In a recent episode of Nightdive Studios' Deep Dive podcast, legendary developer John Romero casually revealed a surprising road not taken in both his own career, and gaming history writ large: Looking Glass Studios (System Shock, Thief) founder Paul Neurath asked Romero to co-found the company with him, but Romero had a prior commitment.
Both developers worked for Origin Systems, the foundational PC gaming studio started by Ultima creator Richard Garriott. "I got my job there in 1987,' said Romero. "My first job was porting 2400 AD from the Apple 2 to the Commodore 64." Following the cancellation of this port, Romero was assigned to work on the game Space Rogue with Neurath, an ambitious combo of space sim and RPG that presaged the likes of Wing Commander.
