Quake-Style Shooter Built in Just 64kB
A developer from the demoscene community created a Quake-style first-person shooter game called QUOD that fits into just 64 kilobytes. The project demonstrates the use of minimalist code, procedural content generation, and extreme optimization to create a compelling experience within severe technical constraints.
- The developer, known as Daivuk, created an entire custom toolchain for the project; this includes a bespoke image editor for textures, a model tool, and a sound synthesizer that generates audio from basic waveforms at runtime. - To further save space, Daivuk created his own virtual machine and a new programming language specifically for QUOD. - While the 64kB executable is tiny, the game unpacks to around 100MB in RAM and requires a relatively modern system to run, including an Intel i5 processor, a GTX 770 graphics card, and 8GB of RAM. - The game's three levels were designed using TrenchBroom, a standard level editor for Quake, before being processed into a custom, highly-optimized format. - 3D models were created as symmetrical halves in Blender, with the game's engine mirroring the meshes at runtime to cut the vertex data storage by 50%. - The 64kB (65,536 bytes) size is a classic competition category in the demoscene, a computer art subculture dedicated to creating impressive audiovisual programs within extreme technical limitations. - Unlike many size-limited demos that rely entirely on procedural generation, QUOD combines procedural techniques with heavily optimized, pre-designed assets like levels and models. - The project was a long-term effort, with the developer stating the idea was in gestation for about 10 years, though the majority of the work was completed in the final year.
