After that, there's really not much more we know for sure. Screenshots have been particularly hard to come by, so to get some more info on the look and design behind Quake 4, we went straight to the source -- Raven Software project lead Eric Biessman, Raven art lead Kevin Long, and id Software designer Tim Willits, who's been heading up things on id's end. Along the way, they were kind enough to provide us with a few new screenshots and concept art, including a before-and-after showing an area from sketch to how it looks in the game.
Sal "Sluggo" Accardo, GameSpy: In terms of overall theme, what kind of visual style can we expect out of Quake 4? Are you trying to build something reminiscient of Quake 2, or taking things in a new direction?
Kevin Long: I'm a really big fan of Quake 2, having played it about a hundred times, so we tried to invoke some of the feeling of Quake 2 in the creatures, weapons, textures, models, etc. The gladiator is still in the game, but we updated the designs to really access the strengths of the engine. We tried to evoke that feeling of Quake 2, but at the same time it's been updated quite a bit.Sluggo: Quake 2 was a good mixture of indoor and outdoor areas, and pretty well lit most of the time. Will Quake 4 will be somewhat similar, or are you looking to play up the DOOM 3 engine with its lighting and shadows and keep things a little bit darker?
Kevin Long: I think we have a lot of diversity throughout the entire game. We have some dark areas, and we have outdoor areas that are brighter. I think how diverse everything is will really go a long way. We didn't really set out saying, "This game is going to be dark, this game is going to be light" -- we set out to make a cohesive environment where you go through different extremes and you'll see a bunch of different stuff.
Tim Willits: One of the design objectives was to vary up the gameplay environments as much as possible. I think players will appreciate that -- there's never a dull moment when you're playing Quake 4.
While some characters will look familiar, the Marines have gotten an upgrade from Quake 2 to Quake 4.
Sluggo: Do you think characters and weapons will be easily recognizable to people who played Quake 2, or is the DOOM 3 engine just so far ahead that it's night and day?
Kevin Long: I think you can. The updated Strogg marines are a little different but you can still tell they're the Strogg marines. The gladiators have somewhat the same feel, but are also getting updated, a little bit more streamlined, to create a model in hi-poly and show a lot of bolts, compared to the Quake 2 stuff which was a little lower poly. I think you can tell that it's a Strogg facility and that some of the creatures are returning creatures from Quake 2.
Tim Willits: I think the weapons in Quake 4 are just awesome. Especially the lightning gun -- that's my favorite looking weapon. Players, when they get these weapons, they'll know what they are, but they look so much cooler now. They almost look now what you imagined them to look like in Quake 2, so we're really excited about the weapons as well.
Kevin Long: Early on, we played through Quake 2 and looked at it, and started working up designs for some of the weapons and creatures, and so early on it was just "Jersey" Jim Hughes and I on the project, and I did most of the concept stuff, and then we would send some of those designs down to Tim and the guys from id and get their take on it and their direction and make the appropriate changes, so we had a really good working relationship as far as the concepts going with Tim and the rest of the guys from id.
