Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
- Platform: PC
- Published by: Activision
- Developed by: Splash Damage
- Release Date: 2006
- Genre: Action
- Multiplayer: Yes
- Online: Yes
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Enemy Territory: Quake Wars QuakeCon Report
-- August 15, 2005 by: Maarten Goldstein
Though the game was not physically represented at the show, we were still able to get some new information about Enemy Territory: Quake Wars after sitting down with Kevin Cloud of id Software and Paul Wedgewood of Splash Damage.
The multiplayer game puts the human Earth Defense Forces against the Strogg invaders, but rather than following the events of Quake 2 and the upcoming Quake 4, Quake Wars is a prequel taking place before Quake 2. Every map has a mission objective for the human and Strogg sides, as they fight for certain zones in the map. There's no flag capturing here, but building or destroying structures, that sort of thing. Splash Damage employs a writer who comes up with a storyline for each level, creating a fuller sense of purpose.
Like most other large scale multiplayer games, Quake Wars has a player class system, and 
though we didn't get a full overview, you can expect to see defense, assault, support and infiltration roles. The Strogg classes are true to their established universe, so look for them to use/abuse humans in any way they can. If they see a human waiting to be revived they can suck health out of him for their own use, or even set the body up as a spawn host. The Strogg being spawned would then be ideal for the infiltration class (a la Quake 4). Also look for fireteams, which work like the squad system in Battlefield 2.
There were a number of other possible design decisions that were discussed but not set in stone. We brought up a few possibilities, such as various ways specific classes could interact with vehicles differently. For example, artillery classes might have slightly better mastery of vehicle armaments. The designers expressed a lot of concern over the implications of things like this, but it was pretty obvious that the topic had come up in internal discussions. Although this particular feature is unlikely to appear in the game, the fact that things like that were still being tossed around did make it clear that some of the design is still malleable.
There is base building in the game as well. There are several kind of deployables which allow you to reinforce your base. Deployables include artillery guns, radar and base defense turrets. These things don't just magically appear, so you'll have to pay close attention to the helicopter bringing in these deployables, or the enemy might shoot the transportation unit down.
An example scenario we were given was the earth forces trying to establish a new base across a map. The earth forces would need to escort the huge mobile base convoy and clear the path to a destination. 
Smaller objectives along the way would be things like building a bridge or destroying particular defense structures. Assuming you complete the mission you do get to see the base actually deploy--it's reminiscent of establishing a new base in Command & Conquer.
Splash Damage is using the DOOM 3 engine for the game, reinforced with the new MegaTexture technology developed by John Carmack. Basically this new tech allows the developers to create a gigantic texture for the game which serves as the battlefield. Designers can set height maps, vegetation, as well as traction. So a big part of the map could be sand, while an asphalt road goes through it. Vehicles will behave differently depending on what they are driving on.
Speaking of vehicles, the game will feature various land and air units. Humans have vehicles such as highly advanced tanks (the game is set about 50 years in the future), while the Strogg forces feature Walkers and other units you've seen in the Quake 4 screenshots and videos. It's important to the designers that you can have fun on foot as well, and they are ensuring that sometimes it's easier to get to an objective by foot than using a vehicle.
Besides the MegaTexture technology, Quake Wars also has improved netcode to allow for more players. A new physics system in place as well. Let's just say you expect to see a lot of Quake Wars stunt videos. Individual wheels can come off, you can rig a vehicle with explosives, you can do donuts, drive a car on its side with two wheels, do barrel rolls in airplanes, etc, etc.
It's not yet decided how many people will be able to play the game online simultaneously, but the number will probably be somewhere between 24 to 32. Count on some server admins cranking the player limit to 64 players, but the 24-32 number is what the maps are being designed for.
As for the release date? Obviously, being an id Software game, there isn't a solid date but we should see the game some time next year.
