Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
kristus

Visit to id in '93

Recommended Posts

John Romero updated his website with this video recording of a visit to id Software in 1993, during the production of Doom that Joe Siegler sent him. One part in particular probably will be familiar to most of you as it is in this video recording that Bobby Prince sings the vegetable song. Though probably the most interesting part for all Doomers alike is the segment where Romero is playing and you can hear him adding his own sound effects. You can catch the video and a more in depth explanation on Vimeo.

Share this post


Link to post

Heh, that's really cool. I was surprised, yet again, at some of the familar Doom stuff that still didn't exist (or was very different) only a month before release...the e1m1 differences, especially.

Share this post


Link to post

Wow! This is really awesome stuff. It's like I'm taking a trip back into the past a decade and a half ago. The original E1M1 was very interesting as well, and of course, John's sound effects were hilarious. It's weird hearing about how he did that for so long, and then finally getting to see him in action. :)

Yeah, this is so cool, I had to stop the video and reply before I watched the rest of it. :P

Share this post


Link to post

A very interesting bit of historical documentation there. Cool stuff indeed.

Share this post


Link to post

Awesome. The thing I found most interesting was the reactions of everyone in the room as it was being played. Even though I was playing Doom when it was released, I was only 4, and so was not really old enough to appreciate it's impact back then. It didn't help that I then went on to play Duke Nukem 3D and Outlaws, so I really just thought games were always like that. So I never had the "Wow, that's so awesome!" feeling when playing Doom, which is one thing I really wish I'd had the chance to experience.

Share this post


Link to post

Cool stuff, Romero rocks! Interesting to pick up all these details they changed at the last minute. Noticed the "Monster Condo" track (Doom 2) being played in Doom 1.

Share this post


Link to post

They used SNES Wolf3D sounds as placeholders...I guess thats one evidence supporting the rumor with id being pissed off at the censored version of Wolf3D on the SNES and handed the source code to Wisdom Tree to create Super Noah's Ark 3D (or better known as Super 3D Fuckfarts).

Share this post


Link to post

oh shit i remember that Alladin game.

Share this post


Link to post
Nightmare Doom said:

They used SNES Wolf3D sounds as placeholders...I guess thats one evidence about the rumor with id being pissed off about the censored version of Wolf3D on the SNES and handed the source code to Wisdom Tree to create Super Noah's Ark 3D (or better known as Super 3D Fuckfarts).

What the fuck are you talking about

Share this post


Link to post
Nightmare Doom said:

...I guess thats one evidence supporting the rumor with id being pissed off at the censored version of Wolf3D on the SNES and handed the source code to Wisdom Tree to create Super Noah's Ark 3D (or better known as Super 3D Fuckfarts).


I disagree. This video offer's no evidence that support's or debases the rumours about SNA3D.

That said, cool video. It's interesting to see what the levels once looked like and of course to hear J.Romero's "sound effects" in the flesh.

Share this post


Link to post
JohnnyRancid said:

oh shit i remember that Alladin game.


I own it. :P Steve Perry is a cool guy.

Share this post


Link to post

That was very cool. I couldn't help but grinning at the background chatter during the video.

Share this post


Link to post

"Oh and there's like these...invisible creatures in there. But you can see em!"

Share this post


Link to post
TheCupboard said:

That was very cool. I couldn't help but grinning at the background chatter during the video.


I know, it was strange to hear people excited about Doom, it brought back a lot of feelings.

Share this post


Link to post

I've played Doom for so long without the music turned on, I'd forgotten how much it adds to the atmosphere of the game

Share this post


Link to post

Speaking of the Chainsaw. I don't think I once saw a bad guy go into its pain state while being sawed?

But then, I may just have missed it.

Share this post


Link to post

Differences I noticed between this and the prebeta, which was a month earlier than the video:

1. Messages have been moved off the status bar, but still use a different font, and still appear near the bottom of the screen rather than the top.

2. Skull chests and demonic daggers are still in, but the point system is gone and you get health/armor for them instead.

3. Soulspheres now give you the 200% health rather than an extra life.

4. You can go over 200% armor, as you could in the earliest release versions.

5. The intermission is now working.

I'm sure I missed some others ;)

Differences I saw from the release version (not counting obvious ones like the imp fireballs):

1. Radsuit still has no palette effect.

2. Deathmatch mode proper hasn't been implemented - all the infamous id deathmatches apparently took place in coop mode o_O

3. The arms panel on the status bar hasn't been implemented, nor is there any frags counter in multiplayer.

So it seems more and more that a lot of the changes between the prebeta and release mode truly were last-minute, in-the-nick-of-time alterations. I don't doubt that they were still applying a few changes on the very night it was uploaded to public FTP :P

Share this post


Link to post

Aw, neat! I think I even hear the clicks of a buckling spring IBM keyboard whe he's playing. Fancy items in the demo, too.

Share this post


Link to post
Quasar said:

I don't doubt that they were still applying a few changes on the very night it was uploaded to public FTP :P

I'm still sticking to my theory that this is how e2m9 came to be :P

Share this post


Link to post
Quasar said:

5. The intermission is now working.

Not exactly. The splashes indicating the previously visited sites are missing. Also no intermission music.
Furthermore, they seem to get the "Z_Malloc" error quite frequently. I remember that annoying bug very well. It was finally fixed in V1.2.

Quasar said:

So it seems more and more that a lot of the changes between the prebeta and release mode truly were last-minute, in-the-nick-of-time alterations. I don't doubt that they were still applying a few changes on the very night it was uploaded to public FTP :P

Considering this, it is no surprise that the first update was there even before the full version was available.

Share this post


Link to post

Romero had his machine turned down to 2 MB according to what he said, which is why the game was running so terribly and running out of memory so frequently. This is probably why they turned up the final memory requirement to 4 MB.

Share this post


Link to post

I had no idea they started with having treasure pick-ups. That was really fun to watch.

Share this post


Link to post
×