Matt Chat 51: Interview with John Romero (Early Days)

[franchyze922]

awesome interview!

[Jagethemage]

@why0isnt0this0workin my-spacebar-is-broken-too

:(

[TheWolfgangGrimmer]

What about the Commander Keen series ?

[ysnmue95]

I'm a teen, but when I was a kid, I played old games A LOT, and "Doom" games were my best games back then. I really hate gaming today, as it is just comparing consoles and comparing the highest video games on the market. I find your videos very amusing and interesting, I'll try to share them somehow, you really need more attention!! Keep up the good work, professor.

[negativespace261]

@ysnmue95 I know where you're coming from. You know, it sometimes frustrates me how younger gamers at my age (15) can never seem to take the time to get into this stuff. It's always about Skyrim or Call of Duty, nobody else I know has any kind of interest into the actual history of games, and all of these awesome developers. But hey, its good to know that there are others out there who think similarly. (oh and for the record, not ALL new games are bad, just the majority imo)

[ysnmue95]

@negativespace261 Yes, you're right, nice to share the same thoughts with you, I'm not even much older than you (16).

[MindOfCreativity]

I must kill him to win the game!

[schallmau3r]

whats the music in the intro? Anyone got a link to a mp3? =) its Paralax isnt it?

[d46512]

Apparently your quote should be attributed to Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, the father of Mozart's friend.

[Painmore]

I'm a big fan of Romero's work but man I must say that his HAIR IS FREAKING AWESOME and always was!

[MrMatt29999]

oh god the self proclaimed god of gamming

[ShubbaBANG]

I was only a few weeks old when Doom came out, and I LOVE this game. I watched my dad play the game all the time when I was a little girl, and I still love the game. It's timeless, and it's simple, yet difficult.

[arcticridge]

You look like John Lennon, also, awesome videos, I'm off to watch the next bit, you should interview as many iconic game designers as you can!

[MrIFUCKWAHABIS]

WOW! Please tell mr Romero we love him!

[ROEDERBABY]

John Romero, you're a pioneer of what millions enjoy each day.

[hanrinch]

didn't know ramero looked like a nerdy geek in his early day

[Renegen1]

You forgot Daikatana in your highlight reel.

[robvelor]

two bitches watched this video

[mongoleet]

enjoyed the show ! good and friendly presentation. thanks

[PurpleHeart1]

I recognise him from the ending of Doom 2

This guy is a genius

[MrGreenday34]

thumps up if you killed him in doom 2

[PhoenixWakeStudios]

As a longtime gamer and amateur game developer, I've always had a lingering interest in John Romero. Aside from his huge impact in modern gaming (Wolf 3d and Doom spawned the 1st Person Shooter genre, which today is the #1 top-selling game genre), he was indirectly responsible for my favorite game of all time, Deus Ex, via his involvement and creation of Ion Storm.

Despite all the reasons he's out of the hardcore game development picture now, I'd like to see him shine again.

[spites1]

LOL DAIKATANA

[LucidDream]

He's pretty interesting. He's made some interesting games...

[B0yardigi0rn0]

Woah! This is great! I read Masters of Doom but there is a whole bunch of new information here (I never heard about). You should have your own show about legacy PC games. This is pure gold, thanks a lot :)

[videomenace]

you look like cliff burton xD

[vintagevideogamegeek]

This was great. I can't wait to here more about Wolf 3D and Quake. Those were some of my favorite games on the PC. I never really got into Doom for some reason.

[NinjaRunningWild]

This is a great interview.

[chromeblack]

I love people like JR: He's a perfect example of what you can do when you just take a chosen path in life and throw yourself at it completely and without compromise - In John's case it came out with some truly great and some truly bad examples.

Some people will think JR and think Daikatana -- but I think most will still think JR and think Doom, a game that I played fanatically at six years old and now play fanatically at twenty two. I don't know about genius, but there's no doubt he's a legend.

[RichardEllwood]

Awesome interview!!! Romero is a really interesting guy.

[fleetwoodsucks]

jpjm romero made me his bitch :(

[SVHumper]

really enjoy your show and format, never fails to entertain and enlighten. you always have a great shirt, too. heh. keep it up!

[Hal566]

wow interesting beginnings there for John Romero!!

[blade004]

The great thing about Matt is his experience with MOST systems and his non bias to stick with just a few, so we get a TRULY broad perspective on all the developers of that time!

[MarcoFriendino]

This is an AMAZING VIDEO! Matt, i am so astonished...

You deserve much more subscribers! You are not "an angry nerd", "you don't show brand new game trailers", and that was a 10 minutes long video, with "a guy" talking to a camera... and maybe all this is not appealing for the mass of teenagers out there :(

On the contrary this is an EXTRAORDINARY piece of video-gaming history, and i'm so happy to have seen this rarity! Looking forward to seeing part 2.

[RetroComputerMuseum]

Amazing ID games, true milestones :-)

[travmank]

This is terrific! Ive been playing Wolfentein 3D, the hidden Pac-Man level in that is priceless, can't to see the rest of the interview!

[BackForwardPunch]

Damn, what a great video! That was so interesting, these MattChats are getting amazing, man! I can see your view counts are getting higher too, this videos has more views than you have subs! I definitely want to see more from Romero, this was great!

[JFredsoxfreek]

o man i love doom great interview it was cool to see an interview with John Romero

[Konuvis]

I can't believe you talked to Romero. He seems to often gets a bad rep for some reason but he's actually cool and you can tell he's a genius.

It would be amazing if you could interview Carmack so we could see how their path diverged.

And Matt you really need to make DVDs, several volumes.

I'm starting to see your interviews as museum material and I'm serious. In 100 years when people look for information about all these people who are seldom interviewed your videos may become truly valuable.

[blacklily8]

I'd love to interview Carmack, though I've heard that he's much less prone to interviews than Romero (that goes way back). Still, it would be awesome to compare them.

I'd love to make a DVD but would probably need some help with that.

[metabog]

@blacklily8 Yet, strangely enough, there are way more Carmack interviews than Romero ones.

[zombiesupastar]

@blacklily8 +1 sale for a dvd sir, if you ever do it :)

[NinjaRunningWild]

@Konuvis Or, you could read Masters of Doom

[HidetoTakari99X]

@Konuvis He's really lucky to have done that. I could only dream of talking to Romero. xD I've only talked to him on Facebook. But even that has it's limitations. :I He is actually a really nice guy though.

[xilefian]

@Konuvis His bad rep comes from the bad attitude he had, he's clearly changed though, but back in the day he thought he was a god of gamers and let his love of dungeon and dragons steer his design view too heavily (Actually he still mentions DnD among video games but he's learned his lesson and keeps them separate now).

Carmack probably deserves more credit than Romero, but Romero back then was the face of ID and a rockstar of game developers.

[Konuvis]

@xilefian That's quite possible but you know it's funny, In France where I grew up we mostly knew about Carmack. At least for me Carmack was the face of id. I wasn't too aware of Romero until Daikatana and Unreal and that's when he was out of id. Maybe in the US he was more prominent for id but I don't remember it being like this in Europe.

[xilefian]

@Konuvis I'm in the UK and yes, over here it's Carmack, it's only americans who have this strong interest in romero and see him as the face of id

[gunhaver1000]

@Konuvis Dude, read Masters of Doom. It's a really awesome book (burned through the whole thing in a couple of days), and it details both of their legacies, even after the split.

[sleepyeyedsolutions]

Home run on the shortened intro. Looking forward to the next installment of this series.

[Gylve81]

I wish your episodes were longer :-)

[marcusmalone]

Aaaaaw man, what a cliffhanger! I can't friggin' wait for the this epic tale to be told in full. I have never read any Romero comments re. Daikatana etc. Let us not forget, at least none who play MW2 or some such other FPS, Romero is and always will be the man. Headshot BOOM! You have got to start considering a DVD Matt of Matt Chat.

[blacklily8]

Thanks, Marcus. Who knows what may happen? I still remember when I only had 30-50 views per episode and thought it was fantastic. :)

[marcusmalone]

Yeah, come a long way since the Pool of Radiance vid! That was the first one I saw. Not sure if it even had an intro or much more than gameplay footage with overdub.

[jarjar2b]

wow wow WOOOW this is just GREAT ! Epic episode matt ! Great quotation as always too !

[interghost]

D'oh... I was really getting into that... what a really interesting guy. He really deseaved to do well in the business as he put so much into his dream. Cant wait for the next part Matt. Love the quotes you do too mate very cool.

PS - The intro was a much better lenght mate very nice ;o)

[blacklily8]

Thanks. I was really happy with the way that one fit so well with the content. Hope I can keep it up...!

[vidium]

wow to learn all this stories from the one that were there is awesome i wish i could have done something like that make games. awesome vid my friend

[blacklily8]

Don't wish you could have done something different in the past. Make a difference right now! :)

[vidium]

yeah man always

[00Miedo]

@blacklily8 :O Oh my god :O ....... best answer ever :D

[strn13]

Great vid, can't wait for more on Romero.

[DlNKYDANA]

Awesome. Looking forward to the future episodes with him.

[hargcore]

Awesome!!

[FenderLesPaul1989]

Matt, this was a fantastic episode! Always wanted to know more about Romero. Can't wait for the next parts!

[umbalaba]

More, more! Please :-)

[Leon200079]

Matt Chat one of the highlights of the weekend.

Amazing video once again Matt.

[laffer35]

Awesome video, will be exciting to see the rest of the interview!

[harriscmh]

I can't wait to see the next part. heh this is just really interesting.

[blacklily8]

You should meet him in real life. He's a machine.

[blacklily8]

I agree. Romero and Carmack were hackers in the positive sense, so naturally they'd be interested in the challenge of 3D graphics and interfaces.

[Snestastic]

My favourite Matt Chat yet Matt, that was really awesome :) Can't wait to see more of this interview :)

[TanukiKGA]

Woh, really nice! Its been a while since I saw Romero around, so it was a real surprise ( a good one ) to see him! Excellent as always, Matt!

[Zeating]

Great!

[markvergeer]

Matt, great interview... I was thoroughly enjoying the interview and then it stopped! Ah well more soon! Excellent stuff mate!

5/5

[reaven666]

Awesome video Matt, cant wait for the next parts of John Romero's interview. Its a great guy, and I never liked how all the Daikatana thing ended, he put a lot of effort there, you can really see that the game was going to be something original, each of the eras has its own enemies, weapons, etc

But sadly ended as a game with a lot of design flaws and bugs, some of literally can make it unplayable unless you cheat

[blacklily8]

Yes, there's a bit more to the story than most people know, so it's going to be exciting when we get to that part.

[skateblind007]

Great person to interview and this first part was quiet enjoyable. I really want to see the next parts, so please don't leave it too long before posting the next part please. :-) Thank you Matt.

[blacklily8]

Sure! I didn't know if people wanted three weeks of Romero or preferred to break it up, but whatever works.

[AltaNox13]

Och noooo!! We have to wait all week:<?

[HalfBlindGamer]

Wow, you're getting all the big names! Amazing stuff Matt, really glad having you around here on the internet. I love these interviews!

[TameFan]

how do you get them do interviews?

[blacklily8]

It's just luck. Most of them never bother to respond at all, but a few jump at the chance. Just have to ask a bunch of different people and hope that at least one or two of them are willing.

[Balgorg]

Great vid ;-)

[MaximumRD]

Matt your the best thing to happen to the gaming community on Youtube, love the new intro to! You are to good to us!

[blacklily8]

Hehe, thanks!

[broken1394]

Matt-

This my friend is such a treat- aGain!!! !

Great to hear Master Romero wax about those early days...

He sure was driven to dO games.

This vid felt like it was a minute long!!

SO looking forward to the id days.

lol J : )

[blacklily8]

Me, too! That part might end up being a multi-segment. There's a lot to know about those days.

[GammaGoblinX]

Thanks!

[q2rlz]

We want more!

[DemonmachinE]

I'd love to see part 2 next week! I want 'em all in a row, personally, because this was awesome. Amazing vid, dude.

[blacklily8]

I think I'm leaning that way, too.

[KreatorRage]

That was incredibly interesting.

[AJ100885]

thank you very interesting to hear both of you! the history of gaming is always interesting to hear about!

[PuppetXeno]

Wow.. great stuff, can't wait for the next parts! Genius, yes he is, but also very lucky to get the opportunity to develop his talents!

[blacklily8]

I was thinking the same thing. I couldn't help but wonder what could have happened if I had had similar circumstances. Is he a simply a genius, or did the constellations just line up right? One thing I do feel strongly about, though, is the 10,000 hours of hardcore experience you need to get really awesome at something. By "hardcore" I mean constantly challenging and pushing yourself; expanding and refining your skills.

[n8great321]

Really great choice for an interview! Can't wait for the rest of it.

[egobrane]

Wow, John Romero huh. Nice video

[svicciarelli]

Looking forward to more.

[newcoleco]

A video about mozart and oldschool game programming, I'm happy... it reminds me Whiz Kid (theme music = part of Mozart's Piano Concerto 21).

At some points, I was thinking : he's describing my childhood. I was born later, so I didn't programmed first on mainframes or even Cromemco computers, but I did program games, experimenting graphics, sounds, and optimize with assembly codes that, in my case, I did encode directly as HEX codes because I didn't used an assembler program.

[blacklily8]

I bet all of us resonated a bit with that description, newcoleco. I wasn't anywhere near that level, but in my own way enjoyed the discoveries of BASIC programming and getting computers to do fun things. Heck, by the time I got to computer class in high school, the teacher kicked me out of the lab because I was making her crazy by hacking her computer! (I still got an A for the class and won a silver medal in computer science state competition). :)

[dmt257]

Your videos are awesome. I cannot for the life of me think why you do not have many times more views/ subscribers.

Keep up the good work.

[blacklily8]

Hehe, well, this stuff isn't for everybody, I guess. I'm just glad to have so many comments to read and respond to!

[tgaskill]

Love your new intro! What an interesting person, can't wait to hear more. So, he was the person that wrote Wolfenstein, quake, etc.?

[blacklily8]

Yes, he was part of the team of id software. Most people usually credit Romero and Carmack mostly, though they had other members of their team.

[Maximusmadrica]

Another great episode, Matt!

[AirPhforce]

The man himself.

Did he make you his bitch?

[blacklily8]

Haha. Can't wait to show the part where he responds to that drama.

[atarileaf]

Fantastic. Can't wait until part 2