I learned a lot from Quake 1. QuakeC [1] was not object oriented, although it had one struct type: an entity. The entity struct had function pointers that were

I learned a lot from Quake 1. QuakeC [1] was not object oriented, although it had one struct type: an entity. The entity struct had function pointers that were used to attach handlers for various events (touch, think, etc.), but there weren't methods per say, or a class hierarchy. The code was very procedural. You could not define new types, and could only make limited modifications to the entity struct's definition. This restriction was often frustrating, but limited types meant the language was very approachable for beginners. Once a programmer understood the entity and its attributes, they knew what they had to work with. They only needed to find interesting ways to transform data, not interesting ways to organize data. While sometimes frustrating, the simple type system rarely limited the creativity of developers. This is evident in the wealth of mods that were created for the game. People built Diablo style RPGs [2] with it, racing games [3], and much more. In Quake's sequels, the modding system grew more flexible (and also more complex). The number of mods seemed to decrease. The amount of mod content for Quake 2 was less than 1, and Quake 3's was far less than 2. The mods that were released were often far more polished, but I think this is representative of the skill level and determination that was required to actually build mods for those games. Garry's Mod [4] is only modern game I've seen with a similar level of successful modding activity. It also uses a scripting language (Lua). Garry's Mod defines a strict set of structs that you use to interact with the host game engine (effects, entities, tools, and weapons). It feels very Quake-like. I personally feel like these kinds of restrictions create flatter code, and structure that is easier to hold in my head. I find myself concentrating more on features, rather than on code organization. [1] http://www.inside3d.com/qcspecs/qc-menu.htm http://www.inside3d.com/qcspecs/qc-menu.htm [2] http://www.inside3d.com/prydongate/ http://www.inside3d.com/prydongate/ [3] http://www.quakewiki.net/archives/qca/reviews/patch70.htm http://www.quakewiki.net/archives/qca/reviews/patch70.htm [4] http://garrysmod.com/ http://garrysmod.com/