The game started as a redesign to the original Cube Engine, and its first release was made on May 6, 2004. The game gets updated quite regularly.
Technology
Cube 2: Sauerbraten was made out of the game Cube, but is much more advanced and a player can create new levels. Cube 2: Sauerbraten was not made to look very good, but to allow easy map making within the game without making a big download. Cube 2 Sauerbraten CTF Edition is less than 350 megabytes. The game Crysis is around 3,000 megabytes.
Map editing
An example of cube subdivision
Maps are made out of cubes, which can be made longer or shorter and can be reshaped. These cubes can be mapped out easily, using the in-game editor. This means that both map-makers and players can make very big, detailed maps very quickly. This is not like other games such as Quake, where you need a lot of effort and bugfixing work to even get the map to work.
This simplicity in editing has resulted in a lot of maps released by players and developers. They are available on the Quadropolis forums.
Gameplay
The game has singleplayer and multiplayer modes. Multiplayer can be with LAN and Internet connection. Online game types are deathmatch, last man standing,"Capture" (where teams fight for control of parts on the map), Quake-style Capture the Flag, also instant-shot games (Instagib, Insta-clan-arena, insta-capture) as well as online multiplayer map editing, which is one of Sauerbraten's most interesting and popular features. In single player modes the computer controls monsters against you.
