After Quake II was finished the whole world knew that John Carmack was working on a new game engine, known to the world as Trinity. We all knew that and not much else. Then in March, Carmack announced something else, Trinity would be put on the back burner in favor of a different game, another Quake sequel, only this one would be different. Quake III: Arena, as Activision later named it, was to be a game with a totally different style than that of its previous games. Gone would be the single player missions and maps with multiplayer added as a second thought, Quake III was to be a Deathmatch only game.

Quake III: Arena is a completely new game. It is designed around a new 3D engine with highly optimized networking code. A major addition this time around will be the addition of curved surfaces. According to PCGamer magazine, these curved surfaces will be exploited as much as possible throughout the new game. The new curves have the ability to give this game a completely new look. Those curves and advanced lighting will ensure that Quake III will be an beautiful game. But beauty is not a guarantee of a good game. id has stated that the major focus of this game isn't the eye candy involved, rather the pure gameplay.

id wants to make this a game that anyone can play. Their goal is to produce a game that is appealing to newbies and hard-core gamers alike. id realizes that getting started online can be a bit daunting. As any online gamer can attest to, playing online for the first time is a major change from the good old single player experience. Jumping into a game with experienced online gamers can be a humiliating experience that has probably turned many potential gamers away from this exciting and incredibly fun pass-time. Although the gameplay is still under development id is probably going to incorporate some sort of ranking system to allow new online gamers the chance to get accustomed to the completely different format of online gaming.

Kevin Cloud stated that, "The problem is that most people don't have an Internet connection, or when they first try it, they get completely obliterated! We want the game to introduce people to the concept of fast-action shooting… So instead of jumping into extremely cold water, this is something where they can change. (PCGamer 94) To help with this there is a ranking system in the game that goes from one to one hundred. You start from the bottom and slowly work your way up fighting certain characters to move up the ladder. Programming these ranking bots is going to be one of the most difficult portions of the game. PCGamer reports that you should expect some widely varied playing styles for each of these bots.

With all these changes though id is also incorporating certain aspects of the Quake II game, and is discussing several more. Gone will be the three player classes of Quake II, in their place will be around twenty different characters to choose from. There has even been some talk of incorporating the Doom guy, Quake guy, even Nazi soldiers straight out of Wolfenstein. (PCGamer 96) The character's also have new bodies. Instead of the old and familiar mesh animations of Quake II and the like, these characters will have bodies of independently animated parts. This will allow for some truly realistic gibbing sequences that will put those of Quake/II to shame. The gore will be interesting to see!! Also visible will be the player weapons. You will even be able to see opposing opponents switch weapons. Did I mention taunting? Well never fear, this option should also be supported and incredibly visible.

I know. A thought going through everyone's mind is, "We will get to kill each other with incredible realism, but how will we be killing each other?" The plans for the weapons are far from finalized at this point, but you should probably see some of the ever popular Quake/II weapons. Never fear all you melee people, there are plans to include a melee weapon, probably in the form of a mace, and perhaps a berserker power-up to go with it. Imagine gibbing people with one blow of the mace!! Also on the drawing board are a "bouncy-gun", perhaps a grappling hook, and maybe (Please God let it be so!!) a flame thrower. Sweet!! Also being discussed are plans for a rocket pack. (PCGamer 96)

Another possible element that could be added are spectators. Q-Pong has them and they are an interesting element of the game that tend to add a little life to the game. The sound of announcers taunting you adds to the game in a way that many other things can't. Plans have been discussed that would allow players waiting to get in the game to "comment" on the match in progress. This is far from finalized however, so expect anything in the final version at this point.

So what kind of system will all this take? If you don't have a 3D accelerator yet, expect to buy one for this game. It seems as if id isn't going to make this game one that can be played without 3D acceleration unless they actually have to. But on the positive end, you should be able to play it with a first generation Voodoo card and id programmers say that the new generation of accelerator engines should handle this game just fine. The minimum requirements will probably be a P-166 MMX with the mentioned accelerator card. If you can run Quake II you should also be able to run Quake III, with some of the features turned down, says Carmack. (PCGamer 98) But anyone who ever played any other computer game knows what that means, bigger is much better. A new video card wouldn't hurt anything. Riva TNT anyone?

At this point the final game looks to be an interesting venture for id. John Carmack isn't sure himself that this will be a money-making prospect for them, but he feels the change was necessary. Carmack told PCGamer that id needed to do something different. Their original plans for Quake III simply didn't interest the incredible pool of creativity at id Software and they needed something different. (PCGamer 104) Carmack admits that this could be a major backfire for them, but the project has the team at id Software pumped up and the creative juices are flowing. I, for one, will be waiting in line for this game when it comes out. The information I've seen so far has me pumped up for the game. Can't wait until that tenuous, "Its done when its done" date that id has set.

Bring on the DM!!