John Romero
Alfonso John Romero was born on the 28th of October 1967, six weeks premature in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His mother Ginny met his father Alfonso Antonio Romero when they were teenagers in Tucson, Arizona. The couple traveled to Colorado with only three hundred dollars inside a 1948 Chrysler. They hoped their interracial relationship would thrive in more tolerant surroundings than the American Southwest offered at that time.
Romero's heritage includes Mexican, Yaqui, and Cherokee grandparents who shaped his early identity. He grew up playing arcade video games like Space Invaders released in 1978. That game introduced him to shoot the alien gameplay mechanics. Namco's Pac-Man from 1980 had the biggest influence on his career path. It was the first game that got him thinking about game design as a profession.
Nasir Gebelli served as a major inspiration for Romero during these formative years. Gebelli worked for Sirius Software and Squaresoft while creating fast 3D programming work for Apple II games. Titles like Horizon V from 1981 and Zenith from 1982 influenced Romero's later development style. Bill Budge also inspired Romero alongside Shigeru Miyamoto's Super Mario games. Fighting games such as Street Fighter II and Fatal Fury further shaped his creative direction.
John Romero moved to Shreveport, Louisiana in March 1989 to join Softdisk as a programmer. He helped develop the PC monthly disk magazine Big Blue Disk before starting Gamer's Edge division in July 1990. Romero hired John Carmack into the department from Kansas City freelancing work. Adrian Carmack joined the division from Softdisk's art department while Tom Hall came in at night to help with game design.
Romero and his colleagues left Softdisk in February 1991 to form id Software. The company created several milestone games including Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth, and Quake. Romero designed most of the first episode of Doom released in 1993. He created a quarter of the levels in Quake from 1996 and half the levels in Commander Keen.
The developer wrote many tools used at id Software to create their games. These included DoomEd level editor, QuakeEd level editor, DM for deathmatch launching, DWANGO client, TED5 level editor, IGRAB asset grabber, and various installers. In his keynote speech at WeAreDevelopers Conference 2017, Romero named this period Turbo Mode where he emphasized creating twenty-eight games in five-and-a-half years with fewer than ten developers.
Romero is credited with coining the multiplayer term deathmatch during his time at id Software. This concept became fundamental to how players interacted within competitive gaming environments. The term described a mode where participants fought each other rather than computer-controlled enemies.
Level thirty of Doom II featured Icon of Sin as its boss character. A giant demon head appeared with a fragment missing from its forehead. When players first viewed the demon, they heard a distorted demonic message playing backwards. John Romero's voice said To win the game you must kill me John Romero reversed to sound like a chant. Players could use the noclip cheat to enter the boss area and see Romero's severed head skewered on a post.
The player defeated the boss by shooting rockets into its exposed brain after activating a lift. Romero's head functioned as the hit detection point for the final encounter. In the 2013 IGN Doom playthrough celebrating Doom's twentieth anniversary, Romero shared that these elements resulted from in-joke pranking between development team members.
During production of Quake, Romero clashed with John Carmack over future direction of id Software. Romero wanted the game to follow his demanding vision without compromise while Carmack insisted on steady progress toward completion. Carmack accused Romero of not working as much as other developers despite their long friendship.
Romero relented on his vision and joined months-long crunch effort to finish the game. This did not resolve tensions within the company so Romero was forced to resign in 1996. In a 1997 interview, Romero stated leaving after finishing Quake was the right choice since it followed completing a hit game. He kept good terms with id guys because they had been friends for years.
In 2022 during conversation with podcaster Lex Fridman, Carmack expressed regret about how he dealt with firing Romero. He cited immaturity and lack of understanding of corporate structure as primary causal factors. Carmack clarified both men were currently on good terms despite their professional split.
Romero co-founded Ion Storm in Dallas, Texas with another id co-founder named Tom Hall. The studio designed and produced first-person shooter Daikatana which announced in 1997 with Christmas shopping season release date. That release date slipped repeatedly in coming months while negative press began accruing around the project.
A 1997 advertisement boasted John Romero's About To Make You His Bitch Suck it down causing controversy in press and public. Gamesauce featured Romero on its cover in 2010 containing an in-depth interview written by Brenda Brathwaite. Romero publicly apologized for infamous Daikatana advertisement during that conversation. The massive pre-hype compounded delays until April 2000 when game finally released.
Poor reviews arrived when Daikatana completed development appearing on numerous top ten worst games listings. During this time rumors spread through Internet claiming Romero had been killed with photograph showing his corpse bearing bullet wound taken for Texas Monthly magazine. Romero and Hall departed after Anachronox game released from Hall followed by closing of Dallas Ion office in 2001.
In July 2001 Romero and Hall founded Monkeystone Games to develop mobile device games. The company released approximately fifteen games during three-and-a-half-year lifespan including Hyperspace Delivery Boy! and Congo Cube. They also created version of Red Faction for Nokia N-Gage handheld system.
Romero broke up with girlfriend Stevie Case in 2003 while she left company in May. Red Faction development continued until October before John left day-to-day operations to Lucas Davis. Romero and Hall moved to Midway in San Diego where he joined as project lead on Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows in mid-October 2003.
Monkeystone team relocated to Austin, Texas working on Area 51 title until its release. Monkeystone Games closed down in January 2005 while Romero moved from project lead to creative director role. He left Midway Games mere months before completion of Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows ending that chapter of his career.
On the 31st of August 2005 Romero confirmed working on yet-to-be-announced MMOG at newly opened Slipgate Ironworks studio. It was reported name was temporary while Romero wrote he was co-founder of new game company in Bay Area much better off than at Midway. He would not reveal anything about company or game until 2007 according to initial plans.
In April 2016 Romero announced partnership with former id artist Adrian Carmack creating FPS Blackroom. They hoped raising seven hundred thousand dollars via Kickstarter to see project to completion with anticipated late 2018 launch. Campaign cancelled four days after launch while demo existed but no publishers expressed interest funding game after cancellation.
Romero won Bizkaia Award at Fun & Serious Game Festival held in Spanish city Bilbao during 2017. He and wife Brenda Romero established Romero Games on the 11th of August 2015 publishing Gunman Taco Truck in 2017 and SIGIL in 2019. Empire of Sin released in 2020 while March 2022 saw Romero create new Doom II level donated proceeds to Ukrainian Red Cross.
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Common questions
When and where was John Romero born?
Alfonso John Romero was born on the 28th of October 1967 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He entered the world six weeks premature after his parents traveled from Tucson, Arizona to find more tolerant surroundings for their interracial relationship.
What games influenced John Romero's early career path?
John Romero found major inspiration from Namco's Pac-Man released in 1980 which introduced him to game design as a profession. His development style also drew influence from titles like Horizon V from 1981 and Zenith from 1982 created by Nasir Gebelli alongside Shigeru Miyamoto's Super Mario games.
Why did John Romero leave id Software in 1996?
John Romero resigned from id Software in 1996 following clashes with co-founder John Carmack over the future direction of Quake. Tensions escalated when Carmack accused Romero of not working enough during the crunch effort required to finish the game despite their long friendship.
How did John Romero become involved in the Daikatana controversy?
John Romero faced public backlash due to a 1997 advertisement that read About To Make You His Bitch Suck it down while promoting the game announced for Christmas shopping season. The project suffered repeated delays until its April 2000 release date and received poor reviews appearing on numerous top ten worst games listings.
What companies has John Romero founded after leaving id Software?
John Romero co-founded Ion Storm in Dallas, Texas with Tom Hall before establishing Monkeystone Games in July 2001 to develop mobile device games. He later opened Slipgate Ironworks studio in 2005 and established Romero Games with his wife Brenda Romero on the 11th of August 2015.