John Carmack
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Game Developers Choice Awards shooting John Carmack a Lifetime Achievement Award, Warren Spector hosting
This year's Game Developers Choice Awards will honor id Software's John Carmack with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Although certainly well deserved for his (continuing) contributions to the technical side of the industry, it's got to be weird to receive such an honor at the cusp of turning 40. We certainly hope Carmack still has plenty of years in the industry ahead of him. Former winners of the award include Sid Meier, Shigeru Miyamoto and Will Wright ... which got us wondering: could Carmack (or any of the above!) grab another Lifetime Achievement Award in the actual twilight of their career or does a single award preclude you from future awards, regardless of the achievement? Hosting the GDCA's this year is Warren Spector, who'd better be on his game following Tim Schafer's stellar performance as emcee last year. Spector is currently working on the (currently) Wii-exclusive Disney Epic Mickey, but is best known for his work on Deus Ex. The award ceremony will take place on Thursday, March 11, during GDC 2010 in San Francisco.
Carmack and Hollenshead reflect on id sale
Six months after the acquisition deal that brought id Software under the wing of Bethesda parent-company ZeniMax, id Software co-founder John Carmack has again weighed in on the move and why he feels it made sense for the studio. Speaking with Edge Online, Carmack cited a waning interest from publishing partners -- specifically, Activision's decision to focus on internal development -- as a major contributing factor in the sale of the nearly 20-year-old company. When the deal was first announced, games media focused on the sale of a long-time independent developer; however, id president Todd Hollenshead views the situation from a different angle. "I think it's just as true that we acquired an internal publishing capacity," he said. According to Hollenshead, ZeniMax values development "for its own sake," rather than "trying to put something in a box and relying on marketing for sales." In the modern games industry where "the business is so much about either having a hit or being totally irrelevant," Hollenshead says a strong publishing partner is increasingly important to the survival of a development studio. Truthfully, we're happy for id Software. If the Activision partnership had continued, it would have been just a matter of time before the house that Doom built was tapped for some kind of peripheral-related disaster.
iPhone plays Doom, but what about Doom 3?
id Software's John Carmack estimates that the iPhone version of iconic first-person shooter Doom took "maybe six weeks of serious work" to come together. Borrowing time -- and an artist -- the prolific programmer managed to assemble a port that, according to a recent VentureBeat interview, "plays great on every iPod Touch and iPhone ever made." But what if he focused effort on the iPhone 3GS, the latest and more powerful variant of Apple's killer app-platform? "I think we could do the real Xbox Doom 3 game on a 3GS if we targeted it exclusively," Carmack notes. "That is pushing it a bit. You could probably get that kind of visual fidelity." And here we thought portable devices were only good for recording spooky audio logs and unlocking doors within exploding barrel research laboratories.
Doom Classic soon to hurt us plenty on iPhone
An electronic device isn't a game machine these days until it passes the crucial "Does it run Doom" test. John Carmack has been hard at work on Doom Classic, an official port of id Software's groundbreaking FPS for iPhone, and now he reports that it's been submitted to Apple for approval, only four months after Carmack said it would be ready. Soon – provided Apple gives the okay to a tour of Hell – we'll be swiping and tilting our way to a symphony of exploding barrels. Doom Classic should support wi-fi multiplayer upon its release, with Bluetooth to follow if it's not already implemented. At least, that's what Carmack said earlier this year.
Carmack says ad-based model not working for Quake Live
In addition to announcing support for Quake Live on Mac and Linux, John Carmack admitted that the current ad-based model wasn't exactly working for the game. To assuage the problem, id Software will soon be offering a subscription model in addition to the free-to-play model currently in place."The in-game advertising stuff has not been big business .... [it's] not going to be able to carry the project," Carmack said. Dually, he noted that while a subscription service will be offered, the game will never go exclusively "pay-to-play." According to Shacknews, the subscription model will allow players to create and host private server matches.This all sounds good to us -- now maybe all the hardcore Quake Live players will play in private servers and allow us to get a single shot off.
QuakeCon 2009 detailed, first public demos of Rage and Brink
Nothing more clearly shows the new relationship forged by Zenimax Media between id Software and Bethesda Softworks than this year's QuakeCon lineup. Littered with little extras like an hour-long presentation by Bethesda's Todd Howard and the first public demonstration of Splash Damage's Brink, QuakeCon 2009 is clearly accommodating some new faces.That being said, id Software's John Carmack will be giving this year's keynote speech, and the event is still very much PC-centric, with Alienware, NVIDA and Ventrilo hosting a handful of events. Upcoming post-apocalyptic, not-Mad Max FPS Rage will also be getting its first public demo at the show, further asserting id Software into the event. For those of you attending, we encourage hounding Todd Howard for information on the next Elder Scrolls game during his Q&A -- if not for us, do it for the kids.
Edge: Rage runs at 60fps on 360, 'just 20 to 30fps' on PS3 [update]
CVG details an extensive 10-page feature on id Software's Rage in the latest issue of UK games magazine Edge. The piece includes confirmation by John Carmack that the Xbox 360 version of the game will run at a brisk 60 frames per second, but that he has found PS3 to be at a disadvantage to Microsoft's console in terms of rendering power. "The PS3 lags a little bit behind in terms of getting the performance out of it," he said.As a result, Edge reports that the game runs at "just 20-30fps" on Sony's console. Carmack places the blame on the PS3's GPU -- the RSX -- saying that, "The rasterizer is just a little bit slower -- no two ways about that...the RSX is slower than what we have in the 360." He sees both consoles as being comparable in terms of raw processing power, however. "The CPU is about the same, but the 360 makes it easier to split things off," he told the magazine. "...that's what a lot of the work has been, splitting it all into jobs on the PS3."Now, before you go making a comment you can't take back, know that the Edge article doesn't clarify whether or not the performance of the PS3 version will be improved prior to release. It's also telling that Carmack states that the PS3 is only "a little bit slower" than 360 in his findings -- if that's the case, we can't imagine that the finished will run at fully half the speed.Update: Further comments from the Edge piece reveal that the developer is indeed aiming for parity between all platforms. "Everything is designed as a 60 hertz game. We expect this to be 60 hertz on every supported platform."
Carmack hopes Doom will kick off 'bigger' iPhone games in future
While speaking with id Software's John Carmack and Escalation Studios' Tom Mustaine yesterday, we only briefly broached the subject of iPhone game pricing. Doom Resurrection's lofty (by App Store standards) $10 price tag puts it in a particularly prickly situation, with Carmack telling us that "convincing people who've been spending $1 on games to spend $10 is a real problem." We can imagine! He's not entirely without hope, however, as he looks at Resurrection as a value proposition, trading higher production values for higher costs. In fact, Carmack's hoping to set a precedent with DR that will allow for "bigger iPhone games" in the future -- something he says he'd like to see a lot more of. "There's only so much you can do with games that cost two or three dollars -- there's only so much production value you can put into that," he told us. The clear answer: Make Doom-based alien flatulence apps.
Doom Resurrection getting DLC, 'possible' for other id titles [update]
Though he didn't exactly spell out what it's going to be or when it's going to be hitting digital shelves, id Software's John Carmack told us his newest iPhone game will be getting DLC. He let slip yesterday morning during an interview about recently released Doom Resurrection that the game would be getting DLC "sometime soon" -- downloadable content just became an option for iPhone games, with the launch of OS 3.0. When we pressed him on whether we'd see downloadable anything for the upcoming flood of id Software games coming to the iPhone, he kept his cards a bit closer to his chest, saying it's technically "possible" but nothing's set in stone yet. He also revealed that Resurrection will be getting multiplayer add-ons in the upcoming weeks, so for those of you who already took the $10 plunge, you may want to ask your best buddy to do so as well. Update: We got some clarification on the DLC from id Software's John Carmack just now, saying, "There won't be any DLC until we have moved the projects to requiring 3.0, and we aren't sure exactly when that will be. Pretty much all of the titles are being set up for DLC in the future. We are prepping the "Spear of Destiny" levels for Wolfenstein 3D classic, and all the various classic games have sequels and mission packs that we can offer. For Resurrection, new content will have to be created from scratch. I expect we will know within a few weeks if the reception to the game is good enough to justify it."
Doom Resurrection on the iPhone now, lots more id games to come
Fellow shooter fans rejoice -- id software's John Carmack has begun delivering on his love of the iPhone with a brand new game made just for the platform called Doom Resurrection, available right now on the App Store for the price of $9.99. There's nothing small about this game at all -- it offers up 76 mb of original id shooter, including eight levels total, six on Mars, and two more (spoiler?) in Hell, all set in a graphics and control engine designed just for Apple's handhelds (you control aiming with the accelerometer while the game runs you around on rails, and hit the various on-screen buttons to shoot or jump into cover). Unfortunately, there's no lite version to test out (though we can probably expect one eventually, considering Wolfenstein Classic got one), but early reviews say that if you like Doom, you'll enjoy the game.And that's not all -- besides this original version of Doom, Carmack and id continue to have big plans for the iPhone: Quake and Quake 2 are headed there for sure, and Quake 3 probably isn't far behind, as well as a RAGE-related title. And that doesn't even include the rest of the mobile stuff they have planned: apparently Wolfenstein RPG is ready to go, and Carmack hints that they've got even more original titles like Doom Resurrection here up their sleeve. Good to see a major, established developer like id is really committing to delivering new games for the iPhone.
John Carmack 'very interested' in other id Software iPhone resurrections
We already knew that recently bought by Bethesda company id Software are looking at a hefty lineup of upcoming iPhone games, but after speaking with company co-founder John Carmack this morning, we found out a little bit more about the potential for more classic reboots, like Doom Resurrection, in the future. "It really depends on how this one is received by consumers before we can make any plans, but I'm very interested in the prospect," Carmack told Joystiq.Apparently, he's most interested in seeing this treatment for Quake, though he also noted that Quake 3 Arena is still "possible" on Apple's handheld. Why not Quake Live on Apple's OS X, Mr. Carmack? Unfortunately, we ran out of time before we could ask. It is high on his "high priority" list though, right? So we've got something then? John? Hello? Please?
Doom Resurrection started life on the Wii
Speaking with id Software's John Carmack earlier today, we got the sense that the man has a hunk of burnin' love for Apple's iPhone. Aside from bringing a metric ton of classic id titles to the device, the legendary developer let us know that the Wii game once being talked about around the hallowed halls at the company is what eventually became Doom Resurrection. "We like to think of it as a more guided experience than an on-rails game," Carmack told Joystiq this morning, referring to the game's character control system. "Originally, I was pitched the title as a Wii game -- I dropped some hints about this earlier in the year but nothing substantial, in case the game didn't work out or it wasn't fun or something like that," he continued. Considering the $9.99 asking price of Resurrection versus the $50 a Wii title could have cost, we (and our wallets) are more than happy with Mr. Carmack's choice.
id Software bringing external development back in-house
When Raven Software's long-in-development Wolfenstein (remember when it was an Xbox 360 timed exclusive back in 2005?) finally hits store shelves this August, it'll mark the end of an era ...... oh no! Not of Wolfenstein games – there are plenty more of those coming – but of outside developers working on id Software's hallowed franchises. John Carmack told Joystiq today that bringing external development back in-house at id is "exactly what's going to be happening." Carmack says that while id's had some hits (Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory springs to mind) and some misses (Enemy Territory: Quake Wars springs to mind) the externally developed titles haven't "had the same record that our internally developed titles have." We'd have to agree with him there.With the lead team cranking on Rage for EA Partners, they created a second development team to work on Doom 4, with a still-formative third team currently toiling away on Quake Live. "We'll have three teams," Carmack told us. "We'll have Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake, and Rage and one of them will be taking a vacation each cycle and that will depend on what we want to be doing each time." So don't worry, you'll have plenty of all of the above to go around.
Expect an id iPhone game 'every two to three months for the next year'
In an interview with Joystiq, id's John Carmack stated that he is "pretty passionate about the benefits of the iPhone" and plans to continue supporting the platform. "I've got a slate of iPhone titles, I expect to have an iPhone release every two or three months for the next year," said Carmack, noting that id will likely continue to plow through its classic titles (hope you like Doom!) before moving on to titles like Doom RPG and Wolfenstein RPG and eventually something based on id's upcoming title Rage.Carmack stated that iPhone projects don't require much of id's focus, saying, "These are things that get a few people put on them for a little while, are fun for everybody involved.""So far it looks like they're making pretty good money," said Carmack, "but they're not the blockbuster titles that they go do $100 million dollars."Read the entire interview with John Carmack and Zenimax CEO Robert Altman right here.
Interview: id's John Carmack and ZeniMax CEO on The Acquisition
Following yesterday's news that ZeniMax – the parent company of Fallout 3-developer Bethesda – had purchased id Software – one of the most successful, and long-standing, independent video game developers of all time – we had a chance to speak with ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman and id co-founder (and industry legend) John Carmack. Joystiq: How long has the acquisition process been in development? Robert Altman: I had my first meeting with [id Software CEO] Todd Hollenshead at E3 a year ago. We had a general discussion about how our two companies might explore matters of mutual interest and the conversations then took place over the ensuing months. So it's been almost a year, on and off, that we've been having these conversations. And how long has Bethesda – or ZeniMax in this case– been looking to expand that studio range outside of just Bethesda and Vir2L,etc.?
Survey: Developers still worship Miyamoto, Blow too
Luminary Shigeru Miyamoto hasn't lost his shimmer in the eyes of game developers, with a recent industry poll finding the Nintendo icon to be without equal. The survey, commissioned by organizers of next month's Develop Conference, asked 9,000 devs to name their game development hero, with nearly a third of respondents pointing to Miyamoto as the man with the plan. The popularity contest also named id Software's John Carmack as the next most idealized developer, followed by Maxis and now Stupid Fun Club brainpan Will Wright. The top ten list of industry highlights was rounded out by Braid dev Jonathan Blow, who's likely too busy rewinding time (to see if he can somehow land higher on the ballot) to care.
Doom Resurrection is an on-rails shooter
If you read the name of John Carmack's latest project yesterday, Doom Resurrection, you likely assumed you'd spend the duration of the upcoming iPhone game shooting evil shit to death. You'd be correct. But today, IGN's reporting that you won't have to worry about what your feet are doing while you're battling demons.In this on-rails shooter, you'll apparently twist and tilt the phone to aim and tap the screen to fire. We don't know about you, but we're not bothered about the loss of mobility: As House of the Dead: Overkill recently taught us, we can still have a great time riding the rails.
id brings all-new Doom Resurrection to the iPhone 'next week'
Sure, the all-new iPhone 3G S was shown off to throngs of drooling consumers on Monday – wowing the geek-set with its newfound OpenGL ES 2.0 support (your lousy iPhone 3G only supports OpenGL ES 1.1!) – but don't expect id Software's just announced title, Doom Resurrection, to be a 3G S-exclusive. Id's John Carmack told VentureBeat that he's "happy with the faster iPhone 3G S" but "he is also focused on making sure that his games run on the widest number of iPhones." Translation: Doom Resurrection won't be 3G S-exclusive. (Speculation: id could make two versions of Resurrection: one 2.0-compatible and another 1.1-compatible). But, where were we ... oh, yes! Doom Resurrection! This sure sounds like the "graphical tour de force" he promised to bring to the iPhone. Carmack & Co were able to reuse much of DOOM 3's assets (downsized for the iPhone's screen resolution, of course) and get the engine running at 30 frames per second on the latest iPod Touch. Wrapped around that fancy tech, they've built "eight full levels and about five hours of game play" – the future iPhone 3.0 OS release will also enable "peer-to-peer cooperative multiplayer" for some on-the-go Deathmatch.One of the most notable takeaways from VB's interview: Carmack's assertion that the iPhone is "a real game platform, not a tiny little toy." He explains that "the iPhone should be better in performance than the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable" in raw horsepower "but the truth is you can't exploit it all because of software inefficiencies." We imagine the newly Open GL ES 2.0-compliant iPhones (gallery below) will ameliorate much of Mr. Carmack's concerns. In the interim, check out how far he's gotten on today's hardware when Doom Resurrection shoots the AppStore in the face next week. %Gallery-65700%
Doom should come to iPhone next month
We wish all devs were as forthcoming as id's John Carmack. His update on the status of the iPhone version of Doom (or Doom Classic, as he's calling it) is exhaustive, but it's also rich with information and insight into porting an old-school classic onto new tech ... and doing it well.We've dug up a few nuggets for you, like the fact that Carmack says he should be able to submit the game to the App Store by next month and that the game will use the original Doom sprites, but you should really take a few minutes to read the whole thing, it's really interesting stuff.[Via Shacknews]
Carmack releases open source Wolfenstein for iPhone
The following post was assembled using two documents (Carmack_iPhone_development.doc and readme_iWolf.txt) written by John Carmack and included in Wolf3D iPhone v1.0 Source. The documents are posted in their exhaustive entirety after the break.Dear Diary,I love my iPhone. Unfortunately, things have conspired against us being out early on the platform. I had a plan for an aggressive, iPhone specific project that we actually started putting some internal resources on, but the programmer tasked with it didn't work out and was let go. In an odd coincidence, an outside development team came to us with a proposal, and we decided to have them work on the iPhone project. We should be announcing this project soon, and it is cool.After a little looking around, I found Wolf3D Redux at http://wolf3dredux.sourceforge.net/. The game was still fun to play after all these years, and I began to think that it might be worthwhile to actually make a product out of Wolfenstein on the iPhone. The simple episodic nature of the game would make it easy to split up into a $0.99 version with just the first episode. I was getting a little ahead of myself without a fun-to-play demonstration of feasibility on the iPhone, but the idea of moving the entire line of classic Id titles over -- Wolf, Doom, Quake, Quake 2, and Quake Arena, was starting to sound like a real good idea.
