Over the game's development from 1995 through the summer of '96, he spent dozens if not hundreds of hours making maps and deathmatching fellow id developers John Carmack, Adrian Carmack (no relation), Tim Willits, American McGee, Sandy Petersen, and others. John Romero led Quake's design from its inception as an open-world, exploration-heavy game to its release as the spiritual successor to Doom.