Doom creator John Romero on what's wrong with modern shooter games
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Re: Doom creator John Romero on what's wrong with modern shooter games
#2My gaming never really evolved past the golden year of 1998, when Age of Empires was greater than Command and Conquer, and Goldeneye on the N64 with three friends was better than sex (not that anyone gave me that option).
Every time I dip into modern games (usually watching a friend play), the complexity wears me out. So Romero’s point about ‘modern shooters turning into inventory games’ resonated - I’m not sure if I ever completed Doom or Duke Nukem 3D, but both definitely felt like you could just run with them and have fun in a way I don’t feel with today’s AAA options.
Maybe I’m just old. Or having too much sex.
Re: Doom creator John Romero on what's wrong with modern shooter games
#3My gaming never really evolved past the golden year of 1998, when Age of Empires was greater than Command and Conquer, and Goldeneye on the N64 with three friends was better than sex (not that anyone gave me that option). Every time I dip into modern games (usually watching a friend play), the complexity wears me out. So Romero’s point about ‘modern shooters turning into inventory games’ resonated - I’m not sure if I…
> the complexity wears me out
This! The complexity of so many modern games turns me off from them. Have to learn a bunch of complicated systems? Sounds way too much like my day job.
Re: Doom creator John Romero on what's wrong with modern shooter games
#4My gaming never really evolved past the golden year of 1998, when Age of Empires was greater than Command and Conquer, and Goldeneye on the N64 with three friends was better than sex (not that anyone gave me that option). Every time I dip into modern games (usually watching a friend play), the complexity wears me out. So Romero’s point about ‘modern shooters turning into inventory games’ resonated - I’m not sure if I…
I'll strongly disagree there on the shooters though. Old shooters has a plethora of weapons with inventory (perfect dark, goldeneye, half life) modern shooters have primary, secondary and sidearm. That's simpler, if anything. The shooter experience has been heavily streamlined.
Re: Doom creator John Romero on what's wrong with modern shooter games
#5The prevalence of the shooter genre is one of the main reasons why I‘ve still got to be embarrassed about this video game hobby outside tech circles (The other main, of course more problematic reason being the visibility of free to play mobile games). Pretentious Guardian views about shooter corridors won’t change that. That’s just a sign of an industry having lost touch with developed art forms. I wish this would change, but big guns / mindless repetitive gameplay / violence / explosions seem to address primal instincts for too many out there.
I’ve heard one of the Commander Keen developers did not like the direction id and gaming was heading with Wolfenstein already. Would be interesting to read a modern day interview with him.
Got mild hopes that streaming will improve things as it won’t only select a market of people who are already very financially committed to this hobby. Very curious about how Stadia will turn out.
Re: Doom creator John Romero on what's wrong with modern shooter games
#6The prevalence of the shooter genre is one of the main reasons why I‘ve still got to be embarrassed about this video game hobby outside tech circles (The other main, of course more problematic reason being the visibility of free to play mobile games). Pretentious Guardian views about shooter corridors won’t change that. That’s just a sign of an industry having lost touch with developed art forms. I wish this would ch…
I’ve heard one of the Commander Keen developers did not like the direction id and gaming was heading with Wolfenstein already. Would be interesting to read a modern day interview with him.
Perhaps Tom Hall? There's this recent audio interview [1] with him that seems interesting, thanks for the hint!
[1] https://www.devgameclub.com/blog/2018/1/17/dgc-ep-096-tom-ha...
Re: Doom creator John Romero on what's wrong with modern shooter games
#7My gaming never really evolved past the golden year of 1998, when Age of Empires was greater than Command and Conquer, and Goldeneye on the N64 with three friends was better than sex (not that anyone gave me that option). Every time I dip into modern games (usually watching a friend play), the complexity wears me out. So Romero’s point about ‘modern shooters turning into inventory games’ resonated - I’m not sure if I…
> the complexity wears me out This! The complexity of so many modern games turns me off from them. Have to learn a bunch of complicated systems? Sounds way too much like my day job.
And programming as a genre has become popular...
Ever seen Lightbot, TIS-100 or Shenzhen I/O?
Re: Doom creator John Romero on what's wrong with modern shooter games
#8The prevalence of the shooter genre is one of the main reasons why I‘ve still got to be embarrassed about this video game hobby outside tech circles (The other main, of course more problematic reason being the visibility of free to play mobile games). Pretentious Guardian views about shooter corridors won’t change that. That’s just a sign of an industry having lost touch with developed art forms. I wish this would ch…
I’ve heard one of the Commander Keen developers did not like the direction id and gaming was heading with Wolfenstein already. Would be interesting to read a modern day interview with him. Perhaps Tom Hall? There's this recent audio interview [1] with him that seems interesting, thanks for the hint! [1] https://www.devgameclub.com/blog/2018/1/17/dgc-ep-096-tom-ha...
Probably Tom Hall. The breaking point for him was Doom; When you look at the level of interactivity/story in Doom 3, consider that it was 'closer' to his vision for the original than what was released in 1993.
Anachronox is probably the best example of what he thought was a 'proper' game, and while I've never had the chance to play it, I understand it was a very underappreciated gem in it's day.
Re: Doom creator John Romero on what's wrong with modern shooter games
#9Romero always wanted a better story and got beaten out by Carmack's appreciation for simply quantity inside id.
I see the same cycle repeating. Anybody wanting to do a story in games should make sure their leadership is secure on that. Big dumb cheesy gameplay is back.
Re: Doom creator John Romero on what's wrong with modern shooter games
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’ve heard one of the Commander Keen developers did not like the direction id and gaming was heading with Wolfenstein already. Would be interesting to read a modern day interview with him. Perhaps Tom Hall? There's this recent audio interview [1] with him that seems interesting, thanks for the hint! [1] https://www.devgameclub.com/blog/2018/1/17/dgc-ep-096-tom-ha...
Probably Tom Hall. The breaking point for him was Doom; When you look at the level of interactivity/story in Doom 3, consider that it was 'closer' to his vision for the original than what was released in 1993. Anachronox is probably the best example of what he thought was a 'proper' game, and while I've never had the chance to play it, I understand it was a very underappreciated gem in it's day.
Anachronox is great. It has the things I always wanted from Wolfenstein and Doom: story, characters, world building, light RPG elements.