Masters of Doom

[Zach]

This book is a really interesting read..

Although I have to admit, the way ID software was started left me with very different opinions about the people who made my favorite FPS ever..
I always knew Romero was a dick with a rockstar complex, but I was more disenchanted by the way Carmack seemed to treat people (back then - is he different now? who knows) and in particular with the way ID software actually got started. How they essentially screwed Softdisk, and how even after being given a new business deal out of their dishonesty and misuse of company property, carelessly bragged about it without regard to how everyone else felt to the point where it actually cost them said deal.

I dunno, that whole situation rubs me the wrong way. Although the idea of the very mention of patenting something for himself would make Carmack angry to the point of turning red comes off as slightly hilarious. I really do wonder how many patents he owns, or at least has rights on, after all these years.

In retrospect, ID has gone a lot for the gaming industry - at least the from a technology aspect. I was never terribly impressed with their games after DOOM and Quake. Not on a content level anyway. It seems like although they pioneered the maturity of high-technology in games, their design and gameplay philosophy was still stuck in the 1990's.

[kenmo]

Huh, funny you posted this just a few days before John Carmack was all over the gaming/tech news (Facebook just bought Oculus VR, who John left his own company for last summer. )

This book is a really interesting read..

Agreed! I read this book last year, it's a good (mostly accurate?) history of id (iD? ID?)

I was more disenchanted by the way Carmack seemed to treat people (back then - is he different now? who knows)

He's still active and seems like a respected, plenty nice guy. Still super smart. He posts on Twitter regularly (although much of it is technical graphics stuff). Haven't heard anything bad about him in years.

Although the idea of the very mention of patenting something for himself would make Carmack angry to the point of turning red comes off as slightly hilarious. I really do wonder how many patents he owns, or at least has rights on, after all these years.

He's still anti- software patents. In the 2000s while working on Doom 3 they got in trouble because of a shadowing algorithm he came up with (called "Carmack's Reverse") was patented by someone else... they settled by licensing audio libraries from them I think.

It seems like although they pioneered the maturity of high-technology in games, their design and gameplay philosophy was still stuck in the 1990's.

Agreed

[Zach]

I've actually gone on a retro gaming spree lately, since I own a lot of popular games from that era. I still have my original retail CD's, and I think even the boxes somewhere in the attic, for Ultimate DOOM and DOOM ][. Got CD's for Quake, Quake II, and QUake III. I've also got Descent and Descent II. I've already beat DOOM proper, but Thy Flesh Consumed (The 4th episode of Ultimate DOOM) is downright brutal. I used to be so good at DOOM on Ultra-Violence but some of it is really killing me now.. I've played a few DOOM ][ levels, but got sidetracked by Descent in which I'm up to level 12 now (+1 secret level). The difficulty curve really ramps up abruptly at around level 10/11 for some reason. The first secret Level was absolutely brutal and the ones following that have been more of the same. Sourceports for these older games have made the experience much nicer though.

I've got versions of DOOM, DOOM ][, and Descent I/II recorded from an Roland SC-55 module, and while I always liked the PSX Descent Soundtrack a lot better, I have gained a new appreciation for the SC-55 version. Even the DOOM games sound a bit better in that respect.

Although one series I really miss is MechWarrior. Mechwarrior 2 and Mercenaries was just awesome fun and had a killer CD soundtrack. I tried getting into 3 and 4 but they just don't feel the same.. Both gameplay-wise, and pilot-wise. The way the mechs moved in Mechwarrior 2 was just perfect. It was like smooth as butter, and the way the machines swayed as you moved felt very natural and kinetic.. 3 was kind of like that but I never really played it for whatever reason. When I tried getting in to MW4 it was just awful.. It was like playing an FPS with a mech skin.. The movement was all fast and wrong, it felt more like you had shock absorbers on the mech turning your movements into little "bumps" that anything and the reflexes of things, like the way your torso rotates just felt so "snappy" and quick.

That's not to say machines couldn't move like that, but it really lost something and just felt like another FPS... Not sure about story quality because I couldn't stand playing long enough to get into it.