Computer and video game legend John Romero has designed and published more than 130 games since his first sale as a teenage programming prodigy at the age of sixteen. His major achievements include coinventing a series of revolutionary computer games that launched the industry’s most popular genre, the first-person shooter. He lives in Galway, Ireland.

John Romero’s remarkable memory called up names and events that I hadn’t thought about in a very long time, taking me back to the stress and joy of throwing everything we had at projects that truly did break new ground and touched millions of people. It was an amaz- ing mad dash from humble beginnings to the well-known classics Wolfenstein 3-D, DOOM, and Quake, filled with exploration, learning, and the sharing of knowledge. For years, I thought that I had been born too late and missed out on participating in the heroic eras of computing. Only much later did I realize that Romero and I were at the nexus of a new era—the 3D game hackers.

Computer and video game legend John Romero has designed and published more than 130 games since his first sale as a teenage programming prodigy at the age of sixteen. His major achievements include coinventing a series of revolutionary computer games that launched the industry’s most popular genre, the first-person shooter. He lives in Galway, Ireland.

John Romero’s remarkable memory called up names and events that I hadn’t thought about in a very long time, taking me back to the stress and joy of throwing everything we had at projects that truly did break new ground and touched millions of people. It was an amaz- ing mad dash from humble beginnings to the well-known classics Wolfenstein 3-D, DOOM, and Quake, filled with exploration, learning, and the sharing of knowledge. For years, I thought that I had been born too late and missed out on participating in the heroic eras of computing. Only much later did I realize that Romero and I were at the nexus of a new era—the 3D game hackers.

Computer and video game legend John Romero has designed and published more than 130 games since his first sale as a teenage programming prodigy at the age of sixteen. His major achievements include coinventing a series of revolutionary computer games that launched the industry’s most popular genre, the first-person shooter. He lives in Galway, Ireland.

John Romero’s remarkable memory called up names and events that I hadn’t thought about in a very long time, taking me back to the stress and joy of throwing everything we had at projects that truly did break new ground and touched millions of people. It was an amaz- ing mad dash from humble beginnings to the well-known classics Wolfenstein 3-D, DOOM, and Quake, filled with exploration, learning, and the sharing of knowledge. For years, I thought that I had been born too late and missed out on participating in the heroic eras of computing. Only much later did I realize that Romero and I were at the nexus of a new era—the 3D game hackers.