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[DagnastyEp]

On August 29th, PCGamesN published a story from Quakecon 2017 in which Tim Willits (creative director of at id Software) claims to have created the concept of multiplayer-only maps:

I designed the shareware episode of Quake. Multiplayer maps - that was my idea. This is a funny story. I had finished all my work on the shareware episode [of Quake] and because we had no design direction, we had all these fragments of maps. I came into the office one day and talked to John Romero and John Carmack. I said 'I've got this idea. I can take these map fragments and I can turn them into multiplayer-only maps, maps you only play in multiplayer.

John Romero has Responded with a Blogpost: (more at the link)

The story told about how he came into the office and talked to me and Carmack about his idea, and we responded with how it was the stupidest idea we'd ever heard. This never happened (Carmack verified this to ShackNews). In fact, we had been playing multiplayer-only maps in DOOM for years already. There had been hundreds of maps that the DOOM mapping community had made only for deathmatch by that time. DWANGO was a multiplayer-only service that had many multiplayer-only maps that are legendary today. American McGee even released a multiplayer-only map in November 1994 named IDMAP01. The incredible DOOM community invented the idea of designing maps only for multiplayer mode, and they deserve the credit. The game owes so much to them.

Commercially, the first FPS's published with multiplayer-only maps at launch were Tom Hall's Rise of the Triad (ROTT) and Bungie's Marathon, both published on December 21, 1994 – 18 months before Quake's release. Marathon included 10 multiplayer-only maps. Each successive release of ROTT added more multiplayer-only maps. In fact, ROTT had several multiplayer modes beyond co-op and team deathmatch. Tom was very inventive when it came to ROTT's multiplayer modes and maps, long before Quake was released. As Tom remembers, "Yes, it had a TON of multiplayer maps. Many with unique rules, ridiculous heights, etc."

Tim cannot claim this idea as his in any way.

Shakenews was able to get a comment from John Carmack on the issue:

Shacknews reached out to id Software co-founder John Carmack for comment. Carmack said he could not recall the interaction with Willits either, in line with the account detailed on Romero's blog.

Other former id developers have chimed in:
Tom Hall:

@romero sets the record straight about the first multiplayer only maps! Thanks John.

American McGee:

Revising revisionist history re: #quake #deathmatch #maps
@romero gives a serial credit thief the what-for
http://rome.ro/news/2017/8/30/multiplayer-only-maps ...

I thought the whole thing was interesting, especially the actual story of Multiplayer-only maps as detailed by John Romero.

 

[Marcel]

Bad look for Tim when four prominent developers and titans of the industry all refute your story.

 

[CountAntonius]

John Romero just made him his bitch?

 

[Ban Puncher]

John Romero just made Tim Willits his bitch.


Suck it down.

 

[Delusibeta]

I'm surprised that Bungie hasn't jumped in with a statement, considering that John Romero is crediting Marathon as being the joint first game to officially have multiplayer only levels.

 

[NIN90]

I think Tim Willits invented placing Mega right next to RA.

 

[DagnastyEp]

I'm surprised that Bungie hasn't jumped in with a statement, considering that John Romero is crediting Marathon as being the joint first game to officially have multiplayer only levels.

While I have an awareness that Bungie was developing on the Mac prior to Halo, that was never a part of my gaming history, so I'm always surprised hearing about their accomplishments pre-Halo.

 

[The Citizen Kane of Games]

I'm surprised that Bungie hasn't jumped in with a statement, considering that John Romero is crediting Marathon as being the joint first game to officially have multiplayer only levels.

Get Luke on the phone, gotta make some waves for this Destiny 2 release!

 

[Dictator93]

John Romero just made Tim Willits his bitch.


Suck it down.

John Romero just made him his bitch?

lol

 

[Yu Furealdo]

Well... this is awkward. But I don't have a hard time believing that Tim Willits is a hackfraud.

 

[Team Filler]

What a crazy thing to lie about, especially considering the two Johns aren't the type to hold back or mince words.

 

[Draft]

King of the Smarty Pants Game Designers.

 

[Billfisto]

Mad credit to John for giving props to Marathon.

 

[texasairhead101]

Well... this is awkward. But I don't have a hard time believing that Tim Willits is a hackfraud.

Willits has a heck of a history in the games business. Yeah he's in the wrong but maybe a full on hackfruad is a bit much.

 

[Nephtes]

John Romero just made Tim Willits his bitch, huh?

Edit: whoops. Should have read all the other posts before deciding to make witty comments...

 

[Soulblighter31]

While I have an awareness that Bungie was developing on the Mac prior to Halo, that was never a part of my gaming history, so I'm always surprised hearing about their accomplishments pre-Halo.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/myth-the-fallen-lords

 

[EmCeeGramr]

I don't understand why would you even try to lie about something like this. The record of early FPSs and online multiplayer is not some obscure slice of history, it's one of the most well documented formative periods in video games.

 

[Catshade]

This reminds me when someone (might be a Blizzard developer) claimed that Diablo invented action RPG...

 

[Fallout-NL]

John Romero just made him his bitch?

John Romero just made Tim Willits his bitch.


Suck it down.

John Romero just made Tim Willits his bitch, huh?

Edit: whoops. Should have read all the other posts before deciding to make witty comments...

Haha, nearly two decades later and this is still a thing.

 

[jett]

Tim Willits has always seemed kinda dodgy to me when I hear him speak.

You have to be kind of insane to lie about this sort of thing.

 

[Vimes]

So many people always pretend Marathon didn't exist just because it was on the Mac.

 

[Turin Turambar]

Willits has a heck of a history in the games business. Yeah he's in the wrong but maybe a full on hackfruad is a bit much.

At least id decline started with his ascent to directional duties in the company (Doom 3 Lead Designer, Rage Creative Director). Before that he was a level designer.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Oof, juicy drama.

I don't think it's that big of a deal, maybe he just thought he remembered something that just simply wasn't true. Happens when you get older. I will say he probably should've confirmed it was true before talking about it to any outlets.

 

[Vital Tundra]

I don't understand why would you even try to lie about something like this. The record of early FPSs and online multiplayer is not some obscure slice of history, it's one of the most well documented formative periods in video games.

For real, though. Yeesh.

 

[eot]

Tim Willits always struck me as the kind of person would would talk BS

 

[MrCunningham]

Yeah, a weird thing to lie about. I always like Romero and Hall. Shame that Romero's FPS kickstarter didn't fly.

Interesting that ROTT and Marathon both released on the same day with multiplayer maps. Marathon was technically the better game of the two as ROTT was severely limited by the Wolf 3D engine, But I had a lot of fun with the ROTT multiplayer.

 

[Grifter]

Checks out. The remake of D2M1 in the DWANGO wad was goat.

Never thought I'd hear DWANGO mentioned again. Back when multiplayer was lag-free.

 

[The Albatross]

Tim Willits should go back to his regular job

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxFqodlvNHk

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

Not the first time he's made this absurd claim. It's great to see all the id vets band together to put him in his place.

 

[Fisty]

Tim actually won the right to the title of "multiplayer-only map inventor" in a poker game on a gambling ferry with John Romero. It was like a scene straight out of Maverick.

 

[tesqui]

Why would he lie about something that both Carmack and Romero could refute so easily? Is he known to pull this kind of stuff?

 

[Akronis]

Tim actually won the right to the title of "multiplayer-only map inventor" in a poker game on a gambling ferry with John Romero. It was like a scene straight out of Maverick.

this is a quality post

 

[Mr. Tibbs]

Shame that Romero's FPS kickstarter didn't fly.

Blackroom's Kickstarter campaign didn't gain the necessary traction, but it might not be dead. Romero recently offered this cryptic update on the project:

"Well interestingly we cannot talk about Blackroom," John Romero said to me. "At some point in the future I definitely will but I can't say anything about it right now." It sounds hopeful - perhaps a publisher is involved.

 

[Alebrije]

Why someone would lie about this knowing it could be easily refuted.

Also by these days little people cares about that kind of stuff.

 

[Neptonic]

Tim actually won the right to the title of "multiplayer-only map inventor" in a poker game on a gambling ferry with John Romero. It was like a scene straight out of Maverick.

lmao

 

[funking giblet]

As a massive id fan, I can only say, I fucking hate Tim Willits.

 

[Instro]

Took a big shit on him there.

 

[balohna]

I feel like this concept already existed outside of shooters anyway. Race levels in Sonic 2, battle mode in Super Mario Kart. There are probably other examples.

In a more abstract sense, many games change their mechanics to suit competitive play, like Tetris.

 

[Alebrije]

I feel like this concept already existed outside of shooters anyway. Race levels in Sonic 2, battle mode in Super Mario Kart. There are probably other examples.

In a more abstract sense, many games change their mechanics to suit competitive play, like Tetris.

Being abstrac Combat on Atari 2600 had dedicated multiplayer maps , specially on the thank vs thank "maps"

 

[Stumpokapow]

I don't really see as though the stories are mutually exclusive?

 

[balohna]

Being abstrac Combat on Atari 2600 had dedicated multiplayer maps , specially on the thank vs thank "maps"

There we go, it was a very old concept already in the 90s.

 

[Sinatar]

I don't really see as though the stories are mutually exclusive?

Willits: "I held a meeting and pitched multiplayer only maps to Romero and Carmack, they didn't like the idea"

Romero and Carmack: "This meeting never happened"

How is that not mutually exclusive?

 

[ScientificPizza]

Mad credit to John for giving props to Marathon.

yeah John is a very good dude

 

[Neuromancer]

John Romero just made him his bitch?

Daikatana redeemed!

 

[RedAssedApe]

Haha, nearly two decades later and this is still a thing.

It was finally able to be used in an instance where Romero isn't the butt of the joke. Kinda...Lol

 

[Spoo]

Is he trying to take credit for creating multiplayer only maps, period, or just trying to take credit for having Quake include multiplayer maps -- as in, that was his idea to do for the game in general?

 

[Goldrush]

Why someone would lie about this knowing it could be easily refuted.

Also by these days little people cares about that kind of stuff.

I could see this just being a misunderstanding. The conversation might be true, but both sides weren't on the same page during the discussion. Willits might have thought he was pitching the concept of multiplayer maps. However, the other two, due to being familiar with the concept, could have interpret the discussion to be whether to use single player assets for the multiplayer maps and quickly forgotten the, to them, uneventful meeting.

 

[Nekketsu Kõha]

Way to go ruining his best pickup line John. Terrible wingman.

 

[StrategyFan]

the drama continues

 

[nynt9]

the drama continues

I like the takedown by shacknews. This doesn't address anything really. Still makes his original claim a lie.