Posts Tagged ‘john romero’
Doom Retrospective
As I said in a previous article regarding Wolfenstein 3D, “Wolfenstein 3D did it first and Doom did it best.” The same team, id Software, created both games so it’s less of a competition and more of an evolution. While I agree that all games are a team effort, the technology that runs these games can sometimes be credited to one person. In the case of Doom that one person is none other than John D. Carmack. By this point most of us are aware of John Carmack and what he’s contributed to video games as a whole, but back in 1992 he was the guy creating a new engine for a new game. That engine was called the Doom Engine. Carmack claims the name Doom came from the movie The Color of Money in which Tom Cruise describes a custom pool cue as “doom” when questioned as to what’s in his case. It was created to enhance the first person shooter to include different heights, distances, and even sound effects in stereo for a more realistic type of game. In truth the hardware of the time couldn’t handle rendering a 3D world so the game is actually all on a flat plane in the code, which is why rooms never overlap and you can shoot a guy on a ledge by just aiming at the wall beneath him. I don’t know about the rest of you, but in 1993 I hardly noticed. Doom had positional breathing of mutant men, lighting effects (including dark rooms), a hybrid cyberpunk and distopian Hell setting, and a ton of violence. It was the rock star of the video game world.
Podcast: Rock Man of Doom
This week Fred goes solo to celebrate Doom‘s 20th Anniversary and the Mega Man series. Keji Inafune’s legacy may live on through Mighty Number 9, but when he was a young new college grad Capcom employed him to create one of the most beloved and long running franchises of the company’s history.
Also if you want more Doom coverage, feel free to check out our podcast on Doom clones.
Rise of the Triad Historical Context
Rise of the Triad is more significant than it initially seems in the annals of first-person shooter (or Doom clone) history. In fact, had it remained under its original title, Rise of the Triad: Wolfenstein 3D Part II it would probably have more awareness and fall under the pantheon of id titles still garnering praise on Steam and Good Old Games. Due to several disputes that arguably are the direct result of John Carmack, a co-founder of developer id Software and lead in milestone shooters Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake, the project was terminated in 1993 to avoid clashing with upcoming title Doom. This led to several disputes within the developer of Doom, id Software, and the planned publisher of Doom and previous publisher of several other titles, Apogee Software.
In the beginning there were two companies: developer id Software and publisher Apogee Software. For the most part Apogee was better known as its later developer 3D Realms, the team responsible for Duke Nukem 3D and originally Prey. Before that all happened, Apogee was making its money publishing id Software’s earliest successes including Commander Keen and Wolfenstein 3D. Apogee utilized the plan of “shareware” to market games, which is a method of giving people approximately 25-33 percent of a game to try out with the option to purchase the full game if interested. John Romero, the then lead designer on Doom at id Software, canceled Rise of the Triad and John Carmack decided to have id self publish so Apogee ended up not publishing Doom. id Software’s co-founder Tom Hall (Carmack and Romero were the other founders) left id to join Apogee. Apparently Hall had concern over the amount of violence and gore in Doom, a project he assisted greatly in creating. Ironically a year later when he completed work as lead designer on Rise of the Triad for Apogee, it would have even more blood and gore than Doom, including a random occurrence where an enemy would explode into gory giblets and “Ludicrous Gibs!” would appear on the screen.
Review: Deus Ex (PC)
Console: PC
Released: June 2000
Developer: Ion Storm
Publisher: Eidos
Instruction Manual: Not necessary
Difficulty: Moderate
Played when it released? Yes
Other Releases: Yes – PS2 (as Deus Ex: The Conspiracy)
Digital Release? Yes – Steam ($9.99) and gog.com ($9.99), both are the Game of the Year Edition
Deus Ex is an interesting game for several reasons. The way various factors all came together at its inception, it almost feels like a lucky form of happenstance that it worked at all. Those that played it when it released will tell you it’s a must play title that will blow you away with its innovation. On one hand they’re right, like other heavily influential games in history it does set precedence and introduces gaming to many staples we see today. On the other hand, it’s the earliest version of many of these ideas and will always be tied down to the conventions of gaming at the time. Those that give it a chance, grind their teeth to learn the gameplay techniques, and resist the urge to cheat will find a strong cyberpunk tale that doesn’t disappoint.
This is the typical view when playing Deus Ex
Gaming History 101 