> Twenty Five Years Later id Software Still Giving a Masterclass In Level Design

Wes Fenlon at PCGamer:

The Wizard’s Manse isn’t a flashy level, but it sets up some of Quake’s best ideas to come. The next level, The Dismal Oubliette, closes out episode two with a great centerpiece, an L-shaped bridge that eventually rotates as you progress and find buttons that activate it. At the start, it taunts you with paths you can’t take, one holding a tantalizing 150 point yellow armor. But there’s also armor in the very first room you start in, which means that yellow armor is actually a premonition: You’re gonna need that later. The Dismal Oubliette has just as much fun with medieval contraptions as The Wizard’s Manse. Its first room off the center bridge makes you press a switch to raise a set of stairs out of a pool, and another switch seems like it’ll probably rotate that bridge you just left. But no, it actually opens a secret door, the kind you usually have to discover with a shotgun blast to a suspicious wall. Behind this lies a whole new area with an intimidating tower (and moat!) in front of you, guarded by a lightning-throwing Shambler. In hindsight, hiding all this behind a secret door makes a lot of sense if you know what oubliette means. The tower ends with a satisfying loop back to the far side of the moat you had to cross to reach it, and the second area that spokes off the center bridge also sends you up to two enemy-packed floors on an elevator before returning to the ground floor to claim your prize, the final bridge button. his style of design still exists in games today, but most big-budget shooters are about crossing a larger map and surviving setpieces along the way. Nothing wrong with that, but it doesn’t trigger the almost Pavlovian reaction my brain has to closing a loop in a classic shooter, where every accomplishment ends in the revelation that all this time, I was actually just feet away from where I started. It’s like a slight-of-hand card trick: Even when I know it’s coming, it’s still a tiny thrill.

Quake’s levels were certainly not interesting to look at for the most part. As some would say they were “fifty shades of brown” and I guess some things never change since some of the most popular games are still, well, mostly brown. But the mazes that they were? Incredible. Especially considering this was the first time id had a full 3D pallet to work with. Quake really was a masterclass in a lot of things and level design is certainly one of them. This isn’t just for single player modes either. DM3 is a classic map worth taking some lessons from even today.

> ▋