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I don't get the feeling from Carmack's logs that he was exactly agreeable to work with. (Esp. if you were Romero, Tom Hall, American McGee...)

by ngcazz 3y ago

FartyMcFarter 3y ago
Do you have any examples?
- ngcazz 3y ago
  Actually not finding any references in his planfiles to Hall, but check this out on "the august quakeworld logs" aug 8: Romero is now gone from id. There will be no more grandiose statements about our future projects. I can tell you what I am thinking, and what I am trying to acomplish, but all I promise is my best effort. (Compare against this [wired] article from 1997, and you start to get a sense there was a pretty acrimonious fight for the direction of the company where it was either Carmack's way or the highway) I also found the tone in his plan update about American McGee's dismissal rather... casual: American McGee has been let go from Id. His past contributions include work in three of the all time great games (DOOM 2, Quake, Quake 2), but we were not seeing what we wanted. [wired] https://www.wired.com/1997/01/braindrain-at-id-mood-dark-and-gloomy/ https://www.wired.com/1997/01/braindrain-at-id-mood-dark-and...
  - FartyMcFarter 3y ago
    Thank you, interesting stuff!
leoc 3y ago
One notable thing in David Kushhner's Masters of Doom is that he seems to try to set up Carmack as a bit of a villain or at least an antagonist, though Carmack is and was already so beloved that most people don't seem to notice. You could say that that's Kushner trying to shoehorn in a dramatic structure that he thinks makes for a more entertaining story, but maybe it also reflects parts of the reality that most people don't know about or don't want to know about.
- donatj 3y ago
  Having recently read Romero’s “Doom Guy” autobiography, I certainly got a sense of that. Seems that Carmack became kind of almost a bully knowing all the other stakeholders depended solely upon him, and he could not be replaced. Used the threat of his departure as a bargaining chip to get exactly what he wanted. Romero however seems almost apologetic for Carmacks actions. My guess is to spare Carmacks feelings, if he has those.
  - shortrounddev2 3y ago
    Yeah romero seems to take the high road, attributing some of Carmack behavior to stress, but he really seemed like a tyrant of a boss who was uninterested in accommodating anyone
  - rasz 3y ago
    Romero was fired during Quake development for playing lan Doom instead of working.

I don't get the feeling from Carmack's logs that he was exactly agreeable to work with. (Esp. if you were Romero, Tom Hall, American McGee...)

by ngcazz 3y ago

I don't get the feeling from Carmack's logs that he was exactly agreeable to work with. (Esp. if you were Romero, Tom Hall, American McGee...)

FartyMcFarter 3y ago

Do you have any examples?

ngcazz 3y ago
Actually not finding any references in his planfiles to Hall, but check this out on "the august quakeworld logs" aug 8: Romero is now gone from id. There will be no more grandiose statements about our future projects. I can tell you what I am thinking, and what I am trying to acomplish, but all I promise is my best effort. (Compare against this [wired] article from 1997, and you start to get a sense there was a pretty acrimonious fight for the direction of the company where it was either Carmack's way or the highway) I also found the tone in his plan update about American McGee's dismissal rather... casual: American McGee has been let go from Id. His past contributions include work in three of the all time great games (DOOM 2, Quake, Quake 2), but we were not seeing what we wanted. [wired] https://www.wired.com/1997/01/braindrain-at-id-mood-dark-and-gloomy/ https://www.wired.com/1997/01/braindrain-at-id-mood-dark-and...
- FartyMcFarter 3y ago
  Thank you, interesting stuff!

leoc 3y ago

One notable thing in David Kushhner's Masters of Doom is that he seems to try to set up Carmack as a bit of a villain or at least an antagonist, though Carmack is and was already so beloved that most people don't seem to notice. You could say that that's Kushner trying to shoehorn in a dramatic structure that he thinks makes for a more entertaining story, but maybe it also reflects parts of the reality that most people don't know about or don't want to know about.

donatj 3y ago
Having recently read Romero’s “Doom Guy” autobiography, I certainly got a sense of that. Seems that Carmack became kind of almost a bully knowing all the other stakeholders depended solely upon him, and he could not be replaced. Used the threat of his departure as a bargaining chip to get exactly what he wanted. Romero however seems almost apologetic for Carmacks actions. My guess is to spare Carmacks feelings, if he has those.
- shortrounddev2 3y ago
  Yeah romero seems to take the high road, attributing some of Carmack behavior to stress, but he really seemed like a tyrant of a boss who was uninterested in accommodating anyone
- rasz 3y ago
  Romero was fired during Quake development for playing lan Doom instead of working.