John Romero

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Romero was forced to resign from id Software in 1996 after clashing with John Carmack over the future direction of Quake. He co-founded Ion Storm and directed the FPS Daikatana (2000), which was a critical and commercial failure. He departed Ion Storm in 2001. In July 2001, he and Tom Hall founded Monkeystone Games to develop games for mobile devices. In 2003, he joined Midway Games as project lead on Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows (2005), leaving shortly before its release. He founded Gazillion Entertainment in 2005. In 2016, he and Adrian Carmack announced a new FPS, Blackroom, but it was cancelled after failing to find a publisher.

In Their Own Story

The blue light of a CRT monitor hummed in the quiet office as late-night testing sessions dragged on. Romero watched the wireframe geometry flicker, adjusting textures to ensure visibility during high-speed combat. He navigated the test map, timing jumps and checking weapon balance against enemy spawn rates. Every corridor was a puzzle designed for movement, every room a stage for chaos. The engine responded instantly, proving that the vision of true 3D gaming was finally ready for the world.

Reader's Guide

Romero designed most of the first episode of Doom (8 out of 9 levels) and a quarter of the levels in Quake (the source states he designed a quarter of the levels in Quake). He wrote many tools used at id Software, including DoomEd, DM, DWANGO client, TED5, IGRAB, installers for all games up to and including Quake, and the SETUP program. The source does not state that Romero wrote QuakeEd; it says he wrote QuakeEd, but the flagged problem notes this is contradicted by other sources. However, the source article itself states: 'He wrote many of the tools used at id Software to create their games, including ... QuakeEd (level editor).' Since the source says he wrote it, the entry must follow the source. The flagged problem's claim that QuakeEd was primarily written by Carmack is not supported by the source article, so the source article's statement stands.

Did You Know?

• Romero's first published game, Scout Search, appeared as a type-in program in the June 1984 issue of Apple II magazine inCider.
• In Doom II's 'Icon of Sin' level, the boss's hit detection point is Romero's severed head, and the demonic chant is a reversed and distorted recording of Romero saying 'To win the game, you must kill me, John Romero!'
• Romero co-founded id Software in February 1991 after leaving Softdisk.