This QUAKE Record Took 17 Years To Beat

quake done quick in the late 90s these three words were almost synonymous with the words speed running while its software's predecessor do may have given birth to speedrunning as we know it today it was quake that thrust it into the mainstream but what was once the shining star of speedrunning quake eventually faded from popularity with franchises such as Mario and Zelda becoming the big names in town quake took a backseat recently I found myself asking what happened to quake speedrunning I set out to discover what became of arguably the most influential speedrunning game of all time what I found was the game that facilitates some of the most complex and difficult movement in all of speedrunning and to my delight there is still a community of dedicated runners keeping the torch alight in fact in July of 2019 a speedrun was performed that may very well be the greatest quake speedrun of all time in order to fully appreciate this amazing new record we are going to learn about the rich history leading up to this moment along the way we will uncover and begin to understand the techniques that make this achievement so insanely difficult so sit back and relax as we examine the world record progression of quakes very first level the Slipgate complex the Slipgate complex or e1 m1 is called by quake speedrunners' II one referring to episode 1 and m1 referring to map 1 both quake and dune players use this shorthand to describe levels before we jump into this iconic stage I want to explain to you why quake was so instrumental in building the popularity of speedrunning by 1996 to him had already established a pretty active speedrunning community naturally with quake being the next release from its software people were already excited about continuing that tradition and pushing the new game to its limits quake carried over a couple of very important features from doom the first was the end screen that showed the time in which the level was completed this made real time score tracking a breeze and begged for competition to see who could complete each level in the lowest time the second was the ability to immortalize runs by capturing inputs and storing them in the form of demos these demos could be sent quickly over the internet and played back on any computer with quake installed demos are amazing and it's pretty awesome to be able to watch runs that are over 20 years old with such clarity in the 90s capturing videos from consoles was actually pretty difficult and usually resulted in poor quality video files are much larger than demo files and because most Internet users were on dial-up and wanted to keep file sizes small videos were compressed to such an extent that their quality suffered tremendously for example take a look at this speedrunning footage of Goldeneye double-oh-seven from 1999 now take a look at a quake speedrun from 1997 two years earlier in early 1997 a few of the quake speedrunners decided to work together to create a segmented speedrun of the entire game all four episodes on the nightmare difficulty in a standard speedrun a person will play a game from start to finish in a single attempt in a segmented speedrun a person or even several people will replay each level many times to get the optimal run and then piece them all together the first segmented speedrun completed quake in a time of 19 minutes and 49 seconds the demo for this speedrun was converted into a video file and released under the title quaked on quick in June of 1997 quake done quick would gone up massive popularity and widespread attention anyone who was a gamer in the late 90s knew of quake speedrunning even if they had no idea what speedrunning was for what it was even called and to be perfectly honest at that time hardly anyone did they at least knew that people out there were working hard to complete quake as quickly as possible quake done quick showcased crazy techniques such as rocket jumping which blew everyone away and created a lot of excitement quake speedrun has used several different websites to store the many demo files that were being created but in 1998 these were merged into a single website under the banner speed demos archive speed demos archive or SDA for short was instrumental in bringing together and cultivating a community of speedrunners it was originally only a hub for quake speedrunning but in the mid-2000s it started hosting videos and forums for speedruns of other games as well if you were looking for videos of speedruns of your favorite games between the years of 2005 to around 2012 chances are your search would lead you to speed demos archive in 2010 users of SDA organized the first charity speedrunning marathon that would bear the name games done quick aptly named in honor of the game that started it all a marathon that would go on to be watched by hundreds of thousands of people each year and has raised millions for charity quakes influence on speedrunning can't be overstated but its popularity in the community has waned dramatically over the years among the younger generation of gamers not much is known about quakes history and impact so let's get to it now that we've briefly covered the importance of quakes speedrunning we can get into the history of quakes first level the Slipgate complex in order to get familiar with the level we are going to complete it casually first and I'll explain each of the different components as we go one thing I do have to mention is that we will be playing on the easy difficulty if you've watched my previous doing videos you'll remember the doom speedrunners speedrun on the harder difficulties quake is a bit different in that regard as the most popular categories are run on the easy difficulty this is because monsters introduce a ton of luck into the run and as we will see quake movement is extremely technical and mapped out so the least amount of luck required the better also we'll be looking at the category where the only objective is to reach the end of the stage as quickly as possible therefore we'll be ignoring secrets and monsters where possible once starting the level and heading down the first hallway we encounter our first door on the left it's important to point out that there is no activates button in quake doors are activated by proximity and buttons are activated by making physical contact with them this means there is no need to time frame perfect' inputs in order to open doors and press buttons as soon as possible as you would in Doom after a short elevator ride we encounter our first enemies as well as a bridge through the next door lies a t-junction with a dead end on the right there's an explosive crate here that will explode when shot heading around the next few corners we find a pit of slime blocking access to the rest of the level a button on the right will extend a ledge once activated allowing us to cross the next section contains a spiraling ramp housing three buttons all three of these buttons will to be activated in order to open a door lying at the base of the ramp once through the opened door a short hallways all that separates us from the final room that houses the Slipgate we used to complete the stage the Slipgate is activated by a contact so timing a final button push is not a requirement the first recorded Ward record dates back to the 20th of August 1997 the runner Cunha Andre morose at a time of 30 seconds unfortunately this is the one demo that appears to have been lost forever so we won't be able to look at the run but it wasn't long before this was made obsolete by goona when he achieved a run of 29 seconds on the 19th of September 1997 this run is extremely primitive none of the future techniques had been discovered so ganar simply ran forward in straight lines trying to cover the least amount of distance possible there was one thing to note though which is a jump gr execute on the ramp section I actually haven't mentioned it until now but yes you can jump in quake a mechanic that completely separates it from its predecessor doom I'm going to add a display at the bottom of the screen for each run that will show a number pay very close attention to this number as it represents the current speed of quake guy in units per second when running in a straight line the speed that quake guy will reach is 320 units per second so with that number as a benchmark you'll be able to identify what movements or techniques create more speed on the 26th of January 1998 a play going by the name burnin son managed to complete the level in 28 seconds here we see the first implementation of a genuine speed technique wall running by strafing along a wall you can achieve quite a large boost in speed all the way up to 480 units per second the design in quakes levels are pretty complex but you can see how burnin son takes every small opportunity to use wall running to his advantage the 24th of April 1998 saw the player will Marsh take the record to 27 seconds will took advantage of a very primitive technique known as zig zagging by rapidly alternating strafe buttons you can achieve speeds of over 400 units per second we'll use this technique as much as possible but he still tried to incorporate some wall running when possible by this time quake speedrunning was still incredibly basic but a technique was about to be discovered that would drastically change the quake landscape forever on the 30th of May 1998 the speedrunner Ilkka kirk allah would achieve this run for the first time even if albeit sparingly the technique known as strafe jumping was used without going too far into an explanation of quake movement mechanics strafe jumping allows the player to attain a much higher speed it was already known since at least 1997 that you can build speed by both strafing and turning the mouse in the direction of the strafe but this wasn't necessarily all that helpful given that as soon as you stopped turning your speed would immediately drop back to 320 units per second due to the friction created by running along the ground but you can't abuse this mechanic by jumping at the end of the turn while airborne there is no friction applied to quake guy meaning that he will keep the entirety of his speed at the moment he jumped that is of course until his feet hit the ground it's also possible to maintain some more of this speed gain by buffering the jump command causing the player to jump as soon as he lands they will definitely be a small speed loss from the brief moment the quake guy touches the ground but it's only minimal so it's still possible to keep some of the speed gained this act of jumping to preserve speed is known as bunny hopping and is one of the most famous techniques to spring from the quake engine even though at this point the technique has not yet reached maturity players are definitely starting to understand what needs to be done in order to maximize speed on the 26th of June 1998 Peter Horvath would incorporate more bunny hops and achieve a time of 25 seconds Pisa would implement what is known as a slope boost at the very start of the level you can gain a pretty significant amount of speed by bunny hopping off of a downward slope the inverse is also true if you bunnyhop from an upward slope you'll lose a bunch of speed this mechanic is actually pretty impactful as there are a ton of slopes on quake and figuring out where you can and can't jump from is a big part of the strategy Peters record would stand for five months on the 11th of November 1998 he'll coca-cola would do this the movement in this run is a level beyond what we had previously seen and for the first time we saw the implementation of a technique known as air strafing we already know that turning while strafing can produce a gain in speed and we know that as long as we are in the air there is no friction to slow us down but the one thing that isn't obvious is the fact that we can use turning and strafing to gain speed even while we are midair if it's possible to gain speed while airborne this should offset the drop in speed we encounter when we make brief contact with the ground thereby continuously gaining speed through multiple jumps in ill cos run of 24 seconds he used air straightening around corners this is the most intuitive place to execute this maneuver as we are turning anyway what isn't intuitive is being able to build speed with air strafing while traveling in straight lines by using very precise timing we can gain speed by alternating air strikes between left and right one thing that can't be overstated is just how much skill is needed to perform air strafing optimally sure it's reasonably easy to learn how to bunnyhop and gain a decent amount of speed it took me around 20 hours of practice to be able to get to this point but to get the maximum amount of speed takes extreme precision I have to be honest and say that for making this video I had never learned quake speedrunning techniques when I watched speed runs of quake the jumping mechanic didn't seem that complex but she really can't appreciate just how difficult good bunny-hopping is until you try it and I certainly did not have a grasp of what it truly takes attempting to do it in a straight line without any obstacles was already incredibly frustrating once I had become comfortable with that I thought it would be pretty simple to apply it to e 1 M 1 and start speedrunning I was in for a very rude awakening though when I began attempts it seemed impossible to do anything within these small corridors and a slight touch to a wall or an enemy results in a massive loss of speed speaking of enemies I haven't yet pointed out the fact that they will ruin your runs a lot enemy pardoning is random and some of them move very quickly they are large and blocky if they get in your way you're screwed they also possess a high level of accuracy it didn't seem to matter how good my movement was getting shot seemed inevitable much of the time damage from enemies has incredible knock-back so getting a shot from the front will destroy your run the Elka's run of 24 seconds would remain the record for 7 months during this period skills were steadily improving on the 14th of June 1999 Marcus T'Pol a would set a new benchmark with this run at the top levels quake speedrunning involves a lot of planning because the level designs are so complex the amount of different combinations of jumping patterns becomes astronomically large the goal is to find the perfect pattern a way to maneuver around levels while still keeping the maximum amount of speed this process of discovery takes years you can see how far players had come by as early as 1999 Marcus's time of 23 seconds would stand for almost two years a testament to the strength of the run but during this time Marcus had been practicing an entirely new strategy and this in my opinion is where things start to get crazy on the 14th of March 2001 Marcus Tai Polly achieved this run earlier in the video when we were first introducing ourselves to this level I mentioned that there was an explosive crate that would explode when shot the explosion from this box can be used to create tremendous speed quakes most flashy Technic rocket jumping also owes itself to the same mechanic the Box boost is extremely precise you have to be the perfect distance away when the box explodes to close and you die too far away and you won't gain enough speed players are required to do a quick 180 spin once to pass the Box shoot the Box at the perfect moment and then perform another 180 spin while simultaneously performing bunny hops to maintain speed Marcus's run was good but you can see how he lost a lot of speed during the button sequence due to an imperfect bunnyhop pattern so it did seem as though the run was not yet optimized Marcus did add a slight boost at the base of the ramp after the button sequence which provides a huge speed increase for the final section Marcus wasn't the only player who had been busy mastering this strategy Peter Horvath who had previously set a new record on this stage almost three years ago was still playing he had also been attempting to use the Box boost to attain a new record when he had learned that Marcus had already achieved 22 seconds Peter did manage to tie 22 but felt that it was improvable as both his and Marcus's runs didn't seem perfect so Peter kept playing and on the 25th of March 2001 he would perform this run Peters run of 21 seconds is absolutely incredible for the time it was set his box boost was executed a lot better than the previous 22 allowing him to attain and maintain a much highest speed throughout the next section of the stage the button sequence was performed a lot smoother as well all in all this run is pretty amazing in fact it was so good that it would remain the record for over 17 years players would definitely go on to tie it though with the first being in 2006 by the player Mandel Mandela would go on to achieve a 21-point 6-3 in 2009 in 2007 the Navigator would be the first to beat Peters decimal getting a 21-point 786 in his notes he states actually come to think of it I think 20 is possible but possible is one thing realistic is another no real progress would be made on e 1m 1 until 2016 with the introduction of a new technique power bunny hopping or power bunnies for short the knowledge of power bunnies had been around since at least the mid 2000s but there is a reason it took a while for them to be implemented into the strategy they are basically a much more precise and difficult version of the standard bunny hop with normal bunny hopping there is a loss of speed each time the player touches the ground this speed loss creates a soft cap of just over 500 units per second at this speed the gain from air strafing is not more than a loss from friction with power bunny hopping you can negate a lot of this speed loss from friction by tapping the forward button at the moment quake AI hits the ground this enables speeds of upwards of 600 units per second with standard bunny hopping the forward key is not held as this makes it impossible to air strafe properly making changes in direction differ the fact that power bindings incorporate some use of the forward key means that air strafing is indeed more difficult so it is better used for straight passages in fact it's use is comparable to SR 50 in Doom it offers a modest speed increase but is difficult to implement into complex moving patterns in 2016 the player Danu would show what was possible with power bunny-hopping he managed to tie the record of 21 seconds without using the barrel boost at all this heavily hinted at the feasibility of the record going lower if both pieces could fit together into a single run several more plays would go on to match the 21 without the use of the explosive box one of these players was a man by the name of Connie were nursin who goes by the pseudonym jukebox Connie was already pretty experienced with a 1m one and after attaining the 21 without the boost he knew he could push it lower 17 and a half years after the original 21 was set on the 19th of August 2018 jukebox achieved this run there is a lot to this run that I could cover if I were to explain every single detail going on in this record this video would be two hours long there are very subtle maneuvers being executed at every step at the very beginning of the level the slope boost is particularly precise if you land where the flat ground and the slope meet you can reap the benefits of the speed increase while also retaining the ability to do a jump at full height normally when bunny hopping from a slope some of the vertical momentum of the jump is transferred into horizontal speed so some height is sacrificed if this beginning jump is not executed perfectly this will cause you to have to perform an extra jump in the sequence meaning that more speed is lost due to friction this maneuver only saves around two tenths of a second but in runs this optimized it's a big deal the low ceiling makes this jump really difficult to do near the end of the stage he lands as close to the final ramp as possible this is so that the next jump will hit the ramp at a much shallower angle minimizing the speed loss this is because the angle at which you hit the ramp will affect how great of an impact and upward or downward slope will have on your speed you'll notice that after the Box boost players will go out fairly wide as they navigate the next few corners this is due to the layout of the floor and the fact that it is separated into different levels quake I cannot clear more than two of these stairs with a single jump and given that it's impossible to bunny hop off stairs and maintain speed we can only use specific areas to land and still continue the bunnyhop pattern jukeboxes run of 20 seconds is really good but it's still not perfect he knew almost immediately there were still areas that screamed for improvement in an ideal run bunny hopping will remain continuous for the entire stage bunny hopping is we can take full advantage of the speed we have created through various techniques as soon as you stop jumping you'll lose all of the extra speed you have accumulated in the twenty second run there were three places where the bunny hopping sequence was disrupted the first was in the elevator at the start of the level it's pretty safe to say that stopping here is unavoidable as we need to wait for the lift to lower enough to exit the second instance was before the Box boost this is to help set off the boost correctly to take full advantage of it given that you need to be a specific distance away from the explosion and you also need to be in midair it makes it difficult to execute during a bunnyhop sequence if a single jump is off beforehand or the speed isn't right the entire sequence would be different meaning that you couldn't be in the correct position to do the boost properly so up until this point players had stopped the sequence at the box and then started it again so it was easier to jump from the same location each time the third halt in the jumping pattern was at the final button of the three button ramp once this button is activated the player must do an almost completely 180-degree turn this makes it seemingly impossible to keep a sequence going but it might be doable if you could keep enough speed and swing out wide over the railing before coming back in towards the button similar to how jukebox handled the first button on his record run but as you need a ton of speed to pull this off everything before the final button needs to be perfect we just want to be going fast enough jukebox studied the level meticulously and realized that in theory it was indeed possible to keep a single bunnyhop sequence from the elevator to the end he did some initial testing and calculated that a 19.9 was achievable every single jump was carefully planned and mapped out he knew exactly where he needed to land each time to keep the sequence going he officially began attempts to make 19 a reality and on the 23rd of June 2019 after 70 thousand attempts Konig were nursin achieved this run this run is simply amazing a single bunnyhop sequence was maintained from the elevator until the very end of the stage it is just mind-blowing how much precision is needed to be able to keep a bunnyhop sequence going while at the same time spinning 180 degrees to shoot the explosive crate and keep everything together while being boosted to insane speeds the button sequence was executed flawlessly and jukebox makes this look much easier than it really is this truly is one of the most perfect runs in quake history for all intents and purposes this is as low as the record can go barring some major strategy development the record is going to remain 19 for a long long time now I offer you a challenge I managed to beat the Slipgate complex in 25 seconds if you're up for a bit of friendly competition grab a copy of quake and see if you can do better if you manage to beat my time post the video or demo in my discord and I'll put your name in the next video I will also randomly select a run to play during the video as well I think you will get a lot more appreciation for the runs highlighted in this video when you try to speed run quake yourself let me know in the comments if you enjoyed this video and you'd like to see more quake speedrunning content quake has one of the most storied histories in all of speedrunning and it's a shame that it's not as popular as it was 20 years ago maybe this will change thank you so much for watching you absolute legends I hope you are having a fantastic day and I will see you in the next video [Music]

Channel: Karl Jobst

Views: 1,475,521

Keywords: quake, id software, john carmack, quake speedrunning, speedrun, quake done quick, speedrunning, world record, video game history, world record progression, karl jobst, gaming history, documentary, quake history, john romero, speedrun documentary, karl jobst quake, bunnyhop, rocket jump, pc gaming, classic gaming

Id: 43d8fICz6gM

Length: 30min 33sec (1833 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 20 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

As an ex quake player that was brilliant, after the initial speed runs came out, I had no idea they had kept pushing and pushing right up to very recently, 20 years of perfection, crazy stuff

[u/Pitchfork_Wholesaler]

I thought I'd get bored of watching a half hour movie on the first level of quake but the buildup and technical analysis of each consecutive record breaking attempt really showcased how crazy the current record is.

[u/TimothyK4]

If you think quake movement and speedruns are interesting check out Defrag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBgKADHgqzw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-OT4jWd_As

[u/[deleted]]

[removed]

[u/HIVnotAdeathSentence]

I liked his DOOM video, this is just as good.

Run starts at 28:19.

[u/hoyohoyo9]

"Quake Done Quick showcased crazy techniques such as "rocket jumping," which blew everyone away"

This was definitely intentional but his delivery was so deadpan that I'm not even sure.

Also, was Doom really the first big speedrunning scene? Seems like the 8 and 16 bit console games would have been speedrun to death by then..

[u/stuntaneous]

I continually find it interesting how Australian Youtubers tend to make videos and references about particular games like Quake, Apogee and Epic games, Sierra adventures, etc. It seems like we had a well defined, distinct taste back in the day presumably dictated by which companies were better distributed here and our isolated sub-culture.

[u/[deleted]]

The thing that strikes me about the improvements in the runs is that they are finding faster input overloads, and then optimizing the jump locations rather than faster ways to solve the level in terms of new innovations. Effectively, it's what movement hack will move your character to higher velocity than the coders planned.