American McGee had some crazy ideas in the 90s, too.

Sandy Petersen was one of the four level designers in Quake, which was – as expected by id Software – a revolutionary game in 1996. He shared some background tidbits about the game’s development on Twitter. The game had no boss monsters at the end of the second and the third episodes, but Petersen explained how American McGee had an idea to overcome the limitation (which likely happened due to time constraints):

„[American] McGee made a Quake level with a 300-foot zombie. It barely fit into its half of the level. You fought it by using lifts and staircases on a scaffold by the zombie. McGee’s goal [was to] see if 3D scaling was useful. It was a near [complete] level but the art team vetoed it.

After McGee’s giant zombie, I made a giant vore whose homing darts chased you all through the level. You ran through tunnels and caverns evading darts & seeking a vantage to shoot back. [It was] also canned by the art team because [the] scaled-up critters look bad. Fans of old Quake may note that episodes 2 and 3 lacked boss monsters. McGee’s giant zombie and my super-vore were tries to fill the gap. Ah well. It would have taken more time to make two new bosses and time is money I guess,” Petersen wrote. But Quake came out in the Summer of ’96. Was GT Interactive, the publisher, pushing them to rush the game out? It’s possible.

After Petersen left id Software, he played a pivotal role in the creation of Age of Empires at Ensemble Studios, then he returned to table-top games. American McGee moved on to create American McGee’s Alice or Bad Day L. A.

Source: PCGamer

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