(L to R John Romero, Prof mike Hinchey)

John spoke to a packed house in Lero on 5th February about how id Software began from a small team of three people until the shipping of the massive hit Quake in 1996, and the programming principles that helped them ship fast with solid code.

John is an award-winning game designer, level designer and programmer whose work spans over 130 games, 107 of which have been published commercially, including the iconic works Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM and Quake. Romero has worked in the mobile, hardcore, mid-core, casual and MMO space. Romero has co-founded eight successful game companies including the likes of id Software, Gazillion Entertainment and, most recently, Loot Drop which is celebrating its 5th anniversary in 2015. He is considered to be among the world’s top game designers, and his products have won well over 100 awards. One of the earliest indie developers, Romero began working in the game space in 1979 on mainframes before moving to the Apple II in 1981. He is a completely self-taught programmer, designer and artist, having drawn his inspirations from early Apple II programmers. Romero co-owns Loot Drop and Romero Games.