I had an interesting idea pop into my head the other day and I haven’t been able to let it go. Imagine a web site, like Google docs, where you could make Quake levels. Web applications are getting pretty damned complex these days and a Quake editor isn’t really all that demanding in terms of user input. Click, drag, copy, paste, etc. That’s all supported at this point.
So you log into the site and click a map name. You’re then thrown into the editor and off you go. You could work on your levels from anywhere you had access to a web browser and you wouldn’t have to worry about anything being on the local machine other than a working mouse and keyboard.
Of course, compiling the maps would be an issue. I suppose the compiling could take place on the server and then the results could be copied into whichever local directory you specify in your site profile. So running the game would require a local Quake install but not editing.
You could even turn it into a social experiment where people could make maps public instead of private, meaning that anyone who logs into the site can work on that level. If you did it right, they could even be editing it at the same time.
This would lead to community/team based speed mapping events.
I’m not sure this would ever get off the ground and I certainly don’t have the technical means to do it – but it won’t get out of my head so I’m purging it here!
Tags: Level Design, Quake
Dammit, that sounds too cool. If only I worked for a company which specialized in tech for smoothly integrating applications into browser space… …oh wait I do!
Doubt they’d get involved with Quake however, since id still holds it in all rights and purposes, and I don’t see them licensing the IA Platform for free so people can do speedmap sessions =)
Nonetheless, this seems like the perfect opportunity to poke you with the Port-ToeTag-To-Windows stick, because try as I might, I do not enjoy working with a Mac (theres one right next to me at the moment for compatibility testing), and ToeTag is one of those apps I really want to jump into.
Quick fantasy thought, supporting import of google sketchup objects, to be used either as bmodels, or just directly imported as brushes altogher…
really awesome idea! If you could take your experience from toetag and turn it into a webapp that anyone with a compatible browser could use… damn, I would be v. happy