Romero Interview

Well known as one of the founders id Software and Ion Storm. John Romero has been involved with some of the most popular games ever released. John was nice enough to take some time and answer a few of my questions.

Name: John Romero
Alias: Romero
Company: Ion Storm
Title or Occupation: Game Designer, Chairman & CEO
Age: 30
City based out of: Dallas, Texas

Methos: Until Doom 2 was released, the general public rarely heard about the people behind the games. These days, we seem to know almost everybody in the gaming industry. You have reached what some have coined "rock star status". How do you explain this iconic type of fame?

John: It's all part of the growing entertainment industry. When you watch a movie, you want to know the name of the actor if they did a good job in it. The same is true for games. When you play a great game, you want to know who worked on it. I've always paid attention to game credits since the very early 80's.

Methos: Few companies have had the success that id Software had with Doom and Quake. What makes these first person shooter games so popular? Also, what is your opinion on all the "clones" that have been released since?

John: They're popular because they bring gameplay to the player that was never available before on a PC. Intense, blood-pumping shotgun blasts and rocket fire and dark, scary, fearful places with moody music and awesome sound effects. Many of the clones are pretty bad and only a few are notable, namely Dark Forces, Duke 3D and Blood. Outlaws is in a class of its own.

Methos: Computer games tend to have a limited appeal and lifespan. Normally, a popular game will last a few months. With all the add-ons, clans and people making money just for playing, how do you explain the (seemingly) never-ending popularity of Quake?

John: Quake continues it's popularity because of it's intense gameplay that serves as a very good base for add-on products. The sheer number of the add-ons coupled with their diversity and everything else in the Quake world make it a phenomenon much like DOOM.

Methos: Okay, on to the present, can you give us a brief history of what you've been doing since leaving id Software and starting your own company, Ion Storm?

John: I spent about 7 months traveling around the US talking to publishers about the Ion Storm deal. After getting our deal done with Eidos, I started designing Daikatana and putting the team together. We've been in development now for almost a year.

Methos: In terms of game design, economics and direction, what are the differences between Ion Storm and the other gaming companies?

John: We are designing games that are deeper than those currently in the genres we are designing for. We are the first company to show the world what you can do with licensed engine technology on a large scale. Almost all our games use licensed 3D technology. All the game designers at Ion Storm have very extensive game design backgrounds with a minimum of 13 years experience.

Methos: What do you think of Quake 2 and what are the pros and cons of the Quake 2 engine in regards to using it with upcoming Ion Storm titles?

John: I love the Quake 2 engine technology even though RAD-ing the maps takes a crazy amount of time. The pros are that we will be releasing a game with a state of the art, industry leading, solid engine technology that supports all the latest tech that people care about. The cons are that it has been a little painful changing gears from the Q1 tech to the new Q2 tech and the cost of licensing the engine is expensive.

Methos: What can we expect from Daikatana? With all the 3D games on the horizon (Unreal, Duke Nukem Forever, Prey etc..), how will Daikatana be different?

John: Daikatana is going to be a roller coaster ride through multiple time periods with a large number of monsters, weapons and artifacts, coupled with a tight story line that is revealed with in-game cinematics and two travelling companions. No one has created a FPS game this large or this ambitious.

Methos: You've delayed the release of Daikatana from now until September. What were the reasons behind this decision?

John: The game is massive. Integrating with the Q2 engine has cost us about 2 months of game programming time as well.

Methos: Now, for those of us without talent. Briefly describe the process of designing a great game. We've all heard about the long hours and million lines of code. How does it go from an idea in your mind to having something solid in front of you.

John: Oh god. It would take a long time to explain this. Simply put, you come up with your storyline and setting(s). From that you can create the characters that inhabit your world. You get each character conceptualized by an artist, then hand it off to a 3D modeler, an animator, a skin artist, then an AI programmer. Same goes for the weapons and artifacts. Divide the world up into chunks that your map designers can tackle and get each designer a texture artist. Architecture dictates texture and textures dictate architecture. They feed off each other. As characters, artifacts and weapons are completed, your sound expert comes in and adds all the effects needed for every type of animation. You put all this stuff together and playtest the hell out of it and release it. It's much more complex than that. :)

Methos: Ion Storm has licensed the Unreal engine for upcoming games. What does the Unreal engine offer that the Quake 2 and other engines don't?

John: More GL-only effects, a superfast map development cycle, the most amazing development tools I've ever seen and a very reasonable cost.

Methos: What does the future of Ion Storm hold for us?

John: More awesome games!

Methos: Final question, a two parter. 1) When are you flying me to Dallas so I can see your new offices and 2) When will I get my free copy of Daikatana? :)

John: (1) I only fly other game designers or tech programmers here, (2) When you send me a free copy of your game. :P

(I am now frantically looking for the GWBasic stickman game I made years ago :)

Methos: Thanks John, I wish you continued success with Ion Storm.

John: Thanks! John Romero