A Visit to id Software from john romero on Vimeo.
Joe Siegler IM’d me a couple weeks ago and said he found a VHS tape that had some DOOM footage on it before its release and if I didn’t want it he was gonna throw it out.
I said, “Send it to me immediately.”
So now I finally got it, ripped it to digital and then used iMovie to present it to anyone with an interest in DOOM history. Here’s what I wrote up about the video:
In 1993, Dan Linton, owner of a hugely successful BBS called Software Creations, visited Texas and made his way to id Software. This is the footage he recorded one night in November 1993. Shown are several of id’s employees at the time: Jay Wilbur, Shawn Green, John Romero, Dave Taylor, Sandy Petersen and Adrian Carmack. Bobby Prince was visiting to finish the music and create the sound effects. This video has 21 minutes of me playing DOOM before the sound effects were put in as well as some early deathmatching with Shawn Green.
Download this page in PDF format
Wow, that’s cool. A nice blast from the past. Interesting to see history like this instead of reading it.
Wooow, cool
Yeah it’s awsome, thanks!
Wow – thanks John, brilliant!!
Just cool
Can you post some more photos in gallery from this era? Please.
Awesome ! Thanks a lot for this, John
i say u a strong man John
Outstanding !!! 5*
Man! That was great!
I love the passion and the amazement from those in the room when you’re demoeing the first levels from Doom!
I remeber the first time I played Doom, how awestruck I was! I wish I could relive that moment!
If only you were involved in the making of Doom 4… that would be great!
Very nice video. It looks like it was a great time to be part of the ID software team. Two questions though:
- where was John Carmack?
- what is the song right at the end of the video called?
Awesome find!
thanks for sharing
Bobby Prince is using a Model M!
Thanks very much for this, it’s very interesting
That’s hella neat stuff, thanks for putting it up! Both me and Anders Johnsen have been looking at it (talking over IM atm).
This is a pure gem.
Thanks John !
I wonder what is the “bug” you pointed out just before exiting level 1 (at 11:01)? I can’t see anything wrong…
I LOLed a the “it’s runnig slower because of my 2Mb of EMS” ….old times.
Too bad the video doesn’t feature Carmack , he was probably in the other room, working on the Next station…
Awesome! Love old stuff like this.
Awesome video! – Nice to see the setup you guys had back then. (Interested in Tech/Gaming history)
I haven’t seen an Ensoniq EPS in ages! I used to want one of these BAD in the early 90′s! Imagine…storing samples on a FLOPPY!
Awesome!! but to bad the the guy didnt tape the full id software team + the working place
Amazing video John! I love to see the old stuff. Thanks so much for getting this out!
This is probably the coolest snippet of id software history ever. It gives a better representation of the “cool guys” than even masters of doom did.
Apple IIe spotted in Mr. Romero’s office!!
Haha, that’s awesome John. Thanks for digitizing it.
Brought back some great memories. Those were good times, sir!
“Gotta eat your Vegetables” song shows up in the level Miragia in Episode IV of Keen, Secret of the Oracle.
this is awesome, i loved it. really cool seeing modern gaming in its infancy, as played by a legend
The ooooohs and the aaaaaaahs were the best part. Also the “shooom” sound effects he made in the background as the green balls went by. It really brought me back.
Absolutely fantastic – thank you so much for posting this. Way back when, this was what I had in mind when wanting to graduate and get into software. Great stuff!
Man, that was interesting as hell
Very glad that you posted this
Amazing video.
Such a perfect snapshot of the development. Truly amazing to see.
Thanks so much for sharing.
John,
very cool vid. It’s amazing how much computers and games have advanced! But I don’t get the “wow” factor I did on first playing Doom – although Quake 2 was pretty close.
Did I see one or two mullets there too?
Thanks!
Awesome!!! Love you guys!
So great and all the old hardware – flashback!
And what a great quality of the video…
Holy smoke! Actual video of Romero and the crew at ID?!
Cannot thank you enough for putting this up. I’ve played Keen since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, every single episode except the awful GC port. It is SO awesome to see and hear some of my heroes.
Thanks John et al. for putting this up, happy late 15th anniversary DOOM!
Nice. Any chance to release the shareware episode from a snapshot of the time the video was made? That would be very interesting.
That was a bad-ass vid John! It really brings back some of my fondest memories. You always have a way of stumbling upon the neatest things that we enjoy…thanks for sharing!
Thank you john!!!!
I love hearing how floored he is by the graphics/game elements in doom. Awesome.
Could be interesting to know how close is the release date of doom from this video.
very nice of you to show this to the public. awesome
greetz andru
WOW John!!!!!! This was amazing to watch. More of this stuff please!
“You’ve got to eat your vegetables” XD
Don’t know if you guys noticed it, but the music for the earlier version of E1L3 wasn’t heard till Doom 2, specifically for MAP18 and MAP27. Amazing!
Thanks for sharing this
Thank you for this…
Nostalgia attack! Thanks for the video.
very interesting to learn how to develop their games in that time
Thanks John
That was really interesting. Ah, the nostalgia. Plus, I’ve got “You’ve Got To Eat Your Veg-tuh-bles” stuck in my head. This was a very interesting find.
I grew up in the late eighties – currently I’m 28 y/o – and my first experience was Wolfenstein 3D, later on I saw a good friend of mine playing Doom on his 486DX25 and it was so intense/new at
that time. Quite soon I also played via 33K6 modem against another friend: make appointments how late to dial-in and also figuring out the optimal AT-dial strings.
I’ve read the book Masters of Doom and this gives a good insight in the spirit the Id-software guys have.
I also did some level-editing in DCK (Doom Construction Kit), but it wasn’t really easy for me at that age.
Don’t know what it is, but the Doom-era and behind-the scenes video I see now really inspires me on how to build something which is fun for themselves in the first place and later on the whole world. Wish I had that talent…
Haha really cool to see. Pure Nostalgia