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Wonderful to see this stuff online... For those of you who don't know the utter sh*tshow that was the 3DO version of Doom, and the full story of Randy Scott an

Wonderful to see this stuff online... For those of you who don't know the utter sh*tshow that was the 3DO version of Doom, and the full story of Randy Scott and Art Data Interactive, here's an article that's well worth the read. https://www.badgamehalloffame.com/doom-3do/ https://www.badgamehalloffame.com/doom-3do/ TLDR; Randy Scott knew nothing about software development, but that didn't stop him from getting people in his church to invest $100k to start Art Data Interactive and license source code from ID. He told 3DO he could do it, and would add new levels, new weapons, you name it. At the time Doom was a big deal, and 3DO heavily promoted it as the systems flagship title and the best version you could play. Knowing nothing about software development, Scott believed all that had to be done to put a new weapon into a game was to "provide a programmer a picture of what it was supposed to look like". Kept saying it was being worked on and "90% complete" but had nothing to show. As time ticked by, 3DO finally realized the mess they were in, but had to deliver something at launch, with their back against the wall they recruited an outside developer to "finish up some bugs and get the game ready for shipping and get it out in about a month or two". Turns out no work had been done, the programmer had to go directly to her contacts at ID, with many late night heroics to get the game done in 10 weeks for Xmas launch. All that's missing from this story is having Randy twirling his mustache. Last I heard he was arrested a few years back for some stuff I won't mention here... You can't make this stuff up...

sasas 4y ago
> Last I heard he was arrested a few years back for some stuff I won't mention here.. Is this article about the person? [1] "Music School Owner Accused of Molesting Two Young Students" According to this article [2], he outright lied. "Presumably to get her on board, Art Data told Heinemann a huge lie while negotiating a contract. She was told by Randy that the game was 90% complete and just needed a few bug fixes. The reality, of course, was that development had barely started – Art Data had nothing but a long list of empty promises." Also the individual doesn't appear to hold much business acumen: "With DOOM now in a “shippable” (but far from finished) state, Randy Scott went ahead and did something magnificently stupid. He requested 50,000 copies to be printed, notching up $150K in licensing and manufacturing fees from 3DO in the process. The 3DO’s user base was sitting at around 250K at the time, with the system’s big releases selling somewhere between 10K-20K" [1] https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/music-school-owner-accused-of-molesting-two-young-students/20389/ https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/music-school-owner-accuse... [2] https://www.gamesasylum.com/2016/05/17/the-unfortunate-tale-of-3do-doom/ https://www.gamesasylum.com/2016/05/17/the-unfortunate-tale-...
- aliqot 4y ago
  This stuff is captivating. Are there any other writeups of clutch moments like this that you know of?
  - sasas 4y ago
    Game industry related, Darknet Diaries episode 45 and 46 "Xbox Underground" [1][2] Things really start to escalate into episode two. Absolutely insane ending. I won't spoil it for you. [1] https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/45/ https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/45/ [2] https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/46/ https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/46/
    - aliqot 4y ago
      This is great, thank you so much
- lordfrito 4y ago
  Yeah, that article is about the same person. He played guitar I believe, so it's no wonder he ended up owning a music store. The music in the 3DO version was recorded by him and his church band... mainly because there was no time to write a music driver and it was much simpler just to stream regular AIFF audio... It's a "heavy metal guitar" version of the music, which is pretty fitting all things considered. Strangely enough, the music he provided was the only positive thing that reviewers had to say about the game at the time. Many consider the 3DO port music to be better superior to the original FM tunes.

sasas 4y ago

> Last I heard he was arrested a few years back for some stuff I won't mention here.. Is this article about the person? [1] "Music School Owner Accused of Molesting Two Young Students" According to this article [2], he outright lied. "Presumably to get her on board, Art Data told Heinemann a huge lie while negotiating a contract. She was told by Randy that the game was 90% complete and just needed a few bug fixes. The reality, of course, was that development had barely started – Art Data had nothing but a long list of empty promises." Also the individual doesn't appear to hold much business acumen: "With DOOM now in a “shippable” (but far from finished) state, Randy Scott went ahead and did something magnificently stupid. He requested 50,000 copies to be printed, notching up $150K in licensing and manufacturing fees from 3DO in the process. The 3DO’s user base was sitting at around 250K at the time, with the system’s big releases selling somewhere between 10K-20K" [1] https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/music-school-owner-accused-of-molesting-two-young-students/20389/ https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/music-school-owner-accuse... [2] https://www.gamesasylum.com/2016/05/17/the-unfortunate-tale-of-3do-doom/ https://www.gamesasylum.com/2016/05/17/the-unfortunate-tale-...

aliqot 4y ago
This stuff is captivating. Are there any other writeups of clutch moments like this that you know of?
- sasas 4y ago
  Game industry related, Darknet Diaries episode 45 and 46 "Xbox Underground" [1][2] Things really start to escalate into episode two. Absolutely insane ending. I won't spoil it for you. [1] https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/45/ https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/45/ [2] https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/46/ https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/46/
  - aliqot 4y ago
    This is great, thank you so much
lordfrito 4y ago
Yeah, that article is about the same person. He played guitar I believe, so it's no wonder he ended up owning a music store. The music in the 3DO version was recorded by him and his church band... mainly because there was no time to write a music driver and it was much simpler just to stream regular AIFF audio... It's a "heavy metal guitar" version of the music, which is pretty fitting all things considered. Strangely enough, the music he provided was the only positive thing that reviewers had to say about the game at the time. Many consider the 3DO port music to be better superior to the original FM tunes.