Doom creator and FPS pioneer John Romero is PC gaming royalty. His career in the videogame industry is incredibly storied, too, with dizzying highs and some hellish lows. For the first time, though, Romero is telling his own entire story in his new autobiography, Doom Guy, from his early childhood learning to code, through to the exciting new FPS he’s working on in 2023.
PC Gamer: Is it fair to say that a fear of being left behind was a key motivator for you when learning to code as a child?
John Romero: Yeah. The feeling that I was behind the curve, was when I really recognized early on that I loved making games, and I really loved programming. Because game development in the early ’80s was so solitary, and it was something that… I didn’t know anyone else that did it. There were so few people doing it back then.
So I just looked up to those programming heroes of mine, and just tried to create animations and techniques that would be quality enough, and then, really, it comes down to design. You know, coming up with a design that people would really like, or that I would really like, mostly.
PCG: Recalling making games in the 1980s, you say that, “Finding another game programmer at the time was like a needle in a haystack.” That’s obviously a culture that is hugely different from today. Can you expand on that?
Denne historien er fra October 2023-utgaven av PC Gamer US Edition.
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Denne historien er fra October 2023-utgaven av PC Gamer US Edition.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Special Report- Stacked Deck - Monster Train, a deckbuilding roguelike that firmly entrenched itself as the crown prince to the kingly Slay the Spire back in 2020, was the kind of smash success you might call Champagne Big.
Monster Train, a deckbuilding roguelike that firmly entrenched itself as the crown prince to the kingly Slay the Spire back in 2020, was the kind of smash success you might call Champagne Big. Four years later, its successor Inkbound’s launch from Early Access was looking more like Sandwich Big.I’m not just saying that because of the mountain of lamb and eggplants I ate while meeting with developer Shiny Shoe over lunch, to feel out what the aftermath of releasing a game looks like in 2024. I mean, have I thought about that sandwich every day since? Yes. But also, the indie team talked frankly about the struggle of luring Monster Train’s audience on board for its next game.
SCREENBOUND
How a 5D platformer went viral two months into development
OLED GAMING MONITORS
A fresh wave of OLED panels brings fresh options, greater resolutions and makes for even more impressive gaming monitors
CRYSIS 2
A cinematic FPS with tour de force visuals.
PLOD OF WAR
SENUA’S SAGA: HELLBLADE 2 fails to find a new path for its hero
GALAXY QUEST
HOMEWORLD 3 is a flashy, ambitious RTS, but some of the original magic is missing
FAR REACHING
Twenty years ago, FAR CRY changed the landscape of PC gaming forever.
THY KINGDOM COME
SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE is the culmination of decades of FromSoftware RPGs, and a gargantuan finale for ELDEN RING
KILLING FLOOR 3
Tripwire Interactive's creature feature is back
IMPERFECTLY BALANCED
Arrowhead says HELLDIVERS 2 balancing patches have 'gone too far'
