The creator of Doom – the superiority of the PC over consoles, f2p-games and virtual reality
Last week, the legendary game designer and programmer John Romero, one of the founders of id Software, passed the New York Museum of Games The Strong your old computer Apple II Plus. Exhibit collection eGameRevolution also replenished Developer magazine, which sketched maps and written a lot of code of its games, including Dangerous Dave 1988 release. Visit the exhibition staff GamesIndustry not only overall trends, but also took the icon igroproma 90 interview in which Romero shared his views on the state of modern gaming industry.
The conversation began with memories of the computers 80 and quietly flowed into the conversation about the confrontation of modern consoles and PC. «At that time, I developed the habit of doing work notes in a notebook, as the old computer does not support multitasking, and I could not run a text editor, continuing while writing code – Romero recalled. – I still am magazines which bounds write everything that has to do with the created code to me.”
“Apple Ii is perfect for teaching programming, – he continued. – Turn it on, you can immediately get down to business – a programming language was built into the ROM – and the result immediately from the screen output run. On current PC’s different – to start programming, you will first need to find the SDK and Editor and run the necessary programs.”
“Today’s lucky developers – to create the game is now much easier – said Romero. – Do not forget that the entire gaming industry created by independent developers. Companies like Sierra and Broderbund published games created by indie studios, and publishers themselves in the 80s were independent. Now anyone can get the SDK and get started making games, and then publish them in digital stores without outside help. By and large, in our time, developers need only to competently present their game audience, consider the marketing campaign. In 1983, no one even imagine how you can sell your own game. ”
Speaking about the situation in the current industry, Romero made a couple of high-profile applications: computers kill the console, and shareware game put an end to projects AAA standard. And it’s for the better, says game designer – such phenomena are able to “shake up” Igroprom as well as once it did shareware-quality games. “On the PC, there are free-to-play and Steam, where you can buy the game for five bucks – he noticed . – Computers destroy the console at least in terms of features of the pricing policy. Shareware projects killed hundreds of AAA studios. ”
Developers of shareware games, according to Romero, often resort to dishonest design receptions, literally “deflating” the money from the players. «Free-to-play is different from the monetization models that we used in the case of Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein, – he continued. – We gave the first episode for free, and people paid only if they wanted to get the whole game. Everything was to be honest, no cheating techniques. And these games shareware-challenged industry. At the time there was no demos, and decide whether to give $ 50 for Ultima or Secret of Monkey Island, it was not easy. ”
But consumers, I’m sure the designer, not stupid, and can distinguish the honest developers from those playing against the rules. Romero believes that standards f2p-design as a whole rise and sooner or later the word free-to-play free from its negative connotations. “Right, developers are trying to motivate people to give money for his game, and not force them to do so, – he said. – This rule must be the Holy Grail for any developer. ”
Console inferior niche computers and mobile devices, and more because of its closed ecosystem sure Romero. “Life cycle of any console is quite long, – he said. – PC is constantly evolving, are backward compatible, and on top of that, you can connect the controller if desired. Want to run on your own computer game, made in the 80s? Without problems. [By the way, the reverse is also possible – run a modern game on the Apple II – Ed.]. On the console to do it will not work. Want to increase the performance of your PC? Just replace the video card or the memory, and you will have a system abruptly PlayStation 4 and Xbox One”.
For virtual reality Romero, despite the obvious affection to the latest technology, provides a degree of skepticism. Pioneered Oculus Rift, by designer, by his own admission, was pleasantly amazed, but the prospects for development in this area cause him doubt. “I do not see a future for VR-technologies, – he said. – [Virtual reality], in the same way as the Kinect and Move, too tiring, and this fact alone is able to fight off the desire to use them. ”
“Optimally, the game should be simple operation – said Romero. – Let’s just say, a minimum of input – maximum output. Games using a keyboard and mouse, make a person only slightly move his hands, but on the screen at the same time incredible dynamics. Everything is going the path of least resistance, and the VR-device – an exception to this rule. Non-standard input devices appear with the 90s, but still they remain merely a strange contraption of unknown purpose. ”
I do not agree with Romero and common view that the virtual reality game socializing. “Virtual Reality actually insulates the players, and it is rather a step back than a technological breakthrough,” – he said. Romero noted that not all games can be transferred to VR-language: for example, if the game you need to move actively, constantly have to move and the player himself, and this creates a great inconvenience and, as a result, prevents the immersion in the virtual world.
«VR-devices make a gamer to do something, to which he was not used, and it is not easy to adapt to, – he added. – I am impressed by the achievements in this area, but I can not imagine that these devices will become an integral part of the video game. ” Virtual reality systems are destined to remain a subject of interest hardcore gamers, I’m sure Romero. The only way to awaken the massive interest in the game designer sees him to sell them complete with computers.
