1 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:12,039 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey therein 2 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm 3 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: an executive producer with iHeartRadio, and how the tech are you. 4 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,040 Speaker 1: It's time for another tech Stuff Classic episode. This is 5 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:26,759 Speaker 1: actually the conclusion of a two parter. So if you 6 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: didn't listen to last week's classic, which was The ID 7 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: Software Story Part one, I recommend you go do that 8 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: first because this is The ID Software Story Part two 9 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:39,279 Speaker 1: and you don't want to walk into a movie right 10 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:41,199 Speaker 1: in the middle right, you want to see it from 11 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:45,559 Speaker 1: the beginning. Anyway. This episode originally published way back on 12 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:50,239 Speaker 1: April seventh, twenty seventeen. Hope you enjoy. So in our 13 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: last episode, I really talked about the people responsible for 14 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 1: forming ID Software and how they found early success with 15 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: titles like Commander Keene and Wolfenstein three. Today we'd pick 16 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: up where I left off with the development of the 17 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: blockbuster title Doom. Now, the company was still just a 18 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: small team of developers and they had a problem. There 19 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:15,760 Speaker 1: weren't enough people to work on a follow up to 20 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:21,839 Speaker 1: Wolfenstein and simultaneously work on the new Doom project. What's more, 21 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 1: the people at ID Software all wanted to work on Doom. 22 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: They wanted to work on something new rather than create 23 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:31,399 Speaker 1: a sequel to an already existing game, but there was 24 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: a lot of pressure from apage to create a sequel. 25 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: Wolfenstein had been the most successful title to debut on 26 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: Apagee in its history, so they decided to do the 27 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:47,120 Speaker 1: reasonable thing. They outsourced Wolfenstein too. They licensed out the 28 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,920 Speaker 1: work to apage, which got started on the project, but 29 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: after some time in development, ID Software didn't really see 30 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 1: it progressing very well. They didn't think it was a 31 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 1: making it a progress, so they pulled the plug on 32 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: the project. Apagee ended up taking these lemons and making 33 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,919 Speaker 1: Lemonade later on, converting the work they had already produced 34 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 1: into a brand new title called Rise of the Triad. 35 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: Talk a little bit more about that in a second. 36 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: They also hired a couple of folks in nineteen ninety three. 37 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: One of them ended up making a big name for 38 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: himself a little bit later on in the video game world. 39 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 1: That would be American McGee. He's perhaps most famous for 40 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 1: his Dark Alice in Wonderland inspired games, which he made 41 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: with EA. After his tenure with ID Software ended in 42 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety eight, McGhee started at ID as a tech 43 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: support worker and eventually worked his way up to designer, 44 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: but there was a point where the company decided that 45 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 1: McGee's work and the company's direction were no longer a 46 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: good fit, and so he was let go. One thing 47 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: that did make Doom possible was the evolution of computer hardware. 48 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 1: The team had been bumping up against the upper limits 49 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: of the previous generation of PCs, but over time, the 50 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: really expensive Intel three eighty six microprocessor cost had started 51 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: to come down, and now it was finding its way 52 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: into consumer level PCs. More people were able to afford 53 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:25,520 Speaker 1: a three eighty six PC, which was better equipped to 54 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: handle the demands of a BFY game engine, or at 55 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: least BF at the time. Now three eighty six had 56 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:34,080 Speaker 1: been around for a while. It first launched in nineteen 57 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: eighty five. This Intel microprocessor, it took about a year 58 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: for manufacturing to ramp up to the levels that Intel wanted, 59 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 1: but even when they did reach those levels, they were 60 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: still really expensive, so very few people were actually able 61 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: to afford them. By today's standards, a three eighty six 62 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: microprocessor would probably seem pretty crude and clunky. It had 63 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: only two hundred and seventy five transistors on it a 64 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 1: little microprocessor. Now, I say only because today's microprocessors have 65 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: more than a billion transistors on them, so two hundred 66 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 1: and seventy five thousand is nothing compared to today's microprocessors. 67 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: The clock rate, as in how fast the three eighty 68 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: six microprocessor could work, was between twelve megahertz up to 69 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 1: forty megahurts if you're overclocking it on the extreme end. 70 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: And again, your basic smartphone today can outperform those specs. 71 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: But at the time it was a state of the 72 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:37,440 Speaker 1: art machine and it was just what it needed to 73 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:41,360 Speaker 1: take the next step in game development. John Karmack, at 74 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,480 Speaker 1: the ripe old age of twenty one years old, began 75 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:48,720 Speaker 1: to experiment with stuff that older game engines just couldn't handle. 76 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:54,120 Speaker 1: That included creating irregular shapes in the environment, like irregular 77 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,600 Speaker 1: walls or floors that sloped around. He also wanted dynamic 78 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: lighting and the option to move in or out doors. 79 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 1: These were all elements that would have been really challenging 80 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 1: back in the older Wolfenstein days that game engine just 81 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: couldn't handle this kind of level of complexity. And then 82 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:14,520 Speaker 1: he also had another goal. He wanted gameplay to be 83 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: immersive and fast. Fast was really important. It had to 84 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 1: be a fast paced game and really get the player's 85 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:26,479 Speaker 1: blood pumping, so he wanted these abilities, this ability to 86 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: make more complex environments, but not at the expense of 87 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: the speed of the game. As Carmak worked on the engine, 88 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:39,480 Speaker 1: Romero started programming the levels and designed much of the 89 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: look and sound of the game. For inspiration, the team 90 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:47,159 Speaker 1: looked at the art of hr Geiger, and that was 91 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: Geiger's work that inspired the Alien film franchise, so the 92 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 1: team used that art to guide decisions in level and 93 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:59,279 Speaker 1: monster design. The walls in Doom sometimes have hideous faces 94 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:02,280 Speaker 1: incorporated in to them, and many of the demons look 95 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,359 Speaker 1: pretty monstrous as well. Romero points out that by today's 96 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 1: standards they might seem a bit cartoony, but at the 97 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 1: time it was considered a really etchy approach to game design. 98 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: Tom Hall, who had put up some resistance during the 99 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:19,480 Speaker 1: development of Wolfenstein three D, campaigned for a rich story 100 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:22,719 Speaker 1: for Doom. He had in mind an opening scene that 101 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: would set the rest of the game in motion, and 102 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:26,800 Speaker 1: in that scene, the player would be taking on the 103 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: role of a soldier in the middle of a card 104 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 1: game with the rest of his squad, and in the 105 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:33,920 Speaker 1: middle of the game a demon would burst in, killing 106 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:36,719 Speaker 1: everyone but the player, and then the game would start, 107 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: and his ideas helped shape design decisions, but as he 108 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: tells it all later on, the focus was really more 109 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:46,320 Speaker 1: on the technical side of making the game work and 110 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: less on the narrative or story side. He'd say it 111 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: would be a few years before you would see a 112 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: first person shooter incorporate deep story elements, and the game 113 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: he cites is really nailing it. Half Life, which was 114 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:04,599 Speaker 1: a from a totally different company. It's from Valve, that 115 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:07,159 Speaker 1: would be the first real example of that sort of thing. 116 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:11,119 Speaker 1: But he wanted it to be Doom, and he started 117 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: to feel really discouraged that a lot of his ideas 118 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: were being rejected. He wanted rooms to have a purpose 119 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: in Doom, so that when you walked into a room 120 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:22,640 Speaker 1: in the game, you understood why the room was there. 121 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,040 Speaker 1: It had a reason for existing. It wasn't just one 122 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: in a series of rooms that make up a level, 123 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:34,200 Speaker 1: or just a weird interchangeable environment with undefined spaces. In 124 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: his Doom, you wouldn't wonder why two rooms connected together, 125 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:40,680 Speaker 1: or what purpose a weird path might serve, it would 126 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: have a reason and you would understand what it was. 127 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:47,679 Speaker 1: To him, level design needed to make sense and serve 128 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: the story, but the development of the game didn't really 129 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:54,400 Speaker 1: allow for his designs, and so the levels were less detailed, 130 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: less logical. Hall himself designed about seven levels, according to 131 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 1: his own estimation. He said Romero was responsible for some 132 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 1: of the more iconic levels in Doom, particularly the ones 133 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:09,440 Speaker 1: that used multiple vertical planes. You know, multiple levels within 134 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 1: a game level. So I'm using level in two different 135 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:17,239 Speaker 1: ways here, game levels meaning at a stage in a game, 136 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: and levels within the game or within that stage rather 137 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:26,280 Speaker 1: meaning different vertical platforms. Hall's account of those days sound 138 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:28,239 Speaker 1: like they were pretty rough. He said that the team 139 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: was working every day, seven days a week, for up 140 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: to sixteen hours a day, and he said he was 141 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:37,040 Speaker 1: feeling increasingly isolated at that time. The rest of the 142 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:41,840 Speaker 1: team sensed this as well, and eventually, in nineteen ninety three, 143 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 1: Romero invited Hall over for dinner and then told him 144 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: they were letting him go. He was essentially fired, but 145 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 1: they had also secured another job for him over at Apogee, 146 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:56,560 Speaker 1: so he already had a place to go. It wasn't 147 00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:59,600 Speaker 1: like he was just cut loose, and in twenty fourteen 148 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:03,120 Speaker 1: said that ultimately this came as a huge relief after 149 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:06,120 Speaker 1: the Shock War off. He was the first of the 150 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:10,199 Speaker 1: four main founders of ID to leave ID Software. He 151 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:12,480 Speaker 1: would move on to Apagee and work on Rise of 152 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:16,160 Speaker 1: the Triad, which I mentioned earlier. It was the game 153 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 1: that Wolfenstein Io would turn into. He'd work on other 154 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:23,440 Speaker 1: games too, before moving on to co found another studio. 155 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:28,679 Speaker 1: The other studio he co founded was one called ion Storm, 156 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:32,240 Speaker 1: rather infamous in video game circles, and his fellow co 157 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:36,640 Speaker 1: founder was John Romero. But we'll get to that part 158 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,080 Speaker 1: of the story a little later, and ion Storm could 159 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: be its own episode all by itself. It was a 160 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:43,959 Speaker 1: heck of a story. I remember when all of that 161 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:51,119 Speaker 1: was unfolding. Meanwhile, in nineteen ninety three, Adrian Carmak relished 162 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 1: the subject matter of Doom. It was kind of like 163 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: the opposite of Tom Hall's reaction. He thought it was fantastic. 164 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:01,400 Speaker 1: He took great delight in designing and drawing numerous demonic 165 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:05,079 Speaker 1: critters and nightmarish environments. He was happy to move away 166 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: from the more family friendly art style that Tom Hall 167 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 1: held dear. He and Kevin Cloud, his assistant, designed tons 168 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: of monsters, and then they commissioned a sculptor to come 169 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:19,360 Speaker 1: in and create three dimensional models of the monsters out 170 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: of clay. Then they would paint the models and scan 171 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:26,400 Speaker 1: them in to create virtual models for the game itself. 172 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 1: And it gave Doom a really unique look. And I 173 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:35,120 Speaker 1: realized that really unique is redundant. Someone who joined ID 174 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:39,959 Speaker 1: Software during the development of Doom was Sandy Peterson. He 175 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:43,280 Speaker 1: was a programmer who had worked for Micropros before joining 176 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:47,840 Speaker 1: ID Software. Micropros was another huge name in the computer 177 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:50,880 Speaker 1: gaming industry in the nineteen eighties. In particular, one of 178 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:53,920 Speaker 1: its founders is a real legend in games, Sid Meyer. 179 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:58,760 Speaker 1: Peterson would end up designing nineteen levels for Doom, even 180 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,920 Speaker 1: though he joined the project after it had already started. 181 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 1: As the game neared completion, they had a big decision 182 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:09,439 Speaker 1: they had to make. They felt they had outgrown Apagee's 183 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:13,600 Speaker 1: business model, which involved that shareware approach to get gamers interested, 184 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:17,199 Speaker 1: followed by sending a physical copy of the full game 185 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 1: once an order came in. Abajee only had a couple 186 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:25,840 Speaker 1: of employees handling incoming calls, and the folks over at 187 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:29,440 Speaker 1: it were getting frustrated because orders were coming in faster 188 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:33,520 Speaker 1: than apagee could respond to them, and they asked Scott 189 00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:37,439 Speaker 1: Miller if he would invest in that department and grow it, 190 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:41,320 Speaker 1: and he seemed reluctant to do that. So ID Software 191 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 1: decided they could do this for themselves and just do 192 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:47,560 Speaker 1: what apage had been doing for them, using the Internet 193 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:51,200 Speaker 1: for distribution and keeping overhead costs low so that they 194 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:54,320 Speaker 1: don't have to worry about producing physical copies and all 195 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:56,560 Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. So they moved out to strike 196 00:11:56,600 --> 00:12:00,200 Speaker 1: out on their own. Now I got more to say 197 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:04,320 Speaker 1: about this next phase in ID Software's evolution, but first 198 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:15,439 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor. During 199 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:20,760 Speaker 1: alpha testing of the Doom game, ID Software sent unfinished 200 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 1: copies to a few playtesters to look for bugs and 201 00:12:23,559 --> 00:12:27,480 Speaker 1: get feedback on how the gameplay was coming together. An 202 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 1: early build of the game that alpha build ended up 203 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:33,760 Speaker 1: leaking onto the Internet, which got a ton of attention, 204 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:37,079 Speaker 1: despite the fact that it wasn't a complete game and 205 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:40,520 Speaker 1: ID software was genuinely worried that it could end up 206 00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:43,760 Speaker 1: tanking the game. If people played something that wasn't finished, 207 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 1: they might have an incorrect assumption of how the game's 208 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:52,079 Speaker 1: going to turn out, but actually it helped drive excitement 209 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:54,360 Speaker 1: for the title. People were really eager to get hold 210 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:57,960 Speaker 1: of the finished copy. The retail price for the game, 211 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:01,520 Speaker 1: at least at one point was a was suggested at 212 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 1: nine dollars. That's insane, right. The game launched on a 213 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:12,440 Speaker 1: server on December tenth, nineteen ninety three, at the University 214 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:17,400 Speaker 1: of Wisconsin, and almost immediately the server crashed because so 215 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:20,480 Speaker 1: many people were dialing in to try and get a 216 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:23,240 Speaker 1: copy of this game, and since it was about midnight 217 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 1: when the game went live, it meant there was several 218 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:29,160 Speaker 1: hours before someone could get everything back online, but that 219 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:31,720 Speaker 1: really only helped drive the demand for the game further, 220 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:36,720 Speaker 1: and soon it became a best seller. Wolfenstein three D 221 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:40,080 Speaker 1: gave birth to the first person shooter genre, but Doom 222 00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:44,680 Speaker 1: defined it, and id Software built in a feature that 223 00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:49,280 Speaker 1: would become standard in nearly every FPS to follow Doom, 224 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:54,280 Speaker 1: and that was the death match. That was Romero's term 225 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 1: for a competitive match between two or more players. Using 226 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: the game engine Doom, up to four people could play 227 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:06,040 Speaker 1: against each other on physically networked computers, a local area network, 228 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:10,120 Speaker 1: or a land or you could play against a single 229 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:13,800 Speaker 1: person over the internet. It was the birth of competitive 230 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: multiplayer for first person shooters, and it's another reason why 231 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 1: people cite Doom as the real father of the FPS genre. 232 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 1: So while Wolfenstein three D did it first, Doom really 233 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:33,520 Speaker 1: got the form factor down. And before Doom, Wolfenstein was 234 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,240 Speaker 1: the biggest hit from ID Software with more than two 235 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:39,360 Speaker 1: hundred thousand copies sold, but within a couple of years 236 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:42,680 Speaker 1: of launch, Doom sales blew that number out of the water. 237 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:46,120 Speaker 1: By nineteen ninety five, it was estimated that ten million 238 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 1: computers had a copy of Doom on them. Whether or 239 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 1: not all those copies were full paid copies is another matter, 240 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:56,560 Speaker 1: because again the first few levels were offered as a 241 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:01,640 Speaker 1: shareware download. The game received positive fans loved it. The 242 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: multiplayer was huge, an enormous innovation, and ID Software was 243 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:10,560 Speaker 1: the darling of the computer games industry. And it also 244 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: had another big innovation built in with Doom. And this 245 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:16,680 Speaker 1: was a choice that John Carmack had made. It was 246 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:20,720 Speaker 1: incredibly accessible to the modern community. Now, a mot is 247 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 1: someone who modifies games. They tweak code to create new 248 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 1: types of enemies or environments, new levels, new items, new weapons. 249 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: A modern friendly game is one that can transform in 250 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:37,880 Speaker 1: all sorts of ways with a minimum of fuss upon 251 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:40,360 Speaker 1: the part of the motters. They don't have to end 252 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 1: up breaking code in order to make it happen. Now, 253 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:46,160 Speaker 1: there are a lot of titles out there today that 254 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:50,480 Speaker 1: have a reputation for supporting creative mods, such as Skyrim 255 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 1: or a Grand Theft Auto five. Doom was an early 256 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 1: example of this. John Carmack designed the code so that 257 00:15:56,960 --> 00:15:59,360 Speaker 1: it wouldn't be too difficult for the modern community to 258 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:02,160 Speaker 1: tweak it, and in fact, this would remain one of 259 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:06,560 Speaker 1: his principles throughout his career. The result was that Doom 260 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:09,440 Speaker 1: was viewed as a must have game because even if 261 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:13,479 Speaker 1: you grew tired of the original gameplay, the modern community 262 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:16,320 Speaker 1: was always adding new stuff, which meant that you had 263 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:21,800 Speaker 1: a continuously refreshed game. You could just download the mods 264 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:25,440 Speaker 1: and incorporate it into your own copy. It was so 265 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: big that during the presentation for Windows ninety five, Bill 266 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:32,120 Speaker 1: Gates had a segment in which he was keyed into 267 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:36,200 Speaker 1: the frame of a Doom game. And yes, it's just 268 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:39,520 Speaker 1: as embarrassing and awkward as you are imagining right now. 269 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 1: Bill Gates standing there wearing a kind of a costume 270 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:50,840 Speaker 1: holding a rifle in the middle of the rifle, his 271 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:54,800 Speaker 1: hand nowhere near the stock or the trigger, talking about 272 00:16:54,840 --> 00:16:59,480 Speaker 1: how he's going to enter the next Doom tournament, and 273 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:03,160 Speaker 1: then a Doom spread appears to his left. He turns, 274 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 1: holds the rifle out still by the middle, by the 275 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:10,200 Speaker 1: way finger nowhere near the trigger, and blasts the bad guy. 276 00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:15,120 Speaker 1: It's awful and you should watch it anyway. The fact 277 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 1: that even Microsoft was acknowledging this showed what a big 278 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:20,439 Speaker 1: deal it was, and the fact that this was a 279 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:26,159 Speaker 1: game that was going mainstream. Like the Wolfenstein engine before it, 280 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:28,920 Speaker 1: a lot of other computer game companies wanted to license 281 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:31,840 Speaker 1: the technology powering Doom. It was light years ahead of 282 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:35,960 Speaker 1: anyone else, so ID Software was happy to oblige for fee. 283 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:39,119 Speaker 1: Companies could use the underlying engine for their own games, 284 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:41,840 Speaker 1: and that brought in another steady stream of revenue into 285 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:45,720 Speaker 1: the company, boosting the already impressive cash flow from game sales. 286 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:50,359 Speaker 1: The ID crew found themselves flush with moolah, and not 287 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: everyone handled success the same way. So here's a way 288 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:59,320 Speaker 1: to contrast people. Both John Carmack and Romero bought expensive 289 00:17:59,359 --> 00:18:05,080 Speaker 1: sports car like Ferraris, but John Carmack limited his lavish spending, 290 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 1: and much of his life didn't really change that significantly 291 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:12,000 Speaker 1: compared to what it was before. Meanwhile, John Romero jumped 292 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:15,080 Speaker 1: a little further into the deep end of luxury. He 293 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:18,159 Speaker 1: bought a big house, he bought more luxury cars, He 294 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:22,360 Speaker 1: started throwing big, elaborate parties, and people began to get 295 00:18:22,359 --> 00:18:24,959 Speaker 1: a little worried that perhaps he was getting caught up 296 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:29,600 Speaker 1: in the lifestyle. After Doom went gold, John Carmack went 297 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:32,879 Speaker 1: back to the drawing board to create guess what yep, 298 00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:38,399 Speaker 1: the next generation game engine. Essentially every time they release 299 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:41,359 Speaker 1: a game, Carmack wanted to build a better game engine 300 00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:43,800 Speaker 1: for the next game. He never wanted to just rest 301 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:46,639 Speaker 1: on what he had built and then churn out sequels. 302 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:49,480 Speaker 1: He didn't find that satisfying. He wanted to make something 303 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 1: better than what he made before, and he really wanted 304 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:58,760 Speaker 1: to crack the nut that was true three dimensional figures 305 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:01,600 Speaker 1: within a game, not three D that projects out, but 306 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:04,720 Speaker 1: figures within the game that have three dimensions within that 307 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:09,480 Speaker 1: virtual environment. Doom was a big jump from Wolfenstein. But 308 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:12,879 Speaker 1: you couldn't look up or down in Doom. You always 309 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: look straight ahead, no matter where you were facing, and 310 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:19,360 Speaker 1: the critters you ran into were represented by two dimensional sprites. 311 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:22,560 Speaker 1: They weren't three dimensional virtual figures. They were kind of 312 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:27,119 Speaker 1: like flat cardboard cutout characters. What version of them you 313 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:29,720 Speaker 1: saw was dependent upon how you were facing them, but 314 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:33,880 Speaker 1: it was always flat. Carmak wanted something more sophisticated than that, 315 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:37,320 Speaker 1: and when he wanted something, essentially, he would go out 316 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:41,800 Speaker 1: and build it. Meanwhile, ID Software received a request from 317 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:44,919 Speaker 1: a game publisher to create a version of Doom for 318 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:49,920 Speaker 1: store shelves, which became Doom two. So Doom Too was 319 00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: the one that you could find in a box in 320 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:56,480 Speaker 1: computer game stores in the mid nineties. It was actually 321 00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:59,880 Speaker 1: really similar to the first game, just with some new 322 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:03,479 Speaker 1: levels and a couple of new designs, but mainly it 323 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:07,080 Speaker 1: was Doom, just with slightly different layouts. But it was 324 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:09,640 Speaker 1: another big commercial success because it was more of what 325 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:14,239 Speaker 1: people loved. Now on the company side, ID Software had 326 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:15,960 Speaker 1: grown to the point that it could hire a few 327 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,760 Speaker 1: new people, and Romero cut back his work hours. He 328 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:22,560 Speaker 1: had been working fourteen or sixteen hour days and so 329 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:25,080 Speaker 1: now he moved to a more normal eight hour day, 330 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:30,280 Speaker 1: much of it spent playing Doom against ID Software fans. 331 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:33,520 Speaker 1: He also spent a lot more time in engagement with 332 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,720 Speaker 1: fans in general, and again people at ID Software began 333 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:39,480 Speaker 1: to worry that perhaps Romero wasn't as involved as he 334 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:42,879 Speaker 1: needed to be. When it came time to look at 335 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:46,960 Speaker 1: what came next, the group agreed upon another idea inspired 336 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,879 Speaker 1: by their Dungeons and Dragon sessions. So in their games 337 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:53,600 Speaker 1: they had a mighty warrior named Quake, and he was 338 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:57,760 Speaker 1: a fierce melee fighter. He used melee weapons like hammers 339 00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:01,879 Speaker 1: to whack bad guys, and Carmack and Romero both thought 340 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,480 Speaker 1: this would be really interesting to create a three D 341 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,560 Speaker 1: game first person shooter, but instead of being a shooter, 342 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,560 Speaker 1: it's a first person melee game. You have to use 343 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:15,080 Speaker 1: a hand to hand weapon and attack enemies. It would 344 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:18,879 Speaker 1: require a new approach to game design, new enemy design 345 00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:21,920 Speaker 1: in order to make it fair but challenging. It was 346 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:24,880 Speaker 1: something the team was really eager to take on because 347 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,160 Speaker 1: it was different enough from what they had done before 348 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:31,280 Speaker 1: to really be engaging. So they set out to make 349 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:34,800 Speaker 1: a fantasy based hand to hand first person combat game. 350 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:38,800 Speaker 1: There's only one little problem. They did not have a 351 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:42,359 Speaker 1: game engine yet, they had nothing to build upon. Because 352 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:45,840 Speaker 1: John Carmack was falling behind on delivery dates for a 353 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:50,240 Speaker 1: working game engine as he encountered unanticipated problems while building 354 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:54,080 Speaker 1: a three D engine. Meanwhile, other teams were creating concept 355 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:56,719 Speaker 1: art and level designs, but they couldn't do anything with 356 00:21:56,840 --> 00:22:00,280 Speaker 1: them because there was no engine to build upon. So 357 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:03,480 Speaker 1: the company had already announced that was working on a 358 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:07,439 Speaker 1: game called Quake, and it was already starting to miss 359 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:11,240 Speaker 1: some promised release dates. And without a working game engine, 360 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:13,760 Speaker 1: it didn't make any sense to put anything out, and 361 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:16,280 Speaker 1: they couldn't really predict when something would be done because 362 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:19,360 Speaker 1: it could take ages after the game engine is done 363 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:23,600 Speaker 1: to build a brand new type of game. Remember, they'd 364 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:27,120 Speaker 1: have to design a first person melee game and then 365 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:29,240 Speaker 1: test it to make sure it was working, and then 366 00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:33,320 Speaker 1: fix anything that wasn't working. This process could take another 367 00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:37,040 Speaker 1: year or longer, and that's in addition to however long 368 00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:39,240 Speaker 1: it was going to take Karmac to finish the three 369 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:42,920 Speaker 1: D engine. This is where things first came to a 370 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:47,439 Speaker 1: head in ID Software. Romero and Kevin Cloud both felt 371 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:49,920 Speaker 1: that it was really important to be innovative and push 372 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 1: for new features with every new franchise, so they really 373 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:57,439 Speaker 1: wanted to incorporate this melee approach in this new game, 374 00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:00,040 Speaker 1: it would mean that Romero's designs would be part of 375 00:22:59,920 --> 00:23:02,800 Speaker 1: the game. It would mean that they would have something 376 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:05,720 Speaker 1: totally new to talk about. They didn't want to just 377 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:09,520 Speaker 1: keep making games in older franchises, but the rest of 378 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:13,480 Speaker 1: the team, including John Carmack himself, said that it was 379 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,880 Speaker 1: more important that they release another game in a timely fashion, 380 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:21,439 Speaker 1: using the Doom franchise or using the Doom engine, even 381 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:23,960 Speaker 1: because it would get the game out much more quickly. 382 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:27,359 Speaker 1: So it came down to Romero and Kevin Cloud versus 383 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 1: pretty much everybody else, and everybody else won that argument. Ultimately, 384 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:38,000 Speaker 1: they decided to drop the melee combat aspect for Quake. Instead, 385 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:41,800 Speaker 1: it would become another first person shooter, similar to Doom 386 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:46,600 Speaker 1: and Wolfenstein. However, they were going to wait for Carmak's 387 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,600 Speaker 1: new game engine to be finished. The big advantage here 388 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:52,960 Speaker 1: was that they had already built first person shooters. They 389 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,280 Speaker 1: knew how to build first person shooters, so they didn't 390 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:59,800 Speaker 1: have as much uncertainty about game mechanics. That part was easier, 391 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:01,800 Speaker 1: meant that there was going to be less on the 392 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:05,879 Speaker 1: development time once the game engine was finished. If they 393 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:08,400 Speaker 1: had gone with that melee approach, they'd have a lot 394 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:12,560 Speaker 1: more testing on their hands, so they went with the 395 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,080 Speaker 1: first person shooter model, and they cut out a lot 396 00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 1: of uncertainty, even though that meant refining something they had 397 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:23,159 Speaker 1: already done earlier. They had also by that time, gained 398 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:27,960 Speaker 1: a pretty substantial fan club, including some famous fans. One 399 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:31,760 Speaker 1: of those fans was Trent Resner from nine Inch Nails. 400 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:35,160 Speaker 1: He was a big fan of Doom, and so once 401 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:36,919 Speaker 1: they found out about this, they reached out to him 402 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:39,360 Speaker 1: and asked if he might be interested to become the 403 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: music and audio director for Quake, and he said yes. 404 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:47,000 Speaker 1: So he ended up doing the sound design and music 405 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 1: for Quake and turning it into an immersive audio experience 406 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:54,040 Speaker 1: on top of its visual impact. So if you ever 407 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:56,159 Speaker 1: played Quake and thought, while the sound design for this 408 00:24:56,280 --> 00:25:00,960 Speaker 1: is pretty pretty special, it's because of Trent Resnor. Now, 409 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:03,679 Speaker 1: when it was finished, Quake allowed players to look in 410 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:06,040 Speaker 1: all directions. You could look up and down, which meant 411 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 1: you had to worry about aiming up or down for 412 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:11,800 Speaker 1: the first time, because in Doom, if an enemy was 413 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:14,560 Speaker 1: in front of you and you shot at it, you 414 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:16,520 Speaker 1: were aiming at it. It didn't matter if it was 415 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:19,560 Speaker 1: on top of some stairs or at the bottom of 416 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:23,480 Speaker 1: some stairs. Your character was magically aiming up or down 417 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:27,439 Speaker 1: based upon you facing the enemy. You didn't really have 418 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,240 Speaker 1: to worry about aiming so much because you couldn't look 419 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:33,199 Speaker 1: up or down. And Quake it was totally different. You 420 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:35,880 Speaker 1: could look up and down, which meant that you suddenly 421 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:39,000 Speaker 1: had to worry about that aiming, and so a lot 422 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:43,960 Speaker 1: of the environments included things like balconies, stairs, raised platforms, 423 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,280 Speaker 1: requiring you to be to look up or down or 424 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:50,520 Speaker 1: else you would get blasted into oblivion. And Quake also 425 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,800 Speaker 1: built on the success of Doom's multiplayer format. With Quake, 426 00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:58,399 Speaker 1: up to sixteen players could compete online simultaneously, a pretty 427 00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:02,000 Speaker 1: big jump from the four or local area network players 428 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:05,240 Speaker 1: of Doom. Death matches became much more chaotic and fast 429 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:08,639 Speaker 1: paced and pretty It was such a popular mode that 430 00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:11,399 Speaker 1: some fans in Texas decided that they wanted to hold 431 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:13,879 Speaker 1: a big event and invite people to come in and 432 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,760 Speaker 1: bring their computers with them. So if you wanted to attend, 433 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:20,840 Speaker 1: you brought your computer rig you set it up inside 434 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:23,200 Speaker 1: this big conference hall, and it would become an enormous 435 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:27,200 Speaker 1: local area network where Quake could be played with huge groups, 436 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:31,320 Speaker 1: and they called it Quake Con. It was such a 437 00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:34,560 Speaker 1: big deal that even the ID Software team came out 438 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,960 Speaker 1: to it, and it would become so popular that they 439 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:41,000 Speaker 1: would hold it every year and ID Software would take 440 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:43,560 Speaker 1: advantage of it to use it as an event to 441 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:47,320 Speaker 1: announce upcoming titles and projects. So it became a kind 442 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:49,600 Speaker 1: of a marketing thing for ID Software, even though it 443 00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:53,760 Speaker 1: was organized by fans. Very useful for a company to 444 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:57,359 Speaker 1: have the fans do allow to work for you. Quake 445 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 1: was incredibly successful, though it had a little bit of 446 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:04,480 Speaker 1: a hiccup in its growth because of a decision that 447 00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 1: ID Software made when it came to distributing the game. 448 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:10,560 Speaker 1: They decided to offer part of the game for ten dollars, 449 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:13,320 Speaker 1: So you'd pay ten bucks and you would get access 450 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:16,120 Speaker 1: to the early part of the game. Technically, you would 451 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:18,920 Speaker 1: get the full game, but only the first few levels 452 00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:22,600 Speaker 1: would be accessible. Once you completed that section, you would 453 00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:24,480 Speaker 1: get informed that to unlock the rest of the game 454 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 1: you would have to pony up the money that made 455 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:28,439 Speaker 1: up the difference in the full price tag, which was 456 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:32,920 Speaker 1: another fifty dollars. But hackers began to examine the code 457 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:35,960 Speaker 1: for Quake because they knew if you had that first 458 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:38,640 Speaker 1: part of it, you had the whole game, And eventually 459 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:41,000 Speaker 1: they figured out how to bypass the system and get 460 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,560 Speaker 1: access to the full game without paying that fifty dollars, 461 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:47,399 Speaker 1: and the hack spread across the internet very quickly, but 462 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:51,960 Speaker 1: it still was a success for ID Software, and it 463 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,000 Speaker 1: also inspired a new art form. A group of Quake 464 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:59,159 Speaker 1: players created a little comedy sketch using the game Quake. 465 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,200 Speaker 1: They had a group of game characters that were trying 466 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:05,080 Speaker 1: to seek out and stop someone who was cheating in 467 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:07,879 Speaker 1: the game, and it turns out that the person cheating 468 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:12,240 Speaker 1: is actually John Romero. They used the Quake game engine 469 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:14,439 Speaker 1: to tell a story, something that was pretty new at 470 00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:17,200 Speaker 1: the time, and eventually people started calling this art form 471 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:21,440 Speaker 1: machinema for machine animation. If you want to hear more 472 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:24,200 Speaker 1: about this process, you should check out the episode tech 473 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:27,880 Speaker 1: Stuff Talks to Rooster Teeth, which we published originally back 474 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:31,719 Speaker 1: in February twenty twelve in and I talked to Bernie Burns, 475 00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:35,880 Speaker 1: founder of Rooster Teeth, and one of the big shows 476 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:38,680 Speaker 1: they did that got them started was a series called 477 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:42,400 Speaker 1: Red Versus Blue that used the Halo game engine to 478 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 1: animate stories. These days, Rooster Teeth does all sorts of stuff, 479 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,360 Speaker 1: including feature length films, So maybe sometime I can do 480 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:54,760 Speaker 1: a follow up story with somebody from there. Fascinating company, 481 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: and I'm a huge fan of their work. Back to 482 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: ID Software, just like Doom and Wolf and styf that 483 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:05,200 Speaker 1: Quake Engine became a sought after asset. Valve Software licensed 484 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:08,440 Speaker 1: it for their first person shooter Half Life, which Tom 485 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,720 Speaker 1: Hall once cited as the next real landmark in first 486 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:15,640 Speaker 1: person shooters. For its incorporated storyline. The Quake Engine would 487 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:18,640 Speaker 1: dominate in the computer industry until it was eventually conquered 488 00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:23,160 Speaker 1: by the Unreal Engine. After Quake went gold, the company 489 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:27,360 Speaker 1: held internal conversations about its direction, and things really came 490 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:30,120 Speaker 1: to a head. Romero felt that they were relying too 491 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:33,840 Speaker 1: heavily on formats that they had already perfected, and he said, 492 00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:36,880 Speaker 1: we should really be doing something new and innovative. We 493 00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:40,520 Speaker 1: shouldn't just keep doing what we do well. John Carmack 494 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:42,800 Speaker 1: and most of the rest of BID Software felt that 495 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:46,520 Speaker 1: Romero wasn't really dedicating himself to the work anymore, and 496 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:48,880 Speaker 1: that he become too wrapped up in his own fame 497 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 1: and lifestyle, and so the company said, hey, Romero, can 498 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:57,720 Speaker 1: you make tracks? They told him to resign, and he did. 499 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:00,959 Speaker 1: He then went on to reconnect with Tom and together 500 00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:05,080 Speaker 1: they formed the company ion Storm. More on that at 501 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:07,240 Speaker 1: the end of the Episode's got kind of a sad ending. 502 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:11,240 Speaker 1: The ID Software team meanwhile, went back to work creating 503 00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:14,720 Speaker 1: a sequel to Quake. Because of the hacking that they 504 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:18,959 Speaker 1: experienced when they launched the first Quake, they decided that 505 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:21,280 Speaker 1: the best way to move forward would be to partner 506 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,120 Speaker 1: with an established publisher. That They had been doing this 507 00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:26,240 Speaker 1: on their own for a while, and when they were 508 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:30,080 Speaker 1: smaller it was easier to handle, but as they grew, 509 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:34,360 Speaker 1: they realized that they needed someone with a more established 510 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:38,520 Speaker 1: approach to publishing. But they definitely didn't want to deal 511 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:42,200 Speaker 1: with having their IP stolen anymore, so they formed a 512 00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:46,320 Speaker 1: long term relationship with Activision. The first game they put 513 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:49,960 Speaker 1: out was Quake two in nineteen ninety seven, and then 514 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:54,240 Speaker 1: they immediately got to work on Quake three. We're in 515 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:58,040 Speaker 1: the home stretch here, but before I conclude the story 516 00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,440 Speaker 1: of the ID Software Company, let's take another quick break 517 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:14,280 Speaker 1: to thank our sponsor. It wasn't that much longer after 518 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:18,720 Speaker 1: Romero's departure that it seemed like his accusations were really 519 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:24,440 Speaker 1: accurate ones, and John Carmack's leadership style complicated matters. He 520 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:28,920 Speaker 1: decided that Quake three would be a multiplayer only style game, 521 00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:35,400 Speaker 1: online only, multiplayer only, no single player component, no monster designed, 522 00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:37,960 Speaker 1: because it would only be player characters fighting each other, 523 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 1: and the rest of the team wasn't really happy because 524 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:44,600 Speaker 1: they felt it was limited and it really meant that 525 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:46,800 Speaker 1: a lot of them didn't have much to do, but 526 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:50,800 Speaker 1: Carmack insisted that that was the approach they take. It 527 00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:53,600 Speaker 1: was also said that Romero, for whatever faults he may 528 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:57,480 Speaker 1: have had, was much better at managing people than Carmack was. 529 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:01,600 Speaker 1: People felt ignored or dismissed, and morale started to dip. 530 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:06,840 Speaker 1: Quake three Arena launched in nineteen ninety nine, It of 531 00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:10,840 Speaker 1: course had a brand new game engine powering it. The 532 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:14,320 Speaker 1: first Call of Duty game actually uses that Quake engine 533 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:18,160 Speaker 1: as its foundation, but that didn't help people at ID 534 00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:21,240 Speaker 1: Software feel that the company wasn't just doing the same 535 00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:26,320 Speaker 1: thing repeatedly. And also, the Unreal engine ended up debuting 536 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 1: and was comparatively easy to use. If you looked at 537 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,000 Speaker 1: the Quake engine and the Unreal engine side by side, 538 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:36,840 Speaker 1: and you looked at the actual interfaces for the two 539 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:40,800 Speaker 1: unreal engine was very attractive, and it ended up becoming 540 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:46,080 Speaker 1: stiff competition for that Quake engine. On the game development side, 541 00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:50,240 Speaker 1: things slowed down at ID Software. Now. That wasn't on purpose. 542 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:54,720 Speaker 1: John Carmack felt that the next game on the company, Dime, 543 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:58,040 Speaker 1: would have to have an even better game engine. Big 544 00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:01,320 Speaker 1: surprise there. Every time it game came out, Karmac said, 545 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 1: the next engine has to be even better. We can't 546 00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:06,280 Speaker 1: just make a game on this engine. That's where he 547 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:09,800 Speaker 1: found his satisfaction in designing the latest, greatest gaming engine 548 00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:12,960 Speaker 1: with new features and new capabilities, something that could really 549 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:16,200 Speaker 1: take advantage of the latest generation of hardware. But he 550 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:20,360 Speaker 1: also wanted to keep his development team at ID Software small. 551 00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:23,320 Speaker 1: He felt that that made communication better. It meant that 552 00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:26,680 Speaker 1: you were more nimble, you could react faster. He didn't 553 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:30,280 Speaker 1: want to see ID Software balloon into a large corporation. 554 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:36,640 Speaker 1: So there's the problem, right. There's a consequence to these 555 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:39,240 Speaker 1: two decisions, and that is it takes longer to make 556 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:44,160 Speaker 1: games because games were getting more complex. You were no 557 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:47,000 Speaker 1: longer in an era where one or two people could 558 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:52,520 Speaker 1: launch a triple A title game. You had to have 559 00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:55,239 Speaker 1: a group of people working on it. The games were 560 00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:58,959 Speaker 1: so much more complex that it was taking groups of 561 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:04,640 Speaker 1: experienced longer to make games, especially by restricting the size 562 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:07,160 Speaker 1: of the development team. So if you keep the development 563 00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:09,960 Speaker 1: team the same while the games get more and more complex, 564 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:14,120 Speaker 1: guess what it means everything takes longer to produce. When 565 00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:17,560 Speaker 1: ID Software announced in two thousand that their next game 566 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,239 Speaker 1: was going to be Doom three, they didn't have an 567 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:22,680 Speaker 1: idea at the time, nor did the fans, that it 568 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:24,719 Speaker 1: would take more than three years for that game to 569 00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:28,200 Speaker 1: come out, which meant that when it finally did launch 570 00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:31,400 Speaker 1: in two thousand and four, there had been five years 571 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:35,880 Speaker 1: between games from ID software Quake three Arena in nineteen 572 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:39,960 Speaker 1: ninety nine to Doom three in two thousand and four. Yikes. 573 00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:43,920 Speaker 1: While working on the game, ID Software did something that 574 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:47,000 Speaker 1: they had not done before. They began to license out 575 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:52,480 Speaker 1: their actual game intellectual property to other game studios. Not Apage, 576 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:54,920 Speaker 1: you know, that's who they used to work with, but 577 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,960 Speaker 1: to other game studios in general. So they allowed other 578 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:02,960 Speaker 1: developers to create games and franchises that they had themselves designed. 579 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:06,040 Speaker 1: So the first of those was returned to Castle Wolfenstein, 580 00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:09,400 Speaker 1: which was developed by gray Matter Interactive and Nerve Software. 581 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,720 Speaker 1: That game received some mixed reviews, especially for the single 582 00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:18,680 Speaker 1: player campaign, but the multiplayer aspect was generally praised. Activision 583 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:22,120 Speaker 1: wanted an expansion pack for the game, and they ended 584 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:25,800 Speaker 1: up working with a company called Splash Damage to design 585 00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:29,560 Speaker 1: that expansion pack. But boy were they not happy when 586 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:34,440 Speaker 1: they saw the single player component to Wolfenstein Enemy Territory 587 00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:37,760 Speaker 1: that was the expansion pack. Activision said that the single 588 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:42,759 Speaker 1: player campaign was not good enough to publish ouch, but 589 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:46,400 Speaker 1: the multiplayer was seen to be really, really fun and 590 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:52,320 Speaker 1: enjoyable and it worked fine, so Activision released it for free. 591 00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:57,759 Speaker 1: Here's the crazy thing. You could download the multiplayer expansion 592 00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:01,960 Speaker 1: and play it even if you didn't own the original game, 593 00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:10,400 Speaker 1: which means Activision gave away a free multiplayer game. Why. Oh, 594 00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:13,000 Speaker 1: I couldn't find an answer to that. I guess maybe 595 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:16,200 Speaker 1: at the time, no one really thought it through. Doom 596 00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:19,560 Speaker 1: three debuted in two thousand and four to mixed reviews. 597 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:24,120 Speaker 1: It looked really pretty, The new game engine was phenomenal. 598 00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:28,440 Speaker 1: It had amazing lighting effects, lots of dynamic lighting in 599 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:32,320 Speaker 1: that game, but many people felt that the actual design 600 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:36,000 Speaker 1: of the enemies and the gameplay was pretty derivative. Enemies 601 00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:38,799 Speaker 1: tend to come straight at you once they spot you. 602 00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:41,440 Speaker 1: There wasn't a whole lot of variety to it. There 603 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:44,080 Speaker 1: was a game mechanic that required you to switch between 604 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:48,040 Speaker 1: a flashlight and your guns, which irritated people so much 605 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:50,040 Speaker 1: that someone created a mod that allowed you to have 606 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:53,640 Speaker 1: a flashlight taped to your gun, because they said, if 607 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:58,920 Speaker 1: you're on Mars, you probably have tape. I think that's reasonable. 608 00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:01,439 Speaker 1: I remember playing this game and I did it without 609 00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:04,680 Speaker 1: the mod, and I hated that fact that you had 610 00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:06,960 Speaker 1: to switch between your flashlight and your gun. The whole 611 00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:10,320 Speaker 1: idea was to make it more exciting and to ramp 612 00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:15,360 Speaker 1: up the tension, but ultimately it just made me ticked off. Anyway, 613 00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:17,520 Speaker 1: the game was a huge hit, end up becoming the 614 00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:20,799 Speaker 1: top selling title in ID Software's history, partly because it 615 00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:23,920 Speaker 1: was available on multiple platforms like consoles in the PC. 616 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:29,480 Speaker 1: In two thousand and five, Adrian Carmack left the company, 617 00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:33,960 Speaker 1: which meant that the only original founder remaining with the 618 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:37,560 Speaker 1: company was John Carmack. And remember Adrian Carmack and John 619 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:42,960 Speaker 1: Carmack not related. Adrian Carmack later sued ID Software. He 620 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:45,680 Speaker 1: alleged that he was forced out of the company by 621 00:37:45,719 --> 00:37:48,560 Speaker 1: the other co owners so that they could get shares 622 00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:53,319 Speaker 1: of ownership of the company. So, according to Carmack, Adriancarmak, 623 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:57,480 Speaker 1: that is, Activision had made an offer to purchase the 624 00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:02,840 Speaker 1: Doom Quake and Wolfenstein intellectual properties for about fifteen million dollars, 625 00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:06,680 Speaker 1: but he was rejected, or rather Activision was rejected by 626 00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:10,680 Speaker 1: id and then the other co owners of the company 627 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:14,400 Speaker 1: tried to pressure Adrian Karmak to sell his shares back 628 00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:19,239 Speaker 1: to them for eleven million dollars. He said, well, that 629 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:23,520 Speaker 1: severely undervalues the shares that I own. I own forty 630 00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:26,400 Speaker 1: one percent of ID Software. It's way too little money 631 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:30,400 Speaker 1: for so valuable a property. Then they gave him an 632 00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:33,400 Speaker 1: offer of twenty million, according to Adrian Karmak, and then 633 00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:37,480 Speaker 1: they terminated him once he did not agree to sell 634 00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:41,440 Speaker 1: at that price. Ultimately, the lawsuit that he leveled against 635 00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:45,640 Speaker 1: ID Software never went anywhere, and that's most likely because 636 00:38:45,680 --> 00:38:48,920 Speaker 1: Activision never actually purchased ID Software, so it all remained 637 00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:54,040 Speaker 1: hypothetical in the first place. In two thousand and five, 638 00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:58,240 Speaker 1: a major major event happened, not just for ID Software, 639 00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:03,279 Speaker 1: but I would say the world. That's when the rock 640 00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:09,760 Speaker 1: Dwayne Johnson himself starred in the film version of Doom. 641 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:13,920 Speaker 1: I guess you could say it was inspired by the game. 642 00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:18,480 Speaker 1: It wasn't really connected to Doom that much. There's a 643 00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:21,120 Speaker 1: first person perspective section in the film that's meant to 644 00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:23,840 Speaker 1: be a nod to the original source material. It's a 645 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:26,320 Speaker 1: really cheesy movie. I saw it for free at a 646 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:30,040 Speaker 1: pre screening and asked for my money back. It stands 647 00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:33,879 Speaker 1: at nineteen percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Just a reminder, though, 648 00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:36,359 Speaker 1: that the percentage on Rotten Tomatoes tells you how many 649 00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:39,480 Speaker 1: critics gave it a negative or a positive review. So 650 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:43,520 Speaker 1: a nineteen percent movie isn't necessarily worse than, say, a 651 00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:46,840 Speaker 1: thirty percent movie. It just means fewer critics gave it 652 00:39:46,880 --> 00:39:48,880 Speaker 1: a positive review. If it's a movie that's right in 653 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:52,840 Speaker 1: the middle somewhere, then it could go either way, right Like, 654 00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:55,720 Speaker 1: if it's a one out of ten scale and everyone 655 00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:59,400 Speaker 1: gives it a four, the percentage could be really low, 656 00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:01,560 Speaker 1: but you I would still say it's a better movie than 657 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:06,000 Speaker 1: something that warrants a one. All that being said, Doom 658 00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:09,760 Speaker 1: the movie is awful. Don't watch it. It's terrible. Nineteen 659 00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:14,480 Speaker 1: percent is being generous. So John Carmack had decided that 660 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:17,040 Speaker 1: he's going to work on another game, which means, yep, 661 00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:19,439 Speaker 1: you guessed it. He wanted to make an all new 662 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:22,720 Speaker 1: gaming engine. Big surprise there, and so that meant there'd 663 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:26,839 Speaker 1: be more years between games. Meanwhile, there were rumors that 664 00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:31,719 Speaker 1: other companies besides Activision were interested in ID Software. They 665 00:40:31,719 --> 00:40:34,920 Speaker 1: were still licensing out properties like Quake and Wolfenstein to 666 00:40:34,960 --> 00:40:39,440 Speaker 1: other companies. Reviews mostly criticized the style of play, echoing 667 00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:43,479 Speaker 1: the concerns Romero had expressed years earlier saying you guys 668 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:46,720 Speaker 1: are stuck in a rut. Carmak, in the meantime, started 669 00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:49,319 Speaker 1: looking into mobile games and how he might make a 670 00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:52,680 Speaker 1: big impact there. One of the projects from his initiative 671 00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:56,520 Speaker 1: was called Orcs and Elves, which was the first new 672 00:40:56,600 --> 00:41:01,480 Speaker 1: intellectual property involving ID Software in years, and it was 673 00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:05,360 Speaker 1: for mobile platforms. In two thousand and nine, a company 674 00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:09,880 Speaker 1: called Zenemax Media approached ID Software in an acquisition deal, 675 00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:16,040 Speaker 1: which the company ultimately accepted. Zenemax Media also owned another 676 00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:20,560 Speaker 1: big name in computer games, Bethesda. That's the company behind 677 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,560 Speaker 1: games like the most recent incarnation of the Fallout series 678 00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:28,200 Speaker 1: and the Elder Scrolls franchise. Now what set Zenomax Media 679 00:41:28,239 --> 00:41:32,000 Speaker 1: apart from other suitors was it had a reputation for 680 00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:35,040 Speaker 1: letting subsidiary companies follow their own paths in a more 681 00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:41,040 Speaker 1: or less hands off approach. This gave ID Software the 682 00:41:41,080 --> 00:41:44,920 Speaker 1: resources they would need to develop two games simultaneously, so 683 00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:47,640 Speaker 1: they could actually work on two titles at the same 684 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:51,640 Speaker 1: time for the first time ever. Really. One of those 685 00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:54,719 Speaker 1: two titles was Rage and the other was a new 686 00:41:54,800 --> 00:41:59,440 Speaker 1: incarnation of Doom. Both games would end up using Carmac's 687 00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:06,040 Speaker 1: next game engine, called id Tech five. Rage launched in 688 00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:09,600 Speaker 1: twenty eleven. Totally new franchise. It set in a post 689 00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:13,560 Speaker 1: apocalyptic world and features players driving around, shooting its stuff 690 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:17,200 Speaker 1: and generally causing mayhem. The team at ID Software called 691 00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:20,799 Speaker 1: it an open but directed world, meaning the player didn't 692 00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:24,279 Speaker 1: have absolute freedom to do everything, but had a lot 693 00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:27,360 Speaker 1: more options available with some guidance of what was to 694 00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:30,880 Speaker 1: come next. The game received good reviews but failed to 695 00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:33,719 Speaker 1: make a big impact on the market, possibly because by 696 00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:36,839 Speaker 1: twenty eleven the computer and video game industries were way 697 00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:39,400 Speaker 1: more competitive than they had been a few years earlier. 698 00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:45,600 Speaker 1: John Carmack also co founded a new company called Armadillo Aerospace. 699 00:42:46,280 --> 00:42:49,279 Speaker 1: His gig over there is to design spacecraft which is 700 00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:52,400 Speaker 1: a pretty nifty side project for a computer game designer. 701 00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:57,480 Speaker 1: On November twenty second, twenty thirteen, he resigned from ID Software. 702 00:42:58,320 --> 00:43:02,000 Speaker 1: Carmack had expressed excitement an interest in the Oculus virtual 703 00:43:02,040 --> 00:43:06,400 Speaker 1: reality platform. He had joined the company earlier in twenty thirteen, 704 00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:08,880 Speaker 1: and then realized that he was going to have to 705 00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:14,240 Speaker 1: switch to full time over at Oculus and leave ID Software. 706 00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:18,040 Speaker 1: His twenty two year tenure at ID Software came to 707 00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:20,520 Speaker 1: an end, and for the first time in its history, 708 00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:24,880 Speaker 1: ID Software no longer had a founding member on staff. 709 00:43:25,719 --> 00:43:29,080 Speaker 1: Carmack had said, I wanted to remain a technical advisor 710 00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:32,759 Speaker 1: for ID but it just didn't work out, probably for 711 00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:39,040 Speaker 1: the best, as the divided focus was challenging. ID Software's 712 00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:41,640 Speaker 1: new version of Doom took a little longer to come 713 00:43:41,640 --> 00:43:45,040 Speaker 1: out than they anticipated. It launched just last year on 714 00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:48,239 Speaker 1: May thirteenth, twenty sixteen. It's the fourth game in the 715 00:43:48,239 --> 00:43:52,240 Speaker 1: Doom franchise and technically is a second reboot of the series. 716 00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:55,160 Speaker 1: The setting is a research facility on Mars where a 717 00:43:55,239 --> 00:43:58,000 Speaker 1: portal to Hell has opened up, and the player takes 718 00:43:58,040 --> 00:44:01,480 Speaker 1: on the role of the Doom Slagh. It featured some 719 00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:04,120 Speaker 1: old school shooter mechanics such as the fact that your 720 00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:06,800 Speaker 1: health does not regenerate over time. You have to find 721 00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:09,760 Speaker 1: health packs and you don't have to worry about reloading weapons, 722 00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:12,479 Speaker 1: but you can run out of ammunition. And it also 723 00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:17,520 Speaker 1: brings back deathmatch modes. ID Software as the company continues 724 00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:21,320 Speaker 1: to work on new games on various platforms. But let's 725 00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:24,520 Speaker 1: talk about the old founders and some of their coworkers. 726 00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:28,080 Speaker 1: Where are they now? John Romero went on to found 727 00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:31,000 Speaker 1: other studios like ion Storm, which he left in two 728 00:44:31,040 --> 00:44:34,560 Speaker 1: thousand and one. After he left, the Dallas office closed, 729 00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:39,160 Speaker 1: and then about four years later, the Austin office for 730 00:44:39,520 --> 00:44:43,239 Speaker 1: ion Storm closed. That's a whole story in itself. He 731 00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:46,200 Speaker 1: also worked at Midway for a while and Gazillion before 732 00:44:46,239 --> 00:44:49,480 Speaker 1: he founded a new social gaming company called loot Drop, 733 00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:52,319 Speaker 1: and he and his wife, Brenda Romero do a lot 734 00:44:52,320 --> 00:44:57,520 Speaker 1: of advocacy work for education. John Carmack is with Oculus, 735 00:44:57,560 --> 00:45:00,319 Speaker 1: which is part of Facebook. He continues to be big 736 00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:03,600 Speaker 1: advocate for virtual reality in general and is still quite 737 00:45:03,640 --> 00:45:06,920 Speaker 1: outspoken in the world of tech. Tom Hall, who was 738 00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:10,279 Speaker 1: the first of the founders to leave ID Software, co 739 00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:15,000 Speaker 1: founded ion Storm with Romero. Obviously that did not last. 740 00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:18,360 Speaker 1: He also has worked at Midway Games along with Romero 741 00:45:18,880 --> 00:45:23,799 Speaker 1: and at Loot Drop along with Romero. Adrian Karmak got 742 00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:26,560 Speaker 1: out of the game business after all his contentious departure, 743 00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:29,719 Speaker 1: at least for a while. He returned fairly recently. In 744 00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:33,719 Speaker 1: April twenty sixteen, John Romero released a video teasing a 745 00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:37,640 Speaker 1: new first person shooter and announced that Adrian Carmack was 746 00:45:37,719 --> 00:45:41,400 Speaker 1: involved in the project. It was called black Room, and 747 00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:44,560 Speaker 1: it was all attached to a Kickstarter campaign, but the 748 00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:48,879 Speaker 1: campaign was canceled in just four days before it could 749 00:45:48,920 --> 00:45:51,520 Speaker 1: reach its seven hundred thousand dollars goal. It had hit 750 00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:55,200 Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty one thousand before Romero canceled the 751 00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:58,520 Speaker 1: Kickstarter campaign. He said that he was canceling it until 752 00:45:58,560 --> 00:46:01,440 Speaker 1: they could produce a working to show gamers what the 753 00:46:01,480 --> 00:46:04,560 Speaker 1: finished product would be like, so that people weren't just 754 00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:10,880 Speaker 1: backing an idea that may not ever materialize. Sandy Peterson 755 00:46:10,960 --> 00:46:13,879 Speaker 1: had left ID Software in nineteen ninety seven. He joined 756 00:46:13,920 --> 00:46:17,000 Speaker 1: a company called Ensemble Studios in nineteen ninety seven and 757 00:46:17,040 --> 00:46:19,920 Speaker 1: got involved in a little game called Age of Empires, 758 00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:23,840 Speaker 1: which met with some success. These days, he tends to 759 00:46:23,840 --> 00:46:27,240 Speaker 1: work on cool board games. There's one called Cuthulhu Wars 760 00:46:27,239 --> 00:46:29,000 Speaker 1: that I really want to try out. It also has 761 00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:33,120 Speaker 1: a video game version and was a highly successful crowdfunded project. 762 00:46:33,840 --> 00:46:37,080 Speaker 1: Kevin Cloud remained at ID Software and served as creative 763 00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:39,080 Speaker 1: director for the company for a while. One of the 764 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:41,560 Speaker 1: notes trivia I've found out about Kevin Cloud is that 765 00:46:42,239 --> 00:46:44,520 Speaker 1: when you look down and you see the hands and 766 00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:49,080 Speaker 1: Doom and Doom too, those are Kevin Cloud's hands. And 767 00:46:49,239 --> 00:46:52,719 Speaker 1: that concludes the discussion about the ID Software story a 768 00:46:52,840 --> 00:46:55,720 Speaker 1: two parter. I could probably have gone into much more detail. 769 00:46:56,400 --> 00:46:59,000 Speaker 1: There's so much to talk about, and that company was 770 00:46:59,080 --> 00:47:03,240 Speaker 1: incredibly in luential, so maybe at some point I will 771 00:47:03,360 --> 00:47:06,120 Speaker 1: take another stab at it. We'll see, but I feel 772 00:47:06,160 --> 00:47:09,360 Speaker 1: like those are pretty good start for getting a handle 773 00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:12,240 Speaker 1: on what ID Software was and how it was important. 774 00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:14,680 Speaker 1: I hope all of you out there are doing well. 775 00:47:15,640 --> 00:47:24,759 Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is 776 00:47:24,800 --> 00:47:29,360 Speaker 1: an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 777 00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:33,040 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 778 00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:37,320 Speaker 1: favorite shows.