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#681: Doom Legend John Romero — The Path to Prolific Innovation and Making 130+ Games, How to Find the Soul of the Work, Audacious Ambition, and Building in Monk Mode

The Tim Ferriss Show

notes

NOTE

The impact of having two games on the team's success

Having two games to work on simultaneously did not impact the team's success as they knew what they were doing on both games. They divided their time into two roughly eight-hour days and focused on one game from 10-6 and the other from 6-2.

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Transcript

Episode notes

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Computer and video game legend John Romero (@romero) has designed and published more than 130 games since his first sale at the age of 16. A teenage programming prodigy, his major achievements include co-inventing a series of revolutionary computer games—DOOM, Quake, Wolfenstein 3-D, and Commander Keen—that launched the industry’s most popular genre, the first-person shooter.

The memoir DOOM GUY: Life in First Person is his first book.

Please enjoy!

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[07:39] Childhood.

[11:30] Aggressor Squadron.

[14:55] John’s first exposure to computers and coding.

[21:34] Early innovations in 3D gaming.

[26:01] The id Software team.

[28:00] Side-scrolling games.

[30:41] Developing 13 games in one year. How?

[37:28] Designing with movable and removable parts in mind.

[42:45] Warning the world of its inevitable DOOM.

[53:04] Hyperthymesia.

[59:49] Working on two games at once.

[1:02:34] When John realized DOOM would be a hit.