The Liverpool Games Market played host to a special encounter yesterday, as Jonah from Amiga Addict magazine had a chance to chat with legendary game designer John Romero, co-creator of Doom.
While running our stall, Jonah showed Romero the Amiga Dread/Grind demo - a project that pushes the A500 in ways few thought possible. Romero’s reaction was immediate: “That looks really smooth. And running on an A500 too, if only it had come out back in the day!”
The conversation soon turned to Romero's early career at Origin Systems and the Amiga’s place in gaming history. Jonah mentioned his amazement that it took the PC around 10 years to catch up with the Amiga before overtaking it, and how Amiga was the dominant computing platform in UK homes before Windows 95's launch!
Romero then shared a fascinating story about his long-time friendship with RJ Mical, Amiga engineer also responsible for the Atari Lynx. Back in the late ’80s, Romero had been developing games at Origin for the Apple II and Commodore 64 when the studio suddenly cancelled multiple projects. The reason? All development efforts were being redirected to support Mical’s new handheld Lynx hardware.
With John's existing work scrapped, Romero was forced to explore new platforms - and that leap took him straight to the PC, where he would later help redefine gaming with Doom. He now jokes with RJ Mical that “your hardware killed my projects, so I had to wipe out the Amiga in return!” Of course, Romero made clear it was all in good humour - just a quirky twist of fate in gaming history.
For Amiga fans, it was a treat to hear Romero reflect on the platform with warmth and humour. And his reaction to Grind shows that, even decades later, the Amiga community can still surprise one of gaming’s greatest pioneers.
You can find a review of the Dread Engine Demo (which allowed development of Grind) in Amiga Addict magazine Issue 08: www.addict.media/amiga-addict-issue-08-2021
Support the development of Grind via Patreon here: www.patreon.com/Grind_Amiga
Plus, grab a copy of John Romero's fascinating autobiography Doom Guy on his website: www.romero.com