61 Frames Per Second : id

A Day in the Life: iD Before Doom

John Constantine — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

iD have always been more interesting than their games. That’s not to take away from Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, or Quake. The technology that John Carmack created for those games and their mutual successors redefined the shape of a videogame, the type of interactive space a person could create. His partner, the ever-lovin’ John Romero himself, was no slouch either. Of course, John’s legacy lies not in the realm of groundbreaking design tools but in aesthetics (read: the preponderance of games about shooting things directly in the face.) I can’t disrespect those games, nor the creativity behind them. After reading David Kushner’s Masters of Doom, though, it’s impossible not to think of those personalities before anything about the games themselves. The story of Carmack, Romero, Tom Hall and the rest of their team is almost operatic. There’s betrayal, sex, fame, money, broken dreams. The history of iD is the nerd version of Carmen.

It would be pretty interesting to be a fly on the wall of their cluttered office before it all went wrong, a look at young people at their creative peak creating something brand new for the world to play.

It’d probably look like this.

This video comes to us from Romero himself via Joe Siegel. November 1993, just before Doom was about to come out and make them all scary, scary rich. Ah for the innocent days before Daikatana, before newspapers blamed school shootings on these goons. Fascinating.

Plus, they’re playing Aladdin on Genesis! Just like REAL people in 1993!

(Link: GameLife)

Related links:

Returning to the Return of the Castle Wolfenstein Returned: This Time It’s Just Plain Ol’ Wolfenstein
Bringing Sexy Back: John Carmack
The Art of Gore in Project Origin
Industry Predictions for 2009: Doom and Gloom Edition

Returning to the Return of the Castle Wolfenstein Returned: This Time It’s Just Plain Ol’ Wolfenstein

John Constantine — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 02:30:00 GMT

Guest contributor Adam Rosenberg covers games from his secret lair in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, typing, reading and playing the days away as his dog Loki looks on in bewilderment. In addition to the noble pursuit of video games, Adam enjoys spending time with fine film, finer food and his fine fiancée Bekah.

There must be a considerable amount of tension around Raven Software’s offices as they prepare Wolfenstein, the latest sequel to the id Software’s grand-pappy of all first-person shooters. After all, the once-cool practice of gunning down Nazis with a beefy chain gun isn’t the uncommon gaming experience it once was. Then there’s Raven, whose talent is eclipsed not only by their recent history of releasing numerous interchangeable genre titles, but also living in the shadow of id themselves. That isn’t necessarily bad news for Wolfenstein, but it does have the effect of keeping expectations firmly in check. Seeing it at Activision’s New York City preview party certainly didn’t raise those expectations. A few minutes of watching Wolfenstein gave a bad impression: another generic World War II shooter with less-than-stellar graphics and straightforward action.

It’s when I stuck around for a few more minutes that things started to get odd. For example, there were suddenly Nazis flying through the air in slow motion. Turned out to be anti-gravity. That’s kind of weird. Then there was B.J. Blazkowicz using a magical amulet to “see” Nazis on the other side of a wall. And then shoot them. Not so conventional anymore. And that’s when the Veil descended. Apparently, B.J.’s fancy new amulet — picked up early in the game — allows BJ to slip into an “otherworld” at will, a place/state-of-being called the Veil. The makeup of the world remains roughly the same within the Veil, though everything is cast in aqua-green hues and spectral bee-like insects fly around lazily, gathering energy. The Veil is ethereal. Other. (Think Tron.) When inside the Veil, weak points are highlighted on enemies, an essential feature when dealing with larger, armored soldiers. The single heavy I saw during the demo was a sort Brotherhood of Steel/Imperial Stormtrooper amalgam armed with a weapon shooting blasts of the green energy blanketing the Veil. BJ will also need to slip into the Veil to access the amulet’s magical abilities; a time-slowing power was shown, but the on-screen amulet’s four slots suggest more Nazi-killin’ powers.

Put aside BJ’s supernatural powers and you’re still left with rote Nazi-killin’, right? Wrong. Wolfenstein is set in the city of Eisenstadt, an open environment situated around a central hub, with new areas opening as the game progresses. What’s more, there are three non-Nazi factions populating the city: Nazi resistance fighters, scholars who harbor an interest in the amulet and a shadowy black market. Players will be able to pick up optional missions to earn money, which can then be spent on the black market to upgrade or buy weapons. But the open world and non-linear play is not enough to justify the game’s existence. There needs to be an immersive experience attached to it, one that leaves room for player-tailoring to co-exist with a scripted storyline. This is what made Far Cry 2 stand-out from the over-crowded FPS field. It is, however, encouraging to see Raven stepping away from the generic corridor shooter towards the faux-RPG trappings of their Jedi Knight series. Time – and additional previews and hands-on sessions – will tell, but first impressions at least point to a new direction for the Wolfenstein series. That’s saying something for a series that created its genre.

Related links:

Bringing Sexy Back: John Carmack
Whatcha Playing: Far Cry 2
John’s Games of 2008: Year of the Open World

Bringing Sexy Back: John Carmack

John Constantine — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:00:00 GMT

You’d think I’d be sitting here talking about John Romero, American McGee, or one of the other lookers from the grand history of id software for a Brining Sexy Back feature, but John Carmack is the only one for me. Those penetrating, bespectacled eyes, the sandy blonde quaff that says, “I could have been one of the Duke boys if I hadn’t been an indoor child.” It’s all too much to resist!

John Carmack isn’t exactly what you what call sexy in the traditional sense, though he seems significantly more personable these days. For anyone who has read David Kushner’s Masters of Doom (an excellent page turner. Seriously.), you know Carmack’s come a long way from the “computer with legs” he was described as in his youth. What’s sexy about Carmack is his devotion to a singular goal: making the best damn foundation for a game he can build. Carmack and id’s games have never been beautiful creations, aesthetically or mechanically. The company made a name for itself on the cartoonishly grotesque and through its blunt, aggressive play, a combination that has kept their games satisfying (if not revelatory) for fifteen years. But they have always been elegant creations thanks to Carmack’s engines, from the scrolling animation of Wolfenstein 3D all the way to the still-stunning light-and-shadow play of Doom 3. He remains a master architect in his medium. id’s new game, Rage, and the id Tech 5 engine that powers it, look to continue the trend.

Plus, anyone who tries to make a spaceship by hand is sexy. Except Billy Bob Thorton. It’s stupid when he does it.

More Bringing Sexy Back:

Street Fighter Dress-Up Party!
Susan O’Connor
Yoji Shinkawa

Trailer Review: Tecmo Bowl – Kickoff

John Constantine — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:00:00 GMT

E3 2008’s been running for just under forty-eight hours at this point, if you count yesterday’s early festivities with Microsoft and EA, and the internet is awash with flashy exciting trailers. The first gameplay footage from Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia proves that the new adventure is even more deliciously gorgeous and detailed than its already beautiful screenshots, the Mirror’s Edge gameplay demonstration delivers on the promise of that game’s unique take on first-person gaming, and iD’s Rage is exhibiting all the gloss and zombie-ness of a classic John-Carmack-Tech-Showcase. But who cares about those?

Every trailer, every look at fresh gameplay from cutting edge titles, every CGI tease pales in comparison to these sixty seconds of Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff. Just watch this:

Did you see how hard that rocked! Not only was the game rockin’, not only did the hometown hero make the touchdown, not only did that cheerleader totally wink right at me, but then some rockers come in, totally unprompted, and start rocking.

Game. Of. Show.

Previous Trailer Reviews:

Captain Rainbow
The Past and Future With Mega Man 9 and Chrono Trigger
Densetsu no Stafi
Sonic Unleashed
Infinite Undiscovery
Sonic Chronicles
Street Fighter 4
The Conduit
Mirror’s Edge