Three decades ago, the ragtag quintet comprised of John and Adrian Carmack, John Romano, Kevin Cloud, and Tom Hall created what would be one of the most influential shooters of all time. Under id Software, the team released to the world — Doom.
Initially made for DOS, this legacy shooter spread like wildfire and became a staple of early 3D gaming. While it wasn’t the first game of its type released by the studio, that honor would be reserved for Wolfenstein 3D just a year earlier, it was what really put the studio on the map and ensure great success as time moved forward, especially with offering the first episode free for all players.
A growing community was fostered, and it was one of the games that managed to really kick off a gaming revolution. It could’ve even ended up in the hands of Microsoft, thanks to the unique technology it employed to build the levels within 3D environment but have objects and enemies appear 2D, a technique that has since been dubbed “2.5D.”
The feat piqued the interest of Microsoft boss Bill Gates, not because he was a gamer, but rather the tech itself, and he kicked around the idea of acquiring the studio before deciding to instead make its own version — WinDoom — in early 1995. Doom was even directly the reason behind Microsoft developing DirectX, which has seen constant iterations and is now a staple in gaming computers to this day.
This wasn’t the end of its early legacy, though, as people learned how they could mod the game to create their very own experience unique to them or share it with the world. Since then, mods have come out of the woodworks to improve the game, share custom maps, and generally keep the community alive.
Meanwhile, id Software has continued to re-release the older games to new hardware and develop new entries, with 2020’s Doom Eternal the latest game in the series.
All we can really say is “happy birthday, Doom” and we hope we can rip and tear again soon.
