John and Brenda Romero, plotting a new shooter.
John Romero, the co-creater of Doom from his days at id Software, says he’s working on a new shooter title of some sort. Romero appeared on the Joystiq Gamescom podcast and happened to mention, all casual like, that he’s returning to the FPS genre.
That podcast itself doesn’t seem to be available yet, so I’m just going off the quotes dropped into the news bit linked above. Romero talks about how he’s working on “several games at once” at present, and notes that he’s “working with a concept artist, and so I’ve got some cool imagery for the main character.”
Brenda Romero (known for her work on the Wizardry series and Jagged Alliance) remarks that she’s “concerned about how much [John is] going to say,” but the conversation apparently continues a little further.
It’s at that point John Romero says “I haven’t made a shooter since 2000. So I’m basically starting to work on another one.”
That Romero has taken such a long break from the FPS genre is perhaps not a surprise. 2000’s Daikatana was three years late, over budget and is infamous for being pretty rubbish. There was also the unfortunate matter of the “John Romero is going to make you his bitch” advertising campaign.
Working on a new shooter may, hopefully, be a chance for him to put some of those ghosts to rest.
