Chapter 13 Chapter 12 Judgment Day

Alex St. John, a redheaded, quick-thinking, easy-going guy, was sitting in his Microsoft office when he got an email from Bill Gates about Doom.It is said that a total of 10 million computers in the world have installed the demo version of Doom-this number is more than the installed capacity of Windows 95. Microsoft spent tens of millions of dollars for this new generation of Doom released in August 1995. The operating system bombards the market, their advertisements spread all over urban and rural areas, and they ask passers-by on every street corner: "Where do you want to go today??" (Where do you want to go today??).Gates didn't understand, why, why, why a small company of Mesquite could poach Michael Abrash from him, and surpass his own software empire with just a few games.

In the email, Gates asked the chief decision maker of Microsoft's graphics department if he should just buy the id and forget it. Seeing this, Alex couldn't help laughing: In 1995, it seemed that all Everyone wants to get their hands on id. Doom-like games filled store shelves and topped the sales charts.Lucas Studio launched a shooting game based on the theme of "Star Wars": "Dark Forces" (Dark Forces); Interplay released a first-person perspective flying shooting game: "Descent" (Descent); a company named A little company called Bungie made Marathon for the Macintosh; even Tom Hall, who at id was obsessed with trying to make the game meaningful, was doing it for Scott Miller. The Tianji company developed a shooting game called "Rise of the Triad" (Rise of the Triad).

Doom has become a cultural term, appearing in the TV series ER and Friends, in a movie starring Demi Moore, and in It has been described in several novels, Hollywood is making a movie about it, the Marine Corps uses it to train soldiers, and even the old grandmother in the industry who has always resisted violent themes: Nintendo, also plans to transplant this bloody masterpiece to on their new host N64.And the id behind this game rejected all investment and remained independent in an outstanding way. "I don't think you're likely to buy this company," Alex wrote back to Gates, "but Doom is certainly very useful to us."

Alex has been addicted to id games since Wolfenstein 3D came to Microsoft in 1992. Doom was so popular at Microsoft that it was like a religious frenzy: Employees revered the game not just for its mesmerizing effects, but for its breathtakingly cutting-edge technology.The hot word in the computer industry is "multimedia", and Doom is undoubtedly the king in this field. Since Microsoft wants to dominate the country through the multimedia features of Windows 95, Alex thought, then Doom can obviously help Microsoft. But he also knows that in the eyes of the boss Gates, multimedia means video, not games.Apple Inc.'s QuickTime media player is already one step ahead, and Gates hopes Microsoft will come up with a similar product to compete with it.Alex disagreed with Gates, arguing that games were the real multimedia software of the future, and pointing out that Intel, another competitor to Microsoft, was already on the move, and if Microsoft didn't want to crash like this, it would It is necessary to convince the world that Windows 95 is the best gaming platform.

And Gates has suffered from games. At Christmas 1994, Microsoft released a game based on a Disney cartoon: The Lion King, which, along with the Windows operating system, was pre-installed on a million Compaq computers. on the PC.At the last moment, Compaq changed the hardware configuration of the machine, and subsequently, a million copies of the game caused a million system crashes.Alex saw the crux of the problem, that is, there is no way for the game to safely and efficiently display various multimedia features on different machines. Therefore, game developers are more inclined to use DOS, which Microsoft is trying to abandon. Instead of developing on Windows, which Microsoft is trying to promote.If Microsoft wants ordinary users to upgrade to Windows, the first thing it needs to do is catch game developers on board.

So, in early 1995, Alex led his team to develop a technology that enabled the game to run stably and reliably on the Windows system without worrying about hardware changes that would bring about Waterloo like "The Lion King". It's called DirectX.Alex also knows that game developers are a very suspicious group of people, they will not easily transfer their love to others, and they will not immediately switch their allegiance to the window system.If you want to convince them, Alex believes that the most effective way is to show them Doom running on the Windows system and using DirectX technology.

But Alex got a quick reply and id didn't have any interest in it.Not only Microsoft, they also rejected Apple and IBM, because Carmack is not available now, Doom runs very well on Microsoft's DOS, has been accepted by countless players, why port it to the same Windows system from Microsoft superior?That's nothing to look for.In addition, in order to make technological progress truly bring people a better life, Carmack has always been a supporter of the open source movement, and Microsoft's performance in this regard is like Grandet, and Carmack has nothing but contempt for it.Alex had no choice but to assure him that id didn't have to lift a finger, and Microsoft would port Doom to the Windows system itself, and Carmack agreed.

In March 1995, Silicon Valley, the Windows version of Doom was unveiled at the Game Developers Conference (Game Developers Conference). Microsoft spared no expense to rent the Great American theme park. When the lights of the venue were dimmed, the players in the audience Rhythmically shouting: "DOS! DOS! DOS!" to resist Microsoft's so-called next-generation gaming platform.But when Doom appeared on the big screen, everyone fell silent, and a solemn atmosphere rose in the venue.The era of Windows and DirectX kicked off. But selling Windows to the masses as a gaming platform was a more difficult task.Although Doom has entered 10 million computers, in the minds of most people, the computer is still a novelty. Even if you just play a game, you need to make a lot of obscure settings. Any small negligence will cause the game to fail to run. .Alex knew that this was a great time for Microsoft, that the flaws in DOS would prompt users to upgrade to Windows.The debut of the Windows version of Doom has helped him recruit several companies to use DirectX to make games for the Windows 95 system. Next, they only need to hold an unprecedented party before the Christmas season.Since Doom is a game full of monsters, ghosts and gore, the most ideal day is undoubtedly Halloween, which is the ghost festival in western countries. It will attract a large number of reporters from game media to mainstream media. What kind of role is Microsoft in the multimedia age?The success or failure of this event is naturally named: Judgment Day (Judgment Day).

Alex is very lucky, because id just got a guy who likes to be lively: Mike Wilson.The twenty-four-year-old just finished working with Divango Bob, and the popularity of the Internet has brought Divango's carnival to an end. Players now don't need to pay them every month to play online. Deathmatch, but to Mike, it's nothing, life is a never-ending party.With long blond hair, he is a free-spirited, easygoing guy. He has run a bar and sold purses with pictures of Jesus in the country. Although he is not an avid gamer, he knows that games are the new rock music, and id , is the new rock star.

Mike liked the idea of ​​"Judgment Day."Alex plans to use Microsoft's cafeteria and garage to build a huge haunted house. More than 30 famous game production companies and publishers, such as Activision, Lucas Studios and id, will be invited to the party and Their respective exhibition areas can be arranged as desired.Mike's eyes lit up when he heard the news: id can take advantage of this opportunity to go on a killing spree, for example... how about inviting top Doom players from all over the world to a face-to-face competition?Just at this party, it will be a race like never before!why not?Ok, deal! "It's official now," Mike wrote in the press release: "id is going to lead Microsoft straight to hell."

Alex didn't think there was anything wrong with Mike's actions, and he also thought that the more popular the event, the better.Because no matter how much effort he spends on DirectX, Microsoft always seems to think that it is a matter of "making a living". Once a supervisor called him and said: "Give me a reason to keep you." Judgment Day was Alex's answer to them.But for the party to be a success, Alex knew it wasn't enough to have Doom, it had to be the Pope himself: Bill Gates. As expected, Alex's application was rejected and he was told: "There are more important things waiting for Gates." But Alex did not give up. He tried hard to persuade one of Gates' followers, hoping to at least To be able to record a speech to the guests present, this requirement has been satisfied.On the day of filming, Alex met his boss in Microsoft's studio, surrounded by a group of chattering public relations consultants. Alex looked frustrated, so he silenced the squires. "What do you want me to do?" Gates asked. Alex took a deep breath and handed Gates a shotgun. ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ The party was held at Microsoft on the night of October 30, 1995, and the scene was very lively. A large float paraded around the venue, beer and barbecue were served in the circus tent, and red light erupted from the top of a three-story man-made volcano. Outside, the famous Hollywood talk show host Jay Leno (Jay Leno) held a microphone on the stage to entertain the guests.But the most exciting action is underground, in a garage that has been transformed into a haunted house - and the deathmatch organized by Mike Wilson is in full swing. Twenty elite players participated in the competition, and their battle scenes were shown on the big screen.In the end, the two top players - hard-hitting Asian-American Dennis "Thresh" Fong and Merlock, a beach kid from Florida - made it to the finals and the game began with the players gathered behind them Cheers and boos continued, and Thresh won, immediately surrounded by players and reporters. "Oh my God," Jay Wilbur said in disbelief, "it's a competitive sport." Alex, dressed as Satan, looked for Mike in the blinding lights and smoke, and finally he saw Mike and his girlfriend dressed as the pair of bloodthirsty mandarin duck killers in "Natural Born Killers", drinking with them in the corner Two players, one dressed as Jesus and the other as the bishop of Rome.Alex told Mike that he thought the id booth was very creative, but Microsoft's public relations consultant was not satisfied.I don't know what the media or senior Microsoft executives will think after seeing id's haunted house. When the reporters and executives entered the meeting place, there was singing and dancing all around, and there was nothing deviant. Activision was demoing an adventure game called Pitfall Harry, and they built a small jungle where visitors could swing on vines; in another room, the Zombie Corporation installed a Huge metal balls that keep spitting out blue bubbles; but id has something a little different: They've erected an eight-foot-tall vagina. id hired gritty rock band Gwar to work on the show, and their notoriously pornographic typhoon was taken to the extreme this time: vaginal walls lined with mannequins like rows of teeth, Simpson's head Suspended above, as visitors walked into the vaginal opening, two members of Gwar stalked from the darkness, clad in sashimi and hides, and swooped in, wielding rubber dildos.Microsoft executives froze in place, and when others were uneasy, they laughed. But not everyone has such a sense of humor.A band of Mike's friends: "Society of the Damned" (Society of the Damned) began to perform, they sang an industrial rock song "Gods of Fear" (Gods of Fear) at the top of the stage , At this time, Microsoft's public relations consultants couldn't stand it anymore.Two security guards rushed to the stage and ordered the band to stop the performance immediately.Alex saw this, and he walked through the crowd, his face flushed like the satanic costume he was wearing: "They are friends with id software!" He growled, "id software! The company that made Doom Company! id’s friends are our friends at Microsoft!” But the security guards couldn’t understand what he was saying, and they roughly cut off the audio cable. In the main venue, the lights dimmed slowly, and the main show was about to begin.The Doom scene familiar to the players appeared on the big screen, and the scene cheered, but it was not the familiar space warrior who was chasing the demon, but... Bill Gates.Wearing a black cape and wielding a shotgun, Microsoft's fearless leader slays enemies in-game.After a while, he stopped, stood in front of the camera, and began to talk about what an extraordinary gaming platform Windows 95 is, which will bring players the most cutting-edge multimedia experience, such as Doom.At this moment, a kid in the game came up to Gates and asked him for his autograph. Gates was so angry that he shot it to pieces: "Don't interrupt me when I'm talking!" The full screen, the Microsoft logo protruded, accompanied by a line of words: "Who Do You Want to Execute Today?" (Who Do You Want to Execute Today?) Well, there's no need to think about who to execute, Alex thought, and I'm about to be fired myself.He went backstage to get the tape, only to find that the Microsoft guys had already gone ahead and took it back for storage, which, Alex knew, meant he could still keep his job. ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ Word travels fast. Title: Romero Dies > I heard on the newsgroup that John Romero had a traffic accident. > Is he okay? is it possible?John Romero—twenty-eight-year-old ace programmer, future billionaire, death-match surgeon—is dead?In stories circulating online, his Ferrari flipped over a guardrail on a highway near Dallas.Doom has already patronized id's sports car once: Carmack has a Porsche that Norwood converted into a Doom race car and branded the game's logo on its flaming red hood, and a few weeks ago the five-dollar The $100,000 car mysteriously disappears in the parking lot, and maybe Romero is also caught in some kind of curse. In reality, Romero is still alive and well.He just finished touring the Tudor mansion he's building, a $1.3 million, 9,000-square-foot, six-car garage, an arcade, and two monsters guarding the gates statue.Now Romero is sitting by the window of Suite 666, looking down at his pristine Ferrari.The bad news circulating online is nothing more than the coronation of him as the king of the game, just like in the Beatles era, fans were heartbroken by the "Paul is dead" rumor.But Romero wanted to clarify, lest anyone think he was a daredevil: "Oh no, I'm not dead," he responded online: "I can't have an accident with my car, let alone me." But colleagues don't think so.The calendar turned to November 1995, and Quake still had no clue. Everyone was not in their hearts, but on their lips, muttering their dissatisfaction with Romero.Carmack was still working on the engine, and the rest of the company felt that the work was aimless.The artists, Kevin and Adrian, were tired of making all kinds of outlandish textures without a clear plan; the level designers, Mackie and Sandy, had had enough of those early building prefabs.All they know is that Quake will be a mythical game with a big hammer in it and that's it.Whenever they asked Romero about the next step, he would say a few words and let them have their way.What kind of subproject manager is this? But from Romero's point of view, Quake is going smoothly: Carmack is busy working on the next generation engine, and he knows it will be a great game. Wonderful game design.At times like this, it's best to try something else to add value to the company, and Romero has chosen to oversee other games, which he believes the company can directly benefit from. Romero could sense that others were blaming him for not doing enough to make the game work.In their eyes, Romero's distraction, Romero's fluctuating bits, was a signal that id's perennial rock star was -- if not already falling -- off course.Romero was annoyed by their attitude: so what if I leave at seven o'clock?I have a wife waiting for me, I'm building my home, I'm living my life, and I deserve it.Now that id has so many people who can take the lead, I can take it easy. If the company is going downhill, then you can be forgiven for complaining, but the problem is that the company is booming now, and it's all due to me Those games that are supervised, if I don't look after those games, who will? But Romero didn't try to win understanding.One night, Sandy Peterson couldn't take it anymore. He rushed into Carmack's room, closed the door, and said, "I know John is a very good designer, but I also know that he didn't coordinate the development of Quake. Work. I worked at a big company where game development was organized and I knew how that was going on and he didn't, he wasn't a good project manager, he didn't know how to do it unless he Change himself, or Quake will drag on forever." Carmack clicked the "reply" button in his head, and then read out his standard answer to this kind of complaint now: "When needed, Romero will work hard, and Quake will finish it smoothly." He just turned around and went back to work, no goodbyes, no closing remarks, nothing. "Here we go again," thought Sandy.Carmack has always been like this: never cared about conversational etiquette, never cared about how a conversation with another human being begins, progresses, and ends.It's just that his tantrums have gotten worse lately: One afternoon, Michael Abrash told Carmack that he'd managed to get his daughter into a good school after a lot of trouble.This matter was clearly important to Abrash, but Carmack's answer was, "Yeah." Then he went back to his computer and continued working. Carmack felt as if he had drifted into outer space, people and things around him were fading away in his eyes, he couldn't establish any connection with the real world, he had no time to care about relationships, parties, MTV, and so on.His world is Quake, his job is Quake, his day, his night, his life, is Quake.He now sits in front of the screen day and night upside down, and he works more than eighty hours a week. The people at id would see him come in, pick up a bottle of Coke, and walk straight to his room, after which only the guy who delivered pizza now and then would make them aware of Carmack's presence. But no matter how hard he tried, Carmack felt helpless for the first time in his life. Quake forced him to completely reinvent the wheel, and almost no technology from Doom can be carried over to Quake. Doom uses some network programming tricks to support four players, but Quake needs to support sixteen players to enter the same world through the Internet; Doom is not a true three-dimensional view, it is a so-called "two-and-a-half-dimensional ", and Quake wants to show a real three-dimensional world, just like in the real world, the player's line of sight will be able to turn to any angle, and all items - including the player itself - are no longer two-dimensional animations, but three-dimensional polygons .This virtual world will be more convincing.But what's frustrating is that Carmack's engine can't map a complete world, or in more technical terms, a complete visual collection. Quake's world is full of gaps and holes, and when Carmack walks down a hallway, he's only disappointed to find that instead of the expected wall, it ends in a blue void.It's everywhere: on the floor, on the walls, on the ceiling, blue void everywhere.His virtual world is riddled with holes. Carmack's mind was completely immersed in it. He imagined how various geometric objects would move and rotate according to his instructions. He would disassemble them, adjust them, reassemble them, and disassemble them again... even if he was stumbling around at four o'clock in the morning When he entered the house, the geometric figures were still floating in his mind, floating around, without end.While peers would dream of a relationship between a man and a woman in a room, Carmack would only dream of a relationship between a pair of polygons in three dimensions.Sitting in his room one morning, watching the coded instructions travel down the arm, instructing it how to lift, extend, and retract, he wondered why the arm didn't work like this in real life. It must be a weird thing. Dream—he suddenly woke up, covered in cold sweat.He's trapped in the world of Quake with nowhere to go, not even in his sleep. Although Carmack almost never felt under pressure, let alone scrambled under pressure, Quake had definitely overwhelmed him a bit.He began to criticize others.One day, Jay suggested patenting id's gaming technology. "Once you guys go patent it," Carmack growled, "I'm leaving, it's that simple, talk over!" Dislikes: business chores, relationships, other people's laziness—at least in his opinion.When Sandy left the office one night, Carmack said to him, "You always leave so early." Sandy couldn't believe his ears. He worked at least eleven hours a day, but he was at nine o'clock in the morning. To the company, and Carmack did not come until four in the afternoon, "I didn't leave early," he told Carmack: "You just didn't see me when I was here." But Carmack refused to give in, and he began sending harsh rectification emails to his staff.He started by banning deathmatch in the office, and then he instituted a grading scale where everyone got a letter based on how well they did: Sandy a D, Romero a C.As if that wasn't enough, Carmack dragged his desk one night from his room to the foyer, where he was going to work later, so he could keep an eye on everyone around him.Everyone began to live in anxiety, worrying about losing their jobs.To keep up with Carmack, they spent longer and longer hours in the office. The pressure is overwhelming and there is no fun in the company.Romero wasn't alone in being self-centered. Carmack had also withdrawn from the crowd into his own world, and people began to complain along with him.Now, nothing, not even the most seductive things, can enliven the atmosphere.One day, Carmack was sitting in his room when he heard a woman's voice outside asking if anyone had ordered pizza. Romero replied, "No, I didn't." She asked again. "Did you order that?" Another replied, "Oh, I didn't either." Then Carmack heard the door open. "Did you order a pizza?" she asked, and Carmack turned his back. Chair, and saw a charming girl in an off-the-shoulder dress standing at the door holding a pizza box.The dancer was hired by Mike Wilson, who wanted to entertain everyone. "No," Carmack told her nonchalantly, "I didn't order a pizza," before turning back to work. "My God!" the dancer exclaimed, "Your place is so boring!" Then she turned her head and walked out the door. Carmack just wanted to work without interruption, or, better yet, ride the wind like a hermit.At this moment, only one person seemed to understand him, and that was Romero.One night, Romero pulled Carmack aside and said, "Dude, you're demanding too much of yourself, and I see it, but you know, you're not Superman." In Carmack's view, Romero has his reasons. They really don't need to let everyone work hard like before, but Romero's mentality has other backgrounds.For all the years of fighting together, for all the sleepless nights spent in front of monitors by each other's company, the pursuit of fame has taken Romero off the front lines of writing code.Where was Carmack when he needed him to work with, to experiment with, to explore with?He's building his big house, and he's going around being a celebrity! Carmack knew what to do next. He wanted to prove that Romero was fishing for three days and netting for two days, and he knew how to do it.He wrote a program that would record the time whenever Romero was working on the machine.As a result, Carmack's partner didn't do much.When Carmack put the data in front of Romero, the latter was furious: "You're trying to fire me!" Hey, thought Carmack, yay! ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ Carmack had evidence, and after a long period of skepticism, he finally had scientific data: Not only was Romero not doing his job well, he was even having a negative impact on the company.As a result, Carmack didn't have any old feelings in mind when he decided what to do next.Carmack was going to formally warn Romero that he dealt with the media too much, chatted too much with id fans, and played too many deathmatch in the office, so that the entire company was dragged down.Carmack approached Adrian and Kevin: "We're going to warn Romero that there's a good chance he'll be fired." Although the two knew that Carmack could be abrupt, they were taken aback this time. "No, no, no," Adrian said. "I don't want to do this. Romero is my friend and partner. He will be back soon." But Carmack insisted, and Kevin and Adrian had to agree.It's become a pattern: To them or any other id employee, John the Engine is the heart of the company, and as Mike puts it well: "If he comes home with the ball, we're all screwed." November 1995 In March, all shareholders held a meeting, and everyone sat solemnly around a black conference table with a black glass curtain wall behind, and Carmack sat at the head as usual, "You still haven't done your job well," "You have to take your responsibilities seriously or you'll be fired," he told Romero. Romero replied angrily: "I work as hard as anyone else, I'm in the company all day." Carmack looked to Adrian and Kevin, expecting their solidarity, but Adrian just looked down at the floor. "Oh," Kevin said in defense of Romero, "John was in the office a lot, and he did his thing." Carmack was dumbfounded when he heard this, because Adrian and Kevin had agreed to his decision in advance.Everyone knew that he couldn't fire Romero on his own, and the vote required a majority to pass.In the end, it was agreed to cut Romero's bonus to remind him to focus on making games right away.Do what you want, Romero thought, I've got cash on hand, and when the game is done, you'll know you were wrong. But by Thanksgiving, nothing had changed.The development of the game was far from on the right track. Carmack convened another meeting, this time with all the staff of the company. He cut straight to the point: "The game design has not yet had a clear concept." Go on as planned and the game will never be finished.McGee spoke up, and he suggested to give up Romero's grand story, and not to make a mythical game of hand-to-hand combat, but to make it simpler: "I think it would be better to make a game with a bazooka or something." "Yes," Sandy echoed: "Let's do Doom3, and save innovative ideas for the next game." Romero was irritated, first reducing the bonus, and now doing this again?What are these guys?what do they knowThey never made even one game from beginning to end!They have no idea how id makes games. "Every game that id has ever played is like this!" He said: "Carmack first wrote a revolutionary engine, and then we came up with a revolutionary design based on it. We first made the engine, and then We can make a game that has never been done before. Quake will surpass Doom, and even if we just put the Doom stuff in the new engine, we will be successful, but we can't stick to it, we have to surpass ourselves, we have to use The new engine makes a new great game, just like Doom did back then." Times have changed, and rookies and rookies have had big fights over it, feeling like they can't be creative because they don't know what to do.There are two roads ahead, one is to use Carmack's technology as the leading factor to make a simple and compact game within a predictable time, or to use Romero's design as the leading method to complete the grand and complex game in God knows when. game. Adrian and Kevin appear to be on Romero's side. "Cut it off, guys," Adrian began. "We've done so much." He and Kevin have spent the past year prepping textures for a medieval mythology game, not for a future Warrior games, and, they've just come out of it recently, they're doing the fun part: painting blood on the walls, and crafting all sorts of horrific scenes. "You can't just give up on this project just because you haven't done anything," Adrian said seriously. "If the design is changed, it will take us another year to get to where we are now. I mean one year. Not days or months." But the others didn't listen at all, and they continued to oppose Romero's design.Romero looked at Carmack in disbelief, and oh my God, he sensed that Carmack agreed with them, that he acquiesced to their objections.Romero broke out: "This company has always been enslaved by technology, but at least we can make the wonderful games we want to make based on technology, such as Doom, and now someone wants to throw out the Doom set as a A game?! We can continue our glory, as long as we work hard and take our time." Carmack could understand both sides of the story, but there was a fatal flaw in Romero's argument: There was nothing to back his argument.The only working level right now is from Mackie, and it's Doom-style.It would be a different story if Romero had built a dizzying mythical world, but right now, in Carmack's view, Romero is literally doing nothing, and apparently, they've been talking about it for a long time. That Quake, the idea that was born in a cottage on a lake in Shreveport, was about to go astray. Carmack said: "When you do things, you have to leave a way for yourself, so that you can make up for your mistakes. If you pretend to be confident, and even rush forward when there are many bad omens, then this is definitely not the right thing to do. , instead, it's just going to throw people off. We should keep looking at the situation and say, well, that sounds like a good idea, but it doesn't look like it's going to work, and we now have another option, which Seems more workable—then we'll do it." That, rather than a warning or a bonus, was the moment that really hit Romero: We no longer had a rapport, we no longer saw the same thing.Romero couldn't believe Carmack's choice. He expected Carmack to say, "Calm down guys, this is going to be the best game you'll ever see." Like a programmer, Romero also believes that Carmack is no longer a player. He listened to those people's opinions, which shows that he is worried, that he no longer has confidence in making another great game, and that he has no confidence in Romero. Mello no longer has confidence.After arguing for hours, Romero gave up: "Okay, I'll redesign the whole game in the style of Doom, and that's what we'll do." But he had the exact opposite in mind, saying that he had a The words to Carmack that fateful morning, the words that made them what they are today. And just like that, Romero told himself, I'm leaving. ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ 尽管推翻从前的设计方案无疑将使Quake的发布日期延迟到1996年，但GTI在1995年已经赚了个盆满钵满。Doom2在美国本土卖到八千万美元，在欧洲卖到两千万美元，这其中有百分之三十来自禁止Doom2上架的德国。同时，id的那些老游戏依然势头不减，此外还有若干衍生作品，譬如《终极Doom》，光这款Doom共享软件的零售版就在美国卖到两千万美元。另外，Raven制作的《Hexen》和《Heretic》也卖到了接近两千万美元。 一夜暴富的GTI开始和更多的游戏制作者接触，譬如制作了《真人快打》系列的Midway公司，街机界的老大哥Williams娱乐公司，以及发行了《D!Zone》的Wizard-Works。在Doom2的帮助下，GTI的计算机软件销售额在两年之内从一千万飙升到了三亿四千万，当GTI于1996年上市时，它是该年度吸引了最多风险投资的新股，甚至超过出品了因特网浏览器的网景公司。“GTI这个无名小子一出场就横扫千军，”《纽约克莱恩商业周刊》（Crain's New York Business）如是报道：“它成为全国第三大的互动娱乐公司。”它的市值达到六亿三千八百万美元。 但GTI的成功并没有使它在id眼中变得可爱，那年，GTI试图用一亿美元买下id，但它被告知，这是不可能的。id认为GTI是一家卑劣的出版商，他们不想把自己卖给根本信不过的人，而且，他们现在已经被内部的紧张气氛弄得焦头烂额，压根没有心思再去做什么商业决策，毕竟，钱不是问题，id在过去一年的收入比前年增加了一倍，达到一千五百六十万美元，而且他们的人数并没有怎么增加，几个持股人的腰包里都多了上百万美元。id还认为GTI过分强调了自己在Doom2的成功中所发挥的作用，id也不喜欢他们把大笔的钱扔给一些跑龙套的小公司。麦克这个商务助理现在越来越桀骜，在他的鼓动下，id决定利用Quake来踢飞GTI。 他们的武器就是：共享软件。1995年底，共享软件在所有人眼里都已经是一个古老的词汇，这种模式在过去还可以称之为精明，而放在游戏业如此成熟和壮大的今天，显得很不合时宜。所以，当id向罗恩·柴莫威兹提出保留发行共享版的权利时，罗恩毫不犹豫地答应了，他很快就会为这个决定而后悔的。麦克提出了一种新的市场策略，除了通过因特网发布试玩版外，他们还可以制作一张同时包含了试玩版和加密完全版的光盘，玩家可以花9.95美元购买试玩版，然后直接拨id的电话，付款50美元后得到完全版的解密口令，从而，没有零售权的id就直接把GTI扫出了局。 尽管卡马克对此持保留意见，但其他人甚至已经吵着要采用一种更夸张的商业模式：自行出版。最后，方案定了下来，就按麦克的建议做。罗恩在报纸上读到了这条消息，麦克·威尔逊——这个小阿飞！他恨恨地想道，这个毛头小子根本不知道怎么做人，怎么做生意！但id有这个权利，谁都没想到会发生这种事，不管怎样，GTI已经无法阻止id了。 ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ 1996年伊始，id不止是在和GTI开战，他们内部也是硝烟弥漫。由于抛弃了罗梅洛的设计而选择了卡马克的技术，办公室里的压力已逼近沸点。为了在三月份拿出一个Doom风格的射击游戏，整个公司都进入了毫无喘息机会的压榨模式。卡马克开始觉得公司像是一艘航行在惊涛骇浪中的舢船，而他是惟一的机师，然后他决定该给炉膛加点煤了，他要让火燃起来。过去几个星期他已经搬到了门厅工作，而现在，他要把墙都拆掉。 正巧，公司一直在说要扩大工作空间，于是他们买下了隔壁的一个套间，卡马克把这看做是推动改革的绝佳时机：他们可以立刻重新编组，都走出各自独立的办公室，融入一个大房间。大家很不情愿地接受了这个安排，他们把这个大房间叫做，作战室。 但他们没想到这回真的像是上前线一般。进去没几天，四周的墙皮就开始脱落，从而把作战室变成了一片沙场。他们沿着窗户修建出一排桌子，架起计算机，然后各就各位。卡马克现在和罗梅洛肩并肩坐在了一起，而座位之间的缝隙是如此狭小，以至于伸手拿一下饮料都会碰到邻座的肘子。为了架设网络，他们不得不把线缆从天花板上走，然后移开顶棚，让线缆垂到桌子边。灯光暗下，盘根错节的线路仿佛一个巨大的蛛网悬挂在房间里，他们不像是坐在计算机前，而是坐在计算机里。现在，想要做什么事而不被其他人看到是不太可能了。 没有了个人空间的私密性，气氛陡然紧张了起来。他们现在每周工作七天，每天十八个小时。如果这时有人来id，他将看到许多人挤在一个幽暗的房间里，每人都戴着耳机，沉默不语，只有敲打键盘和点击鼠标的声音密如雨点。罗梅洛最近喜欢上了游戏原声碟——大都是日本进口的，他拿起一张放进光驱，然后痛苦地把头塞到耳机中间。这不是过去的id了，他心想，过去的id是：“我们来做一个精彩的游戏吧！那多有意思啊！”现在的id是：“闭上嘴，专心干活。” 这样的环境无疑充满竞争，罗梅洛不再威风八面，麦基悄悄树立起了权威，但甚至这个id新星也遇到了挑战者：提姆·威利兹（Tim Willits）。提姆身材不高，秃顶，说话时偶尔会紧张得结结巴巴。提姆的独特之处在于他是id第一个从Doom玩家社群里招募来的员工，他在明尼苏达大学念书时发现了这个游戏。那时他刚二十三岁，主修计算机，和父母住在一起。他父亲是一位管道安装工，母亲是一位无线技师，家里人一个个都争强好胜，提姆经常和他那个主修图像设计的姐姐吵得面红耳赤，他事事不落人后，他不但加入了美国后备役军官训练队，还在学校举办橄榄球赛等活动时穿上戏服，扮演学校的吉祥物：金地鼠。 提姆也喜欢玩游戏，但没有任何游戏能让他觉得像是进入了另一个世界，直到某天，他无意中在网上看到Doom，这个同学们都在谈论着的东西。在Doom的世界里，他可以和周围的环境交互，譬如按下机关或打开门，他惊讶于这个空间的壮丽，惊讶于这个小宇宙的神奇。提姆随即用网上四处流传的黒客工具创作起自己的天地。制作并上传了几个关卡后，他博得了其他玩家的认可，包括麦斯奎特那几个——他收到了一封来自id的邮件。 麦基本是把提姆雇来协助制作《Strife》的，但当Quake启动后，提姆随即被征召进主力团队。在作战室里，他坐在罗梅洛的另一侧，他很快就和罗梅洛打成一片，并虚心学习起关卡设计艺术的方方面面，他不光技艺精湛，而且手脚麻利，他打破了关卡制作的最短时间记录。罗梅洛现在竭尽全力也只能是和提姆打个平手，卡马克立刻注意到了提姆的贡献，并表示了他对提姆的赞赏。尽管卡马克仍把麦基当做最亲密的朋友，但麦基却觉得自己被晾在了一旁。 一直憧憬于罗梅洛那种明星生活方式的麦基开始装点起他自己的生活。这都要从工业金属乐队九寸钉的灵魂人物特伦特·雷佐和id的一份协议谈起。这个摇滚明星兼死硬Doom迷愿意为id制作Quake的音乐及音效，而麦基则被指派为监制。在大明星的熏陶下，麦基开始改变自己的外表：修刮胡须、梳理发型、穿起黑装，他觉得他和卡马克之间的距离越来越远，尽管他负责的音乐工作还算让卡马克满意，但卡马克现在总是斥责他花在关卡制作上的时间不够多，这让麦基颇为不爽。别离的序幕正在上演，他在id最好的朋友，戴夫·泰勒，已经自立门户开了一家游戏公司。现在的麦基不再是叱咤id的神童麦基了，现在的麦基，是孤独的麦基。 那么，谁将取代麦基？甚至是，取代罗梅洛？谜底很快揭晓。卡马克于某天忽然宣布，Quake共享版的初始关卡将从提姆的作品中选出，那将是玩家对Quake的第一印象，那是每一个关卡设计师都觊觎已久的荣耀。听到这个消息后，大家陷入沉默，这太难以置信了，这简直是对罗梅洛的侮辱，他们本来全都以为罗梅洛将是这王冠的佩戴者。但这也是意料之外情理之中的事，毕竟，自从那次会议否决了罗梅洛的游戏设计后，他就越来越心不在焉了。 “什么？”罗梅洛说：“我才是首席设计师！” “这是我的决定，”卡马克答复道：“提姆的关卡要更前后连贯一些。”罗梅洛像往常那样立刻把不快扔到一旁，并向提姆表示了祝贺。在所有人看来，这意味着卡马克已经指定了接班人，并转交了接力棒。 ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ 元月的一个晚上，罗梅洛在他的豪宅里拿起电话，拨通老朋友汤姆的号码。他俩几个月前就已开始了联系。罗梅洛知道汤姆在天极公司干得也很不开心，他以前在id遇到的老问题又在天极重演，他依然空有各种充满创意的点子，却无法付诸实施。天极现在以3D Realms作为公司名字，显然，他们试图在三维主视角射击领域超过id，这个新公司的第一款游戏，《毁灭公爵3D》（Duke Nukem 3D），也的确让他们看到了希望。这款游戏就像是卡通版的Doom，里面的场景都取自现实世界，玩家们要从色情影院和脱衣舞夜总会里杀出一条血路，那里面甚至真的有脱衣舞娘。尽管卡马克对它颇为不屑，说它的引擎是“用口香糖糊出来的”，但玩家们却趋之若鹜，并称它为“Quake终结者”。而汤姆，则被困于另一个刚启动的项目：《掠夺》（Prey）。罗梅洛的电话来的正是时候。 “哥们，”罗梅洛说：“你以前遇到那些破事现在给我碰上了。”他接着向汤姆讲述了他是如何试图说服卡马克去创新，而卡马克又是如何地保守，并决定再做一个类似Doom的游戏。罗梅洛甚至还建议把公司分成两个部门，卡马克负责技术，他负责设计，但这个建议立刻就被否决了。“做完Quake我就要离开id，”罗梅洛总结道：“你觉得新开一家公司怎么样？在那个公司里，我们可以天马行空，我们本就是设计师，设计将决定一切，技术要服从我们的设计，而不是反过来，你想拥有一家这样的公司吗？” 汤姆的答复干净利落：“那，从来就是我的梦想。” [idsoftware.com] 登录名：johnc 真实姓名：约翰·卡马克 主目录：/raid/nardo/johnc 命令行解释器：/bin/csh 从未登录 计划： 这是我的日常工作…… 当我完成一件事情的时候，我就给它标上星号；当我发现一个错误或是某个尚未实现的功能时，我也会把它记在这里，一些问题在被解决之前可能会被多次提到。我会不时地整理这个列表，并在我已经修正好的问题前标上一个加号。 ——约翰·卡马克 二月十八日： ―――――――――――――――― * 调页错误 * 拉伸控制台 * 加快水中移动速度 * 杀伤力的方向性 * 盔甲颜色闪烁 * 杀伤力足够大时的碎尸效果 * 调整榴弹 * 加亮玩家昵称 * 钉枪造成的延迟 * 一场游戏结束时服务器端异常终止 + 记分牌 + 可选的全尺寸 + 平视键 + 视频模式15时的异常 + 状态栏上的弹药图标 + 程序出错时允许“重启” + 重生时的血迹残影？ + 火箭弹数量有时会出现负值 + 玩家携带宝物时的发光效果 作战室里依然硝烟弥漫，卡马克觉得应该让玩家们知道，id真的是在Quake的道路上稳步前进着，于是他决定通过计划文件的方式来把他的工作日志发布到因特网上，计划文件原本只该用于开发者之间的互相沟通，而不是面向大众，但id迷们已经被罗梅洛早先的天花乱坠吊了太长时间的胃口，卡马克觉得，现在该给玩家们展示些过硬的数据了。 经过若干个礼拜的通宵苦战后，卡马克和他的良师益友迈克尔·亚伯拉什终于解决了那个恼人的蓝色虚空问题，屏幕上呈现出一个完整无暇的真三维虚拟世界。大功告成，卡马克会静静地盯着墙角，或是随意地在里面走动，他感受着这个世界的一致，这个世界的真实。1996年2月24日，Quake已经初具雏形，为了在玩家们各种不同的机器配置上进行测试，id上传了附带一个死亡竞赛关卡的演示版。为了一睹id新作的芳容，玩家们已经在网上嚷嚷了好几个月，各种猜测和期望沸沸扬扬，甚至已经有了专门的Quake新闻网站。 但是，演示版并没有博得一致好评。玩家们的确很向往在线死亡竞赛，同时，他们也抱怨说游戏太过于阴暗缓慢，不像Doom那么快节奏。这些批评并不是站不住脚，为了使真三维的引擎流畅运行，Doom的许多特色都被牺牲了。但玩家们可不管那么多，“尽管作为一个测试版，它还算过得去，”一个玩家在网上发表道：“但还有许多细节值得改进，想要成为一个伟大游戏的话，还有很多很多工作要做。” 看到反响平平，id的人们只好回过头来重新审视他们那风格各异的作品。这十六个月下来，关卡设计师和美工们都埋头在自己的世界里，现在的结果是：罗梅洛的关卡充满中世纪风味，麦基的是未来科幻派，桑迪的则是另类哥特流。尽管id特有的黑色幽默仍然无处不在——譬如僵尸们扔过来砸你的东西其实就是他们刚从自己屁股上掰下来的肉块，但显然，id还需要对所有这些元素进行整合和协调。 他们在Quake的帮助文件里草草写下故事背景：“你在凌晨四点接到一个紧急电话，五点半的时候，你赶到了秘密基地，指挥官简单地告诉你：'都是那所谓的传送门，本来，只要造出这个设备，我们就可以把人和物品从一个地方瞬间传送到另一个地方，但一个叫雷神的敌人用它自己的传送门在我们基地里放置了许多死亡战士，他们四处烧杀抢夺，最糟糕的是，我们还不知道对手的底细，科学家们觉得它不像是地球上的生物，它应该来自另一个空间，他们说雷神正在调遣它的精锐部队，天知道是什么。'” 的确，天知道是什么——他们不在乎。但既然已经提到了传送门，那么就来吧，他们开始在关卡里到处放置这种灰色的小门，玩家走进去时，就会被送到关卡里的另一个地方。Quake开发的最后几个月都是在沉默和紧张中度过的，只是偶尔有键盘被砸到墙上——他们应对压力和苦闷的方式一如往常，不光是键盘，各种各样的计算机配件都可以用来发泄，甚至媒体的到来都无法让他们欢欣鼓舞。《连线》杂志给予了他们最高荣耀：一期关于id的封面故事，但id并不是很在意，他们拍照那天甚至迟到了三个小时。最后的封面上，罗梅洛和艾德里安各露出半张脸，正前方是卡马克，三人被笼罩在五颜六色的灯光里，他们头顶上是标题：“id的自负”（The Egos at id），Quake在正文里被称赞为：“最让人期盼的游戏”。 终于，辛苦的付出有了回报，Quake在六月份完工。但以前上传《德军总部3D》和Doom试玩版时的那份激动只存在于记忆中了。1996年6月22日，罗梅洛缓缓穿过666套房的走廊，他身旁是id曾获得的各种奖项，墙上挂着Doom海报，上面是类似恶鬼佛列迪·克鲁格（Freddy Krueger）一样的头像，角落里还放着塑料霰弹枪，罗梅洛就这样独自走了进来，没有卡马克，没有艾德里安，没有凯文。 罗梅洛上网，他进入一间满是id迷的聊天室；罗梅洛拨通马克·弗莱彻（Mark Fletcher），他们是通过Doom死亡竞赛认识的好朋友。罗梅洛只是不愿就这么孑然而来，又孑然而去，他希望在这个晚上，能有人与他作伴，能有人像他一样热爱游戏，能有人和他一起珍惜这一刻，记住这一刻。下午5点，他按下回车键，把Quake传给了外面的世界。这感觉真是说不上来，罗梅洛想道，id的其他人此刻都不见了踪影，但这其实也很正常，毕竟，他们变了，他们已不再是玩家，他们甚至都不玩游戏了。 ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ “嗯，这不能再拖下去。”卡马克说，他正和凯文、艾德里安坐在一家名叫狄阿的墨西哥餐馆里吃午饭，Quake刚发布不久，罗梅洛在id的日子即将结束，他显然还是没有在工作上尽心尽力，该让他走人了。 卡马克的话让艾德里安一阵反胃，这次不是什么其他人，这次，他们在谈论的是罗梅洛。但艾德里安清楚地知道，现在摆在他面前的只有两条路，没有任何折衷方案：如果罗梅洛不走，那么卡马克就要走，然后id就不复存在。凯文答应了卡马克。让一个人离开从来就不是件容易的事，尤其这个人还是公司的创办者，而且，他在公司的成长道路上付出过那么多。但凯文和艾德里安没有选择。 卡马克和罗梅洛之间的分歧太大了。对于什么是制作游戏以及游戏该如何制作，他们都有各自的观点；卡马克认为罗梅洛已不再是程序员，罗梅洛认为卡马克已不再是玩家；卡马克只想有一个小公司，而罗梅洛想做大。这两个截然相反的头脑铸就了他们今天的成功，但也使他们无可挽回地决裂。尽管凯文和艾德里安曾在若干场合表示过对罗梅洛的理解，对一个游戏帝国的赞同，但今天，他们只能在两个约翰中选择一个。 而他们不知道，罗梅洛也在进行着他的计划。在那天早晨上班的路上，他给GTI的罗恩·柴莫威兹打了一个电话，他就要和汤姆成立一家游戏公司，他们需要先谈妥出版商。这将不同于以往任何一家游戏公司，罗梅洛告诉罗恩，这将是一家“大公司”，不受技术的束缚，设计决定一切。 第二天，罗梅洛被叫到会议室，卡马克、艾德里安、凯文已经坐在了里面。艾德里安低头盯着地板，凯文双唇紧闭，最终，卡马克开口了：“我们对公司现在的状况仍然很不满意，嗯，”他拿起一张纸，递给罗梅洛，“这是你的辞职书，你只需要签个字。” 尽管有过警告，而且他也正计划着自己的公司，但此时，罗梅洛心中只有震惊。“等一下，”他开口道：“我没有在干活？你是在翻一年前的旧账吗？因为，在过去这七个月里，我都快累死了！为了做Quake，我差点把命都搭进去了！” “不，”卡马克说：“你没有完成你的工作！你没有尽到你的职责！你对项目无益，你对公司无益，你是公司的祸患，过去这几年里你给公司造成的损害大于你给公司的贡献，你本该做得更好，但是你没有，现在你必须离开！辞职书就是这一切的终结！你现在就签了它！” 我不要在这里，艾德里安把头低得更深了，他心里默念道，我不要在这里，我不要在这里。他知道卡马克和罗梅洛都有各自的道理，但他也知道，这是个解不开的死结。 时间忽然停止了，罗梅洛沉默下来，一如往常，他内心深处的比特又开始跳动：这不是什么过不去的坎，不管是他的父亲、他的继父、还是他那破碎的家庭、或是他这破碎的公司，都不曾，也不会让他倒下。反正我也在计划着和汤姆开一家新的公司，他提醒自己，就这样吧。他不是个败将，他是在开始新的人生。罗梅洛签下名字，把辞职书递给卡马克，然后昂首走出门。 当卡马克看着罗梅洛毅然转身离去时，他没有看到一丝留恋或悲伤，相反，他觉得这对罗梅洛似乎是一种解脱，也许，这一天已让罗梅洛等了很久，现在的id束缚了他的创造力，现在的id无法实现他心中宏伟的梦想，就在这四十英尺见方的会议室里，卡马克想，罗梅洛又踏上了新的征途。 ﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡ 两天后，罗梅洛在id的办公室里告诉世界：“这什么计划文件的时髦我只赶这一次，我已经决定离开id软件，成立一家有着不同目标的游戏公司。我不会从id带走任何人。” 第二天，卡马克更新了他自己的计划文件：“罗梅洛已经离开了id，你将再也不会听到关于我们下一个项目的天花乱坠，我可以告诉你们我在想什么，以及我试图做什么，但我惟一能向你们保证的事情是：我会竭尽全力。” 一场死亡竞赛曲终人散，下一场正拉开帷幕。