History Trivia / Daikatana

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: A UsefulNotes/PlayStation version was cancelled during development.

* RereleasedForFree: Creator/JohnRomero has placed the (actually decent) Europe-only [[http://rome.ro/games_daikatana.htm GBC game]] as a download on his website.

* TheWikiRule: The [[http://daikatana.wikia.com/wiki/Daikatana_Wiki Daikatana Wiki]].

* CreatorBacklash: The game is a very sore subject for Creator/JohnRomero, who had earned fame for his hand in developing ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'', but hedged his reputation on the game that [[CreatorKiller wound up sinking his company]]. In particular, [[http://kotaku.com/5541406/john-romero-is-so-sorry-about-trying-to-make-you-his-bitch he apologized over a decade afterwards for the game's infamous magazine ad slogan]], which read "[[ThisIsGoingToBeHuge John Romero's about to make you his bitch]]". When mentioning that he was working on a new game, he went so far as to announce that it wasn't a sequel to the game.
** However he at least [[https://twitter.com/romero/status/1306581216418824198?s=21 has a sense of humor about it.]]

* CreatorBacklash: John Romero has nothing nice to say about the "bitch" ad that soured his relationship with gamers.

* OldShame: The game is a very sore subject for Creator/JohnRomero, who had earned fame for his hand in developing ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'', but hedged his reputation on the game that [[CreatorKiller wound up sinking his company]]. In particular, [[http://kotaku.com/5541406/john-romero-is-so-sorry-about-trying-to-make-you-his-bitch he apologized over a decade afterwards for the game's infamous magazine ad slogan]], which read "[[ThisIsGoingToBeHuge John Romero's about to make you his bitch]]". When mentioning that he was working on a new game, he went so far as to announce that it wasn't a sequel to the game.
** However he at least [[https://twitter.com/romero/status/1306581216418824198?s=21 has a sense of humor about it.]]

* CreatorDrivenSuccessor: Proteus and Suspicious, as part of a 2011 megathread whose gimmick was [[StylisticSuck making 2007-style LPs]], would later do a co-op LP of ''VideoGame/QuakeII''. Proteus claims in his opening post for the game that it's thematically appropriate as a successor to the ''Daikatana'' LP, because it had the opposite primary problem - whereas John Romero without id Software to reign him in was too ambitious for his own good, id Software without John Romero to offer ideas [[SoOkayItsAverage played things far too safe]].

** The game ended up [[{{Vaporware}} delayed]] so much that, by the time it came out in 2000, it was seriously outclassed by competing games like ''VideoGame/HalfLife'', ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'', and even Ion Storm's very own soon-to-be-released ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' (developed by their Austin studio). ''Daikatana'' ended up being a complete bust and pretty much [[CreatorKiller ended the fame and career]] of Creator/JohnRomero, who, before ''Daikatana'', was a superstar developer on a par with Creator/SidMeier and Creator/TimSchafer thanks to his work on ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''.

** This turnover had a chaotic impact on the game code, with fragments inserted here and there by totally different people who had never communicated. Demos made from this increasingly buggy mess failed to impress at industry events. Communications between all the people working on the game did not get any better: one artist submitted the infamous "1,300-pixel arrow", a texture file for a crossbow bolt that was inexplicably 1300 pixels by 960 pixels. [[note]] For reference, that's about the size of your monitor, twice as large as the game's actual resolution, and a hell of a lot larger than the space a crossbow bolt actually takes up. [[/note]] When Romero hired his then-girlfriend, Stevie Case, to work on level design, [[{{Nepotism}} he nearly triggered another full-staff walkout]].

* OldShame: The game is a very sore subject for Creator/JohnRomero, who had earned fame for developing ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'', but hedged his reputation on the game that [[CreatorKiller wound up sinking his company]]. In particular, [[http://kotaku.com/5541406/john-romero-is-so-sorry-about-trying-to-make-you-his-bitch he apologized over a decade afterwards for the game's infamous magazine ad slogan]], which read "[[ThisIsGoingToBeHuge John Romero's about to make you his bitch]]". When mentioning that he was working on a new game, he went so far as to announce that it wasn't a sequel to the game.

** Carrying out his threat, he and id cofounder Tom Hall started what became Creator/IonStorm at the end of 1996, where "Design is Law." On the strength of their names and accomplishments, the company was able to raise millions. Some of this was spent on high-cost real estate, [[WackyStartupWorkplace renting office space in the top floors of a Dallas skyscraper, featuring the Ion Storm logo carved into terrazzo in the lobby because, Romero said, he had always wanted to work in flashier offices at id]]. But all did not go well from that auspicious start.

** Romero's prowess as a designer and programmer, despite his experience at well-managed id, did not transfer to management or leadership skills. His entire development team quit on him en masse to start their own company because they were so fed up with the lack of direction they were getting. To maintain goodwill with potential competitors, Romero avoided hiring away any of their programmers, instead hiring amateur programmers whose homebrewed levels for id's games had been the most downloaded — a fact which, another Ion Storm executive admitted later, told them nothing about what it was like to work with this person or what their work habits were. During the development of the game, the staff changed completely three times.
** This turnover had a chaotic impact on the game code, with fragments inserted here and there by totally different people who had never communicated. Demos made from this increasingly buggy mess failed to impress at industry events. Communications between all the people working on the game did not get any better: one artist submitted the infamous "1,300-pixel arrow", a texture file for a crossbow bolt that was inexplicably 1300 pixels by 960 pixels. [[note]] For reference, that's about the size of your monitor, twice as large as the game's actual resolution, and a hell of a lot larger than the space a crossbow bolt actually takes up. [[/note]] When Romero hired his then-girlfriend, Stevie Case, to work on level design, he nearly triggered another full-staff walkout.
** The programmers who ''were'' working had some unexpected physical problems with the skyscraper office space. Some of them were under skylights where, around midday in the Texas sun, they would get too hot to work, and even if they didn't the light was too distracting. People were covering their cubicles in blankets to get their work done.
** The office also had a movie theater and plenty of toys and games. These proved to be distractions and slowed progress. Also, a lot of money was spent repeatedly repairing the theater's projector because no one knew how to operate it properly and they kept blowing out the very expensive bulbs.

** The game ended up [[{{Vaporware}} delayed]] so much that, by the time it came out in 2000, it was seriously outclassed by competing games like ''VideoGame/HalfLife'', ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'', and the soon-to-be-released ''VideoGame/DeusEx''. The resulting product ended up being a complete bust and pretty much [[CreatorKiller ended the fame and career]] of Creator/JohnRomero, who, before ''Daikatana'', was a superstar developer on a par with Creator/SidMeier and Creator/TimSchafer thanks to his work on ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''.

** Carrying out his threat, he and id cofounder Tom Hall started what became Creator/IonStorm at the end of 1996, where "Design is Law." On the strength of their names and accomplishments, the company was able to raise millions. Some of this was spent on high-cost real estate, renting office space in the top floors of a Dallas skyscraper, featuring the Ion Storm logo carved into terrazzo in the lobby because, Romero said, he had always wanted to work in flashier offices at id. But all did not go well from that auspicious start.

** The office was also had a movie theater and plenty of toys and games. These proved to be distractions and slowed progress. Also, a lot of money was spent repeatedly repairing the theater's projector because no one knew how to operate it properly and they kept blowing out the very expensive bulbs.

** The office space also proved to be problematic. Skylights in the ceilings made workspaces uncomfortably hot and bright, so many programmers resorted to draping blankets over their computers and desks to be able to see their screens. The office was also had a movie theater and plenty of games. These proved to be distractions and slowed progress. Also, a lot of money was spent repeatedly repairing the theater's projector because no one knew how to operate it properly and they kept blowing out the very expensive bulbs.

* DevelopmentHell: Creator/JohnRomero wanted to make you his bitch for [[ChristmasRushed Christmas 1997]]. Due to infighting and a mid-development engine switch, ''Daikatana'' didn't come out until May 2000. By that time, it had ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' to compete with. And it was released on very dated software anyways.

* TroubledProduction: As chronicled in [[http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20000619155817/http://www.gamespot.com/features/btg-daikatana/index.html "Knee Deep in a Dream"]], it was very expensive (including money wasted in [[http://web.archive.org/web/20041012101115/http://archive.gamespy.com:80/articles/june03/dumbestmoments/index16.shtml brand new offices]]) and ultimately failed attempt by John Romero to coast on his ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' success into [[StartMyOwn his own endeavor]]. His prowess as a designer and programmer [[ThePeterPrinciple did not translate into leadership skills]] as the game wound up taking three years to finish (in the meantime hurting the other game developed by Ion Storm at the time, ''Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3'') while experiencing technical difficulties and three staff changes, among other problems.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** A UsefulNotes/PlayStation version was cancelled during development.
** A ''Daikatana'' sequel was being developed by Human Head Studios on the Unreal Engine. When the project was cancelled, the developers began working on ''VideoGame/{{Rune}}''.

* CreatorKiller: The game didn't make anyone '''John Romero''''s bitch as he wanted to; it made Romero its own bitch and took his name and career down with it.
** Some would say it also made Ion Storm its bitch, but the RTS ''Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3'' is perhaps the bigger culprit. Not only was it a huge flop on its own, but the internal squabbling its development caused at Ion Storm was partially responsible for turning ''Daikatana'' into what it is, mostly thanks to how Ion Storm wanted to get ''Dominion'' out of the door as soon as possible so they could have some more cash for ''Daikatana''.
** That said, Romero floundered for awhile before coming back with a social games company that has seen moderate success and a much older, wiser, and more mature Romero.

* TroubledProduction: As chronicled in [[http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20000619155817/http://www.gamespot.com/features/btg-daikatana/index.html "Knee Deep in a Dream"]].
** Despite the success he'd enjoyed with ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and its progeny at id Software, John Romero was unhappy with his job because he felt his vision as a designer took a back seat to the company's technological considerations. When his idea to split the company into separate divisions devoted to design and technology was nixed by the founders, he threatened to leave and [[StartMyOwn start his own company instead]], and was eventually let go.
** Carrying out his threat, he and id co-founder Tom Hall started what became Ion Storm at the end of 1996, where "Design is Law." On the strength of their names and accomplishments, the company was able to raise millions. Some of this was spent on high-cost real estate, renting office space in the top floors of a Dallas skyscraper, featuring the Ion Storm logo carved into terrazzo in the lobby because, Romero said, he had always wanted to work in flashier offices at id. But all did not go well from that auspicious start.
** Romero's dream game, ''Daikatana'', would be the sort of FirstPersonShooter he had pioneered, but with two sidekicks and multiple levels in four different time periods across a 4,000-year period. He told the media it would be available within a year, since the plan was to build it on the ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' engine. As you might expect, such an optimistic prospect was just asking for trouble.
** First, Ion Storm had some internal warring because the ''Daikatana'' team felt the development of ''Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3'' was stealing resources and staff, which ultimately hurt that game and forced the abandonment of the other early titles Ion Storm meant to bring out.
** Then, they tried to move from the old ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' engine to the ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' one, a process [[PortingDisaster much more complicated and time-consuming]] than they thought. In June of 1997, they made it official — ''Daikatana'' would not be shipping that year. That didn't stop the company from taking out ads that cheekily promised "[[PreAssKickingOneLiner John Romero's about to make you his bitch]]", alienating some gamers and ramping up expectations for others. Romero has since apologized for the campaign and tried to distance himself from it; others involved say he was much more enthusiastic at the time.
** Romero's prowess as a designer and programmer, despite his experience at well-managed id, did not transfer to management or leadership skills. His entire development team quit on him en masse to start their own company because they were so fed up with the lack of direction they were getting. To maintain goodwill with potential competitors, Romero avoided hiring away any of their programmers, instead hiring amateur programmers whose homebrewed levels for id's games had been the most downloaded — a fact which, another Ion Storm executive admitted later, told them nothing about what it was like to work with this person or what their work habits were. During the development of the game, the staff changed completely three times.
** This turnover had a chaotic impact on the game code, with fragments inserted here and there by totally different people who had never communicated. Demos made from this increasingly buggy mess failed to impress at industry events. Communications between all the people working on the game did not get any better: one artist submitted the infamous "1,300-pixel arrow", a texture file for a crossbow bolt that was inexplicably 1300 pixels by 960 pixels. For reference, that's about the size of your monitor, twice as large as the game's actual resolution, and a hell of a lot larger than the space a crossbow bolt actually takes up. When Romero hired his then-girlfriend, Stevie Case, to work on level design, he nearly triggered another full-staff walkout.
** The programmers who ''were'' working had some unexpected physical problems with the skyscraper office space. Some of them were under skylights where, around midday in the Texas sun, they would get too hot to work, and even if they didn't the light was too distracting. People were covering their cubicles in blankets to get their work done.
** John Romero neglected to tell the voice actors how he wanted Kage's name to be pronounced. By the time Romero became aware of this, about half the dialogue had the name being pronounced Ka-gee (in the Japanese style, and Romero's intention) and the other half with it being pronounced like "cage".
** Ion Storm missed ''Daikatana''[='=]s 1997 ship date, and its 1998 ship date, and its 1999 ship date. It became a punchline within the industry, as [[Webcomic/PennyArcade one webcomic]] memorably demonstrated. Eidos, Ion Storm's parent company, finally had to step in and straighten things out. And as things were finally turning out, id released the ''Quake III'' game engine. Recalling how much fun they had had three years earlier upgrading to its predecessor, Ion Storm understandably opted ''not'' to do it again, meaning the game they had poured so much design effort into would be [[TechnologyMarchesOn technologically behind]] from the moment it was released.
** The game ended up [[{{Vaporware}} delayed]] so much that, by the time it came out in 2000, it was seriously outclassed by competing games like ''VideoGame/HalfLife'', ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'', and the soon-to-be-released ''VideoGame/DeusEx''. The resulting product ended up being a complete bust and [[CreatorKiller ended the fame and career]] of Creator/JohnRomero, who, before ''Daikatana'', was a superstar developer on a par with Creator/SidMeier and Creator/TimSchafer thanks to his work on ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''.

* CreatorKiller: The game didn't make anyone '''John Romero''''s bitch as he wanted to; it made Romero its own bitch and took his fame and career down with it.

* CreatorKiller: Creator/JohnRomero went from industry golden boy to everyone's bitch thanks to this game, which also cut down his studio, Creator/IonStorm. Good thing the Austin branch [[VideoGame/DeusEx had a saving grace that same year...]]

* DevelopmentHell[=/=]TroubledProduction: Creator/JohnRomero wanted to make you his bitch for [[ChristmasRushed Christmas 1997]]. Due to infighting and a mid-development engine switch, ''Daikatana'' didn't come out until May 2000. By that time, it had ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' to compete with. And it was released on very dated software anyways.
* ProtectionFromEditors: Even at a time when games typically had much smaller development teams with much more creative control, being a great game designer does ''not'' automatically make you a good project manager.

* CreatorKiller: Creator/JohnRomero went from industry golden boy to everyone's bitch thanks to this game, which also cut down his studio, Ion Storm. Good thing the Austin branch [[VideoGame/DeusEx had a saving grace that same year...]]

* DevelopmentHell[=/=]TroubledProduction: Creator/JohnRomero wanted to make you his bitch for [[ChristmasRushed Christmas 1997]]. Due to infighting and a mid-development engine switch, ''Daikatana'' didn't come out until May 2000. By that time, it had ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' to compete with. And not to mention it was released on very dated software anyways.

** The game ended up [[{{Vaporware}} delayed]] so much that, by the time it came out in 2000, it was seriously outclassed by competing games like ''VideoGame/HalfLife'', ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'', and the soon-to-be-released ''VideoGame/DeusEx''. The resulting product ended up being a complete bust and pretty much [[CreatorKiller ended the fame and career]] of Creator/JohnRomero, who, before ''Daikatana'', was a superstar developer on a par with Creator/SidMeier and Creator/TimSchafer thanks to his work on ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''.

* {{Vaporware}}: ''Daikatana'' was believed to be vaporware for about three years. It probably should have stayed that way.

** A UsefulNotes/PlayStation version was cancelled during development. Probably for the better.

** John Romero neglected to tell the voice actors how he wanted Kane's name to be pronounced. By the time Romero became aware of this, about half the dialogue had the name being pronounced Kan-eh (in the Japanese style, and Romero's intention) and the other half with it being pronounced like "cane".

** John Romero neglected to tell the voice actors how he wanted Kane's name to be pronounced, resulting in about half the dialogue with it being pronounced Kan-eh (in the Japanese style, and Romero's intention) and the other half with it being pronounced like "cane".