1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey therein 2 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:16,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm 3 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech are you. 4 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:23,079 Speaker 1: It's a Friday. That means it's time for a tech 5 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: Stuff classic episode and we've got a two parter to 6 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: go through. So part one is this week. Part two 7 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 1: will be next Friday. And this is the ID Software story. 8 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: So ID Software very important video game company back in 9 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: the day. And yeah, I did a two parter back 10 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen. 11 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 2: So this episode. 12 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 1: Originally published on April fifth, twenty seventeen. I hope you enjoy. Hello, 13 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: really loved your flashback MP three episode. I'd start with 14 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: Vangeli's theme songs, but please do a podcast on the 15 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: creators of Doom ID Software. Well, David, this one goes 16 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,120 Speaker 1: out to you. This is going to be all about 17 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: ID and because ID software story stretches back quite a 18 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: ways and a lot has happened with it, it's gonna 19 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 1: be a two parter. So here's part one of the 20 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 1: ID Software story. And you guys know me, if I'm 21 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:20,760 Speaker 1: gonna tell you the history, I go back before the 22 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 1: story begins right. In this case, the story of ID 23 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: software really begins with another company called soft Disk. Soft 24 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:33,680 Speaker 1: Disc started off in nineteen eighty one as a publisher 25 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: in Louisiana and it created magazines on disc and you 26 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:41,680 Speaker 1: would get programs on disc. You would subscribe to a service. 27 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: Every month you'd get a new disc and that would 28 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: have various articles on it as well as programs that 29 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: you could run on your computer. It was actually related 30 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 1: originally to another company called soft Talk, and soft Talk 31 00:01:55,240 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 1: was a print magazine company, but soft Talk eventually went 32 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: out of business. Soft Disk continued. It managed to stay afloat. 33 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: So besides publishing a magazine on a disc, they created 34 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:13,520 Speaker 1: this utility software that you would subscribe to, you know, 35 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: boring useful stuff. Now, those programs were sold through that 36 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: subscription on that monthly basis, so you didn't go to 37 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: a store and buy a box with soft Disk's name 38 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 1: on it. Instead, you would subscribe to this service and 39 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:30,920 Speaker 1: they would send it to you. As the computer industry grew, 40 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 1: soft Disc did pretty well, but there was a major challenge. 41 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:39,640 Speaker 1: As computers were becoming more sophisticated, that meant software also 42 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: got more complicated or bloated, and that meant that your 43 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: team of developers who had to create new software every 44 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:51,640 Speaker 1: single month had an increasingly difficult challenge ahead of them. 45 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: Delivering a disc with programs on it on a monthly 46 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: basis was really hard to do as time went on. 47 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: So imagine that your job is to write a new 48 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: program every month, only the programs are getting more complicated, 49 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: which means there's also more potential for computer bugs. 50 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 2: In the code. It was by the early nineties. 51 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: By nineteen ninety at least, it was getting to be 52 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: pretty rough now. They were also looking to expand around 53 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: that time, so in August of nineteen ninety, Soft Disc 54 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:27,079 Speaker 1: launched a new bi monthly gaming disc magazine called Gamer's Edge. 55 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 1: By going bi monthly, you would have more time to 56 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 1: develop games. Programmers could take a little bit more time 57 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 1: to design and polish a game before shipping it. However, 58 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: two months is still incredibly short. I mean to tell 59 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: someone today like you've got two months to create a game, 60 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 1: you'd probably see them flip out because a lot of 61 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: modern games take months or even years to develop from 62 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: the concept to shipping it, So a two month window 63 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: is super tight. 64 00:03:57,120 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 2: The gamers among. 65 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: Your really probably hyper aware of that based upon shipping 66 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: dates slipping from now and again. Like whenever you hear 67 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,520 Speaker 1: about a company having to miss a ship date, that's 68 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: usually because the game ended up being more complicated than 69 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:17,240 Speaker 1: they had anticipated at some stage of the development process. Now, 70 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,279 Speaker 1: the head of the Gamer's Edge project was a guy 71 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: named John Romero, who was originally from Colorado's Springs and 72 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:29,760 Speaker 1: had moved to Shreveport, Louisiana to work with Soft Disc. 73 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:34,479 Speaker 1: John Romero's a pretty famous name in gaming, so the 74 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: gamers among you, I'm guessing I've heard of him, but 75 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:39,680 Speaker 1: everyone else might not know who he is. He's got 76 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:43,080 Speaker 1: a really long history in the computer game business and 77 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,799 Speaker 1: has been involved in some major successes and big names, 78 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:53,280 Speaker 1: as well as some pretty popularized flops. Romero already had 79 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 1: a history in computer game design before he took on 80 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:58,599 Speaker 1: a job over at Soft Disc and became the leader 81 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:02,120 Speaker 1: at gamers Edge. His very first published game was for 82 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:06,479 Speaker 1: the Apple two and it was called Scout Search. That's 83 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:10,600 Speaker 1: from the early eighties. He's also the guy behind Cavern 84 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: Crusader if you remember that game. For a while he 85 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,720 Speaker 1: worked at Origin Systems, which was the company behind such 86 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:20,960 Speaker 1: games as The Wing Commander franchise and the Ultima series, 87 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: although he didn't work on those titles. He then went 88 00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: on to co found a couple of companies between then 89 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:29,799 Speaker 1: and working for Soft Disk, and he was still working 90 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 1: in games. But you know, being a self starter is 91 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:36,800 Speaker 1: sometimes pretty hard, so eventually he decided to move to Shreveport, 92 00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 1: Louisiana in nineteen eighty nine and worked for Soft Disc 93 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:43,680 Speaker 1: because it was a steady gig. Now, Romero brought over 94 00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:48,480 Speaker 1: a guy named Adrian Carmack from Soft Disk's art department 95 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:53,480 Speaker 1: over to Gamer's Edge, and Adrian Carmack was originally from Shreveport, 96 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:55,880 Speaker 1: so he grew up there and he had taken on 97 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 1: a job at Soft Disk to make money while he 98 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:00,599 Speaker 1: was searching for a way to a mat a living 99 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:04,039 Speaker 1: in the fine arts. He was twenty one when Romero asked. 100 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 2: Him to join Gamer's Edge. 101 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:09,920 Speaker 1: Then he also asked another Carmack, this time John Carmack, 102 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:12,839 Speaker 1: no relation to Adrian Carmack. 103 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 2: Now. 104 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 1: John Carmack was a programmer for Soft Disk who specialized 105 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:21,800 Speaker 1: in the company's monthly Apple two GS publication. Those among 106 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 1: you who remember the Apple two Gs, make sure you 107 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,479 Speaker 1: give me a shout out. I'm curious to hear from you. 108 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:28,560 Speaker 1: I never owned an Apple two GS. 109 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 2: I couldn't. I had an Apple two E and that 110 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:33,280 Speaker 2: just had to suffice. Well. 111 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:36,920 Speaker 1: John Carmack came originally from Kansas City, and he had 112 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: a bit of a past, which he has talked about publicly. 113 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,800 Speaker 1: So I'm not really spreading dirty laundry here. But John 114 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:46,279 Speaker 1: Carmack said that when he was a kid, he was 115 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: really interested in how stuff works, which I can easily 116 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:53,800 Speaker 1: relate to. But Carmack would push and prod around the 117 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: edges of what is consideredly legal. You know, maybe maybe 118 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:00,480 Speaker 1: he wanted to see how stuff worked a little bit 119 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: beyond what is legally allowed. Sometimes he leapt right over 120 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:09,360 Speaker 1: those limitations. He was really interested in things like computer 121 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 1: hacking and freaking phone freaking. That's where you're hacking the 122 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: telephone system. I did a whole episode of tech stuff 123 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,440 Speaker 1: about phone freaking. You can find that in my archives. 124 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 1: He experimented with stuff like thermite and explosives. Now, while 125 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: a teenager, he took part in what was supposed to 126 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: be an Apple to heist, And I am not making 127 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:36,640 Speaker 1: this up. John Carmack was part of an elite group 128 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:41,120 Speaker 1: of teenagers who had determined that they wanted to take 129 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: possession of some apple to computers that were residing in 130 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:51,680 Speaker 1: their local school. So his part was mixing up a 131 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: miasma of stuff that included thermite in order to melt 132 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:59,040 Speaker 1: through the windows of the school without setting off the 133 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: alarm system. However, during their robbery attempt, they triggered the 134 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: alarms somehow anyway, and the police showed up and Carmack 135 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:12,840 Speaker 1: was arrested and after a psychological evaluation, he was sentenced 136 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: to a year in a juvenile home. A lot of 137 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: kids were there for drugs. John Carmack was there for 138 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:24,080 Speaker 1: the apple too. He described his younger self as being 139 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: an a moral little jerk, and that is a direct 140 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: quote by John Carmack himself. He attended a couple of 141 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: semesters of college once he got out of juvenile the 142 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:39,560 Speaker 1: juvenile home. He finished high school went on to college 143 00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:42,560 Speaker 1: at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, but he 144 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: didn't complete his studies there. He dropped out when he 145 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:49,000 Speaker 1: found the classes to be boring. He later said that 146 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: he probably would have found the classes to be helpful 147 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:54,440 Speaker 1: if he had stuck around, but his attitude was what 148 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:59,360 Speaker 1: made it challenging. So he fully admits that as an individual, 149 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: he had not yet matured enough to benefit from a 150 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:07,480 Speaker 1: college education, that it wasn't necessarily the fault of the college. However, 151 00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: he credits his employment at soft Disk for really opening 152 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:13,840 Speaker 1: up his realization and helping him mature as a person, 153 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:16,719 Speaker 1: because he was doing what he loved, which was programming, 154 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:19,840 Speaker 1: and he was making enough money to do it to 155 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 1: afford a place to live and food to eat, and 156 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 1: that was all that was important to him. So once 157 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,560 Speaker 1: he started doing that, he started to realize, you know, 158 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:30,640 Speaker 1: kind of how his attitude had gotten in his own way, 159 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:33,080 Speaker 1: and so he really matured quite a bit while working 160 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 1: at soft Disk, and that ended up benefiting him more 161 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 1: than a college education. 162 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:38,120 Speaker 2: In the long run. 163 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: Now, along with those two Carmacs, Romero enlisted the help 164 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: of a guy named Lane Roath. Roath had been a 165 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:49,680 Speaker 1: programmer throughout the nineteen eighties and he had joined soft 166 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:51,280 Speaker 1: Disk in nineteen eighty nine. 167 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 2: He had known. 168 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:56,360 Speaker 1: Romero before they worked at soft Disc. Romero had co 169 00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:00,680 Speaker 1: founded a company called Capital Ideas, and both had founded 170 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:04,560 Speaker 1: a company called Blue Mountain Micro. Eventually, they decided they 171 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:07,000 Speaker 1: wanted to work together and they wanted to create a 172 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:10,199 Speaker 1: new company and merge the names of their old organizations 173 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:14,080 Speaker 1: together to create a company called Ideas from the Deep. 174 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:18,319 Speaker 1: This would later serve as the inspiration for ID Software's 175 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:21,520 Speaker 1: name ID because Ideas from. 176 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:22,880 Speaker 2: The Deep is just too long to say. 177 00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:27,080 Speaker 1: But by the time ID software became an official thing, 178 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 1: Growth was no longer part of the equation. He did 179 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:32,840 Speaker 1: not go on to join the others when they founded 180 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: ID Software. 181 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:35,199 Speaker 2: Now. 182 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 1: The last piece of the Gamer's Edge puzzle was a 183 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:42,240 Speaker 1: guy named Tom Hall. Hall had a degree in computer 184 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 1: science from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Hall 185 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: was another programmer and editor over at soft Disk. He 186 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:53,240 Speaker 1: wasn't officially part of the gamers Edge project, so his 187 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:56,079 Speaker 1: work was mainly done after hours because he had an 188 00:10:56,120 --> 00:11:00,240 Speaker 1: interest in games, but he wasn't officially on the projects 189 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: for gamers Edge, so any work he did had to 190 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:06,920 Speaker 1: be off the books. Gamer's Edge gave the developers a 191 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: chance to try new things, and one of the things 192 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:13,760 Speaker 1: that John Carmac was really interested in was designing game engines. 193 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:17,080 Speaker 1: He really wanted to create something that would allow PCs 194 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:20,719 Speaker 1: to create a smooth scrolling method similar to what you 195 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:24,760 Speaker 1: would find in video game console games. Now, this was 196 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: huge because video game consoles are dedicated machines. 197 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:31,359 Speaker 2: That means every. 198 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: Element inside of video game console, everything that you put 199 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:39,400 Speaker 1: in there, is meant to make the games work. At 200 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: least in the earlier video game consoles. You could argue 201 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: that today they're more media centers than they were before, 202 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:49,480 Speaker 1: but at that time, video game consoles that's all they did. 203 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 1: They just made games work. That's what all the horsepower in. 204 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:54,840 Speaker 2: The machine was focused on. 205 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: Whereas PC's are general purpose devices and they have to 206 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:02,480 Speaker 1: be able to do lots of stuff, not just play games. 207 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:05,800 Speaker 1: That means they're not nearly as good at performing video 208 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 1: game console functions the way a console could back in 209 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:13,600 Speaker 1: these days. Anyway, today it's a different story. PCs are 210 00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:18,080 Speaker 1: so powerful and video game consoles are essentially proprietary PCs 211 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:22,360 Speaker 1: that the differences are much less apparent than they were 212 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:26,200 Speaker 1: back in the day. At that time, video game consoles 213 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:31,480 Speaker 1: had the edge over PCs, and so what CARMAC wanted 214 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 1: to do was find a way to let PCs play 215 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:40,160 Speaker 1: games that were similar in in scale and in play 216 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:42,560 Speaker 1: to video game console games. 217 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:43,720 Speaker 2: So how do you do that? 218 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:47,319 Speaker 1: How do you make a game engine that can allow 219 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:51,000 Speaker 1: this to happen. You see, the real problem was that 220 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,600 Speaker 1: a side scrolling game, or really any game where the 221 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:58,240 Speaker 1: image is the backgrounds scrolling across, whether it's up and 222 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:00,960 Speaker 1: down or left and right or whatever, that means the 223 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:05,400 Speaker 1: computer has to constantly redraw the screen as you move around, 224 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:08,920 Speaker 1: so elements that are changing have to be redrawn. You 225 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:13,320 Speaker 1: can't just have a static image there. Older computer games 226 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:16,680 Speaker 1: usually did have those static environments. You could move a 227 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,680 Speaker 1: character around within an environment, and the character might be 228 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:22,920 Speaker 1: animated a little bit, but the environment itself would stay 229 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:27,200 Speaker 1: pretty much exactly the way it is. Think of like 230 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 1: an old school game like pac Man, where you've got 231 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,240 Speaker 1: the full maze on the screen at one time. The 232 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: characters move around, but the screen remains static throughout that level. 233 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 1: It might change from level to level, but during a 234 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,880 Speaker 1: level it stays the same. So what could Karmac do 235 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,760 Speaker 1: to simplify this Well, he realized that if he developed 236 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:50,520 Speaker 1: a game engine where only the parts of the screen 237 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:55,320 Speaker 1: that change are animated are redrawn, he could cut down 238 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:59,080 Speaker 1: on the amount of processing power required for a side scroller. 239 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,080 Speaker 1: So if you have a side scroller type game like 240 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:06,720 Speaker 1: Double Dragon that's a classic, and your characters are walking 241 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:09,760 Speaker 1: across a background that isn't changing, Like there's a blue 242 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:12,599 Speaker 1: sky in the background, you don't have to redraw the 243 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,400 Speaker 1: blue sky every time the character moves. You just have 244 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: to redraw the stuff that actually does change. So maybe 245 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:23,040 Speaker 1: it's buildings or trees or bushes or something like that. 246 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:27,280 Speaker 1: That saves processing time and made side scrolling on PCs possible. 247 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:31,560 Speaker 1: This sounds incredibly basic, and by today's standards, it is, 248 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:36,040 Speaker 1: but at the time it was a monumental innovation. It 249 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:40,280 Speaker 1: really got the wheels turning, and he showed it to 250 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:45,200 Speaker 1: his coworker Tom Hall, and Hall was really excited by this. 251 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:49,120 Speaker 1: He says, this is incredible, and he began immediately to 252 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 1: start working on a game that could show off this 253 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 1: side scrolling capability on the PC, and they together decided 254 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,320 Speaker 1: that what they would do is build a replica the 255 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:04,600 Speaker 1: first level for Super Mario Brothers three, and they used 256 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:08,600 Speaker 1: assets from an existing game that John Romero had created 257 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:10,840 Speaker 1: before he joined Soft Disc. It was a game called 258 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:16,480 Speaker 1: Dangerous Dave. So their original rough version of this was 259 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 1: the first level of Super Mario Brothers three, but using 260 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:22,920 Speaker 1: the Dangerous Dave character, and it was all done without 261 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:26,000 Speaker 1: the authorization of Soft Disc. Or even John Romero. He 262 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,080 Speaker 1: didn't know about it either, and so it took them 263 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:32,960 Speaker 1: one night to recreate that first level. They then saved 264 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:38,040 Speaker 1: it to a disc and they titled it Dangerous Dave 265 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: in copyright infringement, very tongue in cheek, and they put 266 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:44,600 Speaker 1: the disc on John Romero's desk. 267 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 2: So John Romero gets to work. 268 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:49,880 Speaker 1: He has this disc sitting there and he puts it 269 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:52,760 Speaker 1: in this computer and he sees this title screen of 270 00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 1: Dangerous Dave and copyright infringement. He's thinking, what the heck 271 00:15:56,560 --> 00:16:00,640 Speaker 1: because he made Dangerous Dave. And he starts the program 272 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:04,480 Speaker 1: and he suddenly sees the side scrolling game on PC 273 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:10,160 Speaker 1: and he goes bonkers. He loves it because it's something 274 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:13,080 Speaker 1: that had not been achievable in PC games up to 275 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:18,280 Speaker 1: this point. He unofficially authorizes work on a full replica 276 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:23,520 Speaker 1: of Super Mario Brothers III. They recreate the game, They 277 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:26,480 Speaker 1: do every level exactly the way it is in the 278 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 1: Super Nintendo system, but on PC they had to do 279 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:33,400 Speaker 1: all of this work off hours. They couldn't officially do 280 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: it as Gamer's Edge employees or soft Disk in the 281 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:43,520 Speaker 1: case of Tom Hall. They did, however, use soft disk computers. 282 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:46,920 Speaker 1: At the end of the week, they would take their 283 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:51,080 Speaker 1: computers home. I'm talking desktops here. These aren't like laptops 284 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:53,760 Speaker 1: or anything. They would pack them up, they would take 285 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:56,040 Speaker 1: them home and over the weekend they would work on 286 00:16:56,280 --> 00:16:58,920 Speaker 1: this game, and then on Monday morning they would bring 287 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,560 Speaker 1: the computer back, hook it back and hope nobody noticed. 288 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:06,639 Speaker 1: After a few weeks, they had built a full PC 289 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:09,600 Speaker 1: version of the game, and the three of them brought 290 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:13,480 Speaker 1: this replica of the game to Nintendo and they wanted 291 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:17,280 Speaker 1: to tell Nintendo, Hey, you can reach a much larger 292 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:20,520 Speaker 1: audience by releasing your game for PC, and we can 293 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:24,040 Speaker 1: do it. See, we know the secret to making a 294 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:28,080 Speaker 1: side scrolling game on the personal computer. If you partner 295 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:32,359 Speaker 1: with us, we can be the solution and we can 296 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:35,720 Speaker 1: end up opening up your game to an entirely new audience. 297 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:41,239 Speaker 1: And Nintendo said no, thanks, not a big surprise. If 298 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:44,639 Speaker 1: you know how Nintendo works, everyone would imagine that they 299 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:48,200 Speaker 1: would turn down such an offer. For one thing, Nintendo 300 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:53,320 Speaker 1: relies on titles like Mario to sell Nintendo consoles. If 301 00:17:53,359 --> 00:17:56,800 Speaker 1: they were to offer those games on other platforms, there'd 302 00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:00,240 Speaker 1: be very little incentive to buy a Nintendo entertainment system. 303 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:04,680 Speaker 1: And they'd be undercutting themselves, so they decided they did 304 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:08,119 Speaker 1: not want to go in that direction. But other people 305 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:11,159 Speaker 1: began to take notice of Romero's work and have some 306 00:18:11,320 --> 00:18:13,880 Speaker 1: interest in perhaps talking with them, And one of those 307 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:17,880 Speaker 1: people was a guy named Scott Miller, who had founded 308 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:22,720 Speaker 1: a software developer and publishing company called Apagee Software. I'll 309 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:25,280 Speaker 1: talk more about what Scott Miller got up to with 310 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:28,560 Speaker 1: John Romero in just a second, but first let's take 311 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:30,800 Speaker 1: a quick break to thank our sponsor. 312 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:40,920 Speaker 2: All Right, I mentioned. 313 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:43,480 Speaker 1: Apagee just before the break. They got their start in 314 00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:47,040 Speaker 1: Texas back in nineteen eighty seven. Now, the company relied 315 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:50,320 Speaker 1: on a pretty interesting business model. They would publish the 316 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:54,000 Speaker 1: beginning of a game for free that allowed players to 317 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:57,040 Speaker 1: download the game and try it out, and if they 318 00:18:57,080 --> 00:18:59,960 Speaker 1: wanted to continue the game, they'd have to purchase the 319 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:04,320 Speaker 1: subsequent episodes over the phone, and then the company would 320 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:06,840 Speaker 1: ship the rest of the game a physical copy of 321 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:11,119 Speaker 1: the game to the player. This model became known as shareware. 322 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 2: You could share the first part. 323 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 1: Of the game freely with anyone you liked. 324 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:15,680 Speaker 2: After that you had to pay. 325 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:19,280 Speaker 1: Now, keep in mind, this is before the World Wide 326 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:22,359 Speaker 1: Web was a thing that really got started back in 327 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety two. This was nineteen eighty seven, so in 328 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:31,040 Speaker 1: those days, you had to call up a server using 329 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:33,480 Speaker 1: a dial up modem. It might be a bulletin board 330 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:36,080 Speaker 1: system or something along those lines. It might be something 331 00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:40,920 Speaker 1: more like a an online service provider, but that's how 332 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:44,239 Speaker 1: you would first get connected to the internet, and then 333 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 1: you could download a file like the shareware version of 334 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:50,520 Speaker 1: the game, and then you would have to call up 335 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 1: the company, give them your information, order it, and then 336 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:56,000 Speaker 1: they would ship you the rest of the game via 337 00:19:56,160 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 1: snail mail. It was pretty primitive back in the those days. 338 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 1: I don't miss it. Apage was pretty successful with this 339 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:13,000 Speaker 1: approach it. The reason was that they were able to 340 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:17,800 Speaker 1: take advantage of not having a marketing department or a 341 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:22,199 Speaker 1: real sales department or having to worry about securing shelf 342 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:25,600 Speaker 1: space at brick and mortar stores. It cut down a 343 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:29,480 Speaker 1: lot of costs, so it ended up bringing the overhead 344 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:31,439 Speaker 1: down and they were able to take advantage of that. 345 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:35,920 Speaker 1: They also originally intended to create sub brands for each 346 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:39,600 Speaker 1: of the genres of games that the company produced, so 347 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:42,920 Speaker 1: they would have maybe one for adventure games, one for 348 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,720 Speaker 1: you know, fighting games, one for flight simulators, that kind 349 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:49,200 Speaker 1: of thing. That was the idea. It never really worked 350 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,920 Speaker 1: out that way. Only one sub brand really stood out, 351 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:55,360 Speaker 1: but it was a doozy because that one was three 352 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:58,639 Speaker 1: D Realms. Now, three D Realms created games like the 353 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:03,840 Speaker 1: Max Pain franchise and Pray, and probably most famously was 354 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:07,640 Speaker 1: Duke Newcomb three D. I did a whole episode about 355 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:09,800 Speaker 1: Duke nukeomb or at least I talked about a lot 356 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:12,399 Speaker 1: in our episode on vaporware, so I won't really go 357 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:15,120 Speaker 1: into it here. Plus it doesn't really tie into ID 358 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:18,880 Speaker 1: software deeply enough to warrant it. But that's a heck 359 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:23,040 Speaker 1: of a story anyway. Scott Miller over at Apagee had 360 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:26,480 Speaker 1: noticed Romero's work on a game called Pyramids of Egypt, 361 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,879 Speaker 1: and Miller thought Pyramids of Egypt was the perfect style 362 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 1: of game to sell in this shareware business. He thought, 363 00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:37,639 Speaker 1: this is a way to really get a game that 364 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:42,680 Speaker 1: is a fun and an interesting If Romero can make 365 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:45,919 Speaker 1: more games like that, I can sell them this way, 366 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: was what he was thinking. But he was also sneaky. 367 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:50,919 Speaker 2: Scott Miller was. 368 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:54,560 Speaker 1: He knew that if he sent correspondence directly to John 369 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:59,520 Speaker 1: Romero over at soft Disk, they might intercept the message. 370 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,520 Speaker 1: Because software companies had to fight tooth and nail for 371 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:05,520 Speaker 1: their talent, it was always possible that some other company 372 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:09,040 Speaker 1: would offer employees more money and more benefits to jump ship. 373 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,280 Speaker 1: So in order to get his message to Romero without 374 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:16,920 Speaker 1: being detected, he sent Romero a series of fan letters, 375 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:19,880 Speaker 1: each with a different name attached, but all of them 376 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:24,359 Speaker 1: having the same contact information the same address enclosed. 377 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:24,440 Speaker 2: In the letter. 378 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:28,679 Speaker 1: Romero didn't catch on right away. It wasn't until he 379 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:31,320 Speaker 1: was reading an article about Scott Miller's company that he 380 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:34,159 Speaker 1: noticed the address in the article was really familiar. And 381 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:35,960 Speaker 1: then he looked at his fan mail and saw that 382 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:38,639 Speaker 1: the same address was on three different letters from three 383 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:43,560 Speaker 1: supposedly different people. And then Romero got angry. He was 384 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:47,160 Speaker 1: angry because he thought that the letters were genuine fan mail, 385 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:51,160 Speaker 1: so he felt betrayed that this fan mail wasn't really 386 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:53,440 Speaker 1: fan mail, it was someone who wanted something from him. 387 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:57,240 Speaker 1: So he sent an angry letter to Scott Miller. But 388 00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:00,800 Speaker 1: he did leave a callback number in that letter, and 389 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: Scott Miller called Romero and immediately apologized for the whole 390 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,720 Speaker 1: misunderstanding in his mind, and then made Romero an offer. 391 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:15,159 Speaker 1: He couldn't refuse, so Miller sent a letter that was 392 00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:18,480 Speaker 1: dated on August twenty third, nineteen ninety, which was not 393 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:23,160 Speaker 1: long after Gamer's Edge had launched, and said, I really 394 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:25,439 Speaker 1: did like Pyramids of Egypt. That wasn't a lie. I 395 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:28,640 Speaker 1: enjoyed that game very much. He also described his company. 396 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:31,600 Speaker 1: He described the shareware model, and he pointed out that 397 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,720 Speaker 1: his most popular title could pull in anywhere between fifteen 398 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:38,800 Speaker 1: hundred and two thousand dollars in sales every week. So 399 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:43,080 Speaker 1: he proposed to Romero, why don't you make games. We'll 400 00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:47,320 Speaker 1: publish the games, and in return, you'll get a substantial percentage. 401 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 2: Of the profits. 402 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:51,440 Speaker 1: And because we don't have these overhead costs, we can 403 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:55,159 Speaker 1: maximize those profits. It's not like you're taking a tiny 404 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,920 Speaker 1: percentage of the net. I mean, gross is pretty much 405 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:02,400 Speaker 1: the same as net in our business. And Romero thought 406 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:04,600 Speaker 1: this sounded like a really good idea, and he had 407 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:08,160 Speaker 1: an ace in the hole as well, that new side 408 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:13,400 Speaker 1: scrolling technique would give apagee a crazy advantage over other 409 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:17,080 Speaker 1: publishers in the PC gaming space. No one else had 410 00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:21,160 Speaker 1: developed a game engine that could do this, so apage 411 00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:25,640 Speaker 1: ended up commissioning a game essentially and the group ended 412 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:30,159 Speaker 1: up developing it, and they called it Commander Keene, a 413 00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:36,199 Speaker 1: very cute side scrolling game, a little cartoonish, very lighthearted, 414 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:39,200 Speaker 1: and the shareware portion of the game launched in December 415 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:43,800 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety and it caught on like Gangbusters. Scott Miller 416 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:46,720 Speaker 1: had been making about seven thousand dollars a month with 417 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:51,760 Speaker 1: his old library of games. Within ten days of it launching, 418 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:55,760 Speaker 1: Commander Keene had already earned thirty thousand dollars, so I 419 00:24:55,840 --> 00:25:00,920 Speaker 1: was leaving everything else behind. In February nine, nineteen ninety one, 420 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:05,960 Speaker 1: John Romero, Adrian Carmack, and John Carmack all resigned from 421 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:08,399 Speaker 1: Soft Disc in order for them to go off and 422 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:11,960 Speaker 1: form their own company. Tom Hall stayed on at Soft 423 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,480 Speaker 1: Disk for a couple more months in order to finish 424 00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:17,560 Speaker 1: up some projects, but then he followed suit, and together 425 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:21,880 Speaker 1: they created id Software. In order to keep good relations 426 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:25,520 Speaker 1: with their old employer and not get sued, they agreed 427 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:28,600 Speaker 1: to make a new game for Soft Disc every two 428 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:32,480 Speaker 1: months for all of nineteen ninety one at five thousand 429 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:36,439 Speaker 1: dollars a pop. And again they did that because they 430 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 1: had developed that side scrolling graphics engine while working at 431 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:43,280 Speaker 1: Soft Disk, and they had developed the games that got 432 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:48,280 Speaker 1: them the gig on soft disc equipment, so rather than 433 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:52,840 Speaker 1: court a lawsuit, they decided to be a little proactive 434 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:55,880 Speaker 1: and smooth things out. One of the games ID Software 435 00:25:55,920 --> 00:26:00,480 Speaker 1: created for soft disk was called Hover Tank, soeten ninety 436 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,840 Speaker 1: Origin Systems released Wing Commander, and that was a really 437 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:08,200 Speaker 1: impressive title at the time. The gameplay of Wing Commander 438 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: has the player take on the role of a spaceship 439 00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:15,440 Speaker 1: pilot fighting off aliens in various star battles. It's a 440 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:18,280 Speaker 1: three D perspective, but it required a pretty powerful computer, 441 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:20,720 Speaker 1: and even then it ran a little slow and janky, 442 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:24,280 Speaker 1: and a lot of the field of view is cut 443 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:27,800 Speaker 1: off by the cockpit of your spacecraft, so you have 444 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:30,920 Speaker 1: a little window that you can see the actual view 445 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:35,000 Speaker 1: of the other spacecraft in it. That ended up limiting 446 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:39,639 Speaker 1: the amount of stuff the computer had to redraw. Well. 447 00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 1: It definitely got John Carmack's attention, and he got to 448 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:47,080 Speaker 1: work and created a new three D engine for computer 449 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:51,520 Speaker 1: games and incorporated it into this title called Hovertank, which 450 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:55,800 Speaker 1: wasn't nearly as graphically breathtaking as Wing Commander was at 451 00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:59,480 Speaker 1: the time, but the game mechanics were much more smooth 452 00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:02,280 Speaker 1: than what was in Wing Commander and was a full 453 00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:07,320 Speaker 1: field of view for you didn't have a cockpit obstructing 454 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:11,280 Speaker 1: your view. Carmac would incorporate this same approach again in 455 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:15,080 Speaker 1: a title called Catacomb three D, which was a dungeon 456 00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:17,960 Speaker 1: crawling game in which you play a powerful wizard blasting 457 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,200 Speaker 1: enemies with fireballs and other stuff, and when you used 458 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:25,399 Speaker 1: a spell, a hand would appear as if it was 459 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:28,280 Speaker 1: being held out by the player. Otherwise, you just saw 460 00:27:28,359 --> 00:27:30,840 Speaker 1: whatever was in front of you, but there was no 461 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:34,560 Speaker 1: component of the player character in your view until you 462 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:36,800 Speaker 1: cast a spell. Then a hand would pop up and 463 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:39,879 Speaker 1: a fireball would shoot out. This gave the player a 464 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:45,720 Speaker 1: first person perspective within a game, not inside a vehicle 465 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:51,400 Speaker 1: of any type, but rather just the player's representation alone. 466 00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:54,960 Speaker 1: This sounds incredibly basic today, but at the time was 467 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,040 Speaker 1: an innovative approach. No one had done it before, so 468 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:02,119 Speaker 1: this was brand new. And this was again for soft Disk, 469 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:05,720 Speaker 1: which in some ways the company viewed as being a 470 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: bit of a waste because the most they would get 471 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,760 Speaker 1: for it is five thousand dollars. It didn't matter if 472 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:13,359 Speaker 1: the game caught on or didn't catch on. That's what 473 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:16,240 Speaker 1: the deal was. For it also meant that a very 474 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,600 Speaker 1: narrow audience would get hold of the game, because it 475 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:22,240 Speaker 1: was only the people who were subscribing to Soft Discs 476 00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:26,960 Speaker 1: Gamer's Edge service. However, it gave them the experience they 477 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:30,000 Speaker 1: needed to develop their own games. By the way, in 478 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,719 Speaker 1: case you're wondering, Gamer's Edge survived for a while without 479 00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:36,800 Speaker 1: the ID Software team there once the team left in 480 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one and agreed to supply a game every 481 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:42,520 Speaker 1: two months for the rest of that year. The folks 482 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 1: still with Soft Disc took their time learning how John 483 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:49,200 Speaker 1: Carmack's engine worked, and they started developing their own games. 484 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,920 Speaker 1: The agreement with ID meant that the team had some 485 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:56,520 Speaker 1: leeway to learn the ropes because they could use that 486 00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:00,280 Speaker 1: time where the games coming from ID Software could be 487 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:03,000 Speaker 1: put out under the Gamer's Edge brand, and ideally it 488 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:04,720 Speaker 1: would mean that the team could go on to build 489 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:06,720 Speaker 1: up a collection of titles of their own and always 490 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:11,800 Speaker 1: stay ahead of the publication schedule. Mike Maynard and Jim 491 00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:15,760 Speaker 1: Rowe led the department until they too decided to leave 492 00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:19,560 Speaker 1: Soft Disc in late nineteen ninety two. They went on 493 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:22,640 Speaker 1: to form their own game company called Jam Productions, and 494 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:26,160 Speaker 1: I'll mention Jam Productions a little bit later. Gamer's Edge 495 00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:28,640 Speaker 1: at that time just faded into obscurity. 496 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:29,920 Speaker 2: All right, now, let's. 497 00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:33,080 Speaker 1: Get back to ID Software. The guys at ID decided 498 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:37,240 Speaker 1: to move away from Shreveport. Tom Hall was originally from Wisconsin, 499 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:40,120 Speaker 1: and he convinced his new coworkers that they should move there, 500 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:43,920 Speaker 1: so they did in September. For a while, they worked 501 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:46,680 Speaker 1: out of their apartments building games for Soft Disc while 502 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:49,360 Speaker 1: trying to decide on what to make for their own titles, 503 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:53,200 Speaker 1: apart from more Commander Keen games, which had proven as 504 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:57,200 Speaker 1: a success. So Tom Hall was very fond of Commander Keen. 505 00:29:57,240 --> 00:29:59,800 Speaker 1: In fact, it was mostly his ideas in that game, 506 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:02,960 Speaker 1: so he was really advocating for more Commander Keen titles. 507 00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:04,160 Speaker 2: But some of the rest of the. 508 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:06,800 Speaker 1: Team, actually all the rest of the team were hoping 509 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:11,640 Speaker 1: to do something new. John Romero suggested that they make 510 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:17,480 Speaker 1: a game similar to an old PC title called Castle Wolfenstein. Now, 511 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:19,200 Speaker 1: this was a game that came out for the Apple 512 00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:22,720 Speaker 1: two in nineteen eighty one, and it is not like 513 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:26,880 Speaker 1: the famous Castle Wolfenstein that most of my listeners are 514 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:28,000 Speaker 1: familiar with. 515 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:30,000 Speaker 2: If you are familiar with it at all. 516 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:33,280 Speaker 1: The nineteen eighty one game was a stealth based game, 517 00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:36,720 Speaker 1: and it was a top down perspective, meaning you were 518 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:40,479 Speaker 1: looking down on the field of play and your character 519 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:42,560 Speaker 1: was just represented by a little kind of almost like 520 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:45,960 Speaker 1: a stick figure. But you were playing as a prisoner 521 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,520 Speaker 1: of war attempting to escape a Nazi prison camp during 522 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:54,080 Speaker 1: World War Two. So very different in many ways from 523 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:57,560 Speaker 1: the game that ID Software would later produce. The guy 524 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:01,040 Speaker 1: who programmed the original Castle Wolfenstein as a fellow by 525 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,760 Speaker 1: the name of Silas Warner Romero, thought that the concept 526 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:07,240 Speaker 1: of escaping a prison while fighting bad guys was the 527 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:10,640 Speaker 1: perfect concept to put this new three D engine to use, 528 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:14,840 Speaker 1: and it didn't hurt that the publishing company that put 529 00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:20,480 Speaker 1: out Castle Wolfenstein Muse had ceased to be several years earlier. 530 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:22,680 Speaker 1: The company had gone out of business, it didn't exist 531 00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:25,920 Speaker 1: at all, and no one had scooped up its intellectual property, 532 00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:30,600 Speaker 1: so the copyright had entered the public domain, and Castle 533 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:33,480 Speaker 1: Wolfenstein's intellectual property was fair game, so that the team 534 00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 1: decided to make a new version of the game, putting 535 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:38,320 Speaker 1: the player in the role of the hero and calling 536 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:43,280 Speaker 1: it Wolfenstein three D. Not everyone was so happy about 537 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:48,280 Speaker 1: this direction. Tom Hall felt that Commander Keene which was 538 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:52,080 Speaker 1: much more playful and lighthearted, was a better direction for 539 00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:55,240 Speaker 1: the company. He was not so happy about the idea 540 00:31:55,280 --> 00:32:00,680 Speaker 1: of doing a gritty, grim, bloody, violent game. 541 00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:01,600 Speaker 2: Like Wolfenstein three D. 542 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:05,320 Speaker 1: Now, if you look at footage of the original Wolfenstein 543 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: three D game today, you'd say it's very cartoony. But 544 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:13,160 Speaker 1: at the time, again, that bloody display you see whenever 545 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:16,920 Speaker 1: you shoot a bad guy, that was new at the time. 546 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:19,360 Speaker 1: It was not something you typically saw in video games 547 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:22,520 Speaker 1: at that time, so it was causing a bit. 548 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:22,840 Speaker 2: Of a stir. 549 00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:29,880 Speaker 1: Now, Romero was more about taking on this game designer 550 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:33,200 Speaker 1: role within the company, but that meant that it was 551 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:35,600 Speaker 1: sort of pushing Tom Hall a bit to the side, 552 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,880 Speaker 1: because Tom Hall was supposed to be the lead game designer, 553 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:42,840 Speaker 1: And this was sort of the beginning of Tom Hall's 554 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:47,360 Speaker 1: realization that perhaps this company wasn't the right place for him, 555 00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:52,160 Speaker 1: but he'd still stick around for a bit longer. The 556 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:54,880 Speaker 1: team started work on Wolfenstein three D. 557 00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 2: They had it ready to go. 558 00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:01,320 Speaker 1: To release in the spring of nineteen nine. They used 559 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:04,440 Speaker 1: the shareware model under apagee. They released the first set 560 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:07,600 Speaker 1: of levels for free. If you completed those levels, you've 561 00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:09,160 Speaker 1: got a message saying that if you wanted the rest 562 00:33:09,160 --> 00:33:11,760 Speaker 1: of the game, you had to purchase it, and it 563 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:14,120 Speaker 1: would give you essentially two more sets of levels and 564 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:18,720 Speaker 1: some bonus material, including the final battle with Hitler or 565 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:23,200 Speaker 1: essentially Mecha Hitler. I remember this game fondly. This was 566 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:26,080 Speaker 1: the game that introduced me to ID Software. I actually 567 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:28,720 Speaker 1: played Wolfenstein three D before I ever played any of 568 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:31,800 Speaker 1: the Commander Keen games, although I eventually played those two 569 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:35,200 Speaker 1: and Wolfenstein three D was a game I played in 570 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:40,240 Speaker 1: high school. Both during that time and literally in high school, 571 00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:44,480 Speaker 1: I had a word processing class that I finished all 572 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:47,240 Speaker 1: the class work for the year in the first month, 573 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:49,560 Speaker 1: and so then I spent the rest of the year 574 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:50,880 Speaker 1: playing Wolfenstein three D. 575 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:54,040 Speaker 2: True story, Dylan, absolutely true. 576 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,640 Speaker 1: The second year I was there, I taught the IBM class, 577 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,440 Speaker 1: and once I gave them an assignment, I played more 578 00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:04,719 Speaker 1: Wolfenstein three D. I played a lot of Wolfenstein three 579 00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:05,680 Speaker 1: D is what I'm getting at. 580 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:07,720 Speaker 2: I thought it was great. 581 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:10,160 Speaker 1: It was unlike other games I had played on PCs, 582 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:12,880 Speaker 1: which at that time were mostly computer role playing games, 583 00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:16,920 Speaker 1: and even earlier ones which were text adventure style games, so. 584 00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:18,960 Speaker 2: This was a new thing for me. 585 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:22,919 Speaker 1: Around the same time, ID Software hired a person named 586 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:27,680 Speaker 1: Kevin Cloud as an assistant to Adrian Carmack, and Kevin 587 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:30,560 Speaker 1: would end up being an important part of id's Software's team. 588 00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:33,400 Speaker 1: Whenever the question came up whether to focus on a 589 00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:37,520 Speaker 1: new intellectual property or create a sequel or remake, Kevin's 590 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:40,480 Speaker 1: inclination was to go with the new, and sometimes that 591 00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:45,320 Speaker 1: meant going against the prevailing opinion. More on that, especially 592 00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:48,520 Speaker 1: in the second part. I've got more to say in 593 00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:51,320 Speaker 1: this first part about ID Software, but before I continue, 594 00:34:51,400 --> 00:35:03,719 Speaker 1: let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. All Right, 595 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:09,280 Speaker 1: Wolfenstein was an enormous success. Game sales reached two hundred 596 00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:12,759 Speaker 1: thousand dollars a month and stayed that way for more 597 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:16,879 Speaker 1: than a year. This made even Commander Keene's success look 598 00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:20,399 Speaker 1: tiny by comparison, and Keen had been a huge hit 599 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:21,120 Speaker 1: for Apagee. 600 00:35:21,719 --> 00:35:23,799 Speaker 2: It was such a big hit that. 601 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:28,000 Speaker 1: Another company called form Gen asked the asked ID Software 602 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:30,520 Speaker 1: to make a copy of the game that could be 603 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:33,920 Speaker 1: sold in brick and mortar stores. In other words, make 604 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,120 Speaker 1: a game with box art and all of that stuff 605 00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:38,680 Speaker 1: that we can put on store shelves, because it's it's 606 00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:41,800 Speaker 1: too good to just have it in this shareware format. 607 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,360 Speaker 2: So id Software did. They created a new. 608 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:49,839 Speaker 1: Version of Wolfenstein called Wolfenstein Spear of Destiny, and that 609 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:55,080 Speaker 1: launched in December in nineteen ninety two. Nintendo even called 610 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:56,840 Speaker 1: them up and said, hey, we would like a version 611 00:35:56,880 --> 00:36:00,640 Speaker 1: of this for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It's kind 612 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:03,960 Speaker 1: of funny because, of course, the company originally started as 613 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,880 Speaker 1: trying to convince Nintendo to allow them to port games 614 00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:09,319 Speaker 1: to the PC, and now their Nintendo was saying, hey, 615 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:13,399 Speaker 1: can you port this PC game to the Nintendo. The 616 00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:16,880 Speaker 1: Nintendo version's a bit different from the original PC version. 617 00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 1: All the blood has been removed from the game, so 618 00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:23,480 Speaker 1: when you shoot Nazis, they still die, but they don't 619 00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:27,319 Speaker 1: bleed everywhere. And while in the PC version you would 620 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:30,040 Speaker 1: run into guard dogs and have to kill them, that's 621 00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:34,000 Speaker 1: not cricket on the SNES, so instead you run into 622 00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:40,200 Speaker 1: enormous rats. Maybe they're rous's give me a shout if 623 00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:41,120 Speaker 1: you get that reference. 624 00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:42,960 Speaker 2: Now. 625 00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:46,800 Speaker 1: The one place in software was seeing some trouble was Germany. 626 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:49,960 Speaker 1: Wolfenstein three D is all about escaping a Nazi prison, 627 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:52,799 Speaker 1: which meant there were plenty of depictions of Nazis in 628 00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:56,960 Speaker 1: the game, including images bearing the swastika symbol, but it's 629 00:36:57,000 --> 00:36:59,920 Speaker 1: illegal in Germany to have that image in entertainment, particularly 630 00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:03,080 Speaker 1: in games, so the German government banned the sale of 631 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:04,360 Speaker 1: Wolfenstein in Germany. 632 00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:06,719 Speaker 2: Only this game wasn't. 633 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:10,240 Speaker 1: Distributed the way your traditional games were on store shelves, 634 00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:13,280 Speaker 1: which meant players could go online and download the game anyway, 635 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:17,080 Speaker 1: because the Internet doesn't obey the traditional national boundaries, at 636 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:20,479 Speaker 1: least not without some hardware restricting communications like the Great 637 00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:24,080 Speaker 1: Firewall of China. So Wolfenstein three D played a part 638 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:26,759 Speaker 1: in those early days of the Internet and making some 639 00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:30,080 Speaker 1: people very nervous about the information super Highway and what 640 00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:32,919 Speaker 1: it might be able to do. It actually prompted quite 641 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:38,000 Speaker 1: a few serious discussions across country borders and how can 642 00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:41,560 Speaker 1: we manage the Internet in such a way that obeys 643 00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:46,520 Speaker 1: the law within certain jurisdictions while remaining an international communication protocol. 644 00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:51,680 Speaker 1: It's a question we still ask ourselves today. It's tough. 645 00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:52,560 Speaker 2: Well. 646 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:55,759 Speaker 1: John Carmac's engine for Wolfenstein was getting a lot of 647 00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:58,839 Speaker 1: attention in the computer game world, and other publishers wanted 648 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:00,879 Speaker 1: to be able to make first par and shooter style 649 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:04,879 Speaker 1: games as well. But reinventing something that someone else has 650 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:08,240 Speaker 1: already made is a lot of work, so it's easier, 651 00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:14,280 Speaker 1: although sometimes expensive, to just license software that powers another game, 652 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:16,960 Speaker 1: and that's how ID Software got into the game engine 653 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:21,080 Speaker 1: licensing business. They began to sell licenses to the underlying 654 00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:24,680 Speaker 1: engine powering Wolfenstein three D, and other publishers began to 655 00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:28,239 Speaker 1: make games using that engine, and those games ran the 656 00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:33,000 Speaker 1: gamut of genres. The one of them was blake Stone, 657 00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:35,680 Speaker 1: which was a science fiction game that had a cover 658 00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:39,160 Speaker 1: art that looked a lot like Buck Rogers, and blake 659 00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:43,000 Speaker 1: Stone came from Jam Productions, that company I mentioned earlier. 660 00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:46,359 Speaker 1: They made the game, an Apagee published the title. There 661 00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:50,600 Speaker 1: was also a game from Capstone Software called Corridor seven 662 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:54,080 Speaker 1: Alien Invasion, which added a bit of horror to the 663 00:38:54,120 --> 00:38:57,000 Speaker 1: science fiction mix. I think it owed a lot to 664 00:38:57,640 --> 00:39:02,160 Speaker 1: Alien honestly. That game was by Intracore and game Tech. 665 00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:05,280 Speaker 2: It didn't do so well because by the time it came. 666 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:08,920 Speaker 1: Out, it was already a little dated and the engine 667 00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:11,640 Speaker 1: of Wolfenstein was not quite as robust as some of 668 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:16,600 Speaker 1: the newer engines, and a planned sequel of Corridor eight 669 00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:21,879 Speaker 1: never came to pass. Then there was an Snees game 670 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:24,759 Speaker 1: that used the Wolfenstein engine, and I mean it makes 671 00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:26,480 Speaker 1: perfect sense that game. 672 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:28,000 Speaker 2: Was super three D. 673 00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:34,960 Speaker 1: Noah's Arc YEP, a game about Noah using sleep darts 674 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:39,960 Speaker 1: to pacify goats, use the Wolfenstein game engine. 675 00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:41,719 Speaker 2: It's all true Dylan. 676 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:45,840 Speaker 1: Goats and ostriches. By the way, goats couldn't open doors. 677 00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:50,080 Speaker 1: Ostriches could totally open a door and come after you. Yeah, 678 00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:52,120 Speaker 1: it's a real thing that really existed, and it used 679 00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:55,320 Speaker 1: the Wolfenstein three D engine. Although the game wasn't really violent, 680 00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:59,200 Speaker 1: it involved knocking animals out with sleep darts, which is 681 00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:03,560 Speaker 1: perfectly fun. Don't do it for real, zies though, that's 682 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:07,960 Speaker 1: just mean. On April first, nineteen ninety two, in Software 683 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:09,560 Speaker 1: relocated again. 684 00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:12,560 Speaker 2: So moving to Wisconsin. 685 00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:14,239 Speaker 1: Might not have been the best idea. A lot of 686 00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:17,560 Speaker 1: the team wasn't really happy with how winters turn out 687 00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:21,160 Speaker 1: in Wisconsin, particularly the people who had grown up in Louisiana. 688 00:40:21,239 --> 00:40:23,880 Speaker 1: They did not imagine it getting that cold and that snowy, 689 00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:26,799 Speaker 1: and I imagine Tom Hall didn't really talk up the 690 00:40:26,880 --> 00:40:31,280 Speaker 1: whole winter wonderland of Wisconsin either when he convinced everyone 691 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:34,360 Speaker 1: to move their base of operations up there, So instead 692 00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:38,080 Speaker 1: they moved to Texas. Scott Miller was in Dallas, so 693 00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:41,600 Speaker 1: they moved to Mesquite, which is a region on the 694 00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:45,520 Speaker 1: east side of Dallas. It's just a short six and 695 00:40:45,560 --> 00:40:49,879 Speaker 1: a half hour drive away from Shreveport, Louisiana, so if 696 00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:52,440 Speaker 1: they really felt like it, they could do a long 697 00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:56,960 Speaker 1: road trip back to where they started. John Carmack was 698 00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:59,520 Speaker 1: hard at work designing a new game engine. This will 699 00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:04,000 Speaker 1: become a familiar thread for the rest of these two episodes. 700 00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:06,680 Speaker 1: He was wanting to improve upon the one he had 701 00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:09,719 Speaker 1: already built for Wolfenstein three D, and he even had 702 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:13,040 Speaker 1: a name for the next game, but he didn't have 703 00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:15,480 Speaker 1: any idea of what the game would be about. He 704 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:18,000 Speaker 1: just knew the name he wanted the games titled to 705 00:41:18,040 --> 00:41:19,440 Speaker 1: be Doom. 706 00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:21,080 Speaker 2: He thought it sounded. 707 00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:23,320 Speaker 1: Cool, but what would it actually be about. 708 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:25,120 Speaker 2: He had no idea. 709 00:41:25,239 --> 00:41:27,800 Speaker 1: The name, by the way, didn't just occur to Carmak. 710 00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:29,960 Speaker 1: He didn't just say, oh, we should call it Doom. 711 00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:35,200 Speaker 1: Apparently it was actually taken as an inspiration from a quote. 712 00:41:35,719 --> 00:41:38,640 Speaker 1: A quote from the nineteen eighty seven film The Color 713 00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:42,080 Speaker 1: of Money, which is a sequel to a nineteen sixty 714 00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:46,280 Speaker 1: one movie called The Hustler. So in The Color of Money, 715 00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:49,920 Speaker 1: a character named Vincent Lauria played by Tom Cruise, is 716 00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:54,040 Speaker 1: carrying a case and the case holds his poolque but 717 00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:57,120 Speaker 1: another character asks him what's in the case, and he 718 00:41:57,239 --> 00:41:59,560 Speaker 1: just kind of smiles as he opens it up, and 719 00:41:59,560 --> 00:42:04,800 Speaker 1: he says Doom. And thus the name of the next 720 00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:09,120 Speaker 1: huge game was born. And they had the name, but 721 00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:11,600 Speaker 1: they didn't have a game, and they were talking pretty 722 00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:14,120 Speaker 1: big at the time. In January nineteen ninety three, the 723 00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:16,600 Speaker 1: company announced in a press release that their next title 724 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:19,880 Speaker 1: would become the biggest Times Suck in all of history, 725 00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:23,920 Speaker 1: and that productivity would plummet as a result. The idea 726 00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:27,960 Speaker 1: for the game itself emerged, as all great ideas do, 727 00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:34,360 Speaker 1: in a totally different game. Yes, just like every idea 728 00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:40,040 Speaker 1: of massive consequence in human history, the idea for Doom 729 00:42:40,120 --> 00:42:46,320 Speaker 1: came out of a rousing Dungeons and Dragons tabletop game. Yes, indeed, 730 00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:50,080 Speaker 1: D and D is the reason Doom exists. John Carmack 731 00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:52,919 Speaker 1: had taken on the role of dungeon Master, and John 732 00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:55,400 Speaker 1: Romero says that his own character was trying to get 733 00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:57,880 Speaker 1: hold of a magic sword and through a series of 734 00:42:57,920 --> 00:43:02,240 Speaker 1: somewhat hasty decisions acts identally unleashed a legion of demons 735 00:43:02,239 --> 00:43:05,799 Speaker 1: which quickly overran the world. And then they realized what 736 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,279 Speaker 1: Doom should be about In Doom, you would play a 737 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:14,360 Speaker 1: hero in a science fiction setting facing off against monstrous enemies. 738 00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:18,319 Speaker 1: Only these enemies wouldn't be aliens, they would be demons. 739 00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:21,239 Speaker 1: The science facility where it all takes place would have 740 00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:26,000 Speaker 1: accidentally opened up a portal to Hell. That's when development 741 00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:31,239 Speaker 1: of Doom really got underway. That is it for the 742 00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:35,640 Speaker 1: ID Software story, Part one, which originally published on April fifth, 743 00:43:35,719 --> 00:43:39,480 Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. Like I said, next week, we will conclude 744 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:42,920 Speaker 1: that with part two. So if you're waiting on the 745 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:46,040 Speaker 1: edge of your seat, you got seven days to wait, 746 00:43:46,239 --> 00:43:48,600 Speaker 1: unless you're binging this in the future, in which case 747 00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:50,400 Speaker 1: you can just skip right ahead to that one if 748 00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:52,560 Speaker 1: you like, and then go back and listen to the 749 00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:56,760 Speaker 1: other ones as many times as you like. That's my motto. 750 00:43:57,560 --> 00:44:00,080 Speaker 1: Wait No, my motto is I hope you are all well, 751 00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:09,960 Speaker 1: and I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff 752 00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:14,560 Speaker 1: is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 753 00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:18,160 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 754 00:44:18,200 --> 00:44:19,120 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.