Oavsett om du dömer John Romero för misslyckandet med Daikatana eller hans bidrag till fps-genren är det alltid intressant att ta del av en spelbranchveterans tankar om både de egna spelen och andras. Igår svarade han på Reddit-communityts frågor om bland annat Doom, Daikatana, det kommande Empire of Sin och filmatiseringen av boken Masters of Doom.
Jag har plockat ut några godbitar från frågestunden.
What are your thoughts on the Masters of Doom book? Any thoughts on the upcoming TV show?
I love the Masters of DOOM book, and am intrigued by the TV show. I doubt it will be accurate, so I don' have my hopes up. But it'll be cool.
I'm a huge fan of Heretic and Hexen, what were your contributions to these iconic games?
Thanks! I came up with the idea for each game, some very specific direction on how they should be designed, and guided development with feedback based on builds that were sent to me. With Heretic it was all about making a very DOOM-like medieval shooter with alternate firing ability and using magic. With Hexen I wanted character classes, ultimate weapons, a hub-level system, and music that was designed per-hub. I named all the items in the game as well.
Is the rumor true that the Wolfenstein engine was licensed for Super Noah's Ark 3d due to unhappiness with how SNES ports were handled?
No, we just thought it would be funny to use the Wolf3D SNES engine in a religious game.
Which is your favorite one of the DOOM games to play? And are you still involved with the ID software team? Like, do you get to play early versions of games like DOOM:Eternal or do you ever get asked for advice?
My favorite is probably DOOM II because of the SSG, just slightly above DOOM 1. I’m not involved with id, and they don’t need my advice for Eternal.
What is your “comfort food game”?
I’d have to say Minecraft.
Have you ever considered remaking Daikatana with modern tech?
I’ve gotten the question about remaking Daikatana, or making a sequel to it, but there is just no viability to the idea. When Daikatana came out, the industry reviled the game and trashed it in all forms of media. Even though it’s been 20 years, the stigma hasn’t gone away. There are many people who love the game and ask me about this, but there’s no publisher that would pay for a sequel or remake (that I know of).
Was the design for the Doomguy, particularly in the cover artwork for Doom, based at all on the original depictions of B.J on the front cover of the Wolfenstein 3D boxes and whatnot? Ive been curious to know if there was a specific intention for Doomguy to look like BJ or if they were both just designed to be the buff soldier archtype. Thanks!
Actually, the Doomguy pose on the cover of DOOM was me (läs mer om den storyn här)
How do you feel about the new Doom series? And would you ever create a new fps in the likeliness of Quake?
I really like the new DOOM 2016 and from what I can see of Eternal, it’s going to be a winner as well. And, yes, I do have a design for an FPS in the style of DOOM/Quake.
What do you miss from developing Doom back in the day, compared to what it means today? How much things have changed regarding this topic?
Everything has changed. What I do miss is having zero distractions because there was no internet and no cell phones. Pure focus.
