Masters Of Doom

I was listening recently to Masters Of Doom book. The book is so well written that made me feel like I was listening to a movie! Besides a brilliant narrator Wil Wheaton the book experience was even better.

It’s the story of John Carmack and John Romero. Following their creation of Doom, Quake, and other games. They started from almost nothing to a paycheck from shareware royalties one morning of 100 thousand dollars, to a gaming empire that changed the face of the gaming industry.

I liked the curiosity, creativity, and the dedication they put into something they really really cared about. Creating a good gaming experience alone is hard. Combine that with the weak technology at that time to create small details like the infinite scroll as in Mario game when they imported it to PC the first time.

“In the information age, the barriers just aren’t there,” he said. “The barriers are self-imposed. If you want to set off and go develop some grand new thing, you don’t need millions of dollars of capitalization. You need enough pizza and Diet Coke to stick in your refrigerator, a cheap PC to work on, and the dedication to go through with it. We slept on floors. We waded across rivers.” — John Carmack