Quake 2 dev felt "breathless" when he saw how Valve was using id Software's engine, and it led to one of my favorite games of the '00s: "26 years later and I can still say 'Wow'"

Alice stands next to the Cheshire cat wearing a bloodstained apron.

Developer American McGee had to learn he was destined for goth greatness at some point, so why not during Quake 2's development? Somewhere around 30 years ago, he found out he was interested in telling stories through video games in a way his co-workers at id Software didn't care for, and it eventually led him to create my favorite, graveyard smash Alice games.

In response to a clip from his 2000 game American McGee's Alice on Twitter, the former Doom developer remembers the moment he discovered others at id Software weren't eager to use the studio's proprietary Quake engine for "proper cinematic storytelling."