Log in member
We once again caught up with the legendary "Doom Guy" at the SDCCM to talk about the FPS panel he shared with the creators of PUBG and CS and about the latest setbacks turned opportunities at Romero Games.
"Hi Gamereactor friends, this is the San Diego Comic-Con in Málaga, day 4, final day, Sunday, and it's always great to catch up with John Romero, thank you once again.
We spoke a year ago in Lisbon, and you know, there's been some development to Romero Games, but first and foremost I wanted to ask you about the fantastic panel you guys had about FPSs."
"It was you, of course, co-creator of Doom, there was Brendan Greene from PUBG, and there was Minh Le, co-creator of Counter-Strike, so what is the takeaway?
Did you enjoy the conversation? What is the main message that you guys enjoyed sharing?
I think it was really fun just talking about FPSs and all the questions that we had coming towards us was really great, just to answer those questions, and also the audience, you know, there were some good questions from the audience, but it was really fun just to talk about FPSs and the evolution of them, and you know, just all of it, we love talking about our games."
"Both Minh and you have been, of course, into more classical and also competitive FPSs, but Brendan introduced the concept of Battle Royale, so is this something that you like, that you would like to explore, and how do you see that evolving?
Well, I mean, lots of people are exploring everything in FPSs, so I don't need to explore Battle Royale."
"I mean, the PvP market in FPSs is extremely packed, right?
So I'm not going to spend my time jumping in and trying to do something different there, but I really appreciate it, I really like playing different games that are very hardcore shooters, like Rainbow Six Siege, you know, that's such a good game."
"Yeah, it is, it's awesome.
But yeah, I like all kinds of FPSs, and my game is different, it's very different, and I can't talk about how different it is or what I'm doing, but it is an FPS.
Okay, but also let me ask you about procedurally generated worlds, and machine learning is completely different to Battle Royale, but those are technologies, you know, progress that you can use, are you interested in those?
Yes, yeah, I mean, procedural generation is something that makes the games more interesting, you know?
You're going to replay the game, is it different?
You know, so you're not playing the same game."
"The funny thing is that, like, there's a thing about replayability in games and how do you keep people coming back, and having players that feel like they have mastery keeps them coming back, but you can't ever let anyone have full mastery over your game or they're finished playing it."
"If they can come in and kill everything in a level exactly the same way and everything over and over again, they're bored.
So you have to have some kind of difference in it, but you have to have enough mastery that they feel like they've solved most of the problems and that there's just a little bit left to go, and you can never let them have 100%."
"And that's, like, one of the very key points of replayability.
I think that's a beautiful definition, you know, for game designers.
Not only in FPSs, I think that's a really, really interesting piece of advice.
Okay, and you just said you cannot tell me much about your new shooter."
"I've been asking you about this for years, and I'm never lucky.
But you, of course, had some setbacks and had some problems with the studio, but you guys are still running and kicking.
So what can you tell me about the current situation at the studio, at Romero Games, and how are you managing, you know, going through the rest of the year?
Well, we're still figuring out what we're going to do with our big game."
"We own the IP, we own the code, we own everything about the game, right?
So we have a lot of companies that are interested and still working with us on it, because when you develop a game for years and you put in, say, 50 million into a game, if you move and start working with somebody else, they get 50 million for free."
"So lots of people want to continue working on something, you know, and even if that doesn't happen, you have 50 million worth of assets that you can use to make another thing.
So no matter what, you are shortcutting the end of your game, right?
To be able to get your game done faster, you already have a lot there already."
"You were midway into it?
We were, yeah, we were about midway through our game, yeah.
All right, nothing else you can share, right?
Nothing else, all right."
"Then final one, this is all about the fans, this is all about the joy, and I saw you the other day at the OXO Museum, you know, there's a place dedicated to Doom, of course, and how are you sort of gathering the passion -You have a booth here too- from the fans, mostly about Doom."
"Well, I mean, everybody loves it.
Everybody loves Doom.
The series is still going strong.
It's super fun still.
It brings in lots of new players, which is great, and it's funny that a lot of new players say their kids, their parents have played the originals, and then their parents show them the originals."
"I did that.
Yeah, and with the fact that Bethesda has, or id Software, has remastered those games to be on every platform, like Switch even, it's like everyone can play Doom again, the originals, and go like, oh, this is where it came from, and it's like, wow, it's still really fun."
"You know, now I know where all of this came from, like the new stuff, and people can kind of get excited about that and then find out, like, it's been modded for decades, and there are thousands, hundreds of thousands of levels out there, and just like, oh, my God, it's massive."
"So, yeah.
Have you seen any cosplayer?
Yeah, I mean, there's tons of Doom Guy, or demons, or...
Doom Slayers mostly, yeah, because they sold the helmets, right?
All right."
"So they have like three different kinds of Doom Slayer helmets, and people are wearing them, and they get outfits and all kinds of stuff.
That's great.
I always love to see you guys."
"I always love to see you and Brenda.
So I hope you enjoy your time in Malaga, and we meet again, even if it's in a couple of months, I love to see you guys.
So enjoy yourselves."
