Rage (video Game) - Development

Development

Rage was originally intended to have a 'Teen' rating, but ended up receiving an 'M' instead. The Windows, and Xbox 360 versions ship on three dual-layer DVD discs, while the PlayStation 3 version ships on one Blu-ray Disc. John Carmack has revealed that an uncompressed software build of Rage is one terabyte in size. The PS3, Windows and OS X versions use OpenGL as the graphics API. While a GNU/Linux version is speculated, there has been no confirmation of an official build. Timothee Besset had stated that he would try to make GNU/Linux builds for Rage much as he had done in the past, and was expected sometime in 2012 but he resigned his position at iD Software. John Carmack has since revealed on Twitter that there are "no plans for a native Linux client". However, the game is playable on GNU/Linux via the Wine compatibility layer.

Id announced its decision to partner with Electronic Arts for publication of Rage. On March 9, 2009, the company's CEO Todd Hollenshead told GameTrailers TV, "No, it won't be out this year," when asked about a possible release date. A trailer and several screenshots were released on August 13, 2009 at QuakeCon where it showcased various locations, racing and first-person gameplay, and a brief insight into the storyline of the game. During Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, Electronic Arts released four new screenshots for Rage.

In 2009, John Carmack stated id Software was not planning to support dedicated servers for the Windows version, and instead would use a matchmaking system like console games. ZeniMax Media Inc., who had acquired developer id Software in June 2009, announced that it had picked up the publishing rights to Rage, and that EA would not be involved in the sales or marketing of the title. The announcement also noted that the development of Rage had not been affected by the new deal. Creative director Tim Willits confirmed to videogames blog VG247 that the game would miss releasing in 2010, and would now launch in 2011. Willits later accepted the award from IGN Media for "Best Game" and "Best First Person Shooter" at E3. Additionally, the game was awarded Best First-Person Shooter, Best New IP, Best Xbox 360, Windows, and PlayStation 3 game as well as the Game of the Show of E3 2010 by GameTrailers.

In his keynote speech at QuakeCon 2010 on August 12, 2010, Carmack announced that id was developing a Rage-related game for Apple's iOS. He later described the mobile Rage as a "little slice of Rage ... 'Mutant Bash TV', a post-apocalyptic combat game show in the Rage wasteland", and separately hinted that he might try to port Rage Mobile to Android, although he later stated no id titles would be coming to Android due to lack of financial viability.

At QuakeCon 2011, Carmack offered many technical insights of the development and differences between the three main platforms (Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3), noting that it was not easy developing such an optimized engine to be able to smoothly run on consoles and still having the best artistically looking game on consoles. He also affirmed that the PC platform at the time was as much as 10 times faster than the current generation of gaming consoles, but this did not mean 10x the performance because of the extra layers of abstraction found in PC compatible operating systems. On September 16, 2011 Bethesda announced Rage had gone gold. On October 4, 2011 the game was released. On February 2, 2012 Rage was released for OS X through digital distribution. The Mac version, dubbed Rage: Campaign Edition, includes the bonus content of the Anarchy Edition on other systems. Multiplayer content however is absent in the initial Mac release.