Developer Daivuk has unveiled QUOD, a remarkable 64KB ‘boomer shooter’ that draws striking parallels to id Software’s iconic FPS title, Quake. This compact executable offers an impressive gaming experience reminiscent of its predecessor, featuring “3 levels, 1 boss fight, 4 unique enemies, 4 weapons, and a handful of power-ups.” What sets QUOD apart is its self-sufficiency; every element, from textures and sounds to music and animations, is ingeniously compressed into that modest 64KB download.
In a well-structured step-by-step video, Daivuk showcases his tiny FPS creation, delving into the intricacies of optimizing textures, maps, models, animations, audio, and code. He even discusses the creation of a virtual machine, which contributes to an additional 2KB reduction in file size.
Despite its retro file size that harks back to the 1980s era of tape drives, QUOD.exe necessitates modern hardware for an optimal experience. The minimum specifications for this demoscene title include an “Intel i5 or equivalent, GTX 770 or equivalent, and 8GB RAM.” Additionally, players will need a mere sliver of disk space, as this self-contained application requires only 64KB.
Daivuk is brimming with ideas for enhancing 64KB demos and games. In the video’s outro, he hints at a variety of potential optimizations and improvements that may be featured in QUOD v2 or future projects. Enthusiasts will undoubtedly want to keep an eye on this creator’s channel for updates.
While there have been other impressive small-file-size demo works, such as a vibrant ray tracing animation app compressed into just 483 bytes and a Quake-like JavaScript game in 13KB, QUOD stands out for its polished FPS gameplay, aesthetics, and overall feel. Players need not rely solely on the video to appreciate its quality; the game can be downloaded and launched in mere seconds.
30 years prior
Interestingly, today marks the 30th anniversary of id Software’s Qtest multiplayer-only demo of Quake. The shareware release of Quake itself occurred on June 22, 1996 (MS-DOS), with the full version becoming available to eager buyers just a month later.
