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John Romero Back In The Game
Gamespot reports that John Romero, the well known former id software designer, has opened his own development studio for the first time in several years. From the article: "Romero and Midway parted ways after just two years. He had been hired, along with former Ion Storm colleague Tom Hall, in October, 2003. His departure in July of this year was amicable on the surface, but chatter among industry wags suggested the Midway brass weren't entirely impressed with the work Romero and his team produced. At the time of his departure, Romero and Hall were working on the still-unreleased action role-playing game Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows."
I'm thinking maybe he spent too much time shampooing and combing his lustrous mane rather than coding. Then again Commander Keen *did* own.
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the biggest disappointment in my life so far
There was a time I thought Romero was interesting: before I actually learned anything about him and just knew he was part of ID. Talk about letting a little success go to your head... he's like a warning label for the entire concept of ego overtaking your rational thought processes.
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Is that the one that thought it would be a good idea to use the Gauntlet brand, despite the press demo only ever managing about 6 enemies onscreen at once?
Well done, Romero. Well done indeed. Really captured the essence, there.
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Is there any way to moderate the developer mentioned in a story "Overrated"?
...what idiot venture capital firm gave him the money to do it, so I can tell everyone I know not to invest in the startups they invest in. Obviously these people are seriously disconnected from reality.
Just goes to show that just because your name is associated with a well-known and successful product, does not mean you are the REASON for that product's success. Romero was riding the coat-tails of others in the team, but reaped the benefits of fame, fortune and high respect. Too bad really, because it means people have much higher expectations of him, and probably pay him more than he is worth. He'd probably do OK at a regular design job if he didn't have this huge legacy attached to him.
Never played Daikatana myself, but i know John Romero got slated for it. Any one like to comment as to why? I mean, what went wrong?
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Am I the only one who thinks "Commander Keen: 3D" would make a good comeback title?
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Gauntlet, above all other action RPGish hack-and-slash things, deserves a great update. While Romero may or may not have been capable of it, I don't know if Midway can be trusted to do what's best for the series. Remember, they released the awesome Midway Arcade Treasures with a phoned-in interface and multiple sound bugs, waking up to the public's interest in it only when it *actually sold*.
What follows is, in my not-so-humble opinion, what the Gauntlet series needs to remain interesting and relevant in its next incarnation.
* Get rid of some of the sameness that filled the later areas of Legends and Dark Legacy. Hack slash hack slash hack slash. Despite the variety in environment, most of the areas were simply differently-shaped tubes through which the players flowed.
* Get the hell rid of the lame collection quests from the home versions of those two games; one in the whole game (runestones) is enough. It's Gauntlet, not Banjo-Kazooie! All home versions of the game other than the Dreamcast one ruined the bonus rounds by having them grant only character unlock credits unstead of gold.
* Put back in all the great gimmicks and concepts from Gauntlet II, with some additional clever multiplayer concepts. (GII was the game that gave us the IT Monster.) I've got some ideas for this, give me a call! (The author of this comment then waits by phone anxiously for several months, then walks away, sad, dejected, but wiser.)
* Deepen the character development with some hard choices, but don't make it too complicated. This is Gauntlet, not Morrowind. At the same time, it's not Final Fantasy either, so there's no need to putz about with weapon and armor inventories or attempts to put in a "real" story. Gauntlet needs to be kept pure; it's still possible for a hack-and-slash game to do well, if it focuses on what hack-and-slash does best: quick thinking, on-the-fly strategizing, and action action action.
* Keep the monster count up, and put back in strategic ways of taking out generators early. The key skills of classic Gauntlet players are the ability to shoot generators just as they come on screen (before they have a chance to produce bullet-soaking enemies), and the quick scouting trip to take out generators before they can produce too much. Both of these tactics are possible in L and GL, but not as useful. Aiming is harder because of the 3D nature of the game (even with auto-aim), and
* And most importantly, LEAVE IN TIMED HEALTH LOSS! The fact that, at home, there was no penalty for waiting around waiting for your turbo meter to fill, directly harmed the game. Notice: ALL the (real) home versions of the original Gauntlet and Gauntlet II have timed health loss, while all the home versions of Legends and Dark Legacy had no such thing.
It's easy to forget these days just how groundbreaking the original Gauntlets were, and they're still fondly remembered by many people. And damn it, they're still fun to play now, even the home versions of the arcade updates. Midway is sitting on a gold mine here if they can avoid dropping the ball. (Chances of Midway dropping the ball, especially now that original creator Ed Logg is no longer with them: 85%.)
Notorious, but not near as much as this guy!
Didn't he found Ion Storm? The company that brought us the unbelievably good Deus Ex?
I'm willing to give him another chance. Daikatana was only bad due to its delays and excessive hype, imo..
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Sweet, Jokes about Duke Nukem Forever are getting old, and look here comes Romero to be the butt of our jokes again!
Something I never understood about Romero is: What does he actually do? WIth Carmack it's pretty easy, he's the coder's coder. But Romero always had that nebulous title of "designer" which means what, exactly? Does he actually work on the levels, making art, programming rooms, or is he just the idea guy, writing emails and documents?
> At the time of his departure, Romero and Hall
> were working on the still-unreleased action
> role-playing game Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows."
From an earlier interview with him from six months ago: Romero shouted "Content is king!" and pulled aside a hastily-erected curtain, exposing the latest alpha build of Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows on a giant high definition plasma screen. Immediately, an elf with a bow and arrow began shooting at some incoming frogs. "That's what action, adventure, and mystery is all about. Who doesn't want to carefully design their character and equip them, and then be under assault by tiny woodland creatures. Nothing rams the "WOW!" factor home quite like this!"
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So, I've been a game programmer for over a dozen years now. Around 6 years ago, I started a mission: to find Romero at E3, and tell him just how much I thought he sucked, to his face. I patrolled, ever diligent, for years. Nary a sighting of his thick, lustrous, making-me-his-bitch hair.
And then, one year, it happened. I was over by the Eidos booth, watching the babes (this was the year they were all wearing the blue and white leather racing suits), and talking to one of my buddies that was a PR rep for Eidos at the time. My buddy told me he had to meet with somebody, and that he'd see me later. So I turned to leave.
Suddenly, the crowds parted. Seriously, this was Heston-style parting of the sea stuff. I was somewhat taken aback by the crazy slow, movie like quality. So there, not twelve feet away, at the other side of the impromptu crowd canyon, was the "man" himself. I couldn't believe my luck. But then it got better.
Because of the crowd parting thing, I actually started laughing. Pretty hard. In classic form, Mr. Confidence saunters RIGHT UP TO ME, and says, sneeringly, "What are you laughing at?" Sweet Purple Jeebus. My cynicometer went skyrocketing.
"You, jackass," I said. "I'm laughing because you suck so very, very much." He immediately turned to leave, saying nothing. "Yeah, that's right, suck-boy. Suck on out of here. Sucker" I said as he shuffled off.
Around 30 people immediately broke into loud applause, and we all had a good laugh.
Needless to say, I haven't run into him again. Can't wait.