We talked to the creative director of id Software; one of the top leaders of DOOM 3, Quake and Rage. Bizkaia Award.
In 1995, almost recently graduated, Tim Willits entered id Software because, he acknowledges, he left hallucinating the developers of the original DOOM with levels that he was responsible for developing himself. Twenty-four years later and with a long career where SPFs are part of their DNA, a new stage in Saber Interactive opens the doors to a new vision in the way they understand video games.
Willits has chatted with FreeGameTips in Bilbao, on the occasion of Fun and Serious 2019, where he has collected the Bizkaia Prize for his contribution to the medium. We review his career; the good times, the bad times and the keys that define what a good first person shooter game should be. With all of that implies.
Tim Willits at Fun and Serious 2019, Bilbao | Meristation
What is most important when designing a good SPF?
Regardless of whether it is a shooting game, a sports game or a truck simulator, what you should do is focus on the spirit of your game, that everything revolves around being able to answer the following question: “What Does it make your game special? ” What are those things that make your work both unique and enjoyable.
Thus, if you look back at the time of DOOM, Quake, Wolfenstein … and you look only at the things you remember about them, they all included unique things in their design core. Everyone. That is why they are so special and that is why they are unique.
When you leave those bases and build your game around those unique experiences, that will be the secret of success in your game. Regardless of gender, but also in the SPF.
That said, what makes the DOOM franchise so special? Why do people keep talking about the original deliveries?
Well, there are two things that make DOOM's IP so special. The first thing is to raise your plot premise: good versus evil, you are directing demons back to hell. Then, the game focuses on the central aspects, which are the action and intensity of the gameplay. He takes them, polishes them and… he does really well, without having to add many other accessory things.
And so, what I can tell you is that the game that is about to come out (DOOM Eternal) is very, very good. I am sure that people will love him from day one. Trust me.
Do you think that DOOM Eternal can become the best in the series and surpass DOOM (2016)?
It will be amazing. I have not seen it so closely for a while, but I promise you, the road is already drawn and … it will be amazing.
I am not skeptical nor am I afraid of the changes that are yet to come
What do you think of the current state of the video game industry? Now that we are making so many generational and decade-old tops, which almost coincide in dates, how do you value its evolution in recent years?
In spite of everything, we are still in a very exciting time that is worth following in this industry. Because there are more and more small options with which to experience a video game, to stay hooked to a game and, of course, there are more and more business models to make your title profitable. We are seeing how it comes to stay streaming with names like Google Stadia; We can see the future of all that. Everyone is now connected, it is an exciting time to stay in the industry because everything is changing and we are seeing it in the first person. Technology does not stop improving. You know what? I think that in the future we will lead to that, streaming, cloud computing and many other things that will give developers the opportunity to do the things you couldn't do before in a single system by itself.
The power of connectivity and the power of high-speed networks will improve the experience also in the players. I am also a player and I sincerely believe that it is a very special moment to be a videogame player. People have more and more options, more opportunities, to enjoy the leisure they love.
After twenty-five years on the frontline, are you skeptical about something?
Skeptical? Well, I'm really a very optimistic guy (laughs) and I usually make jokes. You know what? Look, the changes … the changes are inevitable. Everything changes, constantly, but changes are also often linked to the approach to success. Without changes you cannot approach success.
Now people talk a lot about services and games as a service. Whether or not it is good for the industry, if the players do not accept that there should be changes, the industry will stagnate. Realize that, over time, all changes occur around what people want, sooner or later; so I am not skeptical or afraid of the changes that are to come because the players, who are really important, will push the industry in the right direction.
What is the most difficult game you have faced as a developer? The one in which you have had more difficulties than you can remember.
Pff … I think the first RAGE. Oh god, it was really complicated. It looked amazing, but it wasn't all the good things it owed in its gameplay. Yes, it was the title in which I had more difficulties. I also tell you that, without a doubt, in all the games I have worked on I have always had many difficulties; although, at the same time, in all there have been stages where I have enjoyed so much, where I have had such a good time … I have always been surrounded by great people, both in Software id and Bethesda, and now also in Saber Interactive.
Rage
What is the first and last thing you do when you go to the office? Have you changed your routine over the years?
Now, as creative chief in Saber Interactive, I have to watch out for all the games, not just one. I focus on helping each team so that the vision they have in their head of what each game should be, in the end, that game. Sometimes, developers tend — we tend to go — to lose their way and, as I said at the beginning, successful games must ensure that their key element, the nuclear one, is fun. Now I am dedicated to making sure that those key points do not lose their way. My day to day … Look, I have a list that I watch daily where we have all the games we are working on; with his condition, with good and bad things.
But we are also working on new intellectual properties for the future, and that takes a lot of work. We are many, many, we are more than 400 people and we even have a development team in Madrid, specifically 130 people there. We have a team in Portugal, in Minsk … We don't stop growing. That requires attention. (…) And when you get paid for doing what you like … honestly, I think there is no reason not to feel happy.
Before we talked about the worst moments, so we will end with just the opposite, what is the game with which you have most enjoyed your career as developers?
Quake 3. Without a doubt. Look, if we go to a desert island right now, alone, without an Internet connection … Quake 3. It is the best execution ever made of a shooter based on the pure ability that has ever been done. Period. If you play it now it is still exciting, there are many people who continue to enjoy it. And in my personal experience, I've never felt anything like that in any other video game. Everyone in the office had a very high level and … we had a great time. Quake 3
Quake 3
Do you think Quake 3 is a masterpiece?
Yes absolutely. 100% 10 out of 10. It's the game with the best execution ever.
Could we see something similar in the future? Is it possible to think of a Quake with better execution?
If someone is in charge of making a new Quake it may well be interesting, but I think it will be difficult to make an SPF based on the skill as perfected as this one because the world has changed a lot, the entry barrier is still so, so high, that the New players can be overwhelmed more easily to join that experience. Now people have more need to compete with each other, the barrier of entry has grown so much that it is very complex to enter there. Therefore, it would be difficult, in today's world, to make a game that tries to emulate at all levels what Quake 3 was.
