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