id Software

id Software
Subsidiary
Industry Computer and video games
Interactive entertainment
Founded Mesquite, Texas, United States (February 1, 1991)
Founder Adrian Carmack
John Carmack
Tom Hall
John Romero
Headquarters Richardson, Texas, United States
Key people
Tim Willits (studio director)
Products Wolfenstein (1992)
Doom (1993–)
Quake (1996–)
Rage (2011)
Number of employees
200+ (2011)[1]
Parent ZeniMax Media
Website www.idsoftware.com

id Software (/ɪd/; see Company name, sometimes erroneously capitalized as ID Software) is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded on February 1, 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack (no relation to John Carmack). Business manager Jay Wilbur was also involved.[2]

id made important technological developments in video game technologies for the PC (running MS-DOS and Windows), including work done for the Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake franchises. id's work was particularly important in 3D computer graphics technology and in game engines that are heavily used throughout the video game industry.

The company was also heavily involved in the creation of the first-person shooter genre. Wolfenstein 3D is often considered as the first true FPS, Doom was a game that popularized the genre and PC gaming in general, and Quake is the first shooter to have online multiplayer, which is a widespread feature used in today's games of the same genre, as well as id's first true 3D first-person shooter.

On June 24, 2009, ZeniMax Media acquired the company.

History

The founders of id Software met in the offices of Softdisk developing multiple games for Softdisk's monthly publishing. These included Dangerous Dave and other titles. In September 1990, John Carmack developed an efficient way that would perform rapid side-scrolling graphics on the PC. Upon making this breakthrough, Carmack and Hall stayed up late into the night making a replica of the first level of the popular 1988 NES game Super Mario Bros. 3, inserting stock graphics of Romero's Dangerous Dave character in lieu of Mario. When Romero saw the demo, entitled "Dangerous Dave in Copyright Infringement", he realized that Carmack's breakthrough could have potential. The team that would later form id Software immediately began moonlighting, going so far as to "borrow" company computers that were not being used over the weekends and at nights while they designed their own remake of Super Mario Bros. 3.

Despite their work, Nintendo turned them down, saying they had no interest in expanding to the PC market, and that Mario games were to remain exclusive to Nintendo consoles. Around this time, Scott Miller of Apogee Software learned of the group and their exceptional talent, having played one of John Romero's Softdisk games, Dangerous Dave, and contacted Romero under the guise of multiple fan letters that Romero came to realize all originated from the same address.[3][4] When he confronted Miller, Miller explained that the deception was necessary since companies at that time were very protective of their talent and it was the only way he could get Romero to initiate contact with him. Miller suggested that they develop shareware games that he would distribute. As a result, the id Software team began the development of Commander Keen, a Mario-style side-scrolling game for the PC, once again "borrowing" company computers to work on it at odd hours at the lake house at which they lived in Shreveport, Louisiana. On December 14, 1990, the first episode was released as shareware by Miller's company, Apogee, and orders began rolling in. Shortly after this, Softdisk management learned of the team's deception and suggested that they form a new company together, but the administrative staff at Softdisk threatened to resign if such an arrangement were made. In a legal settlement, the team was required to provide a game to Softdisk every two months for a certain period of time, but they would do so on their own. On February 1, 1991, id Software was founded.

The shareware distribution method was initially employed by id Software through Apogee Software to sell their products, such as the Commander Keen, Wolfenstein and Doom games. They would release the first part of their trilogy as shareware, then sell the other two installments by mail order. Only later (about the time of the release of Doom II) did id Software release their games via more traditional shrink-wrapped boxes in stores (through other game publishers).

id Software moved from the "cube-shaped" Mesquite office to a newly built location in Richardson, Texas.

On June 24, 2009, it was announced that id Software had been acquired by ZeniMax Media (owner of Bethesda Softworks). The deal would eventually affect publishing deals id Software had before the acquisition, namely Rage, which was being published through Electronic Arts.[5]

On June 26, 2013, id Software president Todd Hollenshead quit after 17 years of service.[6]

On November 22, 2013, it was announced id co-founder and Technical Director John Carmack had fully resigned from the company to work full-time at Oculus VR which he joined as CTO in August 2013.[7][8] He was the last of the original founders to leave the company.

Company name

The company writes its name with a lowercase id, which is pronounced as in "did" or "kid", and, according to the book Masters of Doom, the group identified itself as "Ideas from the Deep" in the early days of Softdisk but that, in the end, the name 'id' came from the phrase "in demand".[9] It is presented by the company as a reference to the id, a psychological concept introduced by Sigmund Freud. Evidence of the reference can be found as early as Wolfenstein 3D with the statement "that's id, as in the id, ego, and superego in the psyche" appearing in the game's documentation. Prior to an update to the website, id's History page made a direct reference to Freud.[10]

Key employees

Former key employees

Arranged in chronological order:

Game development

Technology

Co-founder John Carmack at the 2010 GDC

Starting with their first shareware game series, Commander Keen, id Software has licensed the core source code for the game, or what is more commonly known as the engine. Brainstormed by John Romero, id Software held a weekend session titled "The id Summer Seminar" in the summer of 1991 with prospective buyers including Scott Miller, George Broussard, Ken Rogoway, Jim Norwood and Todd Replogle. One of the nights, id Software put together an impromptu game known as "Wac-Man" to demonstrate not only the technical prowess of the Keen engine, but also how it worked internally.

id Software has developed their own game engine for each of their titles when moving to the next technological milestone, including Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, ShadowCaster,[12] Doom, Quake, Quake II, and Quake III, as well as the technology used in making Doom 3. After being used first for id Software's in-house game, the engines are licensed out to other developers. According to Eurogamer.net, "id Software has been synonymous with PC game engines since the concept of a detached game engine was first popularised". During the mid to late 1990s, "the launch of each successive round of technology it's been expected to occupy a headlining position", with the Quake III engine being most widely adopted of their engines. However id Tech 4 had far fewer licensees than the Unreal Engine from Epic Games, due to the long development time that went into Doom 3 which id had to release before licensing out that engine to others.

In conjunction with his self-professed affinity for sharing source code, John Carmack has open-sourced most of the major id Software engines under the GNU General Public License. Historically, the source code for each engine has been released once the code base is 5 years old. Consequently, many home grown projects have sprung up porting the code to different platforms, cleaning up the source code, or providing major modifications to the core engine. Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM and Quake engine ports are ubiquitous to nearly all platforms capable of running games, such as hand-held PCs, iPods, the PSP, the Nintendo DS and more. Impressive core modifications include DarkPlaces which adds stencil shadow volumes into the original Quake engine along with a more efficient network protocol. Another such project is ioquake3, which maintains a goal of cleaning up the source code, adding features and fixing bugs. Even earlier id Software code, namely for Hovertank 3D and Catacomb 3D, was released in June 2014 by Flat Rock Software.[13]

The GPL release of the Quake III engine's source code was moved from the end of 2004 to August 2005 as the engine was still being licensed to commercial customers who would otherwise be concerned over the sudden loss in value of their recent investment.

On August 4, 2011, John Carmack revealed during his QuakeCon 2011 keynote that they will be releasing the source code of the Doom 3 engine (id Tech 4) during the year.[14]

id Software publicly stated they would not support the Wii console (possibly due to technical limitations),[15] although they have since indicated that they may release titles on that platform (although it would be limited to their games released during the 1990s).[16]

Since id Software revealed their engine id Tech 5, they call their engines "id Tech", followed by a version number.[17] Older engines have retroactively been renamed to fit this scheme, with the Doom engine as id Tech 1.

Linux gaming

Timothee Besset has been responsible for many Linux ports of id Software's games

id Software was an early pioneer in the Linux gaming market,[18] and id Software's Linux games have been some of the most popular of the platform. Many id Software games won the Readers' and Editors' Choice awards of Linux Journal.[19][20][21][22] Some id Software titles ported to Linux are Doom (the first id Software game to be ported), Quake, Quake II, Quake III Arena, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Doom 3, Quake 4, and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Since id Software and some of its licensees released the source code for some of their previous games, several games which were not ported (such as Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny, Heretic, Hexen, Hexen II, and Strife) can run on Linux and other operating systems natively through the use of source ports. Quake Live also launched with Linux support, although this, alongside OS X support, was later removed when changed to a standalone title.[23]

The tradition of porting to Linux was first started by Dave D. Taylor, with David Kirsch doing some later porting. Since Quake III Arena, Linux porting had been handled by Timothee Besset. The majority of all id Tech 4 games, including those made by other developers, have a Linux client available, the only current exceptions being Wolfenstein and Brink. Similarly, almost all of the games utilizing the id tech 2 engine have Linux ports, the only exceptions being those created by Ion Storm. Despite fears by the Linux gaming community that id Tech 5 would not be ported to that platform,[24] Timothee Besset in his blog has stated "I'll be damned if we don't find the time to get Linux builds done".[25] Besset has stated that id Software's primary justification for releasing Linux builds is better code quality, along with a technical interest for the platform. On January 26, 2012 Besset announced that he had left id.[26]

John Carmack has expressed his stance with regard to Linux builds in the past.[27] In December 2000 Todd Hollenshead expressed support for Linux: "All said, we will continue to be a leading supporter of the Linux platform because we believe it is a technically sound OS and is the OS of choice for many server ops."[28] However, on April 25, 2012 Carmack revealed that "there are no plans for a native Linux client" of id's most recent game, Rage.[29] In February 2013, Carmack argued for improving emulation as the "proper technical direction for gaming on Linux", though this was also due to Zenimax's refusal to support "unofficial binaries", given all prior ports (except for Quake III Arena, via Loki Software, and earlier versions of Quake Live) having only ever been unofficial.[30] Carmack didn't mention official games Quake: The Offering and Quake II: Colossus ported by id Software to Linux and published by Macmillan Computer Publishing USA.[31]

Games

Commander Keen

The Commander Keen series, a platform game introducing one of the first smooth side-scrolling game engines for MS-DOS, brought id Software into the gaming mainstream. The game was very successful and spawned a whole series of titles. It was also the series of id Software that designer Tom Hall was most affiliated with. The first Commander Keen trilogy was released on December 14, 1990.

Wolfenstein

Main article: Wolfenstein (series)

The company's breakout product was released on May 5, 1992: Wolfenstein 3D, a first-person shooter (FPS) with smooth 3D graphics that were unprecedented in computer games, and with violent gameplay that many gamers found engaging. After essentially founding an entire genre with this game, id Software created Doom, Doom II, Quake, Quake II, Quake III Arena, Quake 4, and Doom 3. Each of these first-person shooters featured progressively higher levels of graphical technology. Wolfenstein 3D spawned a prequel and a sequel: the prequel called Spear of Destiny, and the second, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, using the id Tech 3 engine. A third Wolfenstein sequel, simply titled Wolfenstein, was released by Raven Software, using the id tech 4 engine. The second sequel and reboot was developed using the id tech 5 engine and released by MachineGames.

Doom

Main article: Doom (series)

Eighteen months after their release of Wolfenstein 3D, on December 10, 1993, id Software released Doom which would again set new standards for graphic quality and graphic violence in computer gaming. Doom featured a sci-fi/horror setting with graphic quality that had never been seen on personal computers or even video game consoles. Doom became a cultural phenomenon and its violent theme would eventually launch a new wave of criticism decrying the dangers of violence in video games. Doom was ported to numerous platforms, inspired many knock-offs, and was eventually followed by the technically similar Doom II: Hell on Earth. id Software made its mark in video game history with the shareware release of Doom, and eventually revisited the theme of this game in 2004 with their release of Doom 3. John Carmack said in an interview at QuakeCon 2007 that there will be a Doom 4. It has been in development since May 7, 2008.[32] Doom, as the fourth installation is called, is set to be released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on May 13, 2016. The game will be a reboot of the Doom series.

Quake

Main article: Quake (series)

On June 22, 1996, the release of Quake marked the second milestone in id Software history. Quake combined a cutting edge fully 3D engine, the Quake engine, with a distinctive art style to create critically acclaimed graphics for its time. Audio was not neglected either, having recruited Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor to facilitate unique sound effects and ambient music for the game. (A small homage was paid to Nine Inch Nails in the form of the band's logo appearing on the ammunition boxes for the nailgun weapon.) It also included the work of Michael Abrash. Furthermore, Quake's main innovation, the capability to play a deathmatch (competitive gameplay between living opponents instead of against computer-controlled characters) over the Internet (especially through the add-on QuakeWorld), seared the title into the minds of gamers as another smash hit.

In 2008, id Software was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for the pioneering work Quake represented in user modifiable games.[33] id Software is the only game development company ever honored twice by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, having been given an Emmy Award in 2007 for creation of the 3D technology that underlies modern shooter video games.[34]

The Quake series continued with Quake II in 1997. However, the game is not a storyline sequel, and instead focuses on an assault on an alien planet, Stroggos, in retaliation for Strogg attacks on Earth. Most of the subsequent entries in the Quake franchise follow this storyline. Quake III Arena (1999), the next title in the series, has minimal plot, but centers around the "Arena Eternal", a gladiatorial setting created by an alien race known as the Vadrigar and populated by combatants plucked from various points in time and space. Among these combatants are some characters either drawn from or based on those in Doom ("Doomguy"), Quake (Ranger, Wrack), and Quake II (Bitterman, Tank Jr., Grunt, Stripe). Quake IV (2005) picks up where Quake II left off — finishing the war between the humans and Strogg. The spin-off Enemy Territory: Quake Wars acts as a prequel to Quake II, when the Strogg first invade Earth. It should be noted that Quake IV and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars were made by outside developers and not id.

There have also been a few other spin off games such as Quake Mobile in 2005 and Quake Live, an internet browser based modification of Quake III. A game called Quake Arena DS was planned and canceled for the Nintendo DS. John Carmack stated, at QuakeCon 2007, that the id Tech 5 engine would be used for a new Quake game.

Rage

Main article: Rage (video game)

Todd Hollenshead announced in May 2007 that id Software had begun working on an all new series that would be using a new engine. Hollenshead also mentioned that the title would be completely developed in-house, marking the first game since 2004's Doom 3 to be done so.[35] At 2007's WWDC, John Carmack showed the new engine called id Tech 5.[36] Later that year, at QuakeCon 2007, the title of the new game was revealed as Rage.[37]

On July 14, 2008, id Software announced at the 2008 E3 event that they would be publishing Rage through Electronic Arts, and not id's longtime publisher Activision.[38] However, since then Zenimax has also announced that they are publishing Rage through Bethesda Softworks.[39]

On August 12, 2010, during Quakecon 2010, id Software announced Rage US ship date of September 13, 2011, and a European ship date of September 15, 2011.[40] During the keynote, id also demonstrated a Rage spin-off title running on the iPhone.[41] This technology demo later became Rage HD.

Other games

During its early days, id Software produced much more varied games; these include the early 3D first-person shooter experiments that led to Wolfenstein 3D and DoomHovertank 3D and Catacomb 3D. There was also the Rescue Rover series, which had two games — Rescue Rover and Rescue Rover 2. Also there was John Romero's Dangerous Dave series, which included such notables as the tech demo (In Copyright Infringement) which led to the Commander Keen engine, and the decently popular Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion. In the Haunted Mansion was powered by the same engine as the earlier id Software game Shadow Knights, which was one of the several games written by id Software to fulfill their contractual obligation to produce games for Softdisk, where the id Software founders had been employed. id Software has also overseen several games using its technology that were not made in one of their IPs such as ShadowCaster, (early-id Tech 1), Heretic, Hexen: Beyond Heretic (id Tech 1), Hexen II (Quake engine), and Orcs and Elves (Doom RPG engine).

Games developed by id Software

Screenshot of a Commander Keen game, Keen Must Die!
A screenshot from the first episode of Doom
Title Release
year
Publisher(s) Platform(s) Notes
Dangerous Dave 1988 N/A Apple II
MS-DOS
[nb 1]
Commander Keen 1990–1991 Apogee Software
Softdisk
MS-DOS N/A
Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion 1991 Softdisk MS-DOS N/A
Rescue Rover 1991 Softdisk MS-DOS N/A
Rescue Rover 2 1991 Softdisk MS-DOS N/A
Shadow Knights 1991 Softdisk MS-DOS N/A
Hovertank 3D 1991 Softdisk MS-DOS N/A
Catacomb 3-D 1991 Softdisk MS-DOS [nb 2]
Wolfenstein 3D 1992 Apogee Software MS-DOS N/A
Spear of Destiny 1992 FormGen Corporation MS-DOS N/A
Doom 1993 GT Interactive MS-DOS N/A
Doom II: Hell on Earth 1994 GT Interactive MS-DOS N/A
The Ultimate Doom 1995 GT Interactive MS-DOS N/A
Master Levels for Doom II 1995 GT Interactive MS-DOS Expansion pack for Doom II: Hell on Earth.
Final Doom 1996 GT Interactive MS-DOS N/A
Quake 1996 GT Interactive MS-DOS
Linux
N/A
Quake II 1997 Activision Microsoft Windows
Linux
N/A
Quake III Arena 1999 Activision Microsoft Windows
Linux
N/A
Quake III: Team Arena 2000 Activision Microsoft Windows
Linux
Expansion pack for Quake III Arena.
Doom 3 2004 Activision Microsoft Windows
Linux
Mac OS X
N/A
Quake Live 2010 Bethesda Softworks Microsoft Windows N/A
Rage 2011 Bethesda Softworks Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 3
Xbox 360
OS X
N/A
Doom 3 BFG Edition 2012 Bethesda Softworks Microsoft Windows
Linux
PlayStation 3
Xbox 360
Shield Portable
Re-release of Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil and an expansion pack titled Lost Mission.
Doom 2016 Bethesda Softworks Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 4
Xbox One
Multiplayer developed with Certain Affinity.

Games by external developers

Title Release
year
Developer(s) Original platform(s) Notes
Heretic 1994 Raven Software MS-DOS N/A
Hexen: Beyond Heretic 1995 Raven Software MS-DOS N/A
Quake: The Offering 1996 N/A MS-DOS [nb 3]
Doom 64 1997 Midway Games Nintendo 64 N/A
Hexen II 1997 Raven Software Microsoft Windows N/A
Towers of Darkness: Heretic, Hexen & Beyond[42] 1997 N/A MS-DOS [nb 4]
Quake II: Quad Damage 1999 N/A Microsoft Windows [nb 5]
Return to Castle Wolfenstein 2001 Gray Matter Interactive
Nerve Software (multiplayer)
Microsoft Windows N/A
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory 2003 Splash Damage Microsoft Windows N/A
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil 2005 Nerve Software Microsoft Windows N/A
Quake 4 2005 Raven Software Microsoft Windows N/A
Doom RPG 2005 Fountainhead Entertainment Mobile N/A
Orcs and Elves 2005 Fountainhead Entertainment Mobile N/A
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars 2007 Splash Damage Microsoft Windows N/A
Wolfenstein RPG 2008 Fountainhead Entertainment Mobile N/A
Wolfenstein 2009 Raven Software Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 3
Xbox 360
N/A
Wolfenstein: The New Order 2014 MachineGames Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 3
PlayStation 4
Xbox 360
Xbox One
N/A
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood 2015 MachineGames Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 4
Xbox One
N/A

Expansion packs

Title Release
year
Developer(s) Original game Original platform(s) Notes
Scourge of Armagon 1997 Hipnotic Software Quake MS-DOS N/A
Dissolution of Eternity 1997 Rogue Entertainment Quake MS-DOS N/A
The Reckoning 1998 Gray Matter Interactive Quake II Microsoft Windows N/A
Ground Zero 1998 Rogue Entertainment Quake II Microsoft Windows N/A

Other media

id Software has also been associated with novels since the publication of the original Doom novels. This has been restarted from 2008 onward with Matthew J. Costello's (a story consultant for Doom 3 and now Rage) new Doom 3 novels: Worlds on Fire and Maelstrom.

id Software became involved in film development when they were in the production team of the film adaption of their Doom franchise in 2005. In August 2007, Todd Hollenshead stated at QuakeCon 2007 that a Return to Castle Wolfenstein movie is in development which re-teams the Silent Hill writer/producer team, Roger Avary as writer and director and Samuel Hadida as producer.

Controversy

id Software was the target of controversy over two of their most popular games, Doom and the earlier Wolfenstein 3D:

Doom

Doom was notorious for its high levels of graphic violence[43] and satanic imagery, which generated controversy from a broad range of groups. Yahoo! Games listed it as one of the top ten most controversial games of all time.[44]

The game again sparked controversy throughout a period of school shootings in the United States when it was found that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who committed the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, were avid players of the game. While planning for the massacre, Harris said that the killing would be "like playing Doom", and "it'll be like the LA riots, the Oklahoma bombing, WWII, Vietnam, Duke Nukem and Doom all mixed together", and that his shotgun was "straight out of the game".[45] A rumor spread afterwards that Harris had designed a Doom level that looked like the high school, populated with representations of Harris's classmates and teachers, and that Harris practiced for his role in the shootings by playing the level over and over. Although Harris did design Doom levels, none of them were based on Columbine High School.[46]

While Doom and other violent video games have been blamed for nationally covered school shootings, 2008 research featured by Greater Good Science Center[47] shows that the two are not closely related. Harvard medical school researchers Cheryl Olson and Lawrence Kutner found that violent video games did not correlate to school shootings. The U.S. Secret Service and Department of Education analyzed 37 incidents of school violence and sought to develop a profile of school shooters; they discovered that the most common traits among shooters were that they were male and had histories of depression and attempted suicide. While many of the killers—like the vast majority of young teenage boys—did play video games, this study did not find a relationship between game play and school shootings. In fact, only one eighth of the shooters showed any special interest in violent video games, far less than the number of shooters who seemed attracted to books and movies with violent content.[48]

Wolfenstein 3D

As for Wolfenstein 3D, due to its use of Nazi symbols such as the swastika and the anthem of the Nazi Party, Horst-Wessel-Lied, as theme music, the PC version of the game was withdrawn from circulation in Germany in 1994, following a verdict by the Amtsgericht München on January 25, 1994. Despite the fact that Nazis are portrayed as the enemy in Wolfenstein, the use of those symbols is a federal offense in Germany unless certain circumstances apply. Similarly, the Atari Jaguar version was confiscated following a verdict by the Amtsgericht Berlin Tiergarten on December 7, 1994.

Due to concerns from Nintendo of America, the Super NES version was modified to not include any swastikas or Nazi references; furthermore, blood was replaced with sweat to make the game seem less violent, and the attack dogs in the game were replaced by giant mutant rats. Employees of id Software are quoted in The Official DOOM Player Guide about the reaction to Wolfenstein, claiming it to be ironic that it was morally acceptable to shoot people and rats, but not dogs. Two new weapons were added as well. The Super NES version was not as successful as the PC version.

People

In 2003, the book Masters of Doom chronicled the development of id Software, concentrating on the personalities and interaction of John Carmack and John Romero. Below are the key people involved with id's success.

John Carmack

Main article: John D. Carmack

Carmack's skill at 3D programming is widely recognized in the software industry and from its inception, he was id's lead programmer. On August 7, 2013 he joined Oculus VR, a company developing virtual reality headsets, and left id Software on November 22, 2013.[8]

John Romero

Main article: John Romero

John Romero, who was forced to resign after the release of Quake, later formed the ill-fated company Ion Storm. There, he became infamous through the development of Daikatana, which was received negatively from reviewers and gamers alike upon release.

Both Tom Hall and John Romero have reputations as designers and idea men who have helped shape some of the key PC gaming titles of the 1990s.

Tom Hall

Main article: Tom Hall

Tom Hall was forced to resign by id Software during the early days of Doom development, but not before he had some impact; for example, he was responsible for the inclusion of teleporters in the game. He was let go before the shareware release of Doom and then went to work for Apogee, developing Rise of the Triad with the "Developers of Incredible Power". When he finished work on that game, he found he was not compatible with the Prey development team at Apogee, and therefore left to join his ex-id compatriot John Romero at Ion Storm. Hall has frequently commented that if he could obtain the rights to Commander Keen, he would immediately develop another Keen title.

Sandy Petersen

Main article: Sandy Petersen

Sandy Petersen was a level designer for 19 of the 27 levels in the original Doom title as well as 17 of the 32 levels of Doom II. As a fan of H.P. Lovecraft, his influence is apparent in the Lovecraftian feel of the monsters for Quake, and he created Inferno, the third "episode" of the first DOOM. He left id Software during the production of Quake II and most of his work was scrapped before the title was released.

American McGee

Main article: American McGee

American McGee was a level designer for Doom II, The Ultimate Doom, Quake, and Quake II. He was asked to resign after the release of Quake II, then moved to Electronic Arts where he gained industry notoriety with the development of his own game American McGee's Alice. After leaving Electronic Arts, he became an independent entrepreneur and game developer. McGee now heads independent development house Spicy Horse in Shanghai, where he works on various projects.

Notes

  1. Dangerous Dave is a solo project of John Romero predating id's formation, but id Software produced its first sequel and it is sometimes regarded as an early id Software title. Later Dangerous Dave sequels were not made by id, nor were later Catacomb titles.
  2. Re-released as Catacomb 3-D: The Descent.
  3. Quake: The Offering is a compilation containing the original Quake and the two official expansion packs.
  4. Towers of Darkness: Heretic, Hexen & Beyond is a compilation containing Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, Hexen and Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel.
  5. Quake II: Quad Damage is a compilation containing Quake II, the two official expansion packs and Quake II Netpack I: Extremities.

References

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  2. Burney, Nabeel; Wilbur, Jay (January 24, 2011). "Interview with Epic Games' Jay Wilbur". Slowdown. Retrieved April 4, 2011. For the same-named British bandleader, see Jay Wilbur (1898–1970).
  3. "Interview with John Romero". May 15, 2006. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
  4. "20 Years of Evolution: Scott Miller and 3D Realms". August 21, 2009. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
  5. Remo, Chris (June 24, 2009). "Bethesda Parent ZeniMax Acquires id Software". Gamasutra. Retrieved June 24, 2009.
  6. id Software President Todd Hollenshead Leaves Company. IGN (June 26, 2013). Retrieved on 2013-08-23.
  7. http://www.oculusvr.com/blog/john-carmack-joins-oculus-as-cto/
  8. 1 2 "Doom co-creator John Carmack officially leaves id Software". GameSpot.
  9. David Kushner (April 24, 2003). Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture. Google Books (Random House). Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  10. "id's History page". idsoftware.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2011. Retrieved October 25, 2010.
  11. 1 2 Steinman, Gary. "Build It Yourself With DOOM SnapMap". bethesda.net.
  12. Kushner, David (2004). Masters of Doom (paperback ed.). Random House Publishing Group. pp. 119–122. ISBN 0-8129-7215-5.
  13. Larabel, Michael (June 6, 2014). "id Software's Softdisk Open-Sources Some Really Old Games". Phoronix. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
  14. "Doom 3 Source-Code To Be Released This Year".
  15. "id Software boss unconvinced by Wii". April 12, 2009.
  16. "id Properties Coming to Wii" from Cubed3
  17. "id Software: Technology licensing". idsoftware.com. Archived from the original on December 15, 2007. Retrieved July 15, 2007.
  18. HEXUS.gaming - Feature - Linux Gaming Jo Shields, March 25, 2005
  19. 1997 Readers' Choice Awards Linux Journal, December 1997
  20. 2000 Readers' Choice Awards Linux Journal, November 2000
  21. Linux Journal Announces Winners of 8th Annual Readers' Choice Awards Linux Journal, October 2002
  22. Editors' Choice 2006 Linux Journal, November 2006
  23. "QUAKE LIVE Standalone Game". quakelive.com. id Software. November 7, 2013. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
  24. Bad news. id Software really is abandoning Linux. - Ubuntu Forums. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
  25. "id Software and Linux - TTimo's blog". Ttimo.vox.com. Retrieved October 25, 2010.
  26. Timothee Besset Leaves id on Blue'sNews (January 31, 2012)
  27. "id on Linux: "disappointing" and "support nightmare" from Slashdot (John Carmack, December 8, 2000)
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Further reading

External links

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