What did change was how the game was designed, marking just how different this new era of id would be, but lacking the ability to execute on creative ambition the way later id games would.
It also didn’t change much in mechanics, even with all its new features and structure. It wasn’t particularly important in gaming history, making fairly minor improvements to the Quake engine to become the proper id Tech 2, the most noticeable being colored lightning, making the game feel less brown. Problem is this quickly made sequel is probably the most forgettable game in the Quake franchise. Adrian Carmack considers Quake II one of his favorite projects, partly due to how well development went from start to finish, in contrast to the first game’s frazzled development. This was definitely the Carmack era, where tech and Carmack’s own design interests tended to shape each project, but this initially allowed projects to come together much quicker. Romero himself has said that with him gone, nobody was left to challenge Carmack on important decisions, and there seems to be some truth to that. Shortly after Quake was done, Romero left id Software to found Ion Storm, and this marked a major culture shift for the company. Screenshots taken were made with the source part Yamagi Quake II.