Questions for possible interview with Sandy Petersen [collection of questions is completed]

[UnknDoomer]

Well. Basic idea remain the same as it was previously / originally in this topic, but I've decide to move ever more forward and try to add one more person on top - Sandy Petersen. Today Arthur Petersen answered by e-mail and said that things can be settled on.

 

So. At the end point at least two or, with enough luck, "three in one" interviews will take a place at the end point - Tom Hall, Sandy Petersen, John Romero.

Similar to previous thread I've removed personalized one kind questions and left the rest. This time things came in such way that only 7 questions left, the rest of the slots left for new one kind. Based on the

https://www.mobygames.com/person/821/sandy-petersen/credits/

 

I suppose now Doom 64, Quake, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, Age of Empires and other related questions can be added into.

 

Three conditions applied:

1. No joke questions.
2. 1 person - 1 question. Subquestions allowed.
3. Total amount will be limited to 30. Slots left: 0. No more questions are accepted.

 

--

 

Current questions list:

Q1. How did you become interested in games? Do you play games yourself?

Q2. D&D. Basically the fact, that it was a part of further inspiration for original Doom's development, been covered in book, made by Kushner David back in early 00's. Aside from the general idea of a hellish invasion, are there other details about that game that directly inspired Doom? Also what do you remember of your personal D&D experience, if you had one, even if it doesn't directly apply to Doom?

Q3. @Jayextee asking: "I'd love to know what of his tabletop / RPG background he brought into DOOM level design. In other words... what commonalities and / or overlaps were there, what differences and / or new challenges and, to a further end, whether he designed with replayability in mind, or more "one and done" in the vein of a social RPG campaign.".

Q4. Were you involved in board game development before or after joining the gaming industry? If before, is it possible to tell us about your early board games?

Q5. How did you get a job at MPS Labs / Microprose? Is it possible to tell how it was organized / structured from the inside?

Q6. Is it possible to describe to our readers something about the experience of developing Sid Meier's Pirates! (1987) for Atari ST?

Q7. Did you do anything else during the development of Sword of the Samurai (1989) and Command H.Q. (1990) besides documentation and coordination / organization? Can you tell a few interesting / not well known facts about those two?

Q8. Similar question about Lightspeed (1990), Hyperspeed (1991), Darklands (1992), where you are credited as a designer. How much of each of these games were you responsible for? Does there some interesting stories related to those took a place back in the day?

Q9. Was Darklands in development before you joined the company or during your stay? Is it possible to tell something about Arnold Hendrick, what kind of person was he? Why did you decide to leave MPS Labs / Microprose after Darklands?

 

Q10. What attracted you to id Software? What parts of id's company culture do you think had the biggest impact, and do you have any advice for aspiring developers about its advantages and pitfalls.

Q11. Without belittling the importance of previous projects, released both before and in 1993. When you were just start thinking about the Doom as in overall, did you have a premonition that this title should or, well, will, radically change the game industry and create, in fact, a new genre direction itself as we know it now? Or was Doom just the result of a sort of "bold experiment"?

Q12. 1993. Back in that year, did the computer at home has a significant matter for you? Or was everything revolve around work? If first, then what was it's technical specs?

Q13. There is an idea exist, that Doom would not be what it is, if it was not accompanied by a certain degree of surrealism, especially when it goes for the case of the environment and music. It, in particular, distinguishes it from conventional military-style shooters and, no less, conventional horror works, that have more or less action elements. Doom 64 specifically was a major example. What do you think about this?

Q14. Does original Doom has any influence by the Alien movie series specifically, or, perhaps, some other, not so well known one? Was there any chances that the main character supposed to be a woman, which is, basically, would be unsual choise by 90's, especially early 90's, standarts? A recent update of Doom featured previously unknown material, which also contained, it seems, part of early, unpublished builds.

Q15. @Amaruq Wulfe asking: "Given your background as a mormon, was there any reason why didn't you depict hell as described in the relevant texts instead used Lovecraft as the source material?".

Q16. What influence, if any, do you think Adrian Carmack's art style had in the games industry? How you look on a fact, that today's fans continued use of this style, in particular?

Q17. @holaareola asking: "In Doom mapping community, infighting became a cornerstone mechanic, but your E2M9 - "Fortress of Mystery" secret map was the first map in Doom to put it front and centre. Do you remember how early in development infighting was implemented?".

Q18. What probably acted as the inspiration for the more experimental like level design for Doom II (1994)? What is your favorite Doom and / or Quake (1996) map you worked on?

Q19. Futuretime23 asking: "What does he think was his / not his worst map in Doom I / II / Quake and what lessons could one learn from his / not his perceived mistakes (level design wise)?".

Q20. Can you tell a bit about how did you design the monsters for Doom and Quake? Where did you get the inspiration and images?

Q21. GreenEyesMan asking: "Why is the design and fight against Shub-Niggurath in Quake so flawed? It is, after all, one of the most powerful chthonic creatures. In Quake 1.5 the fight with this boss is many times more epic.".

Q22. GreenEyesMan and Dimouse asking (first and second questions respectively): "Why does Quake have such an unusual design: first one industrial level, and then several inside some castles?" "Did your work at Chaosium Inc. and Lovecraft board games influence the design of Quake, Doom and other games you participated in?".

 

Q23. Can you tell a bit about console ports of the main titles you have been involved into? Specifically mostly interested here in not well known detailes about Doom for Atari Jaguar, Sega 32X and PC-98, Hexen: Beyond Heretic and Quake for Sega Saturn. Still, few fact about the rest might be fine to hear too.

Q24. @Immorpher asking: "Doom 64 was intended to be a N64 launch title back in 1996. However magazines reported that the initial set of levels for Doom 64 were rejected by id Software and the game was delayed until 1997. As a level designer at id Software around that time, were you part of the team who evaluated Midway's Doom 64 levels? If so, do you remember the issues these levels had which caused them to be rejected and perhaps any suggestions for improvement?".

Q25. Have you had any urge to follow in Romero's footsteps by coming full circle back to Doom and perhaps create and release something new like Romero did with Sigil (2019)?

Q26. Why did you decide to move to Ensemble Studios after Quake? You have participated in the creation of one of the most popular RTS series - Age of Empires (1997). What is your opinion about other well-known and popular (now or at one time) competitors in the genre - Command & Conquer (1995), WarCraft (1994), StarCraft (1998), Total Annihilation (1997), Homeworld (1999), Company of Heroes (2006)? In the first Age of Empires you are listed as being responsible for scripts and QA. How did that manifest itself?

Q27. What was your work look alike as a designer during the Age of Empires & Age of Mythology related titles during developing stage?

Q28. There is information that Ensemble had an idea to make the fourth and fifth parts dedicated to the 20th century and the future, respectively, which is reflected on one of the pages of the book from the collector's edition of Age of Empires III (2005). How true is this and were any ideas for the fifth part implemented in Halo Wars (2009)?

Subquestion. Have you been involved / what was your role during the development of the re-releases - Age of Empires II: HD Edition (2019), Halo Wars: Definitive Edition (2017), Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (2013), Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (2018)?

Q29. @taufan99 asking: "Given your love for tabletop RPG's and RPG video games and the fact that you've worked for both Doom and Quake (in addition to countless RPG projects, tabletop or video games), do you have any thoughts on the so-called "immersive sim" subgenre of video games, which often mixes RPG and FPS games to a large extent (e.g. System Shock (1994), Thief: The Dark Project (1998), Deus Ex (2000), BioShock (2007))?".

Q30. Any final words you would like to say to our readers?

Edited September 22 by UnknDoomer

[Jayextee]

I'm not entirely sure how to word it as a question, but I'd love to know what of his tabletop/RPG background he brought into DOOM level design; what commonalities and/or overlaps were there, what differences and/or new challenges -- and to a further end whether he designed with replayability in mind, or more 'one and done' in the vein of a social RPG campaign.

[UnknDoomer]

@Jayextee, fixed it a bit, added.

[CapersOnSalad]

What inspired the more experimental level design of DOOM II?

[Ranger Qwerty]

What is your favorite Doom and/or Quake map you worked on?

[Doom-X-Machina]

Have you had any urge to follow in Romero's footsteps by coming full circle back to Doom and perhaps create and release something new like Romero did with Sigil?

[Jayextee]

23 minutes ago, Doom-X-Machina said:

Have you had any urge to follow in Romero's footsteps by coming full circle back to Doom and perhaps create and release something new like Romero did with Sigil?

As an aside, oh I wish! (not a question, sorry)

[Faceman2000]

18 hours ago, UnknDoomer said:

Q3. Did you read Lovecraft? If you so, what exactly?

Why is this on here? Sandy’s love for Lovecraft is well-known - he’s widely considered an expert on the subject.

 

The answers are “Yes,” and “All of it,” respectively.

[taufan99]

Given your love for tabletop RPGs and RPG video games and the fact that you've worked for both DOOM and Quake (in addition to countless RPG projects, tabletop or video games), do you have any thoughts on the so-called "immersive sim" subgenre of video games, which often mixes RPG and FPS games to a large extent (e.g. System Shock, Thief: The Dark Project, Deus Ex, BioShock)?

[UnknDoomer]

@Faceman2000, because I've decided to left it, until something better will pop up. Currently removed.

Edited September 20 by UnknDoomer

[UnknDoomer]

@CapersOnSalad, question added.

@Ranger Qwerty, added as subquestion to @CapersOnSalad question.

@Doom-X-Machina, question added.
@taufan99, question added.

[Immorpher]

Doom 64 was intended to be a N64 launch title back in 1996. However magazines reported that the initial set of levels for Doom 64 were rejected by id Software and the game was delayed until 1997. As a level designer at id Software around that time, were you part of the team who evaluated Midway's Doom 64 levels? If so, do you remember the issues these levels had which caused them to be rejected and perhaps any suggestions for improvement?

[UnknDoomer]

@Immorpher, added.

[Amaruq Wulfe]

Given your background as a Mormon, was there any reason why didn't you depict Hell as described in the Christian texts and instead used Lovecraft as the source material? Was it because the Lovecraftian source material translated better into the game or did you specifically not want any relations to Christianity (or religions in general) in the game?

[UnknDoomer]

@Amaruq Wulfe, changed it a bit, added.

Edited September 20 by UnknDoomer

[UnknDoomer]

4 slots remain.

[holaareola]

I have two but don't know which to ask! Pick whichever you think is better -- or neither.

 

In community Doom mapping, infighting became a cornerstone mechanic, but your E2M9 Fortress of Mystery secret map was the first map in Doom to put it front and centre. Do you remember how early in development infighting was implemented?

 

or

 

How do you feel about the pared-down design that won out at id compared to the Doom Bible?

Edited September 21 by holaareola : E2M9

[UnknDoomer]

@holaareola, added first one. Second has better fit for interview with Tom Hall and already listed as Q23 in a more specificed way.

 

I'm planning to, at list, finish interviews with Sandy and Tom and, with enough luck, John Romero on top.

[taufan99]

11 minutes ago, UnknDoomer said:

@holaareola, added first one. Second has better fit for interview with Tom Hall and already listed as Q23 in a more specificed way.

 

I'm planning to, at list, finish interviews with Sandy and Tom and, with enough luck, John Romero on top.

Could you edit my interview question in the thread to also include BioShock (2007) in addition to all aforementioned three games?

[UnknDoomer]

@taufan99, done.

[UnknDoomer]

1 slot remain.

[UnknDoomer]

Well. No new proposals followed, same as I've nothing to add on top too at the current state, so added an overall kind question as Q1. Collection of questions is completed, list send to the recipient.