DOOM Guy wouldn’t be what it is without the help of a great many people. First and foremost, my profound thanks go to the original id Software team who form such a big part of this story: Tom Hall, Adrian Carmack, John Carmack, Jay Wilbur, and Kevin Cloud. We were all in the right place at the right time at the same time, and our lives are forever entwined because of the games we made together. We had so much fun, learned so much from one another, and created some incredible games that have left a legacy on the artform of games. Even in our most difficult times, we released something that was great, which is a testament to what we could do. Thanks also to the current id Software team for keeping the games alive. I was genuinely misty-eyed seeing a reference to “King Ormero, the father.” Thank you so much for this. Keep ripping and tearing and never, ever let it be done.
My family has supported me throughout my career. My mother, Ginny, did her best for me through thick and thin and showed me how to stay positive through anything. My father, Alfonso, gifted me with a devious sense of playfulness that certainly comes across in my level design. My stepfather, John Schuneman, recognized my early interest in programming and got me the Apple II that transformed all my waking hours into a hopeful career. For that, I am forever grateful. My brother, Ralph, played all my games and was a constant fan, even when the games weren’t good. My wife, Brenda, encouraged me to tell my life story and helped me to write and edit these chapters into something that resembled a story instead of a listing of hyperthymestic ROM dumps. My kids, Michael, Steven, Lillia, Maezza, Avalon, and Donovan, are my pride and joy. They’ve been raised in a culture of game dev and have supported the oddities and ups and downs that come with that life. Three of them have even followed me into game dev (Michael, Maezza, and Donovan). My extended family—my aunt Yoly, and my many cousins on both sides of the US-Mexico border—have supported me throughout the years, particularly my grandma Suki, during the times that my mom and I had so little. Amo a mi familia.
Early friends like Rob Lavelock and Christian Divine opened creative worlds for me, shared my love of tech and design, and together, we set ourselves on paths that crossed again and again. Tom Hall, before and after id Software, is my life mate and closest friend. We picked each other up when we crashed and celebrated our wins. Shawn Green is likewise a great friend; we deathmatched, sang metal, and made it through shipping Daikatana. I’m grateful for our adventures together and our lifelong friendships.
My agent, Markus Hoffman of Regal | Hoffman & Associates, championed the book from the start, seeing in its pages an extraordinary journey against the odds, believing that there was something unique in my life of games and code. Markus helped me find a perfect home for this book. Abrams was that home. Connor Leonard at Abrams was exactly the editor this book needed—a gamer and a fan of my games. He asked the questions and got the answers that added much substance to this book. Connor encouraged me to tell an authentic story, was understanding when game dev got in the way of chapter dev, and celebrated when we crossed the finish line. Thank you, Connor, for your part in getting this story out there. Working with the team at Abrams—including Annalea Manalili, Devin Grosz, Taryn Roeder, and Sarah Masterson Hally—has been an absolute honor and a pleasure. Thanks are also due to David Craddock, the foremost chronicler of the FPS history, for your review and feedback on critical chapters; Katie Gardner, who provided feedback on the manuscript; and to Seth Kaufman, whose aid and assistance in the early stages of this book is appreciated.
And that leaves me to acknowledge the most important person of all: you. Seriously, you. I don’t expect everyone to read every word of this book, but there are the superfans, the DOOM fans, the Quake fans, the Wolfenstein 3-D fans, the Commander Keen fans, the id Software fans, and as unlikely as it is, here you are still reading to the end of the acknowledgments. I don’t know of any community that is more dedicated than ours. So, thank you for your support, your emails, your messages, your DMs, your mail. Thanks for being a part of our community, and thanks especially to the mods of that community. Thanks for playing my games. Whether your comments were positive or negative, you took the time to share your thoughts with me, and I appreciate it. I read every single one. It’s down to you that I have the life I dreamed of as a kid—to wake up and make games every single day. I could not imagine anything better. I hope my games have brought you a little bit of the same joy that you have given me. Emag eht niw uoy.