Quake engine ramblings
This was posted on func_msgboard.
Something I'd like to see is an engine which focuses on a modern tool-chain with modern formats. No one is considering Quake engines for bigger TC projects because every project also seems to aim for compatibility and misrepresents itself and its capabilities.
When you look for ways to get started for mapping/modelling for modern Quake engines you still mostly get results for .MDL and Quake 1 BSP creation. I highly doubt most people (unless they are trying to cash in on the whole 90s FPS revival...) would want to work with their limitations. Most noobs stop when they realize that you can't crouch due to hull size limits. I GUESS EVERYONE JUST WANTS TO MAKE SIMPLE QUAKE MODS.
Engines just seem to do a little too much overall with their builtin HUDs, menus and scoreboards. If they don't support CSQC then mods have a harder time customizing the look and feel. Overall all the advanced engines are bloated hogs with an identity crisis.
Thoughts on currently relevant engines:
QuakeSpasm
To me was always a solid GL engine that just did NetQuake stuff well. I'd never consider it for development. Just for playing old NetQuake mods. Extending it to do more complex things might harm it in the long run, because it'll just be another FTE/Darkplaces.
Darkplaces
While it somewhat supports CSQC and somewhat supports Quake 3's material/shader system, doesn't do any of it well. It's only half QuakeWorld compatible as well. So as a developer I've run into a few problems.
FTE
Does everything and _most_ of it works. Sadly the engine just does way too much. 16 year old code sticks out and things regress more often, because it's all cobbled together in one giant binary, I often have run into bugs/features that hadn't been tested recently or at all. It's like the emacs of Quake engines. But probably more reliable than any GNU project...
ezQuake
Does anyone even consider this for development? I guess if you run a custom QW server you use it to test because there's this invisible community of QW players who seem to use it. I don't know anyone personally who does, but a bunch that have focus on retaining compat with those clients because half their player-base uses it.
Overall, all of the above aim to be Quake 1 compatible. Those who care about Quake and don't need obnoxious high-res texture-packs just usually stick with QuakeSpasm. Why? Because it focuses on one thing well. Technically, FTE is the most complex engine but it has less of an adoption than say Darkplaces because it's mostly competing with ezQuake in the QuakeWorld space. That's because everyone has a hard-time at comprehending what it actually is. The name suggests it's just another ezQuake alternative. That's where it's kinda stuck.
I don't follow QuakeSpasms development (I don't even use it), but I hope that those who maintain it know what they are doing. Don't give in to requests of adding support for non Quake file formats and conventions. Just stick to being a good NetQuake client that offers the feel of the original. Otherwise you're just a few inches away of supporting real-time lights and giving little kids the keys to using their Rygel pk3s. It'll be like Darkplaces but with less features.
Having been busy in recent years, I just occasionally take note of what's happening in the engine world. So what I might be talking about is not relevant anymore.
--Marco