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Hiro's sidekick Superfly Johnson. |
On April 17, 1997, Ion Storm was officially announced with the headline "Ion Storm isn't just playing around." Ken Brown at Computer Gaming World called Ion "the most exciting new company in computer gaming," and the press was instantly put under the Ion spell. This was gaming gone Hollywood, right down to the promises of a 16-person deathmatch area in the office, video game consoles in the lobby, and a THX-movie theater for employees. The first three games, the most important part of the company, were announced for release by the end of 1998, with the first game being Romero's Daikatana, due out in seven months, at the end of 1997.
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A conceptual sketch of Sabikiis the Sorcerer from Daikatana. |
To promote the company, black and white press photos went out showing Romero sitting in a $9,000 chair from a 19th century German castle. Other executives posed for pictures that illustrated the playful nature of the company - CEO Mike Wilson posed in a jacket and tie along with cutoff jean shorts. While Ion's plush new office space on the penthouse floor of the Chase Tower in downtown Dallas was built out, the company worked in a makeshift building called the Quadrangle, a few blocks away. It was time to get down to business.
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John Romero's drawing of the layout from Episode 1 Mission 7. |
Around the same time, Ion Storm hired its first employee, Kee Kimbrell, who had cofounded an online game company called DWANGO, which was a precursor to Internet multiplayer games. Kimbrell was brought on as the lead programmer for Daikatana. Romero, familiar with the Quake engine, decided to license his old company's technology for Daikatana, and in early 1997 he and Kimbrell visited id in Mesquite, Texas, to pick up the source code. While Kimbrell began tearing apart the Quake source, Ion Storm's founders were busy trying to gain footing and find 50 talented individuals to staff the development teams.
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