A very open interview which is great to listen to. I don't think that the experience of Doom and Quake's release will never be felt again as it was ever again. Doom changed the entire landscape and gaming forever. Quake nailed it down. Anyone who were there at the time saw it happen and it changed gaming, devs, fans, and how the world looked at games.
I think its extremely hard (maybe impossible) to do anything new on a PC the way Doom or Quake did, it's all being done to some capacity and it was Doom/Quake that laid those foundations. I think the modern equivalent would be a fully immersive FPS in a VR or holographic technology. Which may happen in the next 10 years as VR headsets get better.
Good to hear someone who made a bunch of the stuff I played back in the 90s and 2000s sounds happy and is doing well. This appears to be cut off at the end -- is there more to come?
This is incredible! Mr. Mcgee, I started playing Doom way back in 1994. I still play Doom, too, this very day. Actually, I just got the new Night Dive Studios/Machine Games Doom+Doom 2 Remaster. I have been on the mother of all Doom benders trying to beat every level of Doom+Doom 2 on Ultra Violence with fast monsters and a pistol start. So far I'm halfway through the Master Levels of Doom 2. I also just beat Legacy of Rust... you, my friend, need to play it just once. It is a brand new campaign for vanilla Doom. At any rate, thank you for helping to create one of the greatest games ever made. John Carmack was very wise to bring you on board when he did. Doom would not be Doom without you. Your levels are some of the tightest and clean I have ever played. I would love to see you go bananas with a WAD editor today. Just think, all of those old limitations are out the window, leaving pure creativity as the driving factor for new games. ;)
@Delabane Oh, I love, love, love Quake as well. This video seemed to be more centered around Doom, so I stuck with that. I will also say that my history with Quake isn't as deep as Doom. I... got into Unreal Tournament right after it was released. That was a big deal for me as I built my very first PC (by myself) just to play Unreal Tournament. The graphics were...well, unreal. I went from my Doom 486DX2@66MHz to a Pentium II@300MHz, 128MB of RAM, 3DFX Voodo 3 card. I was able to run Unreal Tournament at 30FPS and that was so cool at the time. Of course, I had Quake as well and could run the sh*t out of that as well. What's funny is I go through these phases where sometimes I'm a console only player and other times something for PC grabs me and I go full master race. At the time I largely didn't play with my PC anymore and was all about...was it the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube? It doesn't matter I saw my friend running Unreal and I was like what the hell am I doing?! Battlefield 1942 also just blew my freaking mind. Then I built another PC straight for Doom 3... that machine was a monster for its day. Bro I had Nvidia GeForce 68000 512MB Ultra in that beast. It was day 1 Doom 3 full out no compromise. ;)
@@Sinn0100 I liked Doom II but loved Quake. Do you still play it? I only played Doom for the first time about 2 years ago. At the time I saw Doom a step backwards from what I was playing Doom II, so never bothered. Quake and Quake II have been installed/un-installed on my various hard drives over the last 28 years more times then any other game. I used to do maps for Quake/Quake II. In fact I think they were pretty much played until about 2001. After that, I would have phases every 4-5 years where I re-installed them and had to resit making levels (I think I installed Worldcraft a few times and started maps). Since Quake and Quake II have been remastered, they are both on my computer and I have discovered Trenchbroom level editor which is 1000 times better then Worldcraft. So my enthusiasm for Quake is like it was 25+ years ago.
Maybe someone felt threatened by McGee: "Allegedly, during the development of Quake II, Willits deliberately gave bad level design advice to McGee and when he presented his work to Carmack, it angered him and McGee was fired soon after."
Isn't that signs of a sociopath, or at least a narcissist? I wondering if he was whispering in Carmack's ear, sort of like "I did tell him to do it like that...."
I've read that as well. Asking AI: "Personal Factors: McGee himself has acknowledged that his own failings and personal issues may have contributed to his dismissal."
It seems guys like John Carmack don't have a very strong empathy, you make a mistake and your fired immediately. When I check recent interviews with John Carmack he does seem like a very likeable guy, maybe he was very young at that time.
While DM2 and DM4 didn't get as much play time competitively as DM3 and DM6, they were some of my favorite deathmatch levels in the original Quake. Their use of lava and precarious vertical ledges was definitely something devious.
Seemed to end abruptly. American's first computer thing - Timex Sinclair 2000. Essentially a calculator that connected to your TV! Here in the UK we called our version of those TSs (ZX Spectrums) computers! Actually the TS2000 was just a prototype. Did American get his hands on one? When released it was called the TS 2068. Rare to come across somebody from the US who owned a TS.
The 90’s was a crazy time in technology in DFW. I was fortunate to have caught some of that action in the day. But yeah… what luck that American bumped into Romero😂 Office Space vibes.😂 Great interview. Thanks.
To this day, it's pretty cool to see YT'ers playing through "Darkhell" & "Blakhell" (18 maps in two full episodes), which I created in 1994 or whatever it was. 💪😎✌️ Obviously, Id Software created a different way to look at 3D gaming in the sense that getting around 486DX limitations wasn't as difficult as everyone seemed to tell Carmack. 😂
My intro to Doom was Doom 64 on Nintendo 64, I didn't even know about the others. It wasn't until about 2 and a half years ago I got back into gaming and bought Doom 1, 2, 3, bought Doom 64 again, the 2016 remake and eternal. Doom changed gaming and made the fps genera. The new Doom the dark ages coming next year looks like it will be great!!
"Your game destroyed my computer," there was some game in the 90s I had that destroyed my dad's computer. Deleted every file somehow. It was a pretty popular game too. Not that I remember what it is now.
![Creating DOOM, Quake & Alice - American McGee Interview (id Software) [AAPOD265]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ADpXfOlS_HE/mqdefault.jpg)
I feel privileged to have grown up in the 90s. Everything was being created and things were progressing.
American McGee is the one who brought Trent Reznor on board to do sound and music for Quake. Thank you, American.
Working at id would have been an interesting place to have worked at in the 1990s. Seems everyone got fired or left though.
A very open interview which is great to listen to. I don't think that the experience of Doom and Quake's release will never be felt again as it was ever again. Doom changed the entire landscape and gaming forever. Quake nailed it down. Anyone who were there at the time saw it happen and it changed gaming, devs, fans, and how the world looked at games.
Quake nailed it down...
I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE
I think its extremely hard (maybe impossible) to do anything new on a PC the way Doom or Quake did, it's all being done to some capacity and it was Doom/Quake that laid those foundations. I think the modern equivalent would be a fully immersive FPS in a VR or holographic technology. Which may happen in the next 10 years as VR headsets get better.
@@RaidenWithBiden🔨
Good to hear someone who made a bunch of the stuff I played back in the 90s and 2000s sounds happy and is doing well. This appears to be cut off at the end -- is there more to come?
This is incredible! Mr. Mcgee, I started playing Doom way back in 1994. I still play Doom, too, this very day. Actually, I just got the new Night Dive Studios/Machine Games Doom+Doom 2 Remaster. I have been on the mother of all Doom benders trying to beat every level of Doom+Doom 2 on Ultra Violence with fast monsters and a pistol start. So far I'm halfway through the Master Levels of Doom 2. I also just beat Legacy of Rust... you, my friend, need to play it just once. It is a brand new campaign for vanilla Doom.
At any rate, thank you for helping to create one of the greatest games ever made. John Carmack was very wise to bring you on board when he did. Doom would not be Doom without you. Your levels are some of the tightest and clean I have ever played. I would love to see you go bananas with a WAD editor today. Just think, all of those old limitations are out the window, leaving pure creativity as the driving factor for new games. ;)
Didn't get you into Quake then? While I liked Doom II at the time, I LOVED Quake at the time.
@Delabane
Oh, I love, love, love Quake as well. This video seemed to be more centered around Doom, so I stuck with that. I will also say that my history with Quake isn't as deep as Doom. I... got into Unreal Tournament right after it was released.
That was a big deal for me as I built my very first PC (by myself) just to play Unreal Tournament. The graphics were...well, unreal. I went from my Doom 486DX2@66MHz to a Pentium II@300MHz, 128MB of RAM, 3DFX Voodo 3 card. I was able to run Unreal Tournament at 30FPS and that was so cool at the time. Of course, I had Quake as well and could run the sh*t out of that as well. What's funny is I go through these phases where sometimes I'm a console only player and other times something for PC grabs me and I go full master race. At the time I largely didn't play with my PC anymore and was all about...was it the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube? It doesn't matter I saw my friend running Unreal and I was like what the hell am I doing?! Battlefield 1942 also just blew my freaking mind. Then I built another PC straight for Doom 3... that machine was a monster for its day. Bro I had Nvidia GeForce 68000 512MB Ultra in that beast. It was day 1 Doom 3 full out no compromise. ;)
@@Sinn0100 I liked Doom II but loved Quake. Do you still play it? I only played Doom for the first time about 2 years ago. At the time I saw Doom a step backwards from what I was playing Doom II, so never bothered.
Quake and Quake II have been installed/un-installed on my various hard drives over the last 28 years more times then any other game. I used to do maps for Quake/Quake II. In fact I think they were pretty much played until about 2001. After that, I would have phases every 4-5 years where I re-installed them and had to resit making levels (I think I installed Worldcraft a few times and started maps). Since Quake and Quake II have been remastered, they are both on my computer and I have discovered Trenchbroom level editor which is 1000 times better then Worldcraft. So my enthusiasm for Quake is like it was 25+ years ago.
Maybe someone felt threatened by McGee:
"Allegedly, during the development of Quake II, Willits deliberately gave bad level design advice to McGee and when he presented his work to Carmack, it angered him and McGee was fired soon after."
Isn't that signs of a sociopath, or at least a narcissist? I wondering if he was whispering in Carmack's ear, sort of like "I did tell him to do it like that...."
I've read that as well. Asking AI: "Personal Factors: McGee himself has acknowledged that his own failings and personal issues may have contributed to his dismissal."
It seems guys like John Carmack don't have a very strong empathy, you make a mistake and your fired immediately. When I check recent interviews with John Carmack he does seem like a very likeable guy, maybe he was very young at that time.
@@include55 Both Carmack and Romero have matured into much more responsible adults than they were in the mid-90's
@@IzunaSlap
Didn't we all....
While DM2 and DM4 didn't get as much play time competitively as DM3 and DM6, they were some of my favorite deathmatch levels in the original Quake. Their use of lava and precarious vertical ledges was definitely something devious.
Alice was really bad ass back then, loved the game, still have the big box somewhere
9:05 :: "Yeeeaaa." I felt that my man. I felt that.
fantastic! thanks for your work on putting these together!
Seemed to end abruptly. American's first computer thing - Timex Sinclair 2000. Essentially a calculator that connected to your TV! Here in the UK we called our version of those TSs (ZX Spectrums) computers! Actually the TS2000 was just a prototype. Did American get his hands on one? When released it was called the TS 2068. Rare to come across somebody from the US who owned a TS.
Cheers, great interview. Found this channel by chance after having watched some Doom speedruns!
Really like your interviews and I am so happy to hear that you have a proper mike now! Thanks!
The 90’s was a crazy time in technology in DFW.
I was fortunate to have caught some of that action in the day.
But yeah… what luck that American bumped into Romero😂
Office Space vibes.😂
Great interview. Thanks.
I thought American bumped into Carmack as they lived at same complex?
@@DelabaneI stand corrected.
Marilyn Manson doing the music for Alice would of RULED!
Yes please!
To this day, it's pretty cool to see YT'ers playing through "Darkhell" & "Blakhell" (18 maps in two full episodes), which I created in 1994 or whatever it was. 💪😎✌️ Obviously, Id Software created a different way to look at 3D gaming in the sense that getting around 486DX limitations wasn't as difficult as everyone seemed to tell Carmack. 😂
I miss the American McGee's streams that he planned the Alice Asylum game. Even if the game didn't happen he's a cool guy to watch live
He is a very elegant speaker and this interview was great to listen to, but is this the full interview? Seems like it cuts off at the end.
The full interview can be found on Arcade Attack podcast feed. Search American Mcgee Arcade Attack. Over an hour of amazing stories.
Fascinating talk, I had no idea he was the "grim reaper" at EA before doing his own game. The ending felt a bit abrupt, was anything cut off?
The whole interview will be released soon.
That was a good interview!
how do i use cloaking device to turn me into a different form that is similar to playable characters from doom 1993 to quake 1996?
I wish we could get those Manson tracks released. Sgt Pepper meets Antichrist Superstar?
Legendary game!
37:00 Would love to hear that
Does it get cut short right at the end?
Huge
Was his sister ever found? She disappeared maybe a decade ago.
According to Wikipedia on American McGee, as of January 2024, her case remains unsolved. Horrible not knowing.
Obinard would have been a good name too
My intro to Doom was Doom 64 on Nintendo 64, I didn't even know about the others. It wasn't until about 2 and a half years ago I got back into gaming and bought Doom 1, 2, 3, bought Doom 64 again, the 2016 remake and eternal. Doom changed gaming and made the fps genera. The new Doom the dark ages coming next year looks like it will be great!!
American's Quake 1 levels were the best
Unfortunately his Doom levels were rather terrible.
"Your game destroyed my computer," there was some game in the 90s I had that destroyed my dad's computer. Deleted every file somehow. It was a pretty popular game too. Not that I remember what it is now.
Probably Myth 2 or Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor
BTW Bad Day LA, not bad of a game...
Holy! McGee lives in China! So am I!
He's been there since at least the Alice Madness franchise. The credits are full of Chinese names and American.
@@gamesthatiplay9083 my ex loved that game very much, I was addicted to bad company 2 I think.
Why?
32:53 fart