INTO THE BREACH
Introducing players to the unique world of Quake and the new ideas it brought to the FPS genre in 1996 was no small feat. Quake had to be something different, an ideology that designer John Romero was famously adamant about when approaching Quake’s level design; no level made for Quake could have been made for DOOM.
“I had a rule for the designers that if they created a room in Quake and it could be replicated in Doom then they had failed.”
John Romero for Games Radar
GETTING VERTICAL
Romero wanted to show off Quake’s true-3D engine. But, more specifically perhaps, he wanted to make use of the opportunities that engine provided. Prolifically.
Verticality. Verticality is just one, one but very important, pillar of Quake’s level design, and this is apparent from the get-go. Players couldn’t even jump in DOOM, and while the team at ID Software tried their best to make DOOM’s levels feel like real, 3D spaces, Quake’s true-3D engine allowed for a great deal more depth, more intricate layering in the 3D brushwork.
Romero hammers this emphasis on verticality into the player from the very start, offering players numerous opportunities to test their platforming skills.
“Even on the very first level, you got into a dark room where you were coming down ramps, and there was one hundred health up there. The only way to get it was to do some crazy platform-hopping.”
John Romero for Games Radar
Romero’s decision to immediately and repeatedly teach players Quake’s new language rather than relying on DOOM’s design principles is what makes E1M1 so effective. Romero teaches players that this game is about exploration on not one, but multiple planes.
“We were forcing the player to worry more about the environment on multiple planes, instead of like with Doom where your plane was always the horizontal. We were pushing players into the next dimension by enforcing a vertical design.”
John Romero for Games Radar
KEEPING IT SIMPLE
By modern standards, Quake appears fairly straightforward, but its high-speed gameplay and layered environments remain complex. So, how does Romero keep E1M1 accessible?
For starters, Romero applied his classic horseshoe design when building E1M1, a simple U-shape for the player to travel through. It’s a simple structure that keeps exploration straightforward but rewarding, shepherding players through each of the level’s carefully crafted encounters.
Secondly, The Slipgate Complex – the mission’s actual title – takes place in a military base. This starts players off in a more familiar environment before throwing them into Quake’s true dark fantasy. The more familiar environment of E1M1 allows players to focus on the language that Romero is attempting to teach. However, the first level features this setting to introduce the iconic Slipgate.
Thirdly, as with most, if not all of Quake’s levels, E1M1 subtly guides players with the careful placement of pick-ups, enemies, and even lighting. A handful of text prompts also make this level a proper tutorial. However, these are sparse, ensuring players learn naturally rather than reading walls of text. This is an action game, after all.
After E1M1, it’s time to delve deeper into the world of Quake. Plenty of excellent missions await the player further down the line, missions that are varied but… Admittedly rather brown. Though, I’m sure you’ve heard that before.
