DOOM: The Dark Ages Revelations is Very Difficult to Develop
Released in July, DOOM: The Dark Ages – Revelations offered players a new story, enemies, and puzzles that took them to Purgatory. While the expansion was generally well-received, the behind-the-scenes development process turned out to be far more arduous. Former id Software producer Andrew Willis explained that the project, especially in the final months, turned into one of the heaviest crunch periods in the studio’s history.
DOOM: The Dark Ages Revelations Pushed the Team to Its Limits for Months
According to Willis, the majority of Revelations was completed in just three to four months. He said that he worked at least 12 hours a day for about two months, sometimes reaching 17 hours. Moreover, as development progressed, new tasks continued to be added to the project, further increasing the time pressure on the team.
This intensity didn’t just affect a few people. Willis reported that even those on the team with 20 years of experience in Hollywood and 10 in the gaming industry described the period as the worst crunch of their careers. The former producer stated that his own work hours reached 80 hours in some weeks, and there were times when he didn’t see his son for days.
Willis argues that the crunch wasn’t a direct, official instruction from the company, but the workload effectively pushed employees to that point. He points out that when faced with 60 hours of work a week, you’re forced to choose between lowering quality or working more. According to him, the quality level expected by players and developers drove the team into a “spontaneous” crunch.
Making the process even more painful were the layoffs. Willis and dozens of employees lost their jobs in Xbox’s latest wave of layoffs, which also affected id Software. For the Revelations team, this decision coming just one day before the expansion’s release was a particularly heavy blow. Willis says that being fired right before the broadcast, after months of intense work and sacrifices in his personal life, made the process much more difficult.
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