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Current QW Source Projects
Below are brief introductions of the QW Source Projects I have discoverd across the Internet in random order. Please, don´t consider the comments to be ´reviews´, but rather ´first impressions´.

QuakeLives
After a rough start with a few problems concerning GPL issues, the ´QuakeWorld Revitalization project´seems to be going strong now. Initially the main focus was on stopping cheaters but recently they seem to have started upgrading the GL graphics engine as well. Information on the exact features is a little hard to find on the homepage though. Details

QuakeForge
The QuakeForge people seem very serious about their programming bussiness. They have set up bug tracking and mailinglists to keep each other informed of the progress here. Details

Quake Standards Group
The main activity of the Quake Standards Group is providing others with tutorials on how to add features to the source code. Currently tutorials on console improvements and a bug fix are available as well as a few others. Details

Quake Engine Resources
This team seems fully geared towards improving the visual aspects of the game. Coloured lighting, and improved model handeling are a few of the aspects they are working on. Details

Quake2000
The Quake2000 project is mainly focussed on enhancing the visual quality of Quake. Fogging effects have been implemented already, seemingly mostly based on work by the ´Quake Engine Resources´-people. Details

Quake Storytelling
As the homepage of this project is currently substantially empty, your guess of its goals is as good as mine. Promissing title though. Details

Quake Info Pool
The Quake Info Pool was collecting all technical information concerning Quake long before the source code was released. For anyone looking for information about console commands, about QuakeC etc., this is the place to go. Asides from this gathering of information, the Info Pool has issued some bug fixes to the source code itself too. Details

Quakeworld Forever
This team is including encryption and client checksumming as advanced cheat protection. Some beta versions are available for download. The Quakeworld Forever project is hosted on our very own CH-W server. Details

D3DQuake
Whereas most other projects concerned with improving the graphics of the game are focussing on GL, this project, as its name implies, intends to port all of the OpenGL-features to Direct3D 7.0. The current version is only running properly on a limited number of graphic adapters however. Details

Fisheye Quake - added 17 February 2000
This one is a bit of an oddity amongst the graphics-oriented projects. The standard flat projection of the gaming environment is changed into a view is changed into a fisheye perspective. This makes very high FOV settings possible. In theory only though since the framerate takes an increddible hit. Also seems this project is no longer being develloped. Details

Unofficial GLQuake Update - added 17 February 2000
With fogging, bumpmapping and flaring torches currently working, I think this is currently the most advanced OpenGL update for Quake. They also have one of the more informative homepages around. Details

GoldCup - added 17 February 2000
These people have taken a completely different road with the Quake source code. They are develloping the code specifically with the classic QuakeRally MOD in mind. Improving map code and adding bots to race against are some of their goals. GoldCup is not exactly what a die-hard deathmatcher would be looking for but definately an interesting and original way of putting the Quake engine to work. Details

Nehahra - added 24 February 2000
Nehahra is a single-player oriented total conversion of Quake that will bring some enhancements to the game engine too. The Nehahra Project enlists a few famous mappers as Mr. Fribbles and DaMaul. Add to that the involved storyline and it seems this project can´t go wrong. Details

Nightmare AT Almastreet - added 24 February 2000
Another total conversion that also brings engine enhancements in the graphics area. MP3 support and a greatly improved console will also be in Nightmare AT Almastreet. Details

BGLQuake - added 24 February 2000
BGLQuake aims to port GLQuake to the BeOS operating system for Intel processors. An early version (without mouse support!) is already available. Details

ProQuake - added 24 February 2000
ProQuake is bringing QuakeWorld features to regular Quake. Pings displayed in the scoreboard, improved message command and better aiming are being incorporated. Details

GLQuake for Mac - added 24 February 2000
Another port of GLQuake, this time for the Macintosh. GLQuake for Mac has gone through several releases already but mouse support is apparently still problematic. Details

Open Quartz - added 24 February 2000
Open Quartz can not really be classified among the source code projects as it doesn´t really intend to do anything with the source code itself. Rather they seek to collect models, textures, sound etc. to create alternative .PAK files for Quake allowing the game to be distributed completely free (id´s artwork is not!). Details

SDLQuake - added 7 March 2000
This is a version of the Quake engine develloped to work with SDL or 'Simple DirectMedia Layer'. Code based on SDLQuake should become fairly easy to port to several operating systems (notably Linux, Win32 and BeOS). But I could be dead wrong about that. Details

Amiga Quake - added 7 March 2000
I sincerely doubt you didn´t guess this one yourself: Amiga Quake will bring Quake and Quakeworld to Amiga computers. I never had an Amiga myself so I hope they won´t stop at that and a C64 version is in the works too :) Details

Star Quake - added 16 March 2000
Star Quake intends to enhance the visual quality of GLQuake by implementing e.g. colored lightning and 3D interpolation. Some improvements to the server will seemingly be added as well. Details

GeneBot - added 25 March 2000
GeneBot; no further description yet. Details

IcE QWSV - added 25 March 2000
IcE QWSV; no further description yet. Details

QuakePlus - added 25 March 2000
QuakePlus; no further description yet. Details

However, the powerup timers have long been done away with and now QW proxies are mostly what they were meant to be: invaluable for teamplay.

This is also the reason why they get a mention here: QuakeWorld proxies pioneered most of the teamplay features people have now come to expect in new games or from the developement of the QW source (location and health / armor reporting, item reporting, ...).

The three main QW proxies that have been used over the past year or two are Cheapo, NitroForce and Qizmo. They have taken the teamplay functionality that was offered by the original FAQ proxy a few great strides further. Proxies are currently required by some leagues as they allow for some basic cheat-checking.

Qizmo
Qizmo is the most advanced QW proxy. It doesn´t only supply gameplay features but also includes several connection enhancements and demorecording and -playback options. Qizmo is distributed as shareware. At this point however only the most advanced options or limited to the registered users so even the unregistered version makes for a great proxy. An in-game menu allows you to change most of the settings.

Nitro2
The NFproxy has always been my favorite. Now with the Nitro2 proxy (or the german site), a nice menu interface has been added and some NFproxy features that were considered possible cheats by some have been removed. As far as I can tell, Nitro2 is the only QW proxy that is still being develloped rather actively. It does still suffer a few bugs too though.

Cheapo
The Cheapo proxy was the only real alternative to Qizmo for a while until NFproxy arrived. Although it lacks some of the more spiffy features the other two offer (in-game menus for example), it remains very usable. Recently however, the source-code for this proxy was released (GPL) causing concerns about cheating (much like the QW source itself). Now the dust has settled a bit, these concerns about the proxy seem rather exagerated.

A remark
For this first roundup it was very difficult to find definite information on what each of the projects is really about. The current status of most of the projects is unclear due to the absence of readme-files in the downloads or on the sites. For many projects however the goals seem to be rather ill defined too. Of course, people are still checking out all possibilities and in a few weeks time I expect to see much more clearly outlined projects (and probably fewer of them too).

This slight gripe asied, it is already obvious that some very talented people are devoting their skills and time to improving the QW source code. I am confident that - in a month or two - we will see a game with very advanced internet cheat-protection, decent graphics and unparallelled teamplay features. And that game will be based on the Quakeworld. For the moment however, proxies still seem the way to go.

If you have some additional links for inclusion on this page or if you feel I presented one of the project in an utterly unfair or plain wrong way, please let know. Other feedback is allowed too, of course.