Silas Warner most notable contribution to gaming was to create Castle Wolfenstein in 1981, which was the first game to include digitized speech and an early example both of stealth gaming and of the World War II shooter. Three years later, he released a follow-up, Beyond Castle Wolfenstein. He wasn’t much of a businessman, and the company went broke in 1987. Its assets, including the Wolfenstein name, were picked up by a broker. In 1992, id Software bought the Wolfenstein name from the broker for $5,000. Two of the company’s co-founders, John Carmack and John Romero, had both been fans of the original games, and wanted the name for their new World War II shooter, Wolfenstein 3D.
Warner went on to work at games various companies, including MicroProse and Virgin Interactive. Those who recall working with Warner, including Firaxis founder Sid Meier and famed gaming musician Tommy Tallarico, say he was sometimes treated as a minor celebrity by co-workers who admired his games. Being 6-foot-9 and more than 300 pounds added to a sense that he was a towering figure. But many who knew him say he was socially awkward, and would often react to praise of his games with bemusement.
He Was Really Proud Of Getting This 16.5k Modem
“The thing I remember most was that he worked using two monitors and two keyboards, one on top of the other, he would be typing with one hand on one keyboard and one hand on the other. I was amazed and asked him about it. He just said it was the way he worked.”
“He had a car battery (yes, car battery!) in one pocket, a CB radio in the other pocket and a whip antenna stuck down the back of his jacket. He was occasionally talking on the CB as he held two magazines open in one hand. One of Silas’s favorite things was to read two mags simultaneously, kinda one inside the other, flipping back and forth.”
Silas Warner died in 2004, at age 54. He’d been suffering from ill health for more than a decade.
Bethesda bought id for an undisclosed sum in 2009 with John Carmack, the programmer, as the only original Wolfenstein team member remaining.
https://www.polygon.com/features/2019/12/24/21029936/castle-wolfenstein-silas-warner
https://www.polygon.com/features/2017/10/26/16511514/wolfenstein-origins-apogee
https://www.pcgamesn.com/dawn-fps-inside-making-wolfenstein-3d
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