Left to right: Brenda and John Romero,
Dan and Kim McAuliffe.
Photo by Tom Weldon, President of Dark Island Tours
Awarding-winning game designers Brenda Romero and John Romero recently visited Singer Castle on Dark Island. The Romeros were accompanied by their close friends and fellow game developers Kim and Dan McAuliffe. While at the castle, the four are drawing inspiration from the Castle’s mystique, beauty and environment to create a new board game.
“Having grown up in the North Country, there is no place more beautiful in the summer months,” said Brenda Romero, a native of Ogdensburg, NY.” This visit home, we decided to fulfill a childhood dream of mine and stay in Singer Castle.” The couple rented the castle for several nights and already has plans to return. According to Scott Garris, caretaker of Singer Castle, the Romeros even requested Jreck’s subs be delivered to the Castle. “The castle provides a wonderful dinner for us, but if I’m home, I want Jreck’s.”
John Romero is best known for creating the first person shooter genre with games like DOOM, Quake and Wolfenstein 3D. He has created over 140 games, founded 10 game companies and won every major game industry award. Brenda Romero, on the other hand, worked on the Wizardry series, Dungeons & Dragons and has recently achieved notoriety with a series of analog board games. One of those games, Siochan Leat (The Irish Game), is in the National Museum of Play at The Strong in Rochester New York. Kim McAuliffe is a senior game designer at Microsoft and is working on the critically-acclaimed game Project Spark, a game which allows people to create their own game worlds complete with quests and stories. Dan McAuliffe is studio director, executive producer and veteran mobile game developer who has worked on dozens of major game titles. He is currently forming his next venture.
“The castle on Dark Island is so beautiful and provides great inspiration for game ideas,” says John Romero. “So, we are all collaborating on multiple game ideas based on the mystery and history of the castle.”
---Jean Papke, Administrative Assistant, Singer Castle
And what would we do without the following update?! ...
owner of Jreck Subs, Alexandria Bay NY.
Photo by Cindy Johnson.
