Id Software

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Id Software
Type	Private
Founded	Shreveport, Louisiana, USA (February 1, 1991)
Headquarters	Mesquite, Texas
Key people	John Carmack, Lead Programmer John Romero, Former Game Designer and Programmer Tom Hall, Former Game Designer Adrian Carmack, Former Artist
Industry	Computer and video games
Products	See complete products listing
Employees	32
Website	www.idsoftware.com

Id Software (pronounced IPA: [ɪd] officially, though originally [aɪ di]) is an American computer game developer based in Mesquite, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The company was founded by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack (no relation to John Carmack). Id Software is now considered the most influential of the many game development companies in the Dallas area, known as the Dallas Gaming Mafia.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Commander Keen 1.2 Wolfenstein 3D 1.3 Quake 1.4 Name 2 Key figures 2.1 John Carmack 2.2 John Romero 2.3 Tom Hall 2.4 American McGee 3 Games by Id Software 3.1 Developer 3.2 Publisher / Producer 4 Additional reading 5 References 6 External links 6.1 Articles 6.2 Fan sites

[edit] History

The founders of Id Software met in the offices of Softdisk developing multiple games for Softdisk's monthly publishing. These included Dangerous Dave and other titles. In September 1990, John Carmack discovered an efficient way to perform rapid side-scrolling graphics on the PC, a technical feat previously only achieved on consoles. Upon making this breakthrough, Carmack and Hall stayed up late into the night making a replica of the first level of the popular 1990 NES game Super Mario Bros. 3, inserting stock graphics of Romero's Dangerous Dave character in lieu of Mario. When Romero saw the demo, entitled "Dangerous Dave in Copyright Infringement", he realized that Carmack's breakthrough could mean fame and fortune, and the Id Software guys immediately began moonlighting, going so far as to "borrow" company computers that were not being used over the weekends and at nights while they whipped together a full-scale carbon copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 for the PC, hoping to license it to Nintendo.

Despite their work, Nintendo turned them down, saying they had no interest in expanding to the PC market. Around this time, Scott Miller of Apogee Software learned of the group and their exceptional talent, having played one of John Romero's Softdisk games, Pyramids of Egypt, and contacted Romero under the guise of multiple fan letters that Romero came to realize all originated from the same address. When he confronted Miller, Miller explained that the deception was necessary since companies at that time were very protective of their talent and it was the only way he could get Romero to initiate contact with him. Miller suggested that they develop shareware games that he would distribute. As a result, the Id Software team began the development of Commander Keen, a Mario-style side-scrolling game for the PC, once again "borrowing" company computers to work on it at odd hours at the lake house at which they lived in Shreveport, Louisiana. On December 14, 1990, the first episode was released as shareware by Miller's company, Apogee, and orders began rolling in. Shortly after this, Softdisk management learned of the team's deception and suggested that they form a new company together, but the administrative staff at Softdisk threatened to resign if such an arrangement were made. In a legal settlement, the team was required to provide a game to Softdisk every two months for a certain period of time, but they would do so on their own. On February 1, 1991, Id Software was founded.

The shareware distribution method was initially employed by Id Software through Apogee Software to sell their products, such as the Commander Keen, Wolfenstein and Doom games. They would release the first part of their trilogy as shareware, then sell the other two installments by mail order. Only later (about the time of the release of Doom II) did Id release their games via more traditional shrink-wrapped boxes in stores (through other game publishers). It is likely that Id Software has been the most successful shareware publisher to date.

Id software has been the first company to publicly state they will not support the Wii. Notable is the fact that the relationship between Nintendo and Id Software has never been strong. This may be because Nintendo heavily censored the violent games that Id Software makes, as well as poor sales of Nintendo System titles such as Doom 64 and the Commander Keen series for the GBC.

[edit] Commander Keen

The Commander Keen series, a platform game introducing one of the first smooth side-scrolling game engines for the PC, brought Id Software into the gaming mainstream. The game was very successful and spawned a whole series of titles. It was also the series of Id Software that designer Tom Hall was most affiliated with.

[edit] Wolfenstein 3D

The company's breakout product was Wolfenstein 3D, a first person shooter with smooth 3D graphics that were unprecedented in computer games, and with violent game play that many gamers found engaging. After essentially founding an entire genre with this game, Id created Doom, Doom II, Quake, Quake II, Quake III Arena, Doom 3 and Quake IV. Each of these first person shooters featured progressively higher levels of graphical technology (and progressively higher minimum system requirements).

[edit] Quake

The release of Quake marked the second milestone in Id history. Quake combined a cutting edge fully 3D engine with an excellent art style to create what was at the time regarded as a feast for the eyes. Audio was not neglected either, having recruited Trent Reznor to facilitate unique sound-effects and ambient music for the game. Furthermore, Quake's main innovation—the capability to play a deathmatch (competitive gameplay between living opponents instead of against computer-run characters) over the Internet (especially through the add-on QuakeWorld) seared the title into the minds of gamers as another smash hit.

The source code to the Quake III engine was previously supposed to have been released around the end of 2004, which would be consistent with an apparent policy of releasing all the 3d engines under the GPL when they are over 5 years old. However, John Carmack announced that the GPL release had been put on hold in order to maintain a grace period, since the Quake III engine was still being licensed to commercial customers who would otherwise become upset over the sudden loss in value of their recent investment. The Quake III source code was released under the GPL on August 19, 2005.

[edit] Name

The company writes its name with lowercase id, and the correct pronunciation is a much-argued subject. The current official pronunciation is id as in "did" or "kid", which refers to the id as a psychological concept developed by Sigmund Freud. Evidence of this can be found as early as Wolfenstein 3D with the statement "that's Id, as in the Id, ego, and superego in the psyche" appearing in the game's documentation. Even today, Id's History page makes a direct reference to Freud.

Originally however, both letters were capitalised as an acronym for "Ideas from the Deep", and because of this many argue that it should still be pronounced "eye-dee". The I was later made lowercase in the release of the second Commander Keen series, eventually followed by the D. Since Wolfenstein 3D used the "id" pronunciation together with the mixed-case "iD", many argue that the capitalization is irrelevant and purely a stylistic choice.

[edit] Key figures

In 2003, the book Masters of Doom chronicled the development of Id Software, concentrating on the personalities and interaction of John Carmack and John Romero. Below are the key people involved with Id's success.

[edit] John Carmack

Main article: John Carmack

The lead programmer for Id Software is John Carmack, whose skill at 3D programming is widely recognized in the software industry. He is the last of the original founders still employed by the company.

[edit] John Romero

Main article: John Romero

John Romero, who was fired after the release of Quake, later formed the ill-fated company Ion Storm. There he became infamous through the development of Daikatana which was received very poorly by reviewers and gamers alike. Romero now heads the Cyberathlete Professional League Board of Directors and is currently developing a MMOG for his new company, Slipgate Ironworks.

Both Hall and Romero have reputations as designers and idea men who have helped shape some of the key PC gaming titles of the 1990s.

[edit] Tom Hall

Main article: Tom Hall

Tom Hall left Id Software during the early days of Doom development (but not before he had some impact: he was responsible, for example, for the inclusion of teleporters in the game). He was let go before the shareware release of Doom and then went to work for Apogee, developing Rise of the Triad with the "Developers of Incredible Power". When he finished work on that game, he found he was not compatible with the Prey development team at Apogee, and therefore left to join his ex-Id compadre John Romero at Ion Storm. Hall has frequently commented that if Id Software ever sold him the rights to Commander Keen he would immediately develop another Keen title.

[edit] American McGee

Main article: American McGee

American McGee was a level designer and made code contributions to Doom II and Quake. After he was fired ^[1] during the development of Quake 2, he moved to EA Games where he gained industry notoriety with the development of his own game American McGee's Alice. He has since left EA and is currently president of his own company The Mauretania Import Export Company which recently released the game Bad Day L.A.

[edit] Games by Id Software

[edit] Developer

• Commander Keen
  • Episode 1: Marooned on Mars (1990)
  • Episode 2: The Earth Explodes (1991)
  • Episode 3: Keen Must Die (1991)
  • Keen Dreams (1991)
  • Episode 4: Secret of the Oracle (1991)
  • Episode 5: The Armageddon Machine (1991)
  • Episode 6: Aliens Ate My Baby Sitter (1991)
• Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion (1991)
• Rescue Rover (1991)
• Rescue Rover 2 (1991)
• Hovertank 3D (1991)
• Catacomb 3D: A New Dimension (1991) re-released as Catacomb 3-D: The Descent
  • Catacomb Abyss (1992)
  • Catacomb Armageddon (1992) re-released as Curse of the Catacombs
  • Catacomb Apocalypse (1992) re-released as Terror of the Catacombs
• Wolfenstein 3D (1992)
  • Spear of Destiny (1992)
• Doom (1993)
  • The Ultimate Doom (1995)
• Doom II: Hell on Earth (1994)
  • Master Levels for Doom II (1995)
  • Final Doom (1996)
• Quake (1996)
• Quake II (1997)
• Quake III Arena (1999)
  • Expansion: Team Arena (2000)
• Doom 3 (2004)

[edit] Publisher / Producer

• Heretic - Raven Software (1994)
• HeXen - Raven Software (1995)
• HeXen II - Raven Software (1997)
• Quake Expansion Packs
  • Scourge of Armagon - Ritual Entertainment (1997)
  • Dissolution of Eternity - Rogue Entertainment (1997)
• Quake II Expansion Packs
  • The Reckoning - Gray Matter Interactive (1998)
  • Ground Zero - Rogue Entertainment (1998)
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein - Gray Matter Interactive, Nerve Software (multiplayer) (2001)
• Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory - Splash Damage (2003)
• Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil - Nerve Software (2005)
• Quake 4 - Raven Software (2005)
• Doom RPG - Fountainhead Entertainment (2005)
• Orcs & Elves - Fountainhead Entertainment (2006)
• Enemy Territory: Quake Wars - Splash Damage (2007; in development)

[edit] Additional reading

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

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Id Software website
• Id Software profile at MobyGames
• Geographical placemark for Google Earth

[edit] Articles

• "The Wizardry of Id" article by David Kushner from IEEE Spectrum Online
• "A Chat With id Software", a GameSpy interview with people at Id Software
• "A Look Back at Commander Keen" at 3D Realms, includes some details on the history of Id

[edit] Fan sites

• All The Demos, every demo of every game ever made by Id Software
• Doomsday HQ Home of an advanced, hardware 3D accelerated source port of the original Doom, Doom II, Heretic and Hexen games with many visual enchantments
• Doom Wad Station, user-created maps in an archive directory for every game from Wolfenstein 3D to Quake 4
• QuakeCon.org, an Id Software fansite
• Doom.Neo - Contains up-to-date news along with detailed content on all that is DOOM
• id Museum, a page dedicated to Id Software
• A tribute to Id Software, demonstrating the essential ray casting technology employed in their early shooters
• Czech Doom 3 website containing a large Id Software photo gallery
• German RtCW Community News Downloads and mutch more.