THE HISTORY OF HERETIC

AS THE DUST SETTLED ON MARS, ID TURNED ITS ATTENTION TO A NEW MAGNIFICENT ENGINE. MEANWHILE, CAPITALISING ON THE SUCCESS OF DOOM WAS PARAMOUNT - OVER TO DUNGEONS & DRAGONS FANS, RAVEN SOFTWARE

- WORDS BY GRAEME MASON

In 1990, the Commodore Amiga home computer remained a commercial force. “It was the computer my brother and I were passionate about, and the one we owned,” says Brian Raffel, cofounder of Raven Software. “We taught ourselves art on it, with the idea of creating a videogame.” Alongside his brother, Steve, the pair from Madison, Wisconsin, formed Raven and developed the first level of Black Crypt. Similar to FTL Games’ legendary Dungeon Master, Black Crypt saw the player commanding four heroes through the titular underground area as they sought to eliminate an evil cleric. At the time, both brothers worked in art – Brian as a high-school art teacher, Steve as a silkscreen printer. “Our focus was on creating a fully developed first level of Black Crypt,” explains Brian. “We sent it to ten publishers in the hope of securing funding and a publishing deal.” The response was positive, with the brothers accepting an offer from Electronic Arts. The Raven had taken flight.

Meanwhile, down the road from Raven’s office in Wisconsin’s state capital, John Romero, John Carmack and Tom Hall were busy designing their breakthrough hit, Wolfenstein 3D. Having formed in Shreveport, Louisiana, their company, id Software, relocated to Madison in the early Autumn of 1991. At the suggestion of Electronic Arts, Raven advertised for a PC programmer – John Romero’s girlfriend spotted the ad, pointing out the fellow software company situated just a mile down the road. “I remember when they all came to our office and showed us what they were doing [with