(We are pleased to present you Michael Abrash's "Ramblings in Realtime", a series of articles he wrote between 1995-1997 on his and John Carmack's ideas and solutions to revolutionary Quake engine.  There are tidbits of information that relate to programmers of any trade. - Matthew Doucette)

Ramblings in Realtime:

"Rambings in Realtime" by Michael Abrash:

• Chapter 1: Inside Quake - Visible Surface Determination
• Chapter 2: Consider the Alternatives - Quake's Hidden Surface Removal
• Chapter 3: Sorted Spans in Action
• Chapter 4: Quake's Lighting Model - Surface Caching
• Chapter 5: Surface Caching Revisited - Quake's Triangle Models and More
• Chapter 6: Quake's 3D Engine - The Big Picture
• Appendix: Permissions and Author’s Note

About the Author:  I am Michael Abrash of Xona Games, an award-winning team-of-two indie game development studio working on Xbox 360 and PC games.  We have released Decimation X, a 1-4 player shmup, which is Japan's #1 best selling #1 top rated Xbox LIVE Indie Game.  We are currently working on Duality ZF, a groundbreaking 1-4 player shmup.  It features dual play, the ability to control two fighters at once, a beautiful electronic Imphenzia soundtrack, and a massively upgradable 32-stage spread/laser weapon system.  4 player dual play allows up to eight fighters at once.  Many of these features are never before seen shoot'em up firsts.  Check out our Duality ZF trailer and help spread the word with our official dualityzf.com website.  Coming soon to Xbox LIVE Indie Games.

*Also known as a shmup or 2D shooter.