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Inside id Software |
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| Author: Roger Lamarca Published: 2006-09-13 |
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Inside id Software Video | id Software Photo Gallery
In 1992, id Software moved out of the apartment they had working from in Mesquite to their first real offices in Texas. Their new offices would be located in the cube shaped building called the Town East Tower (the big black cube). Their offices would be located in suite 666 overlooking the JBJ Highway. It doesn't seem that id really ever liked their first real offices in Texas. In David Kushner's book "Masters of Doom" he relates to us the feelings of former id Software employee Tom Hall: "Tom didn't like what he saw the moment he set foot inside the black cube. Compared with the creative boiler room atmosphere of the lake house and apartments, the new id domain felt isolated and detached."
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At the time I visited id Software in April of 2000, plans for moving to new offices were already in the works. One of the pictures which I took even shows the basic floor plan for their new office which would be located only a few minutes drive away in a two-story modern office complex. The move to id's current offices took place on June 9th 2000. id's Todd Hollenshead, Christian Antkow, and Graeme Devine all made .plan updates that day relaying the news of the move to the public:
Todd Hollenshead: Today is moving day for id. That's right, we're vacating the "Black Cube" for a new building that's not very far from our current office. Email, telephone, web site, etc. may have intermittent problems over the weekend. Other than that, we're all pretty happy to be getting into new office space for the first time in about 7 years. Christian Antkow: Ugh. Ok. As Todd and Graeme mentioned in their .plans, we're moving our offices starting today, and over the weekend. Due to circumstances beyond our control, which I don't really want to get into at this time, we will more than likely have a serious disruption with our network. I am making it my highest priority to get the Quake 3 authentication servers transitioned to the new office seemlessly by tomorrow evening. I am hoping that there will be little to no disruption with the Q3A authentication servers. Graeme Devine: We're moving office today. Of course, various forces have collected to ensure that our T3 line is not moving over smoothly, so Xian has had his hands full (well, mostly his ear on his phone) getting things lined up. We will be installing a second master/auth/motd server at the new office so that when the switch happens, things //should// go smoothly. Of course, things //may// not go smoothly, in which case, the master server will be down. If the auth server goes down, all servers automatically authenticate, so the worst case scenario is that the in game browser will report no response from the master. |
When first entering the two story office building where id Software is currently headquartered, you won't see any references to the company being there. While their address is no more than a whois away from anyone who wants it, they want to stop the average joe visiting the building from wanting a tour of a software company. When you first walk into id, you are greeted by a huge DOOM logo, multiple pinball machines, and lots of awards blanketing the walls. Right behind id's secretary, Donna Jackson, you will find a room holding a original DOOM figure sculpted by id years ago. The id trophy shelf also located in the lobby, consists of various game boxes and awards id has won over the years.
id Software doesn't require massive office space compared to most game developers since the entire company only employs twenty-seven people, of which three take care of administrative business. While we were there, we got to see pretty much the entire development team, including John Carmack himself. We got to speak with John Root, the newly hired lead animator at id, who stopped by the Cyberathlete Professional League event that I attending. Before entering the doors which lead to all of the personal offices and work areas, there is a conference room which currently doubles as a storage room for various id relics. One of the next rooms you will notice in the server room. It houses id's network development drives, the Quake, Doom, Wolfenstein master servers, various web servers, and security equipment. While the more senior id employees have their own private offices, there are certain rooms where the designers and coders work together in a cubical environment only separated by dividers. Their offices have three large open areas which the artists, coders, and animators work in, separated by only dividers. The id guys find working in a close environment with other employees in their field better for development. The id guys find working in a close environment with other employees in their field is better for development. Some of the other rooms inside id include their modest sized gym which even includes a shower and a break room. The break room which is located in the rear of their offices includes a Red Bull fridge, sit-down area, arcade machines, drink fridge, and a small TV mounted on the corner wall showing CNN.
To learn more about the history of id Software and all the drama that has occurred over the years, check out David Kushner's book "Master of Doom". It's a must read for all id Software fans.
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