May Be Romero Should Give Daikatana Another Try.
DrSuredeath
Join Date: 2002-11-11 Member: 8217Members
Join Date: 2002-11-11 Member: 8217Members
in Off-Topic
Ok, we all know the legacy of floppage of Daikatana.
But seriously, the concept it began with was pretty darn nice.
From what I've read, the game went to hell because of the miserable management, ego of the creator, hiring amateurs, time it took to deal with the game engine.
So now, the ION storm has grown. Deus Ex anyone?
I think Romero can definitely make a better Daikatana right now.
<a href='http://www.gamespot.com/features/btg-daikatana/p3_05.html' target='_blank'>From Gamespot</a>
"Romero started to design Daikatana, a game that he named after a weapon he used in John Carmack's D&D campaign in the early '90s. Perhaps Romero's greatest influence in the design was ChronoTrigger, a Square Soft role-playing
Tom Hall's RPG Anachronox (due later this year) was another game that started production in 1997.
game for the Super Nintendo that dealt with time travel. Another influence was the Zelda series of games; Romero liked the idea of a sword (in this case the Daikatana) getting more powerful as you progressed through the game. Other elements of RPGs would also be thrown into the mix with a first-person-shooter design, including skill points and the extraordinary step of adding sidekicks to the game experience. "I wanted to make the experience similar to a buddy movie," explains Romero. "With sidekicks, all of a sudden you have to worry about working together and protecting your friends."
You would assume the role of Hiro Miyamoto (his name is a tribute to Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto) and the two sidekicks in the game would be the beautiful Japanese woman Mikiko and the American mercenary Superfly Johnson, named after a 70s Blaxploitation film. Once in the game, these characters would romp through a rich story that would tell the tale of two clans in ancient Japan: the Miyamotos, who forge weapons for the Shogun Mishima, and the Ebihara Clan, plebeians with little power. In the game's prologue, the Miyamotos would develop an all-powerful sword for the Shogun, named the Daikatana, but in the end they would decide to turn it over to the Ebihara Clan, for fear the Daikatana would make the Shogun far too powerful. Because of this twist of fate, Mishima lost power and the Daikatana was buried in Mt. Fujiya so the Ebihara Clan would always rule Japan. The game would begin when a descendant of Mishima stole the sword from an Ebihara heir who had unearthed it from the mountain.
The storyline for Daikatana was epic, featuring time travel and well-thought-out characters. More importantly, Romero was keen on making sure each and every level in the game featured a new monster and a new weapon. This plan would make Daikatana one of the most asset-rich first-person games ever.
Romero's goal was for the time-travel concept to serve as the impetus for dramatic shifts in onscreen content. Tired of the sameness on most levels in action games, Romero developed four distinct time periods with no overlapping content: Ancient Greece, the Dark Ages in Norway, techno-industrial Japan, and 21st century San Francisco. All the time periods would feature a new palette of monsters, weapons, items, and art. "I was sick and tired of shooting down the same enemy 30 levels after I first saw him in the game," Romero defiantly proclaims.
As such, exploration became a key tenet of the design. "It's what keeps you going to the next level," says Romero - the element of surprise. As Romero sits in his office and runs through the first level of the game, you see a soggy green swamplike territory in Japan with metallic structures cleaving through algae-soaked rocks. "By the time you leave the first episode, you've already seen seven of the monsters in the game," he makes sure to point out. "You see this crocodile?" he asks, pointing at the screen to highlight a strange creature that looks like a crocodile cast in silver. "You will never see him again in the game after this level."
Romero's final submitted design for Daikatana included plans for four time periods, 24 levels, 25 weapons, and 64 monsters, in addition to a whole secret level for each episode. "When John came back with Daikatana, it was just a huge epic game," recalls Mike Wilson. At the time, Ion Storm was dead set on finishing the most ambitious first-person shooter ever in a mere seven months. All told, this calculation would prove to be perhaps Ion's greatest mistake."
But seriously, the concept it began with was pretty darn nice.
From what I've read, the game went to hell because of the miserable management, ego of the creator, hiring amateurs, time it took to deal with the game engine.
So now, the ION storm has grown. Deus Ex anyone?
I think Romero can definitely make a better Daikatana right now.
<a href='http://www.gamespot.com/features/btg-daikatana/p3_05.html' target='_blank'>From Gamespot</a>
"Romero started to design Daikatana, a game that he named after a weapon he used in John Carmack's D&D campaign in the early '90s. Perhaps Romero's greatest influence in the design was ChronoTrigger, a Square Soft role-playing
Tom Hall's RPG Anachronox (due later this year) was another game that started production in 1997.
game for the Super Nintendo that dealt with time travel. Another influence was the Zelda series of games; Romero liked the idea of a sword (in this case the Daikatana) getting more powerful as you progressed through the game. Other elements of RPGs would also be thrown into the mix with a first-person-shooter design, including skill points and the extraordinary step of adding sidekicks to the game experience. "I wanted to make the experience similar to a buddy movie," explains Romero. "With sidekicks, all of a sudden you have to worry about working together and protecting your friends."
You would assume the role of Hiro Miyamoto (his name is a tribute to Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto) and the two sidekicks in the game would be the beautiful Japanese woman Mikiko and the American mercenary Superfly Johnson, named after a 70s Blaxploitation film. Once in the game, these characters would romp through a rich story that would tell the tale of two clans in ancient Japan: the Miyamotos, who forge weapons for the Shogun Mishima, and the Ebihara Clan, plebeians with little power. In the game's prologue, the Miyamotos would develop an all-powerful sword for the Shogun, named the Daikatana, but in the end they would decide to turn it over to the Ebihara Clan, for fear the Daikatana would make the Shogun far too powerful. Because of this twist of fate, Mishima lost power and the Daikatana was buried in Mt. Fujiya so the Ebihara Clan would always rule Japan. The game would begin when a descendant of Mishima stole the sword from an Ebihara heir who had unearthed it from the mountain.
The storyline for Daikatana was epic, featuring time travel and well-thought-out characters. More importantly, Romero was keen on making sure each and every level in the game featured a new monster and a new weapon. This plan would make Daikatana one of the most asset-rich first-person games ever.
Romero's goal was for the time-travel concept to serve as the impetus for dramatic shifts in onscreen content. Tired of the sameness on most levels in action games, Romero developed four distinct time periods with no overlapping content: Ancient Greece, the Dark Ages in Norway, techno-industrial Japan, and 21st century San Francisco. All the time periods would feature a new palette of monsters, weapons, items, and art. "I was sick and tired of shooting down the same enemy 30 levels after I first saw him in the game," Romero defiantly proclaims.
As such, exploration became a key tenet of the design. "It's what keeps you going to the next level," says Romero - the element of surprise. As Romero sits in his office and runs through the first level of the game, you see a soggy green swamplike territory in Japan with metallic structures cleaving through algae-soaked rocks. "By the time you leave the first episode, you've already seen seven of the monsters in the game," he makes sure to point out. "You see this crocodile?" he asks, pointing at the screen to highlight a strange creature that looks like a crocodile cast in silver. "You will never see him again in the game after this level."
Romero's final submitted design for Daikatana included plans for four time periods, 24 levels, 25 weapons, and 64 monsters, in addition to a whole secret level for each episode. "When John came back with Daikatana, it was just a huge epic game," recalls Mike Wilson. At the time, Ion Storm was dead set on finishing the most ambitious first-person shooter ever in a mere seven months. All told, this calculation would prove to be perhaps Ion's greatest mistake."
Comments
If you look at <a href='http://www.rome.ro' target='_blank'>John Romero's Website</a> (with the oh-so-clever domain rome.ro) you'll see that he is now doing Palm and Pocket PC games. Which I think is great, cause that's what he's good at.
What I personally would like to see from Romero in the future is for him to take his now lessened ego and return to id, and do ART for them again. He was a fantastic level designer back them, I'm sure he could do some great things even now. Its too late for DOOM III, but maybe for DOOM IV...
<b>Bonus Pic</b> - The DOOM Chainsaw!!!
<img src='http://www.rome.ro/images/Random_Pic/doom_chainsaw.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->This picture was taken during DOOM development in 1993. This is the DOOM chainsaw sitting in a bucket, ready to be scanned by Kevin to create the image of the chainsaw in DOOM. The reason it's in a bucket is because it leaked oil! That's also why there's newspapers all around it. :) Heh heh, yes, the name of the chainsaw was Eager Beaver. The little Post-It Note next to the chainsaw says "Borrowed from Ann Graver Holz". Ann was Tom Hall's girlfriend at the time and since she had a chainsaw (Most of us apartment-dwellers did not own a chainsaw!), she let Tom borrow it. Tom, um, forgot to give it back to her.....so........it's still around. Tom is going to do something with it, probably sometime this year!<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Romero is now busy working on PDA/cell phone games, and teaching a course in game engine design at UTD with Tom Hall.
<!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Forget it. I tried - the queue is just too long.