The fantasy setting isn’t the only notable departure from the Doom formula, however, as the game’s protagonist could also fly, a power Doom Guy could only dream of. “I have to call out Chris Rhinehart, who was one of our programmers at the time. Kind of a funny story about the flying… it’s so true, so many of these stories are these ‘happy accidents…’ Chris came up with the idea of moving the horizon line just up and down. It wasn’t a real calculation of flying, it was a hack… That was such a big event for us, and that gave us our unique flavor.”
While Heretic did get several follow-ups, whether they carried the Heretic or Hexen name, Raffel did comment on the possibility of a modern series entry or reboot. “Never say never… We get a lot of requests for it, for sure and, of course, I’d always love to do it. That’s for another day, I guess… We’ll see.”In addition to his roles as Producer and Creative Director, Raffel humorously noted id Software co-founder John Romero bought the team at Raven their first work refrigerator, which was a big deal for them. “People don’t understand what game development was back then, but it was five guys in a basement. You go to Sam’s Club and get a case of Coke and chips, and you just sat at your desk all day… Those were fun days.”
For more interviews with the best, brightest, most fascinating minds in the games industry, check out be sure to check out every episode of IGN Unfiltered, which includes talks with The Game Awards creator Geoff Keighley, Master Chief co-creator Marcus Lehto, 343’s Bonnie Ross, Valve’s Robin Walker & Chris Remo, Respawn’s Stig Asmussen, and so many more.
Brian Barnett writes wiki guides, deals posts, features, and much more for IGN. You can get your fix of Brian’s antics on Twitter and Instagram (@Ribnax).
