
The Video Game Software Wizardry of Id (2002) - shawndumas
https://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/gaming/the-video-game-software-wizardry-of-id
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DarkTree
Man, I just never get tired of reading pretty much anything about Id. I think
I speak for a lot of programmers, and not just game devs, when I say that the
romanticization of Id's history has painted one of the most ideal programmer
stories, and one that I often have fantasized living, or at least have
imagined what it would have been like to be on that team in the glory days.

I never played Commander Keen, or Wolfenstein 3D, or even Doom, which were all
before my time. But when all my friends were getting high speed internet and
playing the newest FPS games online, I dreamed of the day I'd have a computer
good enough and connection fast enough to join in on the fun. Then one of my
older family friends gave me his old copy of Quake 3 Arena, and suddenly I was
thrown into this unbelievably fun world of online death matches. Even on my
weak family desktop, I could play the game with good FPS. This was my first
real interest in computers.

Then when I started programming and learning the history of the field, I of
course came across the Id team and connected the dots between my first online
gaming experience, programming, and how Id created these games with it. It's
been one of those magical "good old days" of programming culture that I look
back on for inspiration and motivation and why I like this field so much.

~~~
icelancer
>>I think I speak for a lot of programmers, and not just game devs, when I say
that the romanticization of Id's history has painted one of the most ideal
programmer stories, and one that I often have fantasized living, or at least
have imagined what it would have been like to be on that team in the glory
days.

I guess. I assume you've read _Masters of Doom_ and other relatively factual
accounts of their history? It's not exactly the most reasonable behavior, and
you can get that kind of death march abuse on any sort of game development
team today.

We owe Carmack a lot. Doesn't make working for him some sort of pleasurable
experience. Most innovators are like this.

~~~
arjie
That seems even more romantic. At every stage all the participants seemed
willing. It wasn't so much working for as working with.

~~~
mercer
I found myself both repulsed by and attracted to the environment described in
Masters Of Doom. It's the attraction that fascinates me.

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PhasmaFelis
> _Four guys with that passion were artist Adrian Carmack; programmer John
> Carmack (no relation); game designer Tom Hall; and programmer John Romero._

I like to think that the real reason Tom Hall fell out with id before Doom's
release is that his name wasn't Adrian Romero and it spoiled the symmetry.

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rubayeet
Master of Doom[0] chronicles the rise of Id, how partnerships formed, how the
games were designed and developed, how the founders took the company to become
multimillion dollar behemoth, and the unfortunate split between them.
Excellent read if you are into video games and startups.

[0] [https://www.amazon.ca/Masters-Doom-Created-Transformed-
Cultu...](https://www.amazon.ca/Masters-Doom-Created-Transformed-
Culture/dp/0812972155)

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LaserDiscMan
A visit to Id in 1993:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpEBUV_g9vU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpEBUV_g9vU)

Contains footage of an early Doom build.

~~~
CorvusCrypto
"You gotta have quick keys to say 'Your Mamma' or.." "We're gonna have macros
in there. You're gonna be able to set em up in the setup program... ...so you
just hit it real quick and it will say 'Screw you faggot!' or somethin"

Man things never change. That is hilarious and what a great environment to
work in for them having to work late hours like they were.

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loudmax
Off-topic, I thought the title was referring to the Wizardy video game:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizardry:_Proving_Grounds_of_t...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizardry:_Proving_Grounds_of_the_Mad_Overlord)

When my family bought our first PC in 1981, Wizardry was the first computer
game I played. My father taught himself assembly by writing a utility to edit
bytes on a 5.25" floppy drive. I used his program to cheat and boost the
scores of the characters in my party, and I still wasn't able to beat the
game. Wizardry is not an easy game.

Back on topic, I was in college when Doom came out, and I was as blown away as
everyone else was by the graphics. The performance and playability of Doom
didn't seem like it should have been possible on my Intel 80386 with 4Mb of
RAM. So "wizardry" is a fair term for what Carmack and Id accomplished.

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nhatbui
I was fairly young when these games came out but could someone confirm with me
that the first collage of game screenshots are mirrored backwards? They say
[bottom to top, left] but it looks like they have it flipped. Like Wolfenstein
3D (left), Hovertank (right) and Quake (left), Doom (right).

~~~
AdeptusAquinas
Looks right to me. Right to left, bottom to top is what I read their
description as being. One thing wrong is that isn't Quake, but Quake 2 which
was released in 1997

~~~
bananaboy
Also the bottom image isn't Commander Keen, it's Dangerous Dave.

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NeoBasilisk
The original Commander Keen was the first PC game I ever played, and it will
forever hold a very special place in my heart.

~~~
leggomylibro
Me too! It taught me that life is strange, terrifying, inexplicable, and
buggy. But that's okay; you can cheese the rules so long as you have your pogo
stick.

I was considering trying to make a power-assisted one for commuting and
cosplaying, but we don't have good enough full-body airbags yet.

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janvdberg
If you like this maybe you also like this recently released book "GAME ENGINE
BLACK BOOK: WOLFENSTEIN 3D" [0] [0]
[http://fabiensanglard.net/Game_Engine_Black_Book_Release_Dat...](http://fabiensanglard.net/Game_Engine_Black_Book_Release_Date/index.php)

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83457
Masters of Doom is a great read... or listen

~~~
favorited
Seconded. You feel like you know the old id team personally after reading it.

~~~
bananaboy
Agreed! Another vote for that book!

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vitoralmeida
id games were some of the best of its time, containing a good mastery of
technical and fun gameplay elements. I´ve made a nice Android app with all the
older .plan files documenting John Carmack´s insights on the development of
Doom and Quake:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vitoralmei...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vitoralmeida.jcplanreader).

~~~
taneq
It looks cool but I don't understand why this needs to be an app. I'd have
guessed 'offline reading' as a bonus but it needs network permissions so...?

~~~
vitoralmeida
Actually It really doesnt need to be an app. I made it because I was learning
Android programming and I was looking for a simple idea to implement.

The internet permission is required because of the ads unfortunately...

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jackvalentine
Keen 4, 5, 6 ran on CGA... and perhaps 1-3 as well. What changed in Carmack's
understanding that he could do this, or is the article just wrong?

~~~
bananaboy
Yeah that's right, Keen 4, 5, 6 required CGA. I assume he just redrew the
entire screen each time since the CGA doesn't have the panning registers.
Looking at youtube videos of people playing the CGA version it certainly looks
jerky and slow.

~~~
jackvalentine
Hmm those videos look nothing like what I remember playing it felt like on my
old 286 with CGA.

Maybe faded memories? I guess I'll have to set up a DOSbox and try it.

