A short history of John Romero wishing Sandy Petersen well before nuking his Doom tweets from orbit with ruthless precision
FPS legend John Romero is on record as regretting, and apologizing for, the famous Daikatana magazine ad that stated he was about to make you his bitch. But in recent years, a Photoshop of the ad has taken on a second life as the perfect memey encapsulation of Romero's social media interactions with former id designer Sandy Petersen.
For more than four years, Romero has been politely but pointedly correcting every inaccurate memory and anecdote Petersen's shared on Twitter (now X) from his time working at id Software. Nearly each tweet begins with some variation of "Hi Sandy, hope you're doing well" before nuking the original statement from orbit.
Petersen joined id during the development of Doom in 1993, working on several of the game's levels and designing more for Doom 2. He also worked on Quake before leaving the studio in mid-1997, about a year after Romero's exit. That makes for a good bit of overlap, though of course Romero was with id from the beginning, having co-founded the studio in 1991.
Romero, notably, has talked about having hyperthymesia, which he credits for giving him a vivid memory. I don't know if his recall is perfect, but each time Petersen trots out an id anecdote, Romero seems to have a confident correction locked and loaded in the chamber. It turns out that "John Romero's about to hope you're doing well" is more intimidating than Daikatana ever could be.
Only once in the four-and-a-half year history of these exchanges have I seen Petersen fight back to insist he had part of his memory right. And, y'know, I think with that sort of hit rate I would personally just stop posting forever—though given some of Petersen's other takes, maybe being wrong about the minutia of Doom is a better use of his time.
And now, a short but satisfying history of John Romero Hoping Sandy Petersen Is Doing Well.
2021
Hi Sandy, hope you’re doing well. The sales of registered Doom in 1994 were significantly more than 100,000. Just wanted you to know.February 23, 2021
Given what a phenomenon Doom was, selling 100,000 copies sure sounded low.
This is not accurate. Your job was only E2 and E3. You were new to level design. I owned the first episode. JC never said that – he had skies (not a skybox) working before you joined. E1M1 went thru several revisions over months before I called it done. Same with E1M2.March 29, 2021
The specificity of distinguishing "skies" from "a skybox" particularly tickles me in this one.
Hi Sandy, hope you’re doing well. This is inaccurate. Tom Hall had the idea for the rocket jump and put that in his E3M6 before he left the project in August 1993. @ThatTomHall https://t.co/K75zsGkksHMarch 28, 2021
Give Tom Hall credit for the rocket jump!
Sandy, I appreciate your interest in DOOM, however this is inaccurate. DOOM was our 5th FPS. Everyone knew it was 3D already. The imp was in the game several months before you joined, with fireballs. Also, E1M4 was Tom/me.March 29, 2021
"I appreciate your interest in Doom" may low key the most savage burn of them all.
Hi Sandy, to clarify, this is incorrect. We gave the license to Reaper Miniatures and they produced an entire collection for sale in 1997. We loved their prototypes. And the cacodemon included. https://t.co/uyU0KqnQ3gJuly 25, 2021
(Petersen responded to his original tweet guessing that it was Grenadier models, and that the cacodemon wasn't made. Both seemingly incorrect.)
2022
Hey Sandy, how’s it going? Just wanted to let you know Commander Keen had two trilogies made with the IP. Each one had a new, groundbreaking engine. We never worked on tech for a new IP while a sequel was being made with our current tech. We all worked together on new IP+tech.October 11, 2022
Damn Sandy, I didn't work at id and even I know that Commander Keen had two different trilogies clearly built on different engines because I played 'em.
Hey Sandy, how’s it going? I forgot to mention that we didn’t start working on Quake until after DOOM II shipped. It was the main focus of our team for eight months. Like Carmack said, it was a big deal for us and I’m incredibly proud of that game.October 11, 2022
The rare follow-up correction.
2024
Hi Sandy, hope you're doing well. I am not sure where your information is coming from. The shotgun and all other weapons were created before you joined the company, and we loved the shotgun. Still do. Evil Dead II inspired the shotgun and chainsaw.May 25, 2024
It is really hard to believe that Sandy Petersen would've had to convince the rest of id Software to keep the shotgun.
2025
Hi Sandy. I hope you're doing well. However, you are incorrect. @ThatTomHall wrote the story for DOOM long before you joined id in September 1993, nine months into production. Summarizing Tom's story in two sentences does not equal writing the DOOM story. Not by a long shot. https://t.co/CkHptktse4February 28, 2025
Tom gets his flowers again.
Hello again, Sandy. This post isn't accurate. Kevin Cloud wrote the DOOM manual on NeXTSTEP. @ThatTomHall wrote the original story which Kevin summarized on the entirety of page 1 of the DOOM manual. https://t.co/wunyqHRgynFebruary 28, 2025
"Hello again" is when I'd start frantically trying to turn off my phone.
Kevin made all the models for the original Quake. Paul Steed joined after I left for Quake 2.May 23, 2025
Petersen fired back on this one, insisting Steed "did the animations for Quake, including the fish." He's not credited in the original CD manual for Quake, which only lists Adrian Carmack and Kevin Cloud as artists. However, he does show up in the credits in later manuals like this one, so perhaps Paul contributed to some of Quake's post-release updates, like its mission packs. Steed unfortunately passed away in 2012.