tindrumfire.com

Just finished reading it. It’s an interesting book - worth reading.

The short summary is that it describes the history of John Romero and John Carmack, the two creators of Commander Keen, Doom, and Quake. The author explores their history, their personalities, and their infamous falling out.

This isn’t a full review - I need to put in some more time to do a decent job. I also want to scan through the book again, compiling everything interesting. This is only a brief outline of my inital thoughts.

I think the author has a very particular viewpoint. I’m unsure about whether Carmack and Romero as are emotionally and commercially immature as he makes them out to be. He really doesn’t paint a nice picture - based on his descriptions of their interactions, my very unprofessional opinion is that Carmack may suffer from Asperger’s disorder, if not being borderline Austistic. His apparent lack of emtional maturity is downright frightening at some points.

Romero comes across as a whiny, ADD bitch with an inflated sense of his own self-worth and no business sense whatsoever. The last I can believe, but the first few I’m unsure about. I think it paints him more one dimensionally than he probably really is. Of course, never having met the man, it’s quite possible that what’s been written is nothing but fact. Something I’m interested in looking more into.

Between these, I’m forced to question whether or not it’s a very unbiased viewpoint. It makes great copy and an entertaining read, but the overall impression of id (as a company) and the two Johns is one of serendipitous fortune, not planned success. Given some of their business decisions, I can see some merit in this.

It is a shame, however, that he finished the book before Doom 3 came out. It would have been very interesting to read his description of what happened, even if it was only a postscript.

The book could have used fractionally more editing. I shouldn’t be one to comment, but I did notice the author repeating himself a few times. Very few, in fact, which suggests that it did go through some editing prior to publication. For an apparently cheaply published book (the paperback quality really wasn’t that high), that’s actually quite a good sign.

I’m also glad to see that Carmack has moved on from his .plan files. Even if he does still only update his blog once a year.