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Comment by shaklee3 | Hacker News Reader

This would be a good time to remind everyone to read the book Masters of Doom. Such a great story of how these games came to be.

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Thanks for the recommendation, I checked out the book (I had never heard of it) and it does sound interesting, by chance have you listened to the audiobook? It’s read by Wesley and I haven’t listened to any audiobooks read by him. (https://www.audible.com.au/pd/Masters-of-Doom-Audiobook/B00F...)

Wil is a very good audiobook narrator and does a fine job reading this audiobook. I listened to it a year or so ago and it was extremely entertaining.

If we're talking about Wil Wheaton I'll also suggest giving Ready Player One a try. It's a short but very enjoyable book and Wil does a great job at bringing it to life.

Thanks for the advice / review!

It may be a regional difference, but the link goes to a book narrated by Wil Wheaton for me. I found Wheaton's narration to be a great listen. He's not the slow-paced, calm narrator you will find in many other non-fiction audiobooks, but rather an enthusiastic storyteller. For this book, I think it was a good fit.

Wesley Crusher is a character in Star Trek: TNG played by Wil Wheaton.

That explains! Thanks for pointing it out.

Thanks for the advice / review, yes I was referring to Wheaton - as @chaosite mentioned he’s most well known for playing Wesley on Star Trek TNG.

Somewhat related - "Game Engine Black Book: Wolfenstein 3D" [1], by Fabien Sanglard.

Of course this is a very different book: it includes detailed reviews of the engine's source code, and translates complex concepts with ease. Plus the print edition is beautiful and colorful (which is a must for a game book).

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Game-Engine-Black-Book-Wolfenstein/dp...

Wil Wheaton did quite a few good audiobooks. I also liked "What If?" and "Ready Player One". Even though I normally prefer to read a book myself.

Thanks for the input, I wasn’t sure how he’d be to listen to.

It's incredible, even if you don't like Doom or ID Software, it's still a good read.

I second this comment. I own Masters of Doom, and have read it 4 times. I've never read any other book more than once.

I recommend the book too. It is a great story on how passion drove the development of such great games.

I was sad when I read the book. I remember reading about how Carmack and Romero drifted apart. Though the consensus seems to be that it was better for id that Romero left, I believe that their games could have been so much more creative had things turned out otherwise.

Some of the greatest archievments are accomplished with people forced to work together who ditest one another. The creative Chaos needed to tell great stories, to leap beyond the barriers of imagination so far ruffles the feathers of those determined to keep everything efficient and on track, those responsible for planning and executing the techno-magic.

The creatives meanwhile rebell against the final say they never will have in such a project, to avoid it beeing burried by daydreams.

This is what a good manager actually does- keeping a volatile mixture of people detached just enough to avoid a catastrophe - and close enough to harness all the beneficial reactions. Like a force field contained fission reactor on leg.

Well said. It was a little sad to read that there is such a feud between them in the later years knowing that these games shaped some of our lives. Before reading this book I had no prior knowledge of what happened at the company during those days. It's also interesting to see what each person ended up doing later in their career.

Read it earlier this year. Surely one of the better books I have read in this year so far!

Fantastic

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