We’re joined by legendary game developer American McGee, who takes us on a journey from his humble beginnings on the Timex Sinclair and Commodore 64 to designing iconic levels for Doom II and Quake. He shares behind-the-scenes stories from iD Software, reveals how a Ferrari-driving neighbour turned out to be John Carmack, and discusses the gothic inspirations behind American McGee’s Alice. Plus, we hear about his time at EA, and why being fired from iD turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to him!
Contents:
00:00 - The Week's Retro News Stories
35:28 - American McGee Interview
Download this episode as an MP3 file
Please visit our amazing sponsors and help to support the show:
Bitmap Books - https://www.bitmapbooks.com
Take your business to the next level today and enjoy 3 months of Shopify for £1/month: https://shopify.co.uk/retrohour
The Retro Hour Book: https://retrohour.myshopify.com/
We need your help to ensure the future of the podcast, if you'd like to help us with running costs, equipment and hosting, please consider supporting us on Patreon:
https://theretrohour.com/support/
https://www.patreon.com/retrohour
Get your Retro Hour merchandise: https://bit.ly/33OWBKd
Join our Discord channel: https://discord.gg/GQw8qp8
Website: http://theretrohour.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theretrohour/
X: https://twitter.com/retrohouruk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retrohouruk/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theretrohour.com
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theretrohour
Show notes
YouTube Turns 20: https://tinyurl.com/mrx88ybs
Windows on Game Boy: https://tinyurl.com/25mkwpdp
OutRun the Movie: https://tinyurl.com/5n6r8ntk
Neon Hearts City: https://tinyurl.com/yvezebcn
Upcoming events
RetCon 2025 – https://retconfestival.co.uk/
PT1210 – https://www.ptweekender.com/
RetroMessa – https://www.retromessa.no/
