Questions for possible interview with John Romero [collection of questions is completed]

[UnknDoomer]

Some time ago, one of my side activities was an attempt to make a several interviews with the people whose names had once made their mark in the gaming industry. Originally it was related to CIS regions and also places located there, three in particular:

 

1. Old-Games.Ru - mostly known in Russia and CIS countries, but there are some users from Eastern Europe, Middle East and other countries, who visit it as well. It has a long history starting way back in the early 00's. Personally I'm a part of the local team.

 

2. DTF.RU. Originally sort of, as a closest example, a local "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" resource. Nowadays, with some optional things, many users can write here. Exist all the way back from 1999.
 

3. Habr.com. A large, professional IT platform related to many topics, games including. Based on the hub system. More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habr.

 

Recently I've got a chance to speak with a lead stage director from Blue Byte. Translated interview can be found here: https://habr.com/ru/articles/809573/.

But today one is the special one, in case it's related to a guy you all well know. So. By this reason I've decide to open an additional topic to collect some questions, i.e. Doomworld will be point four point in the list this time.

Three conditions applied:

1. No joke questions.
2. 1 person - 1 question. Subquestions allowed.
3. Total amount will be limited to 30. Slots left: 0. Questions are no longer accepted.

 

Will be waiting for your offers.

 

 

--

 

Current questions list:

 

1. Let's talk a bit about 80's and arcade titles. It's a well known fact that "id" has been involved in many projects, for example a lot of requests from Softdisk in the early 90's, but there is not that much information about most early works. In particular, I've heard that you worked on "Tower Toppler II" (1988) port to Apple II and Commodore 64, which, among others, was cancelled. Can you tell a few facts about this version in comparison to DOS one? Perhaps it stood out in some way? Maybe something is still left around and you can share some related screenshots?

2. Dimouse asked: "I would like to know the details of how John got into Origin Systems, what kind of game / prototype he made then, and how difficult it was. It seems, as I understand it, there was some kind of special graphic mode for the Apple II. How did he actually work for them, was it interesting to work under the Commodore 64, what did he learn then?".

3. D&D. Basically the fact that it was a part of further inspiration for original Doom's development, has been covered in a book, made by Kushner David back in the early 00's. Aside from the general idea of a hellish invasion, are there other details about that game that directly inspired Doom? Also what do you remember of your personal D&D experience, even if it doesn't directly apply to Doom?

 

4. Kishmish asked: "The creativity of a level designer in a shooter is comparable to the role of a game master (leader) in a tabletop role-playing game. When it comes to setting traps and planning ambushes, what is the most fun in this process and how to achieve such a balance, so that the author also enjoys level when creating, and the player during the game?".

5. Did you read Lovecraft? If so, what exactly?

 

6. When Tom Hall created the first design for Doom, which is a well known text nowadays, mainly for its plot, were there aspects of it that you liked? And how much do you think the significance of the plot in those years could have shifted the balance in its direction?

 

For example, In 1995 there was a title, called "Mortal Coil: Adrenalin Intelligence". It was not only on the "cutting edge" line in case of technologies and it also contained videos and, in its own way, a good presentation of the plot, which was about four mercenaries fighting alien invaders. At the same time, numerous technical flaws subsequently buried it.

7. Without belittling the importance of previous projects, released both before and in 1993. When you were just starting thinking about the Doom as overall, did you have a premonition that this title should or, well, will, radically change the game industry and create, in fact, a new genre direction itself as we know it now? Or was Doom just the result of a sort of "bold experiment"?

 

8. Your name is actually listed in front of many old shooters. Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold (1993) - programmer. Corridor 7: Alien Invasion (1994) - engine tools. Despite that fact, how aware were you of other shooters of that time and did you play them yourself?

9. If you could go back to save in life, like you can do in the game, would you want to go back to some point in the past, make something different?

 

10. vanilla_d00m asking: "Do you have a map that you wished could have been improved before the official release? I like your "Against The Wickedly" map, it's so well made, and also the original E4M6. Thank you so much for your time.".

 

11. Did you consider adding Hi-Color DAC support to Doom during its early stage of development or was it a temporary decision? Did it work on your machines at the time or DOSBox glitches are the authentic behavior?

12. What influence, if any, do you think Adrian Carmack's art style had in the games industry? How do you look at the fact that today's fans continued to use this style, in particular?.

 

13. 1993. Back in that year, did the computer at home matter for you? Or did everything revolve around work? If first, then what were its technical specs?

14. There is an idea that Doom would not be what it is, if it was not accompanied by a certain degree of surrealism, especially when it goes for the case of the environment and music. It, in particular, distinguishes it from conventional military-style shooters and, no less, conventional horror works, that have more or less action elements. Doom 64 specifically was a major example. What do you think about this?

15. There are some mysterious stories going around the Doom during the years. As usual, the vast majority of them do not correspond to reality, but the appearance of what is called "Doom iceberg", "this thing iceberg" and so on continues. It can probably be noted that over the years, such a raid has become not what it once was - the world wide web has done its job. Still, perhaps you can give a couple of unusual stories or facts that are not far from the truth?

16. Inspiration. As we know Doom II M15 was loosely based on the original Doom E3M6 in its concept, which was the Sandy Peterson thing. Question. During the development of the specific maps, did you take as an "spiritual inspiration" some sort of the old titles?

 

17. The general design of the maps in Doom is relatively believable, while Doom II leans more towards an abstraction, concept or idea, as for example  M23 - "Barrels O'Fun". Why has such a choice been made to lean Doom II more in this direction than it was in the original Doom?

18. B16B055 asking: "Hello, dear John Romero! I would like to ask you a question that has interested me for a long time. What did Quake look like at the very beginning of its journey, before 1994? As far as it knows, the game was already mentioned in 1990 in the promotional blurb for the "Commander Keen" trilogy. Thank you for your attention. Sincere admirer of your works, thanks for all the games, including the produced ones - Heretic, Hexen, Hexen II, Heretic II.".

 

Few short insides would be enough here, I guess.

 

19. Levels in the first two Doom games were tested to be completed with a pistol start. Has there been a similar test for Quake made? For example, E2M6 - "The Dismal Oubliette", yours, seems to be really rough on edges in this case. There are a lot of nails and rockets on it, but not a single machine gun or rocket weapon, which is why it's difficult to look harder in contrast to the rest of the other maps. It is inadequately high compared to those maps, where weapons are scattered in abundance. Does this mean that not all maps in Quake were tested with the initial weapon, or was such a jump in difficulty a sort of feature, intended by the specific map author? Similar thing happens in E3M6 - " Chambers of Torment", made by American McGee and Tim Willetts.

 

20. As far as we know, your original vision of the Heretic / Hexen series was a trilogy, consisting of Heretic, Hexen and Hecatomb. How much of Hecatomb ever got made and how much did the later parts of the series (Hexen 2, Portal of Praevus, Heretic 2) end up diverging from what your vision for the series was? If, perhaps, similar to the first question, you have some materials to share, then it will be a good addition to our material.

 

21. You were an executive producer on Raven Software's Heretic and Hexen, despite them having overall creative control. How much did you influence these games designs? I.e. weapons, monsters or lore? 

 

22. In Catacomb 2, there is a "Tomb of Desparil" exist. Did that influence the name of Heretic's bad guy, D'Sparil? Or was that just a coincidence from rooting the villain's name in the word "despair" and applying a fantasy filter on it?

 

23. Is there a list of authorship for the levels in some of id's older games, especially Commander Keen? The Doom ones are well known, the Wolfenstein 3D ones are somewhat known, but have a few gaps, but there's only like three levels in the entire "Keen" series whose authorship is known.

 

24. If you could have remade earlier id Software games with the Doom engine, what would be the first thing you would have done differently? For example if we pick Wolfenstein, or the Catacomb series.

25. There are plenty of works, made by fans, that have been done during the past 30+ years. Wads, mods, drawings, music, literature, cosplay, other types of creativity. Perhaps you especially liked some of this at different times? If so, can you name a couple of examples? Some of which you have played, perhaps? Have you heard about something called "Wadazine"?

 

26. Redneckerz asked: "What's the earliest third party level id was aware of? Perhaps you have heard about David Simpson's work, which, it seems, predates "ORIGWAD"? Or maybe you even have a copy of it? And another sub question here. Alistair Brown's custom program, derived from NewDEU, that generated all the needed structures for the wad, is also a thing of high historical interest.".

 

27. Doom 3. Originally it was recognized for its technical achievements, but was met with controversy, in case of the atmosphere and the shift of the general vector towards horror. Nowadays, with all its ups and downs, it is considered by many as "modern classic". If things would set differently, and you would be involved in this project, let's say like it was in the old days, would it be closer to what Doom 2016 became later? Or maybe it would be something else?

 

28. For years now you have been hardly focused on the mobile market, if not count a few exceptions. Once there were some rumors regarding new Commander Keen, back in 2015 you released "Dangerous Dave in the Deserted Pirate’s Hideout", which, basically, seems to be a spiritual successor to the original IBM PC title. Are there any chances that some of the earlier titles will come back again in future? And, in particular, will they join the PC platform?

 

29. What do you think about recent innovations in mods for GZDoom and Zandronum such as voxels, 3D models, HD textures, and so on? Is it, in your opinion, a form of a pointless effort, or an interesting evolution of the game? Or something else? Are there some areas you would like to see modders invest in for modern source ports?

30. MAZter asked: "Does Romero get any percentage of sales on Steam / GOG?"

 

31. Sigil and not Sigil. Is there a reason for using "limit-removing" specifically for your current projects over more powerful, yet faithful standards like "Boom" and "MBF21"? Also, any plans to continue this series?

 

32. Any final words you would like to say to our readers?

Edited August 17 by UnknDoomer

[SPG]

I've heard that a D&D game inspired a chunk of the original Doom's development. Aside from the general idea of a hellish invasion, are there other details about that game that directly inspired Doom? (Alternatively, recounting what he remembers of his D&D experience, even if it doesn't directly apply to Doom, if the former question is too constricting)

[UnknDoomer]

Well. 19 slots remain. In overall looking to drop the list on soon, so time frame here is a bit limited kind here.

Edited May 26 by UnknDoomer

[realjohnmadden]

If you could have remade earlier id Software games with the Doom engine, what would you have done differently? For example Wolfenstein, or Catacombs.

[Trigsy]

While I'm not personally that compelled to submit a question to John Romero, I think this is really cool!

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

Your original vision of the Heretic/Hexen series was a trilogy consisting of Heretic-Hexen-Hecatomb.  How much of Hecatomb ever got made and how much did the later parts of the series (Hexen 2, Portal of Praevus, Heretic 2) end up diverging from what your vision for the series was?

[Gez]

In Catacomb 2, there is a "Tomb of Desparil". Did that influence the name of Heretic's bad guy D'Sparil? Or was that just a coincidence from rooting the villain's name in the word "despair" and applying a fantasy filter on it?

[Plerb]

Is there a list of authorship for the levels in some of id's older games especially Commander Keen? The Doom ones are well known, the Wolfenstein 3D ones are somewhat known but have a few gaps, but there's only like 3 levels in the entire Keen series whose authorship is known.

[vanilla_d00m]

Do you have a map that you wished it could have been improved before the official release??  I like you're Against The Wickedly Map, its so well made and original (E4M6)

 

Thank you soo much for you're time.

[JackDBS]

Is there a reason for using "limit-removing" specifically for your current projects over more powerful, yet faithful standards like "Boom" and "MBF21"?

[UnknDoomer]

8 slots remain.

[xScavengerWolfx]

Is there any community based doom wads you have played in your spare time, if so which one(s) and why?

[UnknDoomer]

@xScavengerWolfx, this is a part of Q19.

[xScavengerWolfx]

13 minutes ago, UnknDoomer said:

@xScavengerWolfx, this is a part of Q19.

Oh sorry.

[UnknDoomer]

Anything else, perhaps?

[Redneckerz]

25 minutes ago, UnknDoomer said:

Anything else, perhaps?

Though i am conjoining contacting the original authors, one particular set might be if Romero, somehow, knows of/has a copy of David Simpson's WAD, which seemingly predates ORIGWAD. Source posts: 1, 2

 

Alternatively, Alistair Brown's custom program derived from NewDEU that generated all the needed structures for his WAD is also of high historical interest.

 

In particular, what's the earliest third party level ID-software themselves was aware of?

[Endless]

On 5/24/2024 at 2:46 PM, SPG said:

I've heard that a D&D game inspired a chunk of the original Doom's development. Aside from the general idea of a hellish invasion, are there other details about that game that directly inspired Doom? (Alternatively, recounting what he remembers of his D&D experience, even if it doesn't directly apply to Doom, if the former question is too constricting)

I don't remember who was the Dungeon Master, but I recall their game included some sort of super weapon, and how one of the players exchanged it for Earth, allowing demons to conquer the planet, and the first roots of the story took place.

[UnknDoomer]

Quote

I don't remember who was the Dungeon Master, but I recall their game included some sort of super weapon, and how one of the players exchanged it for Earth, allowing demons to conquer the planet, and the first roots of the story took place.

Karmak. Game gone far too long, John exchanged it, got a sword. Daikatana, basically, took it's name, based on this concept later.

[Average]

Q:  What influence if any do you think Adrian Carmack's art style had in the games industry.  Does Adrian enjoy today's fans continued use of the style?

[Async Unicorn]

Did you considered to add Hi-Color mode support to Doom during its early stage of development (Alpha 0.4) or it was a temporary decision?

Did it work on your machines at the time or DOSBox glitches are the authentic behavior?

[Lila Feuer]

Q: You were an executive producer on Raven Software's Heretic and Hexen, despite them having overall creative control how much did you influence these games' design-wise i.e weapons, monsters or lore?

[UnknDoomer]

@Average, that, basically, seems to be a question to another person. So. I change it to: "What influence if any do you think Adrian Carmack's art style had in the games industry? How you look on a fact, that today's fans continued use of this style, in particular?".

Edited May 26 by UnknDoomer

[UnknDoomer]

4 slots remain. So, gathering last questions.

[InfinitePossiblities]

What was the inspiration for using BSP over ray casting? Wolfenstein 3d used it, and so did Rise of the triad, which was a cool game. What prompted the switch?

[Average]

31 minutes ago, UnknDoomer said:

@Average, that, basically, seems to be a question to another person. So. I change it to: "What influence if any do you think Adrian Carmack's art style had in the games industry? How you look on a fact, that today's fans continued use of this style, in particular?".

 

Nice. :)

[B00m3r Doomer]

Are you impressed or surprised by some WADs, mods, total conversions which competed for the Cacowards these last years ? What impressed you most ? What do you like or dislike about the recent production of WADs for modern source ports ?

[UnknDoomer]

@B00m3rDoomer, Q23.

Edited May 26 by UnknDoomer

[dasho]

19 minutes ago, InfinitePossiblities said:

What was the inspiration for using BSP over ray casting? Wolfenstein 3d used it, and so did Rise of the triad, which was a cool game. What prompted the switch?

 

Wrong John

[UnknDoomer]

@InfinitePossiblities, @dasho, skipping this question.

[B00m3r Doomer]

What do you think about recent inovations in mods for GZDoom and Zandronum such as voxels, 3D models, HD textures, and so on ? Is it in your opinion a form of betrayal, a pointless effort, or an interesting evolution of the game ? Or something else ? Are there some areas you would like to see modders invest in for modern source ports ?