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id Software QuakeCon 2003 Keynote

Author: Roger LaMarca Published: 2003-08-20	(Post a Comment)

Unlike previous years at QuakeCon, John Carmack did not give his usual technology speech. This year QuakeCon attendees walked into the Dallas Ballroom at the Adams Mark hotel finding note cards sitting on their chairs which they used to write questions for the four members of id Software attending. Sitting left to right was Todd Hollenshead, id's CEO, Fred Nilsson, Doom3's animation designer, Robert Duffy, the author of the Doom3 mapping tools, and Tim Willits, Doom3's lead designer. The discussion was moderated by a member of the press who read off the questions to id Software. The questions varied from Doom3, tips for amateur development teams, to Quake4. Concerning Quake4, it was announced that Tim Willits is the point man between id Software and Raven for the development of Quake4. He will be directing the development of the game from id Software's side. While id Software commented somewhat on the specifications needed to run Doom3 such as a sixty-four meg video card for the best experience, they would not comment on what might be needed to run Quake4.

Now on to information specifically related to Doom3. Tim Willits said the personalities of everyone on the Doom3 team can be seen in the game. Concering the story line of Doom3, it was announced that id Software hired a novelist to make a complex plot for Doom3. A story board was setup which the id Software staff would check as the went along designing the game. A questions was asked about a Doom movie that might be in the works. In the past, id Software has said that it wants to have Doom made into a movie and that Warner Bros. Studios does have the contact to do that. Todd Hollenshead commented that if they were to make a Doom movie, they would make sure it would be enjoyable for hardcore Doom fans and a general viewing audience. They don't want to make a movie that would be laughed at or a movie with a very bad plot. It would have to be a movie that they were very happy with.

Exactly a year ago, I asked Tim Willits in an interview if Doom3 was at a stage where id Software was playing deathmatch games in their offices. He said, "We are all focusing on making a great single player game and haven't started on the multiplayer component of the game yet." Well a year later, we have learned that id Software is playing Doom3 deathmatch games in their offices. Fred Nilsson commented that people are probably wondering what all the yelling is coming from while they play Doom3. He also said unlike Quake3, Doom3 has much more close combat in the multiplayer mode. You have to be very precise when shooting. Compared to many other game companies, id Software is hardly ever looking for new employees unless someone leaves or they have a gap in a certain area. Only one member of the Doom3 team, Graeme Devine, has left id Software during the development of Doom3. When asked why they wanted to make a new Doom3 game, they said John Carmack had a vision of what Doom3 should be like, but they had to wait till more advanced technology was developed. When asked if id would ever make a non FPS game, they basically it's very unlikely. They are big fans of FPS games themselves and id Software practically invented the FPS, just as the Wright Brothers invented the airplane they said. It's not id Software's goal to release simultaneous Windows, MAC, and, Linux versions of Doom3 to the public. As with pervious games, id Software will have files available for download from the internet for MAC and Linux users so they would would be able to run Doom3. It was also mentioned that Doom3 has been tested on OSX10 on the MAC platform.

Concerning Doom3 on the X-Box, id Software said they don't plan on a simultaneous release of the PC and X-Box versions. John Carmack developed Doom3 around the specifications of the X-Box so that the game would run seamlessly on the gaming console. When asked if id Software worked closely with NVIDIA during the development of Doom3, Tim Willits said NVIDIA has supported John Carmack while developing Doom3. He also said he has been on the phone with NVIDIA allot and that it is very important that id Software has a good relationship with the hardware companies.

The question was asked if there would be random monsters in Doom3 multiplayer. id Software basically said at the moment that is not implemented into the game. The moderator of the question and answer session then asked the crowd if they would like to see that feature in Doom3. Immediately afterwards a round of cheers started in favor of the random monsters in the game. id Software then said the likely hood of random monsters in Doom3 is now higher now after hearing the cheers from the crowd.

The question of the amount of players Doom3 Multiplayer allows was raised. id Software said the amount of players in the game is not limited to 4, but someone would have to edit the code to make this happen. Robert Duffy said jokingly the first mod to be released for Doom3 would probably be an eight player mod. Concering editing Doom3 from a amateur development side, id Software said the map definition files for all the Doom3 maps would be released for the game that would allow everyone to have a blueprint of how a level is made. Robert Duffy also said all the tools for editing for Doom3 will be included with the game. Talking about strafing in Doom3, Fred Nilsson said that strafing in Doom3 Multiplayer is quite nice, but not as good as Quake3 and that you can rocket jump like crazy in Doom3. When asked about Doom3's Multiplayer modes, id confirmed the last man standing game mode while saying they have no plans to have a CTF game mode in Doom3. The question and answer session ended with the question of who the red viper in the parking garage belonged to. Todd Hollenshead was pointed out as the owner by his three coworker sitting next to him.

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