Recent(ish) interviews with Hugo Martin about Eternal

[MattFright]

I'm making this thread seeing as there's no similar one yet created to make it easier for people to access these recent interviews with Hugo, as they address a lot of stuff the community wants answers for, and since they're still coming out (well Tyler at least has announced that there's one more yet to come, so there's that). Whether he does indeed answer them or not is up to you (and let's try to be civil as to not cause the 439582395th locked thread in the Eternal forum).

 

Here's the ones i'm aware of within the recent batch across YouTube, "categorized" by uploader:

 

 

Allstin

Spoiler

 

 

ByteMe

Spoiler

 

 

Lawrence Sonntag

Spoiler

 

 

Xiae

Spoiler

 

 

Cynic The Original

Spoiler

 

 

 

Under The Mayo

Spoiler

 

 

Midnight

Spoiler

 

 

Tyler McVicker

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

BloodShot9001 (technically not an interview, but still there's some questions and interesting dialogue with Hugo in there)

Spoiler

 

 

Trav Guy

Spoiler

 

 

Buckio

Spoiler

 

 

FrozenParticle

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

If you've seen my replies around you probably already know some of my thoughts, but here they are anyways:

Spoiler

I'm glad that Hugo is doing these interviews and they show that he is watching closely at what they community thinks of the game and its DLCs, and i have nothing but respect for him for doing that. However, i hope he opens his mind a little more, because it's pretty clear that he doesn't seem to address some criticisms very well and brushes them off as "it's just a different thing now" or doesn't see them as positives at all (and on the opposite side, recognizes some things i'd see as flaws as actual positives, for both Eternal and 2016).

 

Anyways i find these really interesting and definitely worth a watch, even if you don't like Eternal much they might give you a much better idea of what's to come next in the series. :)

 

Do also let me know if i missed any so i can include it in the post.

Edited September 9, 2021 by MattFright

[Caffeine Freak]

There's several others I know of. I'll PM you the links.

[I Drink Lava]

5 hours ago, MattFright said:

However, i hope he opens his mind a little more, because it's pretty clear that he doesn't seem to address some criticisms very well and brushes them off as "it's just a different thing now" or doesn't see them as positives at all

I feel that the root of this might be hubris. Hugo thinks too highly of his own game design capabilities to admit that ideas like the 2016 Double Trouble or Siege Mode were mistakes that should've been left on the drawing board. Even with the Sentinel Hammer, he seems to just brush criticisms off and find ways around acknowledging its design flaws. To be fair, you do need somewhat of an inflated ego to be able to make a game where you play as the world's coolest, most unstoppable badass. To that end, I don't think Hugo is anywhere near as bad as George Broussard or post-Quake John Romero were.

 

I suppose the other aspect might be NDAs and other corporate interference. He can't really go that in-depth into the various mechanics that run under Doom Eternal's hood without risking details leaked that could jeopardize ID Software and its parent corporations. Hence the endless repetitive "race car" or "skate park" analogies in his livestreams. In the Doom 2016 vs Eternal interview he also conveniently dodges questions about his "favorite" video essay or whether he took any inspiration from New Blood's games.

[omx32x]

20 minutes ago, I Drink Lava said:

I feel that the root of this might be hubris. Hugo thinks too highly of his own game design capabilities to admit that ideas like the 2016 Double Trouble or Siege Mode were mistakes that should've been left on the drawing board. Even with the Sentinel Hammer, he seems to just brush criticisms off and find ways around acknowledging its design flaws. To be fair, you do need somewhat of an inflated ego to be able to make a game where you play as the world's coolest, most unstoppable badass. To that end, I don't think Hugo is anywhere near as bad as George Broussard or post-Quake John Romero were.

 

I suppose the other aspect might be NDAs and other corporate interference. He can't really go that in-depth into the various mechanics that run under Doom Eternal's hood without risking details leaked that could jeopardize ID Software and its parent corporations. Hence the endless repetitive "race car" or "skate park" analogies in his livestreams. In the Doom 2016 vs Eternal interview he also conveniently dodges questions about his "favorite" video essay or whether he took any inspiration from New Blood's games.

i kinda like that on him because i feel like he is one of the few AAA developers today that puts his feet down on a design decision and while i agree that he has a big ego and that not all choices were perfect i feel that doom eternal is a better game because of that

we have seen way too many sequels that dumb the game down to appeal to a "wider audience" but not only does that never work but it pisses of the fans and sometimes can lead to disaster with doom eternal feels like they doubled down on the controversial decisions and i really like the work he did with eternal

[Caffeine Freak]

56 minutes ago, I Drink Lava said:

I feel that the root of this might be hubris. Hugo thinks too highly of his own game design capabilities to admit that ideas like the 2016 Double Trouble or Siege Mode were mistakes that should've been left on the drawing board. Even with the Sentinel Hammer, he seems to just brush criticisms off and find ways around acknowledging its design flaws. 

 

He specifically addresses all of these in the most recent Tyler McVicker segment.

Edited May 5, 2021 by Caffeine Freak

[D4NUK1]

Just now, omalefico32x said:

i kinda like that on him because i feel like he is one of the few AAA developers today that puts his feet down on a design decision and while i agree that he has a big ego and that not all choices were perfect i feel that doom eternal is a better game because of that

we have seen way too many sequels that dumb the game down to appeal to a "wider audience" but not only does that never work but it pisses of the fans and sometimes can lead to disaster with doom eternal feels like they doubled down on the controversial decisions and i really like the work he did with eternal

This, and while he does a fair play of not game favourites, or game that's he like, he always on their livestreams re-affirm how much stuff of the game that was not his ideas, or art direction, or gameplay progression, and how that's make the game better. So it's not only how make the game, it's how NuId make the game. So having a lovely ego directors works in this case.

And in some other livestream, he said that Doom 2016 was flawed, not because it was bad, but because with the knowledge now in how to make their action game shooter, much stuff on 2016 could be used better. It's like a film director telling, he loves he classic movie, but with the knowledge of their newer stuff, he could make their classic favorite better. @I Drink Lava also, he took critic of the hammer, as he was expected to be different in use but could make useful or a reason to be in combo with others weapons.

[Arbys550]

1 hour ago, I Drink Lava said:

I feel that the root of this might be hubris. Hugo thinks too highly of his own game design capabilities to admit that ideas like the 2016 Double Trouble or Siege Mode were mistakes that should've been left on the drawing board. Even with the Sentinel Hammer, he seems to just brush criticisms off and find ways around acknowledging its design flaws.

 

I'm gonna disagree heavily on this one. He has acknowledged multiple times the criticisms of the sentinel hammer and has even agreed with accusations that it's imbalanced and how master levels for TAG 2 are gonna be harder to compensate. He talks all the time about the shortcomings of the game in his numerous live streams and places they could have done better. About the siege mode and such, he talks in numerous interviews about the exploits of Doom 2016 as well and how they learned from it to create Eternal.

[Caffeine Freak]

@MattFright Looks like the Xiae interview is re-copied where Cynic's interview should be.

[MattFright]

Just now, Caffeine Freak said:

@MattFright Looks like the Xiae interview is re-copied where Cynic's interview should be.

 

Brain tired, was worried any mistakes like that had happened.... thanks for bringing it to my attention though, I'll fix it right away.

[Caffeine Freak]

@MattFright No worries, dude. This thread was a good idea.

[snapshot]

Here's one more posted just yesterday

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by sluggard

[MattFright]

1 minute ago, sluggard said:

Here's one more posted just yesterday

 

  Hide contents

 

 

 

Thanks for the reminder, i was going to post it here earlier but got distracted, adding it to the main post rn.

[D4NUK1]

This also was posted today.
 

 

[thewormofautumn]

Man, Hugo comes across as a dude you just want to have a beer with 

[MattFright]

Just added an interview by Buckio and the second part of Cynic's interview to the main post

[Caffeine Freak]

(Bumping for additional interviews)

 

Dunno why this never got added, but part 3 of Cynic's interview went up a couple months ago:

 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QmSizhdirfk

 

 

Also, here is an interview with FP (FrozenParticle) that just went up in the last week or so:

 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=y536snuIdvo

Edited September 8, 2021 by Caffeine Freak

[MattFright]

On 9/8/2021 at 3:20 AM, Caffeine Freak said:

 

Dunno why this never got added

 

Oops, i think i just forgot to

 

I'll add those to the OP now

[Caffeine Freak]

Bumping again. Here's a nearly 2 1/2 hour podcast interview with Hugo on Under The Mayo's channel. Just went up about 2 weeks ago. The podcast regularly features Ketchup, Mayo and Spud, all three of whom I believe have their own gaming channels. (Ketchup and Mayo do for sure, not positive about Spud.) Hmmmp, Allstin, and Maynarde also make appearances on this episode:

 

 

[Kute]

Does he say if they have any future plans?

 

I'm not complaining. I still enjoy this game, it's been like 3-4 months now. I haven't beaten it on ultra NM yet, IDK why I've been putting it off, I just do Final Sin everyday to make sure I'm keeping my fingers nimble. I still have all the DLC and all of the master lvls but gore nest to go at.

 

Best feeling game I ever played

[Zemini]

I do not think we will be seeing new Master Levels anytime soon.  I bet they are working on a new project now.  It is a pity because there were already master levels built into the game that never saw the light of day.  They played more like Cultist Base/ARC which IMO were better since they didnt take 5 hours to complete.

[whatup876]

There were some news about id job listings and the requirements including a good knowledge over id properties and games.

It's still too soon for "another Doom game" and this could mean a new Quake instead.

 

I do think id may still have ideas for a new Doom game, whether it's just for the sake of innovation/experimentation/fun/etc or even "alright, there's how we can fix TAG2 i guess".

 

edit: there's also the new FPS called Scathe, which is clearly Doom inspired from gameplay and visuals. (even has upside down crosses lol)

It even has a giant worm enemy/boss, which is something i said would be a cool concept in a Doom game.

In a way, this literal "Doom clone" kinda shows how much can be done with the formula, as if it could figure out ideas that id hasn't done in Doom yet.

 

Problem is that it's too obvious of a Doom inspired project. some people could mistake it for a spin-off or fangame.

Though we can wait and see if it can reveal to have a more unique identity

 

 

Edited February 18, 2022 by whatup876
scathe game

[Kute]

On 2/17/2022 at 4:43 PM, whatup876 said:

There were some news about id job listings and the requirements including a good knowledge over id properties and games.

It's still too soon for "another Doom game" and this could mean a new Quake instead.

 

I do think id may still have ideas for a new Doom game, whether it's just for the sake of innovation/experimentation/fun/etc or even "alright, there's how we can fix TAG2 i guess".

 

edit: there's also the new FPS called Scathe, which is clearly Doom inspired from gameplay and visuals. (even has upside down crosses lol)

It even has a giant worm enemy/boss, which is something i said would be a cool concept in a Doom game.

In a way, this literal "Doom clone" kinda shows how much can be done with the formula, as if it could figure out ideas that id hasn't done in Doom yet.

 

Problem is that it's too obvious of a Doom inspired project. some people could mistake it for a spin-off or fangame.

Though we can wait and see if it can reveal to have a more unique identity

 

 

Boy you weren't kidding. I'm definitely open to the idea of Doom Eternal clones, but I really enjoyed the lore in Doom Eternal

 

Also, meathook. We'll see what other companies do. But they'd better make a good and fun mobility mechanic

[whatup876]

In a way, these clones and spiritual successors exist for the same reason as mods and fangames.

If a game or series is seen as a "sandbox of different tools", it's as if these games are trying to participate in that same sandbox.

It feels like an actual testing/theory case on "how flexible is the sandbox" but not officially tied to the Doom name.

 

While they do show what else can be done with the formula, there's also the fact that their existence alone means id would have to think more creatively unless they still take influence/notes but in a subtle/respective way.

Then again, people compared some parts of new Doom to some mods and honestly, i feel like even i would have done the same.

To expand Doom in a way that may take stuff from/copy a few other games and mods.

With the end goal being "look at how much stuff exists in the Doom name".

Maybe that's why i made that long piece of text, part of my mustache twirling super villain plan lol.