Rage: The Return of id Software

By Richard Leadbetter Published 24 September, 2011

Catching up with Tim Willits at the Eurogamer Expo.

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On the year of id Software's 20th anniversary in the games business, the legendary Texas-based outfit is finally ready to unleash its latest game - the potentially incredible Rage, which fuses a fresh spin on the traditional id-style FPS action with vehicles and a massive open world.

While it's been many years since the last tentpole id title was released, the company's legacy and influence has persisted. Having defined the core multiplayer deathmatch experience in 1993's Doom and dictated the development of cutting-edge 3D rendering up until the release of the current-gen consoles, it seems somewhat appropriate that the most popular online games of today are essentially spiritual successors to id's finest work. Call of Duty's multiplayer is the latest iteration of the gameplay developed in these classics, and the rendering code itself still retains elements of id technology.

But in the here and now, how can id's unique approach with Rage compete against the FPS juggernauts in what is the most fiercely competitive area of the core games business? At this week's Eurogamer Expo, Digital Foundry sat down to talk tech, design and dev culture with Tim Willits, creative director of id Software.

Digital Foundry: Rage has gone gold and final, pressed copies are back after five years of development. How does it feel?

Tim Willits: It's very exciting. It's funny though - id Software studio - we have no green discs (what we call retail discs) because we needed them all for events. So we don't actually have them yet. It's exciting, it's the 20-year anniversary, we have a brand new game, brand new technology. We're on all the platforms, which we've never done before. Rage is definitely a game that's different from any title we've done, it's had a great reception so far. It's a good time to be at id Software right now.

Digital Foundry: Going gold isn't the end of the process in this era of day one patches and DLC. What's going on with you guys in the here and now?

Tim Willits: We're not there working late Sunday nights, I can tell you that, but you're right, times are much different. Marketing the title, finalising the title, making sure that we have worldwide shipping. It's so much different than it used to be. Back in the days of Quake 1, I remember Carmack would say, "Hey Tim, can you play through it?" and I'd say, "Yep! I'm done". And he'd say, "OK, upload it to the internet, let's go across the street to Razzoo's and get some food."

Those days are definitely gone but it is really exciting. Of course, we're working on some patch issues, we have some DLC in the works and we're still doing these tours, we have events coming up, so it's definitely busy but it's also very exciting. Game launches are so much bigger. There's such a world focus. It's so much more exciting than it was back in the Quake days.

id's trailer for Rage gives some idea of the story, the style of shooting, and a taste of the unique environments we see in the game. It all runs at 60 frames per second.

Digital Foundry: id has traditionally been a technology-led company. In what ways did the development of id tech 5 drive the concept of Rage?

Tim Willits: Well, after we worked on Doom 3, a number of us worked with other studios on some of our IPs and some of us worked on a brand new game that at the time was codenamed Darkness, but it was completely different from Rage. When John prototyped what he could do with the Mega Texture technology, building these much larger outdoor areas, the idea just hit me. That's it. We can make a game with this, and Rage was spun up and we actually threw away around a year and a half of work. So it was kind of a Eureka moment which was fed from this prototype, but John works much more closely with us on the design than most people realise. The urban legend is that John handles all the tech and doesn't do anything with the design.

Digital Foundry: Wasn't it the case that he'd lock himself into a hotel room and emerge two weeks later with a new technology?

Tim Willits: Ahhh, usually that's true! There are aspects to the tech which are very tricky that John likes to do a little research on... he doesn't actually do that much anymore. He has two kids and his wife would kick him in the butt if he did that but yes, sometimes he does take off and focus - but he works just as hard coding as he did 20 years ago.

Digital Foundry: Let's talk about Mega Textures... virtual texturing I believe it's called.

Tim Willits: Yes, it's a virtualised world. The word "Mega Texture" isn't exactly correct. Virtualised world is more correct, but Mega Texture sounds cooler! Basically what that allows us to do is uniquely paint all the environments differently. It allows us to have some really interesting areas, for new scenes to be fresh and exciting, you're not stuck in the same buildings for 15 hours, and it really creates a look that is unique to Rage. And when you see it running, it's like: yeah, that's Rage. And that's based on the virtualisation of everything.

Digital Foundry: So you can build an entire game world, limited only by your concept.

Tim Willits: Yes, the raw texture is ridiculously huge. It's terabytes. But through John Carmack wizardry, we're able to pare down all the textures and the assets that we need to reasonably fit on any system. People always ask me - why's Rage so big? It's because of the texture data, but it is very unique. It has a very beautiful style to it, it runs real fast because the world, the visuals, are all virtualised.

It creates extra space for game code, rendering, physics, sound... all those things. That's why we can run at 60Hz which is what gives us that good connection to the game. And of course, it's all cross-platform so all the assets that are created for the PC version are just the same on the PS3 and 360.

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Comments (46) Latest comment 8 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • DodgyPast #1 8 months ago

    Starting to get pretty excited about this, will be interested to see how the sense of scale compares to Borderlands.

  • Hindle #2 8 months ago

    Post deleted at 13:34:04 08-05-2012

  • Dr.Frappers #3 8 months ago

    Good interview and read - thanks. Now very interested in Rage.

  • HisDudness #4 8 months ago

    Be interesting to hear feedback on how it performs at the the recommended system specs. Also has there been much discussion about how open they will be with the mod community?

  • mcreddie #5 8 months ago

    @Hindle yeah, you really need to see it to believe it. CAn't believe the 360 was capable of that!

    (and no screen tearing! Wooo!)

  • HyperTails #6 8 months ago

    Really believe that this is going to be one of those games that we're talking about in years to come. Everything, from the tech behind it, to the gameplay videos that i've seen, just scream 'EPIC'. The only thing at this point I have to gripe about is the lack of PS3 footage... they say that its running great on PS3, but we've seen no videos of it. Same for Skyrim. What gives?

  • Softie2k #7 8 months ago

    Meanwhile everyone choked to death sucking on Johns.

  • BurningR #8 8 months ago

    "We don't have to spend a lot of time looking at other people. We have John."

    EPic statement!

  • Rens11 #9 8 months ago

    Woulda made more sense releasing rage in the summer drought not up against bf3 and cod and there huge marketing campaign. Fingers crossed it sells well

  • albo #10 8 months ago

    played it for a short while at eurogamer expo and it played well, looked good and i'll be looking forward to picking it up.

  • des #11 8 months ago

    There is like zero hype for this game and it launches in 2 weeks.I think that id won't be pleased with sales,the game just took waaaaay too long to get out.

    It will be interesting to see megatextures at work but judging by the long Rage dev time this tech has a rough road ahead.

  • LEONOFDEATH #12 8 months ago

    I think that even if the graphics arent great, Were still gonna be left with a beautiful aesthetic, Something that I think it much more important that good graphics.

  • TheSpaz #13 8 months ago

    I was watching the new PS3 gameplay from GameTrailers and I spotted some screen tearing... should I be worried?

  • Pasco #14 8 months ago

    Wasn't there some news about needing to install all discs on Xbox 360? Good that this is cleared up. Have to order now.

  • carlosdfn #15 8 months ago

    Can't wait to check it out, I hope it lives up to the hype. I'll be playing on PC but I'm very curious to see console performance, I doubt it will maintain 60 fps half the time but we'll see.

  • TheGuvernor #16 8 months ago

    Great interview.
    Totally stoked for this title - my GOTY, without doubt.
    It's gonna be immense & the haters r just losing out.

  • L0cky #17 8 months ago

    Getting my pc back next weekend after being apart for over a year. Looks like excellent timing :)

    Wonder if I need to upgrade, would be pleasantly surprised if I didn't.

  • craziii #18 8 months ago

    I can't wait for the release :p 60$ well spent!

  • The-Jack-Burton #19 8 months ago

    Damn it, I'm getting Dark Souls for sure, now I'm thinking that I'll be getting this too. Broke ass mo fo
    Edited by The-Jack-Burton at 25/09/11 @ 04:37

  • Pwnsweet #20 8 months ago

    One of the few game devs that understand the importance of 60fps. Amen!

  • womble #21 8 months ago

    I'm in the "30ps" camp. I think it's generally more useful (for a shooter) to use those extra cycles on more geometry, better shaders, better AI, etc.

    It sounds like it was quite an argument at id software. It could have gone either way, but in the end they chose 60fps for this project.

  • Beano #22 8 months ago

    I doubt this will run full resolution at 60fps without framedrops or tearing.

  • TUROK1134 #23 8 months ago

    I got chills reading "...we know you're working on Doom 4." I can't wait for Rage, but Doom 4... That's the apex of anticipation for me.

  • schnide #24 8 months ago

    There's still a little bit of cynicism in me that says the engine will be fairly impressive but the gameplay just won't sparkle. Hopefully I'll be proved wrong and this one will be a game-changer.

  • schnide #25 8 months ago

    There's still a little bit of cynicism in me that says the engine will be fairly impressive but the gameplay just won't sparkle. Hopefully I'll be proved wrong and this one will be a game-changer.

  • FearCrads #26 8 months ago

    Naitive 720p 60fps on 360.......Hats of to John Carmack. Now just to see abit more of the PS3 version. I hope they they get both versions looking the same, unlike alot of developers who drop the resolution on the Ps3 version. Fingers crossed.

  • riseer #27 8 months ago

    Yea i seen the Ps3 version on gametrailers wow looks awesome.ID has my 60 dollars now waiting on 4th to roll around =)

  • riseer #28 8 months ago

    Hypertails,check gametrailers theirs a video of the racing and smash tv its off screen cam but it looks great still.its from TGS i really was worried till i saw that video the texture poping issues isn't their now from what i seen.I gotta get RAGE,resistance 3,Uc3 nothing less this year.Skyrim imo will be alot better on 360 since i think RAGE will have the edge on Ps3.8gig install but the 360 peeps gotta add 31 gigs =/ thats going to suck big time..

  • riseer #29 8 months ago

    I am glad Sony gave them the extra install space.That should fix alot of issues i am not here to start a flamewar b c it's pointless.I just feel MS should had never went without a HDDless console it;s bad enough that it uses dvd9 but no manatory HDD's is crazy.The game is going to rock on any system so i am ready to play this bad boy.

  • Simplex #30 8 months ago

    Digital Foundry: What are the elements that you require to install? Is it just that the Blu-ray drive isn't fast enough?
    Tim Willits: Sony was great. Kudos to Sony for letting us do that. They don't allow every game to do that. So definitely, hats off.

    Am I blind, or did he completely ignore the second question?

  • Simplex #31 8 months ago

    "One of our guys had checked off 323 cores from our Cloud to make a stamp on our world."

    Could someone translate that into English?

  • agent55 #32 8 months ago

    "We don't have to spend a lot of time looking at other people. We have John."

    Confidence.

  • monkie_king #33 8 months ago

    Had no real expectations of this, but really pleasantly surprised by playing it at EG Expo - spent about 15 minutes on a 360 demo pod with it, and the feel of the combat is just superb. Really fluid, totally solid, but with a really raw visceral edge to the violence. A bit like the weapon feel of Far Cry 2 crossed with the smoothness and immediacy of Call of Duty.

    There's some odd detail draw-in if you turn around quickly (due to everything being streamed - maybe wasn't installed to HDD on the demo pods), but otherwise it's graphically very slick. Not sold on the driving part, but I'd say it was my game of the show.
    Edited by monkie_king at 26/09/11 @ 03:07

  • Pwnsweet #34 8 months ago

    We don't have to spend a lot of time looking at other people. We have John

    In John We Trust

  • orangpelupa #35 8 months ago

    "And of course, it's all cross-platform so all the assets that are created for the PC version are just the same on the PS3 and 360."

    hoping the texture assets is adequate for pc in hi-res resolution.

  • TonyCB #36 8 months ago

    This was easily the best shooter me and my boys played at the Expo....which i really wasn't expecting...i haven't played an id game since we used to have deathmatch parties on a Friday with Doom 2 over a Novell network. This is going to surprise a lot of people

  • karstux #37 8 months ago

    I upgraded my PC just for that game... I want it to be (as a spacefaring man once put it) beautiful desolation. Can't wait!

  • mukki #38 8 months ago

    hi-res textures on the ps3 is definitely good news I was getting worried the ps3 version would be somewhat problematic

    Excited and pre-ordered

    gooooo id

  • abczyx #39 8 months ago

    "What we were able to do is install all the textures to the highest level. What is nice about the PS3 platform is that it's just one platform. Everyone has one Blu-ray drive, one hard drive, it's all the same. Some of the other systems you have... should I install it on my 360? Should I not install it? So yes, it's very nice"

    As an owner of an original 60GB PS3, I'd like to dispute this! I'm already pretty full on installs, patches and the like.
    Edited by abczyx at 26/09/11 @ 14:08

  • Primatori #40 8 months ago

    Please ban poster number 14, 15 and 16 - lylh94.....

    Game looks amazing and reading that has me very excited!

  • aidey6 #41 8 months ago

    @abczyx, you can pick up a 320GB HDD for £35 [link url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-320GB-Cache-5400RPM-Internal/dp/B002YZDV5A/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1317047397&sr=8-9
    ]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-320GB-Ca...[/link]

    I upgraded my Fat 60Gb over a year ago, as I had the same issue, game installs plus HD Video filling up the drive, still getting over the thought of an 8Gb install...

    I wonder if DF will do a comparison of installing this on a SSD compared to HDD like they did with GT5....

  • peppergomez #42 8 months ago

    I think a video confirmed this, but I am not certain---there's a first-person view while driving, isn't there? That would be so much cooler than immersion killing 3rd person, for me at least.

  • curryking3 #43 8 months ago

    Love id Software, love John Carmack, always will :)

  • edhe #44 8 months ago

    I think what excites me most about rage is the tech leap. If this comes off without a hitch, at 60fps on all platforms then you can imagine the competition that'll be forced out from other big names - like epic, activision.

    Maybe future COD games will run on this tech? Since they still run on an older (heavily customised) idtech.

  • Laythe_AD #45 8 months ago

    I'd been quite apathetic about this but the more I see, the more i'm interested. Wondering if I should have saved the money and held off buying gears 3.

  • womble #46 8 months ago

    Been playing the 360 version since yesterday. Thoughts so far:

    - the overall impression is SPECTACULAR. This is one of the finest looking games around, both technically and in terms of art direction. It's amazingly fluid (60fps). It doesn't have a lot of close-up detail (apart from character models) but it has so much visual content that it would be churlish to expect more. There are some AA issues (most notably dot crawl) but I guess that's one of the prices we pay for 60fps. It's a stunning effort. Caveats below.

    - the gameplay... Oh dear. So far, not impressed. It's a bit last-gen so far. But I shall persist, because the action itself is good. It's just getting to the action can be tedious.

    - all those stunning vistas? You can't visit them. This is a LINEAR shooter, not a sandbox game. There are INVISIBLE WALLS EVERYWHERE, including places where you think you should be able to go. It's often a 50-50 bet as to whether you can jump on to a surface or not. It's utterly arbitrary, and extremely disappointing.

    - for all their experience, id have got some core shooter game mechanics wrong here. Sorry, but id software, you need to go talk to Bungie and learn how to craft a shooter mechanic that doesn't have the protagonist getting caught on doorways and rocks.

    - load times are very good (with Three, yes, 3, count 'em) discs installed to the HDD. There's a very minimal amount of texture streaming/pop when a level starts, but otherwise texture streaming is truly superb.

    - it's obvious that some of the game's tremendous visual performance comes through sleight of hand. Almost everything on the screen is pre-baked. Almost everything except for character models is static geometry with baked textures and lighting. You can't shoot lamps and vases from tables (despite them practically begging you to shoot them), you can't destroy TV screens, you can't kick rocks, and you can't even knock over trash cans. Interacting with a terminal or machine generally does very little beyond produce a sprite animation. This is one of the most NON-INTERACTIVE shooter environments you'll ever see. Imagine the environmental interactivity of Quake. It makes something like Bulletstorm look like a physics sandbox. Even some "red-barrel-esque" objects can't be blown up.

    - in line with the lack of environmental interactivity, enemies aren't fully ragdolled when killed. The game seems to demand a minimum of movable/interactive meshes and collisions in the world, presumably for performance reasons.

    - id software needs to find someone skilled in UI design. And the choice of tiny text (even on a HD screen) is plain bad.

    - the facial animations are very, very good. But the quest givers stand around awkwardly, delivering pat speeches. However, the enemy animations are superb.

    So far: a spectacular looking game that seems to belong to the last decade.