In Conversation With John Romero - Doom, Wolfenstein, Commander Keen ...

Mike James talks to John Romero about his career in the games industry, the games and the stories behind the games.
Recorded at The Centre for Computing History

[@dmer-zy3rb]

you just gotta appreciate how john still dresses like a rockstar or something.

[@joseluki]

He is a nerd metalhead.

[@Baegus]

He IS a rockstar

[@davecarsley8773]

Totally belongs in a rock band

[@JohnnyWednesday]

That's just how he dresses. The fact that he's a rockstar is just a coincidence.

[@AC3electrosphere]

Actually, the rockstars are the ones who copied Romero's look.

[@Gebora]

its nice the final boss comes out a lot and talks about his games

[@hinkhall5291]

I’ve only played Doom and Quake a couple of times but I can’t get enough of Id Software’s story. These are interesting people.

[@Crvstylvngs]

More a pro -pain type of gamer?

[@BenGras]

Same for me. I love the id lore and the games more than I play them. I love these people.

[@zatozatoichi7920]

I played their games with some breaks here and there for just short of 25-27 years, and I feel the same.

[@MetalHorrorGamer]

its impossible for John Romero to give a boring interview. This is just another great one. thanks for uploading

[@neoincognito4481]

My avatar is better....but urs is cool to. 👍👍👍

[@jonbourgoin182]

I’ve watched just about every seminar on KZbin with John Romero. Even though the content is basically the same each time, he and his stories are just so fascinating to listen to and never gets old.

[@Tarles_X]

Thank god john romero is alive.

[@jfarinhote]

Why wouldnt he?

[@Naa-ee7nq]

@@jfarinhote "Romero must die" reference, I assume

[@UncleHappy5]

But to win the game you must kill him

[@fwostyshrakes1870]

@@Naa-ee7nq What is "Romero must die" from initially?

[@MrSinfold]

The many "Romero is dead" hoaxes which took place in the 90s. There was even a photo with him of a bullet wound to the forehead in a morgue lmfao. You can still find it online

[@roccobierman4985]

The university allowing the kids to be there, and him taking an interest and asking college students what they were doing, and them taking the time to explain things to him - all just fantastic.

[@Muppio]

'Masters of DOOM' is highly recomended.

[@cipheroth]

The Great John Romero it is a inspiration for me, he and all the great motley crew that made that immortal game ! They made history, they made it !!!

[@Tarles_X]

Doom is my favorite game ever.

[@jgvtc559]

There wouldnt be fps without it

[@wes788411]

Jason G it was inevitable.

[@6StimuL84]

@Shallex Nice opinion, but you don't know that..... MIGHT have never existed.

[@6StimuL84]

@Shallex And yet history in reality is exactly what it is and NOT opinions......

[@DennysFrancisco]

It’s always a pleasure to hear this guy talk. I hope someday John Carmack do some games with Romero in the future.

[@robertlatham8657]

I'm late seeing this chat but I'm so glad I did. I never tire of hearing John ramero talk he never tires of game design and playing and of course his love for programming. Ty John.

[@twocatsyelling723]

Love this talk. John is always interesting and fun to listen to. The host is really great, too. Masters of DOOM should be a must-read for anyone interested in John, Id, DOOM, Quake or really game development in general. I'd say it's both an inspirational and cautionary read.

[@brandonballiett9690]

Kushner's book is soooo good. So much fun to read.

[@blind_neighbourhoodNerd]

Thanks so much for posting this

[@DragonSpikeXIII]

Romero is the man!

[@djoglala]

Still playing doom e3m6. 32 years old and played when I was 9-10 years old and have almost every fps because of John. Thanks for keeping me happy cause these new games don't have many secrets or great level design. Everything is either open world or very linear (straight path).

[@davidkirinic9463]

Dude, I am 32 as well... time did passed by quickly, didnt it? I feel like I played DOOM for the first time like yesterday... but it was 25 years ago.

[@user-rc8eq9jq4f]

how can i play it? i still have the game but won't work on my laptop any suggestions?

[@davecarsley8773]

There's still very great games being made. You just have to hunt for them (and ignore AAA publishers and developers)

[@davecarsley8773]

@@user-rc8eq9jq4f Buy it on Steam or XBox One. Both are prefect ports of the PC original

[@waisinet]

You should really check out sigil if you havent. Romeros fifth episode for doom. 🙂

[@PhilShary]

I heard about your Centre from Ashens, you're doing a great work, thank you! Congrats also on getting such big and important people as Romero. Love the British format with quizz and such.

[@yorkshirekev1]

Superb interview. A fascinating insight into one of the truly great pioneers of the games industry. Thanks so much for sharing.

[@insanelook]

Respect, my total respect to this great guy.

[@judgewest2000]

he genuinely knows his stuff as he talks about the various platforms like he worked on them yesterday

[@LigreDesubi]

By far the best interview I've seen with Romero. Talking about so many things, great questions, and lots interesting points.

[@mapesdhs597]

Romero is a froody cool dude. I met him when visiting id in 1995 (a genuinely fun guy): www.gamers.org/dhs/usavisit/dhs024.jpg www.gamers.org/dhs/usavisit/dhs025.jpg Full article with pics of other id staff (though I didn't meet Carmack, he was a bit reclusive): www.gamers.org/dhs/usavisit/dallas.html

[@PurushNahiMahaPurush]

Indian here. Man i played the crap out of Dangerous Dave during my childhood. Thanks John for making my childhood great with amazing games like Dave, Wolfenstein 3D and Doom

[@spidereyes6290]

This and the interview with Brenda is great. I remember during my uni years a friend who used to always go on and on about Doom and tried to band us all together to develop games. There was certainly a good skill set between us that could have developed but it never happened. When you look at people like John and Brenda there is a realisation as to why these people do well and get things done. Out of interest, is their a reason the comment section on Brenda's video is disabled?

[@MrZorro3250]

Great interview indeed!

[@RETROCENGO]

JR Thank you for making my childhood amazing with DOOM🤩 your the man

[@ceddyharris6340]

I loved typing games in from magazines. It was simultaneously incredibly frustrating and incredibly exciting.

[@nirritis1516]

Amazing talk! :D

[@danteasdale286]

I love this guy. A dang legend. I really liked the taco truck story. He made a game using his young sons imagination and it really sounds awesome

[@marscaleb]

Huh. This actually answered a bunch of questions I had.

[@MrZillas]

His hair makes me jealous

[@Neffers_UK]

Great QA session. I really want to come down and see 'The Centre', it's such a shame I can't. Even though it's only a 3 hour journey, sad face. A/V sync is slightly off later on, one of those things that annoys me so much, and I should't let it.

[@lifeschool]

Thank you for recording these amazing interviews. Even with 3 hours of footage, its never enough. :) Why are the comments disabled on Brenda? Amazing to see Violet Berlin again after all these years, she really is a gem and should do more of these!

[@spidereyes6290]

The penny has only just dropped even after reading your comment earlier. It's the Violet Berlin of Bad Influence. I would never have realised as she looks so different. I'm surprised I didn't pick up on her voice really.

[@TheCentreforComputingHistory]

Brenda wanted the comments disabled.

[@TheCentreforComputingHistory]

There’s still the audience Q&A for this interview to be uploaded yet!! :) do more to come!

[@lifeschool]

Yes she looks very different now, without the white crew cut, and it took me a long time believe it was her, even after she mentioned in the introduction that she made all those games TV shows. Appearantly she married Gaz Top! Who'dda thunk it. Violet still has the classic lisp, which reminds me of Toyah Wilcox. Its clear she was a little nervous after so long away from the camera, but her questions were very inciteful and imaginative, and she still plays games! - and knows a heck of a lot more about current games than I do. Hope she does more of this stuff.

[@lifeschool]

CFCH - Thanks for the Q and A! As an Amiga fan from Lemon Amiga, I dont have much interest for PC Doom clones, but I do have the upmost fascination and respect for the Romero's and people like them, who came from nothing. These videos have made my Easter.

[@doubledanny2792]

Thanks :D

[@oliverlane3705]

never seen bez so coherent

[@pepe6666]

this was an amazing watch. its so cool learning this stuff. im so sad to hear about how much of a drain it was to make Quake.

[@davuvnik]

...and when I saw it I was like that's very nice and smooth but, you know, horizontal is where everything changes, like, If you do horizontal, that would be the coolest thing ever..." John Romero.

[@phoenixdk]

How I love hearing oldschool developers talk. Makes me think of a time before 100 mb over-the-air updates that don't seem to do anything. When megabytes mattered!

[@JobimSynthMusic]

my hugest games were like 30 mb!

[@lorddragonya]

Legend

[@Levelworm]

I actually think Daikanata, with all bugs fixed, is a sound game with a lot of interesting ideas. I really want to see a remake in UE4, but with deliberately tuned-down graphics such as what Amid Evil did.

[@supernintendro]

I agree.

[@PauloConstantino167]

I love you and your stories Romero. You give a soul to your work with Carmack. I can't stand Carmack speaking for even 5 minutes because he sounds like a robot. But you I can listen to for months !

[@GoonOfFortune]

Legend.

[@TBrianOnline]

This is an amazing interview! I used to have ZX Spectrum by Sinclair at home back in the 80's. Good times! I'd also love to know how they made graphics back then, it looks quite difficult.

[@planetX15]

1:46:10 Look closely he scratches his nose with no glass in hand, and the next frame when the camera zooms out he put down a glass on the table with water in it using the same hand

[@gamerman7276]

Is it possible to learn this power?

[@bvs1q]

saw this video thumbnail and misread the channel name as 'The Centre for Computing Hair...'

[@MrEnsiferum77]

I'm not sure about stackoverflow what john suggests about gaming questions, once i've asked for directx 11 initialization and still no one responding...

[@dlaird8]

ID changed everything. True pioneers. John seems so humble and grounded.

[@davidtames6081]

What's John talking about at 41:56 when he said Midway did a good job plussing Doom on PS2?

[@pepe6666]

1:34:00 theres a cool video about how this floating point and everything-else instructions occurring at the same time was critical for quake. its very very complicated as to why it was slower on the amd but the pentium could do it.

[@Crvstylvngs]

Will i get copyright claimed for playing these amazing pieces of history in the background of my gaming whil also plugging the channel and tagging ? I love hearing these and like listening while i stream

[@gabrielaugusto6001]

OH man this guy is fucking amazing

[@asdasdasdasdasdasd3934]

1:31:47 - 1:31:55 MAP11 "Hunted" on The Plutonia Experiment says hi.

[@Sam-wm3go]

Just watched Brenda's talk and just came here to see if they have disabled comments on here too...they haven't. I am afraid, there is a story there

[@Mani-aX]

you never see any of the other lead members of the original team giving these seminar's.

[@SevenDeMagnus]

Cool story

[@user-rc8eq9jq4f]

i still have the game Doom 2 can i still play and if so does anyone now how i can do that? i loved that game. it won't play on the computers we have now.

[@gizmo903]

GZdoom! Check out doom64ex too

[@totalpartykill999]

sourceport

[@mau7522]

1- download a doom launcher(I recommend zdoomlauncher or rocket launcherv2) 2-download a source port(chocolate doom if you want to play like the original game, gzdoom or zandronum if you want to install mods, have better controls and graphics 3-put your wad archive(Doom, Doom II, tnt evilution and plutonia experiment are wads, you need one of this to play the game) and your sourceport into the launcher 4-press start and have fun

[@soylentpink7845]

He has nice flowing hair... :D

[@enilenis]

The original rockstar programmer.

[@Hubert_Cumberdale_]

That pic IS from red faction 2

[@Levelworm]

Romero has a completely different style comparing to Carmack. I wish they sticked together for longer :(

[@InfinitelyQurious]

Why wasn't there any discussion of Quake? Is there bad blood between John Carmack and John Romero?

[@j_c_93]

There was towards the end

[@burntyper]

Romero is the real deal

[@mareksicinski3726]

14:12 later on games like that were quite effective, even system shock

[@NickFarrow]

What's the book?

[@harrytaller9403]

1:16:45 Belief in shareware

[@chesterules]

1:16:05 and how much is $2000 split three ways? :D

[@LORDJPXX3]

nice

[@peternielsen8362]

Although Doom and Doom II were great. I thought Heretic was a great game. Heretic and Quake was also good. But started with Wolfenstein 3d then Doom. Both were great. Got me into the series. But I really started with Ultima II. Which made me buy the Atari 800. But since I moved to the pc I got into those games. Still love Doom II. Especially with the mods.

[@nihilblack4625]

He is just a God

[@u0aol1]

Such beautiful hair.

[@gamerman7276]

The man, the myth, the legend.

[@Warlord-jf5nj]

John romero is a GOD

[@Wazoox]

Oooh, an Origin 2000 just in Romero's back.

[@mapesdhs597]

That moment when I see someone mention an SGI, then recognise who said it. :D

[@dnk1024dnk]

what a legend... wish i would have learned c instead pascal back in 1992, maaybe i could be up there with him.....

[@planetX15]

Good luck

[@livingthedream0527]

That red faction 2 photo bothers me

[@jgvtc559]

Modest is a grossly negligent understatement

[@franzpattison]

Not going to have a level full of arch viles? What about that labyrinth level? What a nightmare! But I have beaten it several times on ultraviolence no cheats (other than maybe if you consider quick save spamming illegitimate)

[@davebathgate]

Blame the Casali brothers. That's in Plutonia.

[@janreal84]

This lady is very knowledgeable and a real insperation

[@MathiasDemo]

A rare moment in which Romero's nails aren't painted.

[@jfarinhote]

And then you open a new youtube tab and search for dangerous dave

[@RuV9999]

surprisingly dangerous dave was my forgotten childhood game after Wolfenstein 3d XD i wonder i can play dave in Win10

[@nemtudom5074]

1:05:23 That essentially became blake stone, ironically enough

[@planetX15]

Was John also behind making Blake Stone? Not sure if he was

[@nemtudom5074]

@@planetX15 Nope, but that is exactly what one of the blake stone games start with

[@harrytaller9403]

1:43:15 Tom Brenda

[@Posexe1]

1:31:46 *Laughs in Hunted*

[@Matthew_Raymond]

John Romero dodged a bullet with Cartoon Network.

[@gfantim]

$2000 in the 90s was a ton of money

[@73rmin47or]

I can't imagine John using a short hair.

[@sillkthashocker]

didn't he buzz at some point

[@hirohikonishikawa4851]

That is craftmanship right there, you can see the difference between a cheap wig and one that is really well made.

[@AC3electrosphere]

Shhhh... we don't talk about that

[@Levelworm]

1987, that was 35 years ago!

[@ayeshas7907]

He is too good looking!

[@Ndlanding]

Gunman Taco: just what I wasn't looking forward to. Apart from that, the first part of the interview was mildly interesting, although I doubt ANYONE in the audience could read those stupidly small-type presentations on the TV screen.

[@fr33state]

There was a projector as well above :)

[@teckyify]

dave.exe 😂😂

[@avocadopeel7536]

John Romero: "Once you get the chaingun, it doesn't make you not use the pistol" Me, who almost never uses the pistol: *doubt*

[@Ryan-xq3kl]

THE HAIR, YOU CANNOT DENY THE HAIR

[@Tchernobog]

is daikatana really that bad? from the gameplay videos it looks alright, bit mediocre and blends in with other games of that era, but does it really deserve all the hatred it gets?

[@DigitalM00nlight]

Not so much when it's patched but retail release was awful and episode one is by far the worst ep of the game. The deathmatch is fantastic though.

[@Levelworm]

Today it's actually an OK game when you patch it up. And as @Digital Moonlight said episode 1 is the weakest part, not sure how it went down to that.

[@sellmeyoursoul6601]

Its jank as fuck, the story is BS, the AI gets stuck all the time. Although it surely would be impressive for that time if it worked, even in modern games, the AI usually dont climb ladders and stuff

[@burnzy3210]

i'd love to comment on your brenada romero video but apparently she's too vulnerable for comments, you must have a very low view of women to think they can't handle feedback

[@tekgott]

Just have to say. John needs a beard to go with those locks.

[@peter_castle]

he had one, google it, IMO it looked terrible. It's very coincidental you just suggested that to me, I saw romereo's beard the other day by googling it coincidentally.

[@Gosmoke.]

i didnt know doom was on ps2 lol

[@rogerwinright3383]

I think you shouldn't be too surprised. Doom exists in some form on just about everything and anything that can run the code: while(1){ //Here's where your game exists. } See also: www.gamesradar.com/12-things-that-prove-that-doom-will-run-on-literally-anything/

[@planetX15]

Wasn't Doom on the PlayStation?

[@porteal8986]

who the hell wants to keep using the pistol after getting literally any other gun

[@germantorre1422]

Poor fariseo.

[@dmitrykim3096]

Feel sorry for him, the history proved that John Carmack was 90 percent of id software.

[@Levelworm]

I still wish Remoro hanged on for longer. Might bring some changes to the later games.

[@Levelworm]

If winners live in Winnipeg, do losers live in, eh..., Los Angeles?