Lawrence Interviews Doom Eternal Game Director Hugo Martin [Full Interview]

Title & Thumbnail by: Chelsea Schneider
Recorded: April 17, 2021
Thank you Bethesda for arranging the interview!
WHOOPSIE - I said From Soft didn't do story expansions but they obviously did for the Dark Souls series. Dunno why but I was specifically thinking about Bloodborne / Sekiro when I said that.
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All times are approximate! Follow me on Twitter @SirLarr ( / sirlarr ) for updates and notices.

[@kaanbugra5009]

Doom Slayer's eyes are far apart cuz he needs the extra fov

[@LiberatedMind1]

😂

[@rojorodriguez1]

I really appreciated this upload. I've seen others talk to members of the industry but they're usually too short and just stroke the guests ego. Seeing more long form interviews with other developers of other games studios would be great. Whether that's picking their brains, learning their history in the industry, or having them rant about any particular topic. Go as long as feels necessary and invite those you have an interest in. Makes the conversation more organic and engaging to listen too. So, in closing, more please.

[@briefintroduction4995]

Doom dad gases law dawg up so hard toward the end, its such an endearing moment.

[@punishedvenomsnake716]

We must protect not only Hugo, but also Marty, Josh and the rest of id Software. We need something analogous to the Night Sentinels to do this, just like the Argenta did for their gods, the Elemental Wraiths. Just subscribed. Love this interview, Lawrence 🔥👍

[@Honey-Boo-Boo]

Amazing interview. Seemed like Hugo legitimately had a great time talking with Lawrence.

[@jeffbratanch8969]

This is so wholesome getting to see(hear) y’all meet. I had Such second hand excitement hearing his praise of you. Must be validating seeing your all your passion for the games recognized by its director. So fun, thanks for this.

[@jordancrowley8305]

"Yeah, you're back on but you might have to rewind what you were saying" *Hugo Martin immediately snaps back to "armoured baron... Jujitsu..."* Holy crap Hugo Martin is on the ball in this interview. Without dropping a beat he just launches back into the start of his point; doesn't forget where he was or how it started or anything! Seems like a really cool dude, I'm loving this interview :)

[@aaroncabrera8949]

Not to mention both guys seemed like they genuinely enjoyed each others company, rather than it being some PR thing. They're friends.

[@ceno10101]

I saw a 20 minute version available on Inside Games or the full thing. FULL THING BABY!

[@Flexyglamwich]

Hell yes dude! Thank you for all of these uploads. Hanging out, playing some games on my switch, and listening to you riff about game mechanics, industry bs, and more has become my favorite therapeutic activity

[@a.y.8294]

This was so cool Lawrence thanks to all the devs on doom for making such a badass game

[@damo]

I'm so happy for you Lawrence, I really hope you get a chance to visit id and have some of those conversations in person! Watching you guys for years through IG and FH, and then meeting you all at RTX Australia was a huge reason why I started my little channel in the first place, and there are developers I admire who I'd love to speak to one day in this capacity. You definitely make me want to keep working hard!

[@DMatt343]

Oh hey I live in Azle! This place has really started to become popular in the last few years.

[@samfishertags4904]

It’s amazing how genuine Hugo always seems to be. I wish he was my uncle that always comes around and has cool stuff for you

[@ethansouls77]

This is exactly what I needed on my drive to work. Thanks a lot Lawrence

[@migilvigil]

That thumbnail of Hugo is amazing

[@JormungandrTheWorldSerpent]

This is awesome. Hugo seems like a real cool dude Edit: also in your description you say bloodborne doesn’t have story expansions but it does have 1, “The old hunters.” If you haven’t played it, it’s awesome.

[@davidmoreno7525]

This is SO FUCKIN' AWESOME

[@davidmoreno7525]

He's so right, the first time I fought the marauder was so much damn fun, beating him felt just so good. Goat tier fps.

[@davidmoreno7525]

THE JIMMY HENDRIX OF GAMING

[@SpaceLoverV1]

Thank you both of you. This video/podcast/video made my days. I liked it. Thanks. Thank you Hugo and the team. And thank you Lawrence. I wish you all a great day.

[@lllXanderlll]

I was thinking about the community response to TAG 2 and I came to a similar conclusion about some of the issues people had, like how people would say that using the hammer trivializes demons like the marauder and yes it does but we've been trying to do that and have been doing that for months now. A good example is how people have found out ways to one cycle the marauder and those combos require a lot of practice to get right and once you have it is a skill and that can result in an ego, which is deserved, but then they add in a new mechanic/weapon that everyone gets and it's easy to replenish and accomplishes the same thing as your combo. So it makes sense that people would feel like their ego is taking a bit of a hit. I don't dislike the hammer, it does make things easier and I think that's okay

[@DMatt343]

What a fantastic interview. Your questions and interactions with Hugo were so engaging and he clearly had a blast with the discussion.

[@Joseph-Vile]

Ohh Nice man, great interview... Fans talking with Game devs is always great.

[@ohno7953]

So happy that you got the opportunity to do this man. Loved the video!

[@snixelpig]

This is a hell of an interview. Great stuff.

[@BeTeLGeuZeX]

I just got around to listening to the whole interview and bro!!! What a awesome fuckin conversation! Hugo Martin has such a rare an great refreshing direction with games that makes me excited for the future. It's people like him, and Chris metzen (ex blizzard ), and Joseph Staten(343/Bungie) or Steven Sharif (AoC) , Marty O'Donnell (Highwire/ex bungie) that flesh out some of the most important aspects of gaming and entertainment. Mechanics, Lore, Design engineering, Meta systems, Music. Hugo Martin is culminating/ascending all of that instead of a few. If only ID software gets more funding to put into their employees so that they wont leave then we may have a truuuue studio winner here boys! I hope Phil Spencer gives more recognition and funds to I'd software an Hugo's team. Enjoying the Doom experience, and even missing the regular multiplayer of 2016 but I dont mind the eternal battle mode. Just wished there was both :p And the DLCs are so damn badass an unexpected

[@SpaceLoverV1]

I would love to see videos Lawrence gets invited to the Studio talking to Hugo. Meet him. Showing you/us cool stuff.

[@QueeferSutherlands]

Loving the uploads today

[@seanl7503]

This is awesome

[@jamesmannsfield5699]

Sir Larr best Doom KZbin

[@justgrantjust]

Lawrence has anyone told you that you look like John Travolta

[@lucasstchur5441]

Heard him talk on Rogan, thanks for having him on, Law Dawg!

[@daze6716]

what a treat!

[@chrismcbrayer4018]

You know how awesome it would be to play an encounter in a master level that is designed by Lawrence?!

[@SpaceLoverV1]

I like Hugo really much.

[@steveglitter]

2:01:53 best part

[@itsnotbloodborne1237]

Bloodborne had a story expansion bro

[@Novaargh]

Does Doom Eternal Need an Ultra Easy Mode? : No. Loved the stream when Hugo popped up, Love how he loved you playing the game, Love how you keep playing the game, Love playing Doom myself, love that the game makes you think on harder difficulties, the easiest difficulty is already easy, and the harder ones are for the people that like the challenge, no need to make it more easy. C'mon, it's DOOM! ...And you really should get in touch with Hugo to go to their offices:P

[@Pine0wlple]

Yeah no, I play games to relax. Not to be stressed, I get enough of that irl. I just wanna unwind and slaughter demons.

[@SunLevi]

I saw some guy complaining that the game was too hard and unfun because of it, then he said he was playing on Nightmare...For some it appears to be an ego issue.

[@SomeKindaSpy]

@@Pine0wlple turn cheats on

[@JFred2]

"Is Doom guy hot?" Was this an attempt at humor, tripping him up, outing him, what? In typical Hugo fashion he handled it in stride but still found the question a bit odd/confounding. That aside, overall great interview.

[@GamingMad247]

youre looking to into it bruh

[@industrialvibes3064]

Hugo - "Who did we lose?" Ironically, the very gamer who arguably inspired Doom Eternal's combat loop lol

[@budthecyborg4575]

28:30 "The Same People Who Say [They Want Eternal To Be A Power Fantasy] Also Don't Want To Turn On The Options To Make It That Way" I've complained about Eternal a lot on this channel so I'm pretty sure Lawrence is talking about me here. First it must be made more abundantly clear than anything else that I am NOT asking for an "Easy Mode". That is the last thing I would ever want. This is not a discussion of "difficulty", it is really a matter of "blending genres". I'll tie this into a previous comment: 26:03 I am so glad Hugo brought up Resident Evil in a discussion about DOOM. DOOM 2016 has a lot in common with Resident Evil 4, I get the same vibe playing both of those games, which is going to sound really weird until you realize the Glory Kill mechanic was basically invented by RE4, maybe seeing that in 2016 triggered something and threw my brain down a rabbit hole that no-one intended, but that was a large motivation for my enjoyment of 2016. One of the great things about RE4 is the game has enough depth to add dynamic difficulty in ways that most other games don't allow. The challenge presented in DOOM 2016, like RE4, is to learn the language of enemy behavior, and after you learn the enemies you can... well it feels like you can get away with just about anything, thus the complaints from high tier FPS players. In RE4 though your're rewarded by being able to defeat bosses using alternate environmental hazards or you can melee everything to death and the game includes special animations to support that gameplay style even if it is totally beyond what most people would think to do on their first encounter. That playstyle is still highly engaging because close combat requires constant prediction of enemy behavior, and while DOOM 2016 doesn't exactly replicate this format you can use Melee combat and Glory Kills to get the same sort of feeling as it's encouraged by the optional objectives. If you think the base gameplay loop in 2016 is "too easy" then raise your standards and unlock 100% of the optional achievements, added difficulty is why those bonus objectives are there. So where I got a lot of enjoyment from intimately learning the enemies and level design of 2016, the hectic combat and high flying antics of Eternal mostly forces you to "Kill Everything Now" and you don't get to Tango anymore, it's all a rave. The Marauder is definitely there to fill that role, but to be frank the Marauder is a one trick pony and just not very interesting to fight with. Hugo is right to say that Repetition is bad for Engagement, and that is another point of criticism I have with Eternal, continually raising APM and asking the player to repeat the same combat mechanics faster actually isn't a very creative decision. I'm not saying High APM is bad, far from it, but cranking up the tempo is used as a crutch in Eternal where other games would show you something wholly new or unique to hold your attention. Unique game assets are expensive, I get that, but it's one of the things that makes a game memorable. Again looking to RE4, boss battles are diverse and almost never repeat. You can also look at Dark Souls for another example of the opposite side of the repetition coin, even if player actions are generally repetitive the boss encounters are incredibly diverse. Food For Thought: "Complexity is Easy, Simplicity is Hard" Modifying your gameplay to add more requirements for hard weapon counters to certain enemy types is not necessarily a good decision. It can be good, but it can also be over used and quickly become "Complexity For The Sake Of Complexity". Adding Red/Green/Blue versions of default enemies with weaknesses to a limited ammo type doesn't really count as variety. Overall DOOM Eternal absolutely is one of the best games ever made and the pursuit of challenge should never be diminished, my point is the game has become hyper focused to the detriment of other aspects of game design.

[@budthecyborg4575]

TLDR: Our Combat Soup needs some extra Dark Souls.

[@SomeKindaSpy]

You missed the point of the discussion. You didn't even see the other comments which answered this. It's a shame.

[@budthecyborg4575]

@@SomeKindaSpy My point stands clear as day, DOOM Eternal is practically a different genre of game from DOOM 2016.

[@AintPopular]

why no cam bruh

[@johnhansen8140]

Hugo was calling from home - seems he was walking around on the phone :)

[@SirLarr]

Yeah Hugo was just on his cellphone.

[@masteroftime1703]

A comment

[@MrZabersuv]

doom eternal is a game of gimmicks doom 2016 is a game of solid vision

[@JormungandrTheWorldSerpent]

You comment this on a video where the creative director talks about his teams solid vision for Eternal in the first 10 minutes

[@victorisaksson5061]

they are two games with two very different visions, both executed to near perfection

[@santiagoravina4057]

@@victorisaksson5061 This guy gets it.

[@CJNooberson]

Nope