Players who are familiar with 3D first person controls should also notice the secret easily. If the player is still becoming familiar with the controls of a 3D First Person Shooter, there’s a good chance of falling into the moat, and the only way out is through a secret area with a reward. This moat and bridge also introduce the player to their first secret area.
The level reinforces this idea in the next room where the player faces several Grunts, a Rottweiler, and an explosive barrel. As the second space of the first level, this moat and bridge introduce the player to target priority, which is a recurring theme of Quake’s combat design. If the player chooses to shoot at the Grunt as the Rottweiler crosses, the player may not have time to respond to the Rottweiler before taking damage, and the Grunt will still be alive. The player only has a shotgun at this point, which has a slow refire rate and is less effective at range. The other enemy is a grunt with a slow shotgun attack, which can hit the player across the moat. The bridge has railings along the side which partially obscures the Rottweiler and prevents a direct attack. Because the Rottweiler melees, it crosses the bridge immediately to enter attack range. One of the enemies is a Rottweiler, which we hear bark into its alert state. The moat in this box canyon environment lets the player cull extraneous information and focus ahead on the enemies. We are able to see our enemies and predict their path to us. Across the moat the player sees another tech base and also sees the alerted enemies.įrom gameplay, the moat functions as a funnel for navigation. Turning right to face the alerted enemies, the player sees the moat and bridge in the middle of a box canyon with organic green and brown tones in their textures. Due to the orientation of the button in the elevator, the player will be looking to the left of the bridge and will hear the enemies before seeing them.įirst glance of the moat and bridge in E1M1 We experience the first moat and bridge after descending an elevator from an enclosed tech base art set.
For a 21 year old game, there is still so much to learn from its design! We could find even more riches by considering the design of the keys and locked doors, or by looking at how the game introduces each new enemy, or by studying each trap the levels springs. This is also just one motif we can look at with Quake. With a different set of verbs, such as the cleaning verbs of Viscera Cleanup Detail, players could have different reactions to identical level design. This is not a fundamental property of bridges everywhere. This is because the effect of this motif depends on level design working with game design and drawing from a player’s cultural awareness. Keep in mind that as we go through some of the examples from this episode, not all have equal impact, and players may experience these areas differently than I describe. This frames the player’s actions within the fantasy of storming a castle, which gives the player unspoken goals: get to the heart of the fortress and take it.Ĭompared to other level starts in Quake and in Doom, the bridge and moat setup offers better context for exploration and combat. At their best, these thresholds signify a first step in an attack against an enemy stronghold. Thematically, what separates a bridge and moat from similar structures like catwalks across hazards is that they functions as a threshold the player must cross.
Each has varied mechanical functions, depending on the level. Throughout the first episode of Quake, there are moats and bridges.
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