Doom Guy Audiobook By John Romero cover art

Doom Guy

Life in First Person

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Doom Guy

By: John Romero
Narrated by: John Romero
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The inspiring autobiography of video game designer and DOOM cocreator John Romero

Doom Guy: Life in First Person is the long-awaited autobiography of gaming’s original rock star and the cocreator of DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein—some of the most recognizable and important titles in video game history. Credited with the invention of the first-person shooter, a genre that continues to dominate the market today, he is gaming royalty.

Told in remarkable detail, a byproduct of his hyperthymesia, Romero recounts his storied career—from his early days submitting Apple II code to computer magazines and sneaking computers out of the back door of his day job to do programming projects at night in his garage to a high-profile falling out with his id Software cofounder John Carmack, as well as his continued role in the gaming industry today as the managing director of Romero Games Ltd.

His story is truly one of a self-made man, founding multiple companies after a childhood filled with violence and abuse drove him to video game design where he could create new worlds and places to escape to. An alcoholic father, a racist grandfather who did not approve of Romero’s parents’ mixed-race coupling, and a grandmother who once ran a brothel in Mexico combine for an illuminating story of his youth—a story that has never before been revealed.

After years in the gaming spotlight, Romero is now telling his story—the whole story—in his own words.

©2023 Alfonso Romero. Published in 2023 by Abrams Press, an imprint of ABRAMS, New York. All rights reserved. (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing Entertainment & Celebrities Programming & Software Development Inspiring Technology
Authentic Personal Narrative • Detailed Gaming History • Candid Industry Insights • Compelling Childhood Stories
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Even if you read Masters of Doom, this book is 100% worth it. It follows life of John Romero, glimpsing into some of its dark childhood and career after closure of Ion Storm - things that developed him as a person and designed. And its narrated by icon of sin himself ;)

Must read

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Very Good Book. Great Nostalgic and Interesting stories about some of our favorite 90's PC games, like Commander Keen, Doom and Quake. It was Great to hear so many Behind the Scenes stories about the creation of these games. This book is not only for Gamers, there are actually many Business advices and lessons here as well. I think this book could have been edited better and be 25% shorter. There Are many lengthy "personal life" parts, especially at the beginning and the end of the book, which are too long. But you can fast forward a little bit each time you feel that the personal stories drift you from the main narrative. The Narration is very good and personal.

A Must Read for any 90's PC games Fan

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So great to hear Romero reading his own work. He's one of my biggest heroes. Truly inspiring!

Read by Romero!

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Very good book, and a peek behind the curtain of what it took to build the games from my childhood. Recommend.

Story about the development of the games from my childhood.

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For me, this is the best version of this book I could have imagined. It tells the whole story, including important hard-hitting parts that I didn't know about even as a fan. It's an honest and daring look back at the early games industry by the ideal person: someone with an unusually good memory who was right in the middle of the action. Any book read by the author is always a huge plus to me, regardless of performance, but Romero is actually good at that, too.

We're not worthy

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Could not stop listening. Thank you for sharing and inspiring. Can not recommend this enough.

Thank you John

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For years now I’ve heard bits and pieces of the revolutionary work done at id Software in the early 90s. I’ve also heard tales of the the drama and division that led to John Carmack and John Romero heading down different paths in the gaming industry. Being able to hear this story as Romero himself describes it is a wonderful experience, as Romero makes the whole experience seem human and relatable. The id period is central to this story, but Romero’s work goes much further than his years working on Doom and Quake, and it’s fascinating hearing how this icon of game development has worked in several corners of the industry.

Romero’s Story as a Technical Pioneer is Endlessly Enjoyable

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Like a lot of id games, I could not put this down! Romero goes through his rough up bringing that will leave you in tears, to his passion on computer games that will inspire you. Instead of just hitting the successes, he goes into all of the challenges and failures he overcame and the lessons learned. Hard work to an obsessive degree and an unwavering desire to learn propelled him to create some of the greatest games of all time. There is something to say about having like-minded people around and the early id software team was lightning in a bottle which changed the FPS genre forever and made them icons. Masters of Doom is one of my favorite books on gaming, but this one is written and narrated by Romero himself. He focuses on the positive and sets the record straight. After finishing, I immediately wanted to hit reset and start all over again.

Gaming's Rock Star

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I've always been a doom fan! I grew up with doom and still enjoy playing it today. Going into this book my first fear was that it would be too similar to masters of doom. Let me assure you, my fears were put to rest! I enjoyed my time with this book immensely! It's hard to beat having the story told by the guy himself. Not only does it add to masters of doom but it clarifies some of the events depicted in masters. I couldn't recommend this enough!

Perfect!

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DOOM GUY may not be as exciting as the rockstar-esque rise and fall story told in Masters of Doom, which I've read or listened to close to 20 times by now, (I'm not exaggerating. I fucking love that book), but it is the more true-to-life history of id Software, Ion Storm, and John Romero. It's a great read that fills in a lot of gaps, and corrects a lot of misinformation covered in Masters of Doom, and other sources over the decades. Romero's recounting of his departure from id and the failure of Ion Storm, really sheds new light on both situations. It's easy to say Romero fucked this up, or Carmack fucked that up when viewed from the outside, but he does a great job of helping the reader understand how and why things weren't so black and white in reality. He also makes sure to properly credit several people who's contributions to his and id's histories haven't been adequately acknowleged up until now. If you're a Doom fan, or a fan of the video game industry's history in gerneral, this is as much required reading as Masters of Doom is.

I listened to the audiobook version even though I own a copy of the hardcover, because if there's an opportunity to hear an author's story narrated by themselves, I'll always take it. Romero clearly isn't a professional narrator, but he did a good enough job, and I'd rather hear how he recalls a conversation sounding than a random actor's take on it. Part of the book's goal was to clear up decades of assumptions made about him, and so I think only he was qualified to read it. Definitely worth a listen!

Required reading for any DOOM fan

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