The legendary id Software celebrated its 30th anniversary on February 1. The studio’s cofounders reminisced about the old days and recalled their favorite projects, including Quake 3 and Doom.
John Romero and John Carmack, who founded id Software along with Tom Hall and Adrian Carmack in 1991, discussed their careers and the studio’s legacy in an interview with How-To Geek.
While id Software’s history goes back to the early 90s and games like Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion and Wolfenstein 3D, Romero listed Doom (1993) as his all-time favorite.
My favorite project was Doom. I had more of a hand in Doom than any of our other games, and really defined so much of it. Tom Hall did the initial game design, then I revised and simplified it. I defined the level design style and made the first episode. I wrote the level design tool, DoomEd in NeXTSTEP OS.
former game designer and programmer at id Software
Carmack, on the other hand, recalled working on Quake 3: Arena as the most fun project he has worked on.
Every project had its moments and value, but Quake 3 was my personal favorite. It had bold decisions with the multiplayer focus and 3D accelerator requirement, the technical design was good, and I had more fun personally playing it than any of the games before or since.
former CEO and lead programmer at id Software
id Software is known for the series of revolutionary games that had a huge impact on the video game industry (especially in the first-person shooter genre).
Romero left the studio in 1996 but is still proud of its long-lasting history that spans three decades. While Carmack resigned from his job as id Software’s CEO, he is also grateful to the new team for carrying on the company’s legacy.