30 Years of Doom; Romero and Carmack Celebrated the Anniversary
Doom has turned 30 years old. Its co-creators, John Carmack and John Romero, celebrated the beautiful anniversary with a long, nostalgic onversation. The latter released the free Sigil 2, the unofficial sixth episode of Doom.
Yesterday marked exactly 30 years since the release of Doom. We are, of course, talking about the PC (or more specifically, MS-DOS) version of this cult FPS by id Software, as it came to other platforms - PS1, GBA, X360, iOS, PS4, XOne, Android and Switch - a few, a dozen or even several dozen springs later.
This kind of anniversary is always a good moment for reminiscing. John Carmack and John Romero rose to the occasion - two of the four founders of id Software (the other two being Tom Hall and Adrian Carmack). The former was the programmer of Doom, and the other a designer.
The industry legends held a conversation lasting just over 1 hour and 20 minutes, which also included popular content creator David Craddock (in the role of moderator, although the discussion was streamed on Romero's Twitch channel). The recording of this meeting can be found below.
Carmack and Romero celebrate Doom's 30th birthday
It may surprise you to learn that both developers have a lot to complain about. Carmack, for example, regrets that he did not enrich Doom's engine with more spectacular visual effects. In doing so, he noted that the military sci-fi aesthetic of the game's first episode (Knee-Deep in the Dead) had aged better than the abstract, hellish landscapes of subsequent episodes (The Shores of Hell and Inferno).
Romero, in contrast, praised the engine of Doom for its ability to create more complex maps than in Wolfenstein 3D, as well as its relative simplicity, which was not complicated by full 3D acceleration, which limited the number of on-screen enemies in, for example Quake.
Also technical limitations as such are recalled by John Carmack and John Romero with a touch of nostalgia. Even the iconic graphic (below) received its "five minutes" in their conversation, which was features on the game's box - although Carmack believes that Doom was so good that they could sell it in paper bags.
There is no doubt that both men are very proud of what they have accomplished together. They thanked each other for it, and moreover Romero expressed his appreciation to the players who still play Doom and create mods for it.
Sigil 2 for free from John Romero - unofficial 6th episode of Doom
Speaking of gaming, it should be added that on the occasion of the 30th anniversary, John Romero released Sigil 2, the unofficial sixth episode of Doom (the fourth, Thy Flesh Consumed, was included in The Ultimate Doom, while the fifth, or the first Sigil - was made available by Romero in 2019). It is free and can be downloaded from the developer's website (button below) - where you can also purchase it along with the soundtrack by Thorr, or in a physical version.
It is worth mentioning that to launch Sigil 2 you need an original copy of Doom (in .wad format). Romero also recommends downloading the source port of GZDoom version 4.11.3 (you can find it here).
Birthday wishes
As Doom laid the foundation for the 3D shooter genre as we know it today, it can undoubtedly be considered one of the most important games in the history of the industry. That's why its 30th birthday did not go unnoticed. Wishes - if you can use that term here - were offered by, among others, the head of Xbox Phil Spencer, the creators of Gears of War, organizer and host of The Game Awards gala Geoff Keighley, companies Bethesda and Obsidian, Harvey Smith from Arkane Studios, as well as Jordan Mechner, creator of Prince of Persia from 1989 or Karateka. X posts of some of them can be found below.
Doom Eternal sequel on the way?
Finally, it is worth mentioning thatrumors have been circulating online, suggesting that at The Game Awards 2023 someone was to announced a sequel to Doom Eternal from 2020, the latest installment of the series in question. This - as we already know - did not happen, but this game seems more than certain. Its announcement is probably a matter of time.
