The Early Days of id Software: Programming Principles
summary
Chronicles concrete practices not platitudes: claims that constantly shippable code and “no prototypes” speed delivery; tools actually built (Ted tile editor, DoomEd, QuakeEd) and development on NeXT workstations; surprising throughput — 13 games in 1991, 28 games in 5.5 years by under ten people, shareware spikes (4,000 copies month one at $60); engines (Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake) that launched licensing and esports; bugs fixed pragmatically (timer wrap, Pentium FDIV noted) and features that stuck.
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chapters (23)
- 0:00Start
- 4:20Slordax
- 5:07Super Mario Brothers 3 for Nintendo
- 6:08The Commander King Trilogy
- 13:33Tile Editor
- 14:11Wolfenstein 3d
- 16:23Core to Programming
- 16:48Ideas for Doom
- 19:05Doom
- 20:39Doom 2
- 24:09Strife
- 24:36The Ultimate Doom
- 25:31Encapsulate Functionality
- 27:52The Pentium F Div Bug
- 28:45Try To Code Transparently
- 30:47The Bug That Caused the Game To Freeze that You Fixed without Debugging
- 42:33How Did You Decide When To Hire Somebody
- 52:35Movement Gym
- 57:20Hiring Process
- 1:03:11Test Strategies
- 1:03:30Testing Strategies for Games
- 1:09:17Favorite Happy Accidents
- 1:11:04The Silent Bfg Trick
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