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John Romero
Born	October 28, 1967 (1967-10-28) (age 40) Colorado Springs, Colorado
Occupation	Video game designer
Spouse	Raluca Alexandra Pleşca

Alfonso John Romero (born October 28, 1967^[1] in Colorado Springs, Colorado) is a game designer, programmer, and developer in the video game industry. He is best known as a co-founder of id Software and was the lead designer for many of their personal computer games (all subsequently ported to consoles) including Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake. His game designs and development tools, along with new programming techniques created and implemented by id Software's lead programmer John Carmack, led to a mass-popularization of the first person shooter, or FPS, in the 1990s. He is also credited with coining the multiplayer term "deathmatch." Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... short hair pic File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... Colorado Springs is most populous Home Rule Municipality in the State of Colorado. ... Official language(s) English Capital Denver Largest city Denver Largest metro area Denver-Aurora Metro Area Area  Ranked 8th  - Total 104,185 sq mi (269,837 km²)  - Width 280 miles (451 km)  - Length 380 miles (612 km)  - % water 0. ... A game designer is a person who designs games. ... is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... Colorado Springs is most populous Home Rule Municipality in the State of Colorado. ... Official language(s) English Capital Denver Largest city Denver Largest metro area Denver-Aurora Metro Area Area  Ranked 8th  - Total 104,185 sq mi (269,837 km²)  - Width 280 miles (451 km)  - Length 380 miles (612 km)  - % water 0. ... A game designer is a person who designs games. ... A game programmer is a software engineer who primarily develops computer or video games or related software (such as game development tools). ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates video games. ... Pac-Man is one of the most recognizable video games ever created. ... id Software (IPA: officially, though originally ) is an American computer game developer based in Mesquite, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. ... Wolfenstein 3D (commonly abbreviated to Wolf 3D) is the computer game that started the first person shooter genre on the PC. It was created by id Software and published by Apogee Software on May 5, 1992. ... Doom (or DOOM)[1] is a 1993 computer game by id Software that is a landmark title in the first-person shooter genre. ... Zombies attacking the player at the starting of Episode 1, Mission 3: The Necropolis. ... UnrealEd is an example of a level editor, one type of a game development tool. ... John D. Carmack II (born August 20, 1970) is a widely recognized figure in the video game industry. ... A first-person shooter (FPS) is a computer or video game where the players on-screen view of the game world simulates that of the character, and there is some element of shooting involved. ... For the band, see 1990s (band). ... Deathmatch (abbreviated DM) is a widely-used gameplay mode very well integrated into first-person shooter computer games. ...

Biography

Apple II

John Romero's first game, Scout Search, was published in 1984 by inCider magazine, a popular Apple II magazine during the 1980s. Romero's first company, Capitol Ideas Software, was listed as the developer for at least 12 of his earliest published games. Romero captured the December cover of the Apple II magazine Nibble for three years in a row starting in 1987. He also won a programming contest in A+ magazine during its first year of publishing with his game Cavern Crusader. The Apple II was one of the most popular personal computers of the 1980s. ... Nibble was a magazine for Apple II users, with a focus on programming. ...

Romero's first industry job was at Origin Systems in 1987 after programming games for 8 years. He worked on the Apple II to Commodore 64 port of 2400 A.D., which was eventually scrapped due to slow sales of the Apple II version. John then moved onto Space Rogue, a game by Paul Neurath. During this time, Romero was asked if he would be interested in joining Paul's soon-to-start company Blue Sky Productions, eventually renamed Looking Glass Technologies. Instead, Romero left Origin Systems to co-found a game company named Inside Out Software, where he ported Might & Magic II from the Apple II to the Commodore 64. He had almost finished the Commodore 64 to Apple II port of Tower Toppler, but Epyx unexpectedly cancelled all its ports industrywide due to their tremendous investment in the first round of games for the upcoming Atari Lynx. Origin Systems, Inc. ... C-64 redirects here. ... 2400 A.D. is a 1987 computer role-playing game by Origin Systems. ... The cover of Space Rogue Space Rogue is a science fiction computer game. ... Paul Neurath is a veteran game designer and creative director in the computer game industry. ... Looking Glass Studios was a computer game development company during the 1990s. ... Nebulus is a computer game published by Hewson in the late 1980s for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and Acorn Archimedes platforms. ... Epyx, Inc. ... The Lynx was a handheld game console released by Atari in 1989. ...

During this short time, Romero did the artwork for the Apple IIGS version of Dark Castle, a port from the Macintosh. Also during this time, John and his friend Lane Roathe co-founded a company named Ideas From The Deep and wrote versions of a game named Zappa Roids for the Apple II, PC and Apple IIGS. Their last collaboration together was an Apple II disk operating system for Infocom's games Zork Zero, Arthur, Shogun and Journey. Ideas From The Deep still exists to this day at IFD. The Apple IIGS, the fifth model inception of the Apple II, was the most powerful member of the Apple II series of personal computers made by Apple Computer. ... Dark Castle is a computer game released for the Macintosh in 1986, by Silicon Beach Software. ... Zork universe Zork games Zork Anthology Zork trilogy Zork I   Zork II   Zork III Beyond Zork   Zork Zero   Planetfall Enchanter trilogy Enchanter   Sorcerer   Spellbreaker Other games Wishbringer   Return to Zork Zork: Nemesis   Zork Grand Inquisitor Zork: The Undiscovered Underground Topics in Zork Encyclopedia Frobozzica Characters   Kings   Creatures Timeline   Magic   Calendar... James Clavells Shōgun is an interactive fiction computer game written by Dave Lebling and released by Infocom in 1989. ... In 1983, the release of the frontiers album brought Steve Perry and Journey to the forefront of 1980s rock music. ...

id Software

Romero moved to Shreveport, Louisiana in March 1989 and joined Softdisk as a programmer in its Special Projects division. After several months of helping the PC monthly disk magazine Big Blue Disk, he officially moved into the department until he started a PC gaming division in July 1990 named Gamer's Edge (originally titled PCRcade). Romero hired John Carmack into the department from his freelancing in Kansas City, moved Adrian Carmack into the division from Softdisk's art department, and convinced Tom Hall to come in at night and help with game design. Romero and the others then left Softdisk to form id Software.^[2] : Port City , River City , Ratchet City : The Next Great City of the South United States Louisiana Caddo 117. ... Softdisk is a software and Internet company based in Shreveport, Louisiana. ... Cover to Big Blue Disk issue #3 (1986) Big Blue Disk (ISSN 0893-2212) was a monthly disk magazine that was put out by Softdisk Publishing starting in 1986, getting its name from the nickname for IBM, Big Blue. It carried various games and applications for DOS as well as... Gamers Edge is a podcast Featuring Justin G and Justin P. the podcast covers Gamers and techology. ... John D. Carmack II (born August 20, 1970) is a widely recognized figure in the video game industry. ... Adrian Carmack (born on May 5, 1969) is one of the four founders of id Software and has worked there as an artist since its creation. ... Tom Hall at Ion Storm, Dallas, 1999 Tom A. Hall (born September 2, 1964) is a game designer born in Wisconsin. ... id Software (IPA: officially, though originally ) is an American computer game developer based in Mesquite, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. ...

Romero worked at id Software from its incorporation in 1991 until 1996. He was involved in the creation of several milestone games, including Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom II and Quake.^[2] He also served as Executive Producer (and Game Designer) on Heretic and HeXen. A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... Yorp redirects here. ... Wolfenstein 3D (commonly abbreviated to Wolf 3D) is the computer game that started the first person shooter genre on the PC. It was created by id Software and published by Apogee Software on May 5, 1992. ... Doom (or DOOM)[1] is a 1993 computer game by id Software that is a landmark title in the first-person shooter genre. ... Doom II: Hell on Earth is a first-person shooter video game created by id Software. ... Zombies attacking the player at the starting of Episode 1, Mission 3: The Necropolis. ... Heretic is a fantasy first-person shooter computer game created by Raven Software, published by id Software, and distributed by GT Interactive in 1994. ... Hexen: Beyond Heretic (or Hexen) is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Raven Software, published by id Software, and distributed by GT Interactive beginning on March 16, 1996. ...

Ion Storm

Main article: Daikatana

The now infamous Daikatana "bitch" advertisement.

Romero later co-founded Ion Storm Inc. in Dallas, Texas with id co-worker Tom Hall, where he designed and produced Daikatana.^[2] This ambitious shooter was announced in 1997 with a release date for the Christmas shopping season of that year. However, this release date slipped repeatedly in the coming months, and the game began to accrue negative press. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Image File history File links Bitchad. ... Image File history File links Bitchad. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Ion Storm Inc. ... Dallas redirects here. ... Tom Hall at Ion Storm, Dallas, 1999 Tom A. Hall (born September 2, 1964) is a game designer born in Wisconsin. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

In particular, a 1997 advertisement boasting "John Romero's About To Make You His Bitch....Suck it down" alienated many gamers.^[3] The massive pre-hype for the game and the subsequent delays (it was not released until April 2000) led reviewers to 'lash out' at the game.^[4] Upon release, Daikatana was critically panned and appeared on numerous "top 10 worst games" listings. However, it sold over 200,000 copies worldwide in its first year of sales. Romero has since claimed that the game generated enough sales to recoup its extensive production costs. This article is about gamers - people who play games. ...

During this time, Romero was also rumored to have been killed (aptly enough, with a headshot) and a photograph of his corpse with a bullet wound was also spread through the Internet – Romero himself later stated that the picture was taken for Texas Monthly, and that "maybe he shouldn't have taken it".^[5] This article is about the video game term. ... Texas Monthly is a monthly American magazine published in Austin, Texas. ...

Romero departed with Tom Hall immediately after the release of Hall's Anachronox game and the subsequent closing of the Dallas Ion office. Anachronox (pronounced IPA: ) is a 3-D, third person computer role-playing game produced by Tom Hall and the Ion Storm games studio and released in 2001. ...

Monkeystone Games

In July 2001, Romero and Hall founded Monkeystone Games in order to develop and publish games for mobile devices, and Monkeystone released 15 games (approximately) during its short lifespan of three and a half years. Some highlights of their developments included Hyperspace Delivery Boy (Pocket PC, PC, Mac, Linux, GBA), Congo Cube (Pocket PC, PC, BREW, J2ME), and Red Faction for the Nokia N-Gage. Monkeystone Games logo Monkeystone Games is a video and computer game company founded by John Romero, Tom Hall, Stevie Case, and Brian Moon. ... A Handheld device (also known as handheld computer or simply handheld) is a pocket-sized computing device, typically utilising a small visual display screen for user output and a miniaturised keyboard for user input. ... Hyperspace Delivery Boy! was the first title released by computer game production company Monkeystone Games. ... Red Faction is a first-person shooter video game that was released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, and Macintosh by THQ and Volition. ... This article is about the hand-held telephone. ...

Midway Games

In mid-October 2003, Romero joined Midway Games as Project Lead on Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows. While he continued to maintain his working relationship with Monkeystone, Lucas Davis took over running the office. The Monkeystone team moved to Austin, Texas to work on Midway's Area 51 title until its release. Monkeystone Games closed down in January 2005. John moved from Project Lead to Creative Director of Internal Studio during this time. Midway Games (NYSE: MWY) is an American video game publisher. ... Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Travis County. ... Area 51 is a first-person shooter developed in tandem for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC, and is loosely based on the 1996 light gun video game Area 51. ...

At the end of June 2005, Romero left Midway Games mere months before the completion of Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows.

Slipgate Ironworks

On August 31, 2005, Romero confirmed^[6] that he has been working on a yet-to-be-announced MMOG at his newly opened development studio, Slipgate Ironworks.[2] It has been reported that the name is temporary. "For the record," Romero wrote, "I'm co-founder of a new game company in the Bay Area and am much better off in many ways than I was at Midway." He also said that he would not reveal anything about the company or the game until 2007. is the 243rd day of the year (244th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... MMO redirects here. ... Bay Area redirects here. ...

On July 22, 2006, John Romero and former co-worker Tom Hall guest hosted episode 53 of the podcast The Widget.^[7] is the 203rd day of the year (204th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tom Hall at Ion Storm, Dallas, 1999 Tom A. Hall (born September 2, 1964) is a game designer born in Wisconsin. ... A podcast is a digital media file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. ...

Cyberathlete Professional League

On December 20, 2006, John Romero announced a new FPS project for the Cyberathlete Professional League titled Severity for both consoles and PC.^[8] Tom Mustaine (ex-Studio Director at Ritual Entertainment) will act as Director of Game Development at CPL's new studio. is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) is a professional sports tournament organization specializing in computer and console video games. ... Ritual Entertainment is a computer game software developer established in 1996 and based in Dallas, Texas. ...

It is stated that Severity will be a multiplayer first person shooter. The game will be built on technology licensed from id Software.

Personal life

Between 1999 and 2003,^[9] Romero was involved with Stevie Case, a prominent female gaming industry figure who achieved early notoriety for beating him in a Quake deathmatch. Until their breakup in early 2003, Case was the COO of Monkeystone Games.^[9] In January 2004, Romero married Raluca Alexandra Pleşca, originally from Bucharest, Romania. He has two children with his ex-wife, Kelly, Michael and Steven Patrick Romero and one daughter with his ex-wife, Elizabeth, Lillia Antoinette. Stevana Case (born September 7, 1976) is a recognized figure in the video game industry. ... A Chief Operating Officer (COO) is a corporate officer responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of the corporation. ... Nickname: Motto: Patria si Dreptul Meu (My Country and My Right) Location of Bucharest within Romania (in red) Coordinates: , Country County Founded 1459 (first official record) Government  - Mayor Adriean Videanu Area  - City 228 km² (88 sq mi)  - Metro 238 km² (91. ...

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• In 2002, Romero put his heavily modified Ferrari up for auction on eBay.^[10] Some of the modifications included a parallel port from the engine compartment into the cockpit next to the passenger's seat which one could plug a laptop into, and tune the engine while the car was running.

• Romero's favorite game of all time is Chrono Trigger.^[11]

• He enjoys listening to Heavy Metal music. Romero is the one who supplied Bobby Prince several Heavy Metal records as source of inspiration for the Doom music.^{[citation needed]}

• Wrote a comic book in high school with "10 Different Ways to Torture Someone"; featured entries such as "Poke a needle all over the victim's body and in a few days . . . watch him turn into a giant scab" and "burn the victim's feet while victim is strapped in a chair."^[12]

• The webcomic Penny Arcade has a running joke that John Romero is actually a woman, often commenting on how hot 'she' is.^[13]

• He makes a guest appearance on an episode of Code Monkeys. In the episode, he is a young employee of Gameavision, pitching his idea for Doom to a thoroughly unimpressed Mr. Larrity, who contradicts each one of the game's most noteworthy features. As they talk, they walk the halls of Gameavision headquarters, which are designed to look like a level taken from the game.

Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... This article is about the automobile manufacturer. ... This article is about the online auction center. ... This article is about the Centronics style port. ... For the band, see Laptop (band). ... Chrono Trigger ) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console. ... Heavy metal redirects here. ... Robert Prince is a video game music composer. ... Doom (or DOOM)[1] is a 1993 computer game by id Software that is a landmark title in the first-person shooter genre. ... Webcomics, also known as online comics and internet comics, are comics that are available to read on the Internet. ... Penny Arcade is a webcomic and blog written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. ... For the phrase on which this programs title is based, see code monkey. ... Doom (or DOOM)[1] is a violent 1993 computer game by id Software that is among the landmark titles in the first-person shooter genre. ...

Doom II and Final Doom

John Romero as he appeared in Doom II.

In the Doom II final level "Icon of Sin", the boss is a giant goat's skull with a fragment missing from its forehead. It says, "To win the game, you must kill me, John Romero!", distorted and in reverse to sound like a demonic chant. One can use the "idclip" cheat to enter the boss and see Romero's severed head which is skewered to a post. The player defeats the boss (without the idclip cheat) by shooting rockets into its exposed brain after activating a lift and riding it; this kills the boss because Romero's head functions as its hit detection point; when he "dies", the boss is killed and the game is finished. Using the idclip cheat allows the player to walk through the wall blocking the head. The player can then kill it. Image File history File links John_Romero's_Head. ... Image File history File links John_Romero's_Head. ... The cover artwork for Doom II, painted by fantasy artist Gerald Brom, depicts the Doom space marine firing a shotgun at a gigantic Cyberdemon. ... Flag Ship from the video game Gorf A boss is an enemy-based challenge in video games that, once encountered, stops the games progression until the player is able either to surmount the enemy or is thwarted by it. ...

The name "Romero" is also written in blood on one of the walls in level 19 "Shipping/Respawning" in Final Doom. Final Doom is a first-person shooter computer game that uses the game engine, items and characters from Doom II. It consists of two 32-level megawads (level files), TNT: Evilution by brothers Dario and Milo Casali and TeamTNT, and The Plutonia Experiment by the Casali brothers. ...

References

• Kushner, David (2003). Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture, Random House. ISBN 0-375-50524-5.

is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 226th day of the year (227th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative [1] magazine published 48 times per year. ... David Kushner is a writer who has contributed to magazines like The New York Times, Rolling Stone and Salon. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

John Romero

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

John Romero

• Planet Romero
• John Romero's profile at at MobyGames
• John Romero at the Internet Movie Database

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. ... MobyGames is a website devoted to cataloging computer and video games, both past and present. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ...

Articles on the rise and fall of Daikatana

• "Stormy Weather" article at the Dallas Observer
• "From 'Doom' to Gloom: The Story of a Video Game Flop", NPR Morning Edition story on Romero, part of a series of other famous debacles
• Knee Deep in a Dream: The Story of Daikatana, a GameSpot series of behind-the-scenes articles on Romero and his work on Daikatana