Doom Guy
The inspiring, long-awaited autobiography of video-game designer and DOOM cocreator John Romero. “DOOM Guy: Life in First Person is…arguably the best non-fiction gaming book of all time, giving a unique insight into one of the industry’s most transformative eras through the eyes of one of its groundbreaking pioneers.”—Forbes John Romero, gaming’s original rock star, is the cocreator of DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein 3-D, some of the biggest video games of all time. Considered the godfather of the first-person shooter, a genre that continues to dominate the market today, he holds a unique place in gaming history. In DOOM Guy: Life in First Person, Romero chronicles, for the first time, his difficult childhood and storied career, beginning with his early days submitting Apple II game code to computer magazines and sneaking computers out the back door of his day job to write code at night. Industry-redefining breakthroughs in design and tech during Romero’s time at id Software made DOOM and Quake cultural phenomena, and this thrilling story recounts every step of the process, from collaborative, heavy metal–fueled days spent crafting the industry’s most revolutionary and cutting-edge games to a high-profile falling-out with id cofounder John Carmack.
Stats for nerds
15recommend
34mentions
26people
2023–2026years
56% recommend41% neutral3% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- It should be noted that John Romero released his own book, Doom Guy, a few years ago which contradicts some of the accounts in Masters of Doom. MoD is probably the more thrilling read and I enjoyed both books, but some of the stories need to be taken with a grain of salt.
I also think Doom Guy is worth a read because it gives a lot more insight into what happened at Ion Storm and how the Daikatana project fell apart. And some important context about the infamous "John Romero's about to make you his bitch" ad (mainly that he really didn't want to publish it at all). But I digress.
- Ah I couldn't remember if that was only confirmed in Doom Guy. Regardless, it's still worth a read.
- If you haven't already, you should read John Romero's autobiography "Doom Guy: Life in First Person". There are some details from "Masters of Doom" that Romero disputes.
- This year I've been diving into Game dev books and Harry Potter fan fiction. There's a lot of great reads out there. I assume having an entire world built for you removes a lot of the heavy lifting (as a writer).
GameDev:
- The Masters of Doom
- The Doom Guy
- Play Nice
- Press Reset
- Blood, Sweat, and Pixels
- Console Wars
- Ask Iwata
- Embed with Games
HP Fanfic:
- All The Young Dudes (by MsKingBean89) [student life of the Marauders]
- Grey Space (by noaacat) [Pre Hogwarts. Focuses on parental abuse. One scene I'll never forget (paraphrasing) is when another student at school notices Harry's bruises, slides up her sleeve, and implies she slipped too]
- Just started the Glasslight series (noaacat).
I also reread the entire Harry Potter series, and revisited a handful of Redwall books. I find it interesting how I loved RW as a kid/teen, was bored out of my mind with it in my 20s, and now I love it again.
- Masters of doom portrays carmack as a total dictator of a boss. Doom Guy by John Romero seems to back this up
- Interesting timing…I just finished John Romero’s book Doom Guy. It’s definitely worth the read if you grew up on id’s early games.
Masters of Doom is also an excellent read.
Related
Masters of Doom
253 recommend · 434
2008–2025
Showstopper
17 recommend · 26
The Pragmatic Programmer
353 recommend · 700
Computer graphics
11 recommend · 14
Death March
13 recommend · 30
The passionate programmer
31 recommend · 50
Game Engine Black Book
45 recommend · 68
