Wolfenstein 3D secrets revealed by John Romero in lengthy post-mortem chat

SAN FRANCISCO—While the game series disaster and quake are heavily featured in conference panels and books, the same cannot be said for the legendary precursor to id Software Wolfenstein 3D† One of the key figures, coder and level designer John Romero, appeared at this year’s Game Developers Conference to describe how this six-month, six-person project built the crucial bridge between the Commander Keen-dominated past and FPS revolution future.

And if six months for a milestone game seems quick, pause for a history lesson.

enlarge † Original concept art for Wolfenstein 3D†

Sam Machkovech

“In the last six months of 1991, we started and shipped five games,” Romero says as a lead-up to the emergence of Wolfenstein 3D‘s development. This included several Commander Keen side-scrolling games, and id Software started the year 1992 prototyping the game that would have been Sharp 7, whose major technological advancements would have been parallax scrolling wallpapers. After helping id Software complete the game’s first demo in a week, Romero announced that he was not interested in keeping the game. Skilled series goes. Adrian Carmack, co-founder of id Software, agreed: “I’m tired! Skilled– and John Carmack (no relation) “watched the massacre” and judged that a change might be in order.

“We should make another 3D game with texture mapping,” Romero suggested, as a nod to the slow but new game catacombs which they had also shipped in 1991. After co-founder Tom Hall suggested a sequel to id’s 1991 curio floating tank (seriously, what a busy year!), Romero says he responded “immediately” with his own pitch: a 3D remake of the 1981 Apple IIe classic Wolfenstein Castle† “That idea got immediate approval,” he says.

There was a catch, though: work on the id Software remake began before everyone involved, including publisher Apogee, secured the rights to the classic Muse Software series. Could that happen, or should id Software rename the game? (Romero was stubborn, “We tried to come up with a new name, but nothing was cool enough.”) In April 1992, assistant artist Kevin Cloud was tasked with Wolfenstein Castle‘s rights. Weeks later, he discovered that a woman owned the entire production of Muse, and she was willing to… Wolfenstein trademark straight to id Software for $5,000.

During the panel Q&A, Romero confirms that id Software not only met Wolfenstein Castle creator Silas Warner but left him Wolfenstein 3D‘s retail version shortly after its launch in 1992. To do this, people drove from ID to Kansas City with a $5,000 Toshiba laptop in tow to meet Warner at a convention where he spoke. At the event, Warner signed one of id Software’s Wolfenstein 3D printed manuals, which Romero says are still in id Software’s office.

Gatling on stealth; independence over Sierra

By March 1992, id Software had removed some gameplay elements that made the original Apple IIe game an office favorite. The company’s original development plan encompassed the sneakier aspects of the game from 1981 and its 1984 sequel: walking cautiously, searching for dead bodies for loot, dragging incapacitated guards out of hallways to avoid being noticed, and breaking locks for items. While testing the early first-person action, as tuned by engine lead John Carmack, the team discovered something surprising.

“The more fun was running and shooting,” says Romero. “Stopping to drag a guard or unlock a chest slowed down the innovative, high-speed running and blowing up Nazis at the core of the game.” The exciting nature of the new game was helped in particular by a directive from publisher Apogee, who insisted that the game support SoundBlaster sound cards and their robust digital preview. “The sound of the Gatling rifle, the yelling sounds of the enemy, the pain sounds, and the death sounds: they were the heartbeat of the game,” says Romero.

id Software decided to “listen to the game” when the most exciting aspects became apparent, and Romero uses this as a teaching moment: “When you make a game, you try to find the fun as quickly as possible. And sometimes the fun isn’t in it. the features you thought would be fun.” And thus Wolfenstein 3D‘s stealth elements were completely jettisoned in the first month of development.

At the beginning of February, Roberta Williams, the legendary designer of the King’s Quest series, invited id Software’s staff to visit her home in Oakhurst, California, after receiving a copy of Commander Keen from Romero in the mail and enjoy. The visit included a full tour of the offices of game maker Sierra, co-hosted by programmer and Sierra co-founder Ken Williams, and a chance meeting with legendary game coder Warren Schwader, who, according to Romero, was responsible for all of their favorite PC games. his father.

This was followed by the folks at id Software who both Williams eagerly released their latest build of . showed Wolfenstein 3D† †[Ken] was visually unimpressed,” says Romero. The demo was cut short after just 30 seconds, after which Ken made a copy of red Baron† “I was stunned,” says Romero. “Here’s the future, the dawn of a new genre, the first-person shooter, and Ken hasn’t noticed.” (It reminded him of the same cold reaction his team got from showing off Dangerous Davethe forerunner of Commander Keento the Softdisk publishing team 18 months earlier.)

Yet between the Wolfenstein 3D demo, the existing Skilled output and id’s ability to earn $50,000 a month selling shareware, Ken was enamored with making id Software an offer: a total acquisition of the company for $2.5 million worth of Sierra stock. Romero and his colleagues spent a day thinking about the offer, then said they would take the deal if it included an immediate payment of $100,000 and a letter of intent. “No thanks, but good luck with everything,” Ken replied.

In a GDC 2022 interview with Ars Technica, Ken Williams confirms that Romero’s account is correct, and he now admits some regrets: “I should have closed the deal,” he says.

“The sanctity of his code”

enlarge † Romero explains that W3D‘s floor tiles were ‘blank’, at least in terms of visual data. This gave id Software the flexibility to assign some kind of tag to those tiles, and the designers chose “sound zones”. If a gunshot or attack occurred on a tile connected to others, it would cause every other connected enemy to “hear” the sound and move towards it according to each enemy’s assigned AI routine. A closed door would leave a monster cabinet intact until opened, as the image above shows. Still, Romero clarifies that a few levels include a “sly” sound zone placement that could allow an enemy at the end of the level to hear you much further away. Players would hear the faint sounds of doors opening and closing as the distant sentient enemy approaches your position. This sound-driven terror was wholly intentional on Romero’s part.

Sam Machkovech

As for the game’s release, Romero doesn’t offer horror stories about major gaps in the art, coding, music, sound, or level design process. The biggest exception is a story about a major gameplay change that happened two months after development and how it required John Carmack buy-in.

The problem stemmed from the lack of secret areas in the earliest levels. How could Wolfenstein 3D reward players who poked around and searched for hidden trinkets? Romero and Tom Hall proposed “push walls”, which would use non-door textures to hide a mix of door animations and unique sounds that players would find if they tried to “open” the correct non-door portion of the wall.

“John didn’t want to add push walls,” says Romero. “It would violate the sanctity of his code. It would be a hack.’

But the level designers were in a tough spot with no other clever system available in Carmack’s otherwise sizzling 3D textured engine to hide secrets. By the end of the next month, Carmack “heard the request often enough” and gave in. This led to an explosion in secret areas, and Hall interrupts the GDC audience’s Romero at one point in the conversation to possess one of his follies: “Sorry about the maze you can’t complete!” Moments later, he unbuttons his shirt amid the GDC crowd to reveal an original Wolfenstein 3D T-shirt.