quake pre-release versions + betas [06/001996]. Two development releases of Quake are available online, both supposedly leaked from id's test versions; beta 3 and another, almost identical copy that purports to be a pre-release, but is more likely a hoax. The differences between the two are few, one does not contain a console background, the multiplayer menus are slightly different and their readme and manual documents differ on minor points. These early versions are from fairly late in the game's development, although there are hundreds of differences between them and the final game the core of the level set, monsters, items and armaments are in place in a form very close to the final release version. The most notable differences are in the levels The Wind Tunnels, The Dismal Oubliette and Shub Niggurath's Pit. The tunnels are free of all monsters, items and secrets and sit outside the normal running order being the third episode's secret level. The Oubliette still contains it's ‘Lost Entrance’, a large cavernous section of moss covered, slime filled tunnels the player must climb through before surfacing at the crossbridge and the game's grim finale, Shub Niggurath's Pit, is a completely different level. It's still the work of John Romero, but is much more like a level from DOOM and is clearly an early attempt that doesn't take advantage of the Quake engine's strengths. It begins in a small corridor containing six mega health kits, which leads onto a large hexagonal room with a pentacle sitting in lava in the centre above the level's only secret. Shub's still there, but cannot be killed. Other differences include the skins of the monsters (Chthon, the Ogres and the Vores, which throw fireballs instead of their magical orbs), the epilogues presented on completion of each episode, the demos are shorter, but run through the same levels and the Quad Damage was named 'Quake Power'. Although the levels are almost all complete they contains stylistic differences, altered architecture and are missing small sections. Multiplayer is missing from the game, as are the deathmatch arenas. Significant differences in the levels are described, with screenshots were appropriate, in the map reviews section. [note: the level screenshots shown were taken in a more recent version of the game engine.]
   
 
 
qtest [02/001996]. QTEST was released four months before the Quake on February 24, 1996 to gather information on the engine and receive feedback from the DOOM community. Seven experienced DOOM gamers (known informally as 'The QTEST 7') were invited to id Software's offices to offer feedback on it's gameplay. The test clearly stated that it was neiher a demo, an alpha or shareware version of the game but a technology demo, but came under heavy criticism from those who misconstrued it as such. The test is multiplayer only, containing the first three deathmatch arenas from the final game; Place of Two Deaths, Claustrophobopolis and The Abandoned Base, although they are simply named test1, test2 and test3 here. Quake servers appeared worldwide overnight upon it's release, and continued to stay online until the full version was released. There are a number of differences between QTEST and the final version, it lacks polish and some of the content is unfinished or uses placeholders, the weapon models are all different, as are the majority of the game sounds, the HUD uses different textures, sprites are used throughout in lieu of particle effects, there are no powerups and the grenade launcher and nailguns function differently. The enemies are also different, the Ogres fire nails at you, the Scrag (then called Wizard) casts exploding fire spells at you and a number of other monsters that didn't make the final cut are hidden in the QTEST .PAK file, including the Vomitus, Dragon and Serpent. PAK and MDL editors appeared online along with skins and the Quake modding community was born, before the game had even been released.
 


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