On the Spot: TOM HALL
3D Game Designer Extraordinaire

Tom Hall (left) left Apogee
to work with former partner
John Romero (right)
 Iom Hall was one of the four original founders of id. Departing during that company's early days, he left the Doom team to work for Apogee - where he designed Rise of the Triad and, more recently, headed the Prey development team. One of the unsung heroes of the computer game industry, Hall's game credits include Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, and Doom. Among the numerous recent departures from Apogee, his was easily the biggest set-back to Prey, which will not be released until sometime in late 1997. Hall has re-joined former partner John Romero at the tentatively titled Dream Design, where he will head-up one of their first projects. GameSpot interviewed Tom Hall recently, just as he was making the transition from Apogee to Dream Design.


Prey
 GameSpot: Cutting straight to the chase, why are you leaving Apogee?

Tom Hall: We have different design goals. I want to make fun, positive games with tons of cool characters and design innovations. Apogee is more about blood-spilling, over-the-top-offensive action games that stick close to the tried-and-true formulas. Which is fine--just not what I want to do. We parted amicably. Now they can make their games and I can finally make mine.

GameSpot: Is going back to work with Romero strange after having left id?

Tom Hall: Not really. Apart from a brief period when I left--sort of the pain of separation thing, I guess--we've always hung out and had a great time. He knows what I can do when I'm in my element.
"There's little room for doing true design in a technology-
oriented company."
TOM HALL
 GameSpot: What were your reasons for parting ways with id in the beginning?

Tom Hall: I left id because a) I wasn't doing the games I wanted to be doing and b) there's little room for doing true design in a technology-oriented company. Romero hit the same brick wall and left for the same reason. Our new company--Dream Design is our not-final working title--will be designer-oriented. One person's vision on each game, not three or five.

GameSpot: How do you think the personnel changes at Apogee/3D Realms will affect the development of Prey?

Tom Hall: It will be delayed until 1998 for sure now. If they do the game I laid out when I left, it will be pretty cool. I left a really cool story and laid out levels. Plus there's tons of enemy and weapon ideas there. I just hope someone competent finishes the project.

GameSpot: Can you comment on the Prey engine vs. the Quake engine, since you're leaving one to work with another?

Tom Hall: The Prey engine wasn't done when I left, but it was turning out pretty cool. Quake is a little prettier. Our editor was a lot faster. Their engine was a lot faster. Our paradigm allowed a much more dynamic environment. We'll see what happens. We're looking at all possibilities for licensing engines, not just Quake.

Commander Keen "Keen Dreams" 		GameSpot: Does the first person shooter genre have much life left? What new elements do you hope to bring to the genre?

Tom Hall:Sure, if new elements are added. The monster-filled mazes are getting tiresome, so companies really need to have content now. To make what you're doing matter to the player. Key-door-key-door-switch doesn't cut it anymore. We will use the technology for new, innovative kinds of games.

GameSpot: Can you comment on the project you'll be working on for Dream Design at this point?
"I just hope someone competent finishes [Prey]."
TOM HALL
 Tom Hall: Sure. It'll be sort of a combo between Super Mario RPG and Final Fantasy, with lots of surprises, cool characters, and design innovations. We want to extend the gaming experience, not just put the same junk out with different wrapping paper.

GameSpot: What genres of gaming do you see to be the next big thing in gaming? Has anything struck you recently as being really original?

Tom Hall: Most of the exciting stuff seems to be happening on the consoles. The next big thing will be applying the new, hot 3D technology to older genres and breathe new life into them. Super Mario 64 is really incredible, what I've played so far. Activision's Blast Chamber looks pretty cool. And all the RPGs are really cool. All the war sims like C&C and Warcraft are hot now, but I'm not into them much. You Don't Know Jack was quite innovative. I could keep walking down the software aisles, but I'll leave it at that. I like the retro-gaming trend--it reminds the industry that gameplay is the most important thing of all.

Rise of the Triad 		GameSpot: On the opposite side, what gaming trends do you think should finally be put to rest?

Tom Hall: Games with SGI-rendered cinematics and no game. Cinematics should not kick the crap out of the game--they should be of fairly equivalent quality. There's just so many marketing-department games, instead of game-player games. Half the games I saw at E3 could be thrown in a hole and have dirt thrown on 'em for all they interested anyone. I'm really looking forward to the future though. I can't wait to make these games--'cause I wanna play 'em!