John Romero's Making a New Shooter

@chaser324: Legitimately not surprised by that. Actually expected it to be cancelled once it wasn't close after 24 hours. I think not having any gameplay footage really hurts as we know the promises John Romero likes to spew and fail to deliver on.

...and it's cancelled. The Kickstarter that is. The crowdfunding campaign was stalling out a bit and it seemed unlikely to hit its goal, so it's being put on hold for now while they produce a gameplay prototype to show people.

sorry, can't stop laughing at the thought of the Carmack mistaken identity.

To be fair, John Carmack was the tech guy, he's always has been focused on that. Adrian Carmack was responsible for a lot of the character of Doom, so its still an important collab. Just don't expect it to be technologically groundbreaking.

"BLACKROOM: A New FPS from Romero & Carmack" Haha suuuure... More like A new FPS from Romero & "Carmack". Nice try though Adrian.

I've been let down too many times by Kickstarters, I'll just wait until the full release. Glad Romero is back making an FPS though!

So who is actually part of NightWork games? The Kickstarter mentions only Romero as Game Lead, Carmack as Art Director, and Lynch as Metal Composer. That can't be all, right? The KS is probably going to be successful, but right now it seems like the funding may be a bit under expectations, especially considering the names attached to it.

Should've paid Sony to give a mention during E3.

The Haxor corporation. Err I mean the Hoxar corporation.

i have no problem with the Kickstarter, but that 2018 release date

we'll all be dead by then

You know you want it to do well. This is the Quake sequel the world needs.

THE HYPE IS REAL IN THE PLANNING STAGES

Not a single ounce of footage. Just more of John Romero tooting his own horn.

Game is called Blackroom and you can find all the info you want here.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nightworkgames/blackroom-a-new-fps-from-romero-and-carmack?token=07458251

@dudeglove: I read Masters of Doom and even just seeing this thread title made me smile. I'm still very much okay with this. Hope it turns out okay.

I'm expecting something underwhelming. I'd love to be proven wrong.

who's that dweeb in the image for the john romero page? i see not one flowing luxurious lock!!!

@brutushayesosu: Amazing! (basks in the anticipation before the project is revealed to be an iOS port of Rescue Rover 2)

Well that is the kind of dumb I can really get behind.

So dumb. I'm in.

Dude, I'm ready to suck this one down.

Really curious what direction they take. Playing Ziggurat last year was just a reminder that old-school FPS mechanics are still fun as hell.

@brutushayesosu: I.....wat?!

@brutushayesosu: holy fucking shit

That was fucking great!

FUCKING ANNOUNCEMENTS OF ANNOUNCEMENTS

@brutushayesosu: I love it!

Hella. Pentagrams.

@humanity: He hasn't really done much of anything period since Daikatana. He worked on Red Faction for NGage, he made this free to play mobile game (or facebook game, I don't remember) and hyped up a number of games that never got completed. Basically, he hasn't really actively tried to make a new FPS game since early 2000, so we don't actually know if Daikatana was a fluke or the norm now.

Its kind of like a band that made a couple good/amazing CD's and then made a not so hot CD and then maybe switched genres and made a crappy CD that didn't sell at all, then they take a long break. Cut forward 10+ years, the old band gets back together to make brand new music in the same genre of their original stuff.. People hope it'll be another awesome set, but still remember the bad music as well and become a little weary.

@dudeglove: Its not fair to blame Romero entirely for Daikatana, no, he didn't make it all himself afterall; but he was still the name behind the game. He still ran the studio. When most of the staff quit, he hired a lot of amateurs/people that have never even made a mod. Hell, someone made a texture for an arrow that was something like 2,000 pixels wide. There was also a lot of tension in the company between staff. This is something a good manager would take care of. Romero just wasn't a good team manager. Instead of him making a huge AAA game with a big staff, I think he would make amazing stuff in a smaller scale level with a staff of around 10. Not this huge epic with all this variety of weapons, enemies, locations quadrupled the amount of any game at the time. Instead a smaller and more polished piece of perfection that is just fun to play.

That's nice to hear, I'll admit I'm a little more interested in the sorts of games his wife makes, but John seems like a decent sort of person. One of the major podcast (Joystiq? IGN?) had Brenda Romero and John Romero on this week, it was an excellent podcast all around.

But were still talking about games from 20 years ago. Has he done anything recent at all that would indicate he's still capable of pumping out quality material? Like I said, E1M1 was a great level for it's time but crafting a good multiplayer level now is infinitely more complex.

Either way I'm still excited to see veterans come back from the nether for another shot at the big times. If anything, for better and worse traditional developers have a different way of looking at games.

Hes a very creative guy with lots of good ideas, and hes also good at programming; he did most of the programming on Doom while Carmack wrote the engine. He also created a level editor for Quake before Carmack even finished the engine for it. He also made the Doom level editor, and also implemented and created Deathmatch, which speaks for itself.

The problem though is that Romero seems to pump out amazing work when hes limited; give him an endless budget and time and he'll put out Daikatana. Give him a time constraint and he'll make E1M1 from Doom in about a week. Quake is also a good example; everyone at id wanted to make a specific game, and Romero wanted it to be something else entirely. He clashed with Carmack about the game's direction, and they ended up creating one of the best FPS games ever as a result.

Its why everyone should be interested in this but still be extremely wary.

So not to rob the man of his due's, but why would people be excited about Romero working on anything. I mean granted Doom was a mighty fine game in it's day - certainly blew me away along with games like Hexen or everyones favorite.. Redneck Rampage. That said, level design has come a long way since the maze-like corridors of Doom. I always hear people speak of Romero with much reverence but unlike Carmack who I'd say arguably deserves praise for at least staying somewhat relevant to the industry - what has Romero done since those levels to earn him a second glance?

He made the entire first episode of Doom 1 (with the exception of one level) the rest was mostly by Sandy Peterson in just 10 weeks. Romero also made all of episode 2 of Quake 1 (with the exception of the secret level). The rest was Tim Willits and American McGee.

As far as I'm concerned, he's made some of the best levels in any game and may just be the best level designer ever. However, he hasn't done anything since the 90's, so I'm curious to see if he's still got it.

This could actually be alright - he's had a long time in the wilderness, gotta be hungry for another chance at the spotlight.

Ah yes, the god of tactful advertising.

I'm with you guys. I would literally do anything for an Anachronox 2. Literally. Yes, even to guys.

I feel like Anachronox didn't get the attention it deserved - very underrated. I remember being so amped when I finished it - because the ending NEEDS and deserves a sequel - I was almost certain there would be another :<

For anyone that hasn't seen Anachronox - this trailer pretty much sums up the vibe:

Such a great trailer for a game.

Also, neither I nor the world have recovered from Daikatana.

Edit:

@steveurkel: It's called Quake Live dude ;P

@dudeglove: Not to mention that was 14 god damn years ago and he has produced nothing of note since.

Good on anyone for making a game, seriously, it's f#$%ing hard, but a pedigree from 20 years ago means nothing today.

@dudeglove: I’m saying that he wasn’t prepared to handle that specific situation. Very few would be.
Remember that somebody (Eidos) had to look over that contract - penthouse bills and all - and say "seems legit, let’s go!".
If you (suits with money and power) put a person on a pedestal, saying yes to whatever this person wants, absurd shit will often ensue.

@paulunga: Absolutely, it's an incredibly interesting game. I'd love for someone to revisit that world and those systems and give it a bit more polish.

I still play it now, but the interface is kinda hard to deal with and it's more than a little buggy. Still really good though.

@dudeglove: That’s not what I got out of that book, at all.
Imagine being in his place; one of the masterminds behind a new genre, one of which only recently has started to plateu. He could name whatever he wanted, and the suits would make it happen.
It’s on him for taking it, sure, but let’s not forget about the context surrounding this steep cliff that would make Wile E Coyote blush.

Maybe Peter Molyneux will pitch in with his patented dog-tech.