Grenade Launcher

Grenade Launcher

Overview -- The Quake 3 GL is more reminiscent of the Quake GL rather than Q2, in that it fires at a faster rate and behaves in much the same manner. For those who aren't familiar with how a grenade launcher works, it shoots out a grenade in an arching trajectory, that explodes either on direct impact or at the end of a timed sequence.

My Thoughts -- I'm ecstatic that the Quake GL was brought back as opposed to the Quake 2 GL. Initially, the grenades were very much like the Quake 2 GL in that it fired at a pretty slow rate. So I suggested to Carmack to increase the fire rate a bit to make it a more useful weapon. After doing so, we saw an instant change in how the weapon was perceived.

An issue Carmack and I went back and forth on was about grenades acting like mines if you stepped on or near them. I personally liked it better when grenades didn't automatically explode when stepped on, such as in the original Quake. It was far more satisfying for me when I'd throw a grenade straight up in the air as someone was chasing me, timing it to explode perfectly as the enemy is running by.

Another thing that "non-mine" grenades hindered was the effectiveness of what we call "spamming," or the reckless littering of grenades. With "mine" grenades, one could easily fill the only two entryways into a room with grenades and basically prevent anyone from walking in. It made trying to time an aggressive entrance into the room almost impossible. Without mine grenades, a good player could time the explosion of the grenades and squeak by to make an attempt at taking down the defensive player.

Suggestions to id -- The grenade launcher right now works pretty well and I can't foresee many problems with it. I suggested earlier to change the grenade art, which currently looks a lot like the Quake 2 hand-grenades - they are really hard to see. I was told they were placeholder graphics and that changes were intended, but I wanted to make sure it was not overlooked.