soldier of Fortune – Raven Software
  • Daikatana
    Daikatana
    John Romero's Daikatana, or simply Daikatana, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Ion Storm and published by Eidos Interactive. Released on May 23, 2000 for Windows, it was led by John Romero. The game is known as one of the major commercial failures of the computer game industry....

    – Ion Storm
  • Anachronox
    Anachronox
    Anachronox is a 2001 third-person computer role-playing game produced by Tom Hall and the Dallas Ion Storm games studio. It offers gameplay in the style of console RPGs, such as Chrono Trigger and the Final Fantasy series...

    – Ion Storm

id Tech 3

Previously known as the "Quake III Engine", it was derived from id Tech 2, although a large portion of code is new or re-written.

Commercial games using id Tech 3

  • 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...

    (1999) – 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...

    • Quake III: Team Arena (2000) – id Software
  • Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force
    Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force
    Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force is a first-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. The game was initially released on September 20, 2000 for Windows and Mac OS personal computers. Aspyr Media was responsible for porting the game to the Mac OS platform...

    (2000) – Raven Software
    Raven Software
    Raven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...

  • Return to Castle Wolfenstein
    Return to Castle Wolfenstein
    Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a first person shooter video game published by Activision and originally released on November 19, 2001 for Microsoft Windows. It was made available on Steam on August 3, 2007. The single player game was developed by Gray Matter Interactive and Nerve Software...

    (2001) – Gray Matter Interactive
    Gray Matter Interactive
    Gray Matter Interactive Studios, Inc. was a computer game developer, which was acquired by Activision in January 2002. Gray Matter was previously known as Xatrix Entertainment, Inc....

     (SP) / Nerve Software
    Nerve Software
    Nerve Software is an American video game developer that was co-founded by ex-id Software employee Brandon James. Many of the original employees at Nerve were previously employed by Rogue Entertainment, another U.S...

     (MP)
  • Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
    Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
    Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is a free and open source multiplayer first-person shooter video game set during World War II...

    (2003) – Splash Damage
    Splash Damage
    Splash Damage is an independently-owned British game development company that specializes in multiplayer first-person shooter games. The studio is best known as the creator of the Enemy Territory franchise for id Software.-History:...

  • Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix
    Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix
    Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix is a video game created by Raven Software, a sequel to Soldier of Fortune. It was developed using the Quake III: Team Arena engine. Once again, Raven hired John Mullins to act as a consultant on the game...

    (2002) – Raven Software
  • Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
    Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
    Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, often abbreviated JK2 or JO, is a first- and third-person action game developed by Raven Software and published by LucasArts and Activision. The PC version was released in March and the Mac OS X, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube versions were released in November...

    (2002) – Raven Software
  • Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
    Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
    Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is a first and third-person shooter action game set in the Star Wars universe. It was developed by Raven Software and published, distributed and marketed by LucasArts in North America and by Activision in the rest of the world. Jedi Academy was released in...

    (2003) – Raven Software
  • Call of Duty
    Call of Duty
    Call of Duty is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision in 2003. It is the first game in a series with the same name. The game simulates the infantry and combined arms warfare of World War II. The game is based on the Quake III: Team Arena engine...

    (2003) – Infinity Ward
    Infinity Ward
    Infinity Ward is an American video game developer. Infinity Ward is responsible for the development of the video game Call of Duty and four other installments in the Call of Duty franchise....

    • Call of Duty: United Offensive
      Call of Duty: United Offensive
      Call of Duty: United Offensive is an expansion pack for the first-person shooter computer game, Call of Duty. It was developed by Gray Matter Interactive, with contributions from Pi Studios, and published by Activision...

      (2004) – Gray Matter Interactive
  • Severity (2007) – 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....

  • Dark Salvation
    Dark Salvation
    Dark Salvation is a gothic horror first-person shooter computer game created by Mangled Eye Studios released on July 28, 2009 for Microsoft Windows. The game follows the story of Talia, a young woman whose family is killed in the service of the demon Lucafix...

    (2009) – Mangled Eye Studios
  • Quake Live
    Quake Live
    Quake Live is a first-person shooter video game by id Software designed to run on x86-based computers running Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X or Linux that is downloaded and launched via a web browser plugin. It is a variant of its predecessor, Quake III Arena .Quake Live is free to download and play...

    (2010) – id Software

Games using id Tech 3 with ÜberTools

  • American McGee's Alice
    American McGee's Alice
    American McGee's Alice is a third-person action game released for PC on October 6, 2000. The game, developed by Rogue Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, is set in an alternative universe of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...

    (2000) – Rogue Entertainment
    Rogue Entertainment
    -Rogue Entertainment Group, Inc.:Rogue Ent. is a record label group, music distribution company, graphics/web design firm, audio production/engineering firm, and promotion company based out of Richmond, Va...

  • Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.²
    Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.²
    Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.² is a third-person shooter video game made by Ritual Entertainment in 2000. A sequel to the Heavy Metal 2000 animated movie, the game stars Julie in her quest to save her home planet of Eden from GITH, an ancient entity seeking to conquer the universe...

    (2000) – Ritual Entertainment
    Ritual Entertainment
    Ritual Entertainment was a computer game software developer established in 1996 by Robert Atkins, Mark Dochtermann, Jim Dosé, Richard 'Levelord' Gray, Michael Hadwin, Harry Miller and Tom Mustaine...

  • Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
    Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
    Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 2015, Inc. and created by Steven Spielberg. It is the 3rd installment of the Medal of Honor series...

    (2002) – 2015, Inc.
    2015, Inc.
    2015 is a video game development studio founded in 1997 by its President and CEO, Tom Kudirka. Currently, 2015 is located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. 2015 is perhaps most famous for the development of the highly successful PC game Medal of Honor: Allied Assault...

    • Medal of Honor: Allied Assault – Spearhead (2003) – EA Los Angeles
    • Medal of Honor: Allied Assault – Breakthrough (2003) – TKO Software
      TKO Software
      TKO Software is a video game developer founded in 2002 in Santa Cruz, California, United States by Jacob Hawley and Michael Songy.TKO Software created Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: Breakthrough and the multiplayer portion of Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault , both for Electronic Arts...

  • Star Trek: Elite Force II
    Star Trek: Elite Force II
    Star Trek: Elite Force II is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Ritual Entertainment and published by Activision. It was released on June 20, 2003 for Microsoft Windows. Elite Force II is a sequel to 2000's Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force...

    (2003) – Ritual Entertainment

id Tech 4

Formerly the "Doom 3 engine", originally based on id Tech 3. It has a C++ based engine framework, and a new renderer, AI framework, physics engine, gameplay trigger system, and sound framework.

Games using id Tech 4

  • Doom 3
    Doom 3
    Doom 3 is a science fiction horror video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. An example of the first-person shooter genre, Doom 3 was first released for Microsoft Windows on August 3, 2004. The game was later adapted for Linux, as well as being ported by Aspyr Media for Mac...

    (2004) – 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...

    • Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
      Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
      Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil is a first-person shooter video game developed by Nerve Software and id Software. It was released for the PC on April 3, 2005, as an expansion pack for Doom 3 and on October 5, 2005, for the Xbox video game console...

      (2005) – Nerve Software
      Nerve Software
      Nerve Software is an American video game developer that was co-founded by ex-id Software employee Brandon James. Many of the original employees at Nerve were previously employed by Rogue Entertainment, another U.S...

  • Quake 4
    Quake 4
    Quake 4 is the fourth title in the series of Quake first-person shooter computer games. The game was developed by Raven Software and published by Activision. Raven Software has collaborated with id Software, the creators and historical developers of preceding Quake games...

    (2005) – Raven Software
    Raven Software
    Raven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...

  • Prey
    Prey (video game)
    Prey is a first-person shooter video game developed by Human Head Studios , and published by 2K Games. The Xbox 360 version was ported by Venom Games. The game was initially released in North America and Europe on 11 July 2006...

    (2006) – Human Head Studios
    Human Head Studios
    Human Head Studios is a computer game development company located in Madison, Wisconsin.It was founded in October 1997 by a group of six developers formerly from Raven Software: Chris Rhinehart, Paul MacArthur, Shane Gurno, Ben Gokey, James Sumwalt, and Ted Halsted—later joined by game producer Tim...

  • Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
    Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
    Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is a first-person shooter video game, and is the follow-up to the 2005 title Quake 4. It is also the first game in the series to be rated T by the ESRB...

    (2007) – Splash Damage
    Splash Damage
    Splash Damage is an independently-owned British game development company that specializes in multiplayer first-person shooter games. The studio is best known as the creator of the Enemy Territory franchise for id Software.-History:...

  • Wolfenstein (2009) – Raven Software
    Raven Software
    Raven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...

  • Brink
    Brink (video game)
    Brink is a first-person shooter video game developed by Splash Damage for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360...

    (2011) – Splash Damage
    Splash Damage
    Splash Damage is an independently-owned British game development company that specializes in multiplayer first-person shooter games. The studio is best known as the creator of the Enemy Territory franchise for id Software.-History:...

  • Prey 2
    Prey 2
    Prey 2 is an upcoming first-person shooter video game developed by Human Head Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks, due for release on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in 2012. It is the sequel to the 2006 video game Prey. The game is presented in open world format.-Plot:The...

    (2012) – Human Head Studios
    Human Head Studios
    Human Head Studios is a computer game development company located in Madison, Wisconsin.It was founded in October 1997 by a group of six developers formerly from Raven Software: Chris Rhinehart, Paul MacArthur, Shane Gurno, Ben Gokey, James Sumwalt, and Ted Halsted—later joined by game producer Tim...


id Tech 5

This is the engine being used for id software's new games.

The engine is not based on any previous id Tech engines, however it reuses much of the technology from the most updated id Tech 4 engine, including MegaTexture
MegaTexture
MegaTexture refers to a texture allocation technique facilitating the use of a single extremely large texture rather than repeating multiple smaller textures. It is featured in Splash Damage's game Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and was developed by id Software technical director John...

 technology, parallax mapping
Parallax mapping
Parallax mapping is an enhancement of the bump mapping or normal mapping techniques applied to textures in 3D rendering applications such as video games...

, bloom
Bloom (shader effect)
Bloom is a computer graphics effect used in computer games, demos and high dynamic range rendering to reproduce an imaging artifact of real-world cameras. The effect produces fringes of light around very bright objects in an image, obscuring fine details...

, motion blur, soft particles, soft shadows and pixel shader effects.
id is requiring companies that use the engine to publish their games through id's sister company, Bethesda Softworks
Bethesda Softworks
Bethesda Softworks, LLC, is an American video game company. A subsidiary of ZeniMax Media, the company was originally based in Bethesda, Maryland and eventually moved to their current location in Rockville, Maryland...

.

Games using id Tech 5

  • Rage
    Rage (video game)
    Rage is a first-person shooter video game by id Software which was released on October 4, 2011 in North America. It uses the company's new OpenGL based id Tech 5 engine. The game was first shown as a tech demo on June 11, 2007, at Apple's WWDC, and was officially announced on August 2, 2007, at...

    (2011) – id Software
  • Doom 4
    Doom 4
    Doom 4 is the upcoming multi-platform installment of the Doom series by id Software. The game will use the company's new id Tech 5 engine and is slated for simultaneous release on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360...

    – id Software

id Tech 6

id Tech 6 is an upcoming OpenGL-based game engine under preliminary development by id Software, which will tentatively follow id Tech 5 for id Software games following Rage and Doom 4. It will work by raycasting the geometry represented by voxel
Voxel
A voxel is a volume element, representing a value on a regular grid in three dimensional space. This is analogous to a pixel, which represents 2D image data in a bitmap...

s (instead of triangles) stored in an octree.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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