John Carmack's Blog

[Lenard]

http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/j ... %20Updates

Do any of you guys read this? It is pretty interesting and damn complicated.

[Quebeth]

I wish he would update it more often, it's pretty interesting to read.

[4days]

aye, the last time i read it was ages and ages ago, shortly after he last updated it

[SonicClang]

He's not exactly what you'd call a captivating writer. Maybe if I was a programmer I'd give a shit about cell phone games, but YAWN!!! haha. Ahh poor John. The only way he's good at communicating with people is through making games. As for his essays... let's just say I won't be reading them any time soon.

[o'dium]

Johns not amazing any more. Hes in a world of people jsut as skilled if not more so, that can offer MORE than just fancy shadows and effects (i.e. a game).

id are very much the old school gamers. They make games that resemble things from 10 years ago, but look like games of tomorrow.

Its a shame they would rather make fancy UI's in a game than make fancy UI's in a game that do something.

[^misantropia^]

Its a shame they would rather make fancy UI's in a game than make fancy UI's in a game that do something.

*yawn*

If nothing else, iD delivers the technology for other companies to base their games on.

[o'dium]

Yes, they do. But why make the wheel square just because you know somebody else will curve it for you

[Timbo]

It's funny you calling him John, as if he's a close personal friend of yours .

Carmack doesn't currently, has never and never will make games. He programs engines, a field at which he is still at the forefront.

I've always found his .plan/blog fascinating, as much for getting an insight into how the person ticks than the content itself. (Disclaimer: I am a games programmer).

[SonicClang]

Yes he programs the games, and no, he doesn't MAKE the games, as in the levels and assets. But what he does do is have a the final say in every aspect of the game. He's the director, if you will. He was the one who said there'd be no flashlight if you were shooting in Doom 3, everyone else at id said they didn't like that. He was the one who didn't even originally want ragdoll physics in Doom 3, he thought they should still use animated deaths for enemies. What I don't understand is, he doesn't even enjoy playing the games he creates, so why the hell was he trying to have any say over what the game felt like (doom 3)? He only likes the challange of making the engines, but not playing them... weird??? shouldn't you LOVE playing games if you make them? Doom 3's death and downfall was Carmack's insistance on not having the flashlight attached to weapons. You read any review that was critical of the game and everyone says the same thing. Hell, Morgan Webb and Adam Sessler (X-Play) ripped the game a new ass hole because of that very fact. Yet Carmack wouldn't budge.

Whatever.

[o'dium]

I dont think its the flashlight thing that killed Doom 3, but it never helped matters. The flashligth not being part of your weapon was supposed ot add fear to your playing. But TBH, Doom 3 was very, very, very NOT scary. I never got freaked playing it, never. Pitch black in the room, volume up high with head phones on, and it never once spooked me. There are games that DO spook me (silent hill, hell, even HL2s Ravenholm was fantastic), so its not me being "hard".

The problem with Doom 3 that killed it was that it was nothing more than *another* tech demo. Fancy shadows and lights with nothing ELSE to do. The game, while at times stunning, was just dull as fuck. This room looks exactly the same as the last room i was in. This monster does nothing but run at me. This weapon is a shotgun. Nothing new. Instead, we got excuses. "Enemies of hell can see in the dark, so you cant hide in the shadows". "they are zombies, they dont need to be smart". etc etc...

So, whilc Doom 3 was ok, it was just so damn 1995 in terms of gameplay. Thats what killed it.

Oh, and Monster closits. JEANIUS!

[reyalp]

He's not exactly what you'd call a captivating writer.

I find his writing, both on rocketry and software, to be clear, well reasoned and as easy to read as the subject allows.

When the content is also of interest, that makes for good reading, IMO. Just because you aren't interested in the topics doesn't mean that he has trouble communicating.

[obsidian]

I too found it interesting... but I suppose you have to understand some of the technical terms that he's using.

On Doom3, I found that it lacked gameplay, being kind of repetitive, though on its "scaryness factor" it wasn't spooky like Silent Hill, but there was definitely a lot of suspense. I was scared crawling through air vents and hearing creepy voices all around me in surround sound.

Ravenholm was a joke, if you found it scary. I couldn't help laughing out loud at the sound that the headcrab dudes make when you set them on fire. I chuckled my way through that entire episode.

[Oeloe]

I've had some scares when playing through D3, mostly because of the sounds. When i played the demo and went in the bathroom and looked in the mirror and saw the flames and heard the sound of hell i was STARTLED. :icon23: The woman's voice "follow me" and the crying baby gave me the shivers too at some points in the game.

I did enjoy finishing the full version, although i agree the gameplay was lacking. Too predictive and too large a portion of the game was industrial/tech themed too. I still found it captivating enough to finish it. Defeating the Cyberdemon was a breeze though; being able to strafejump made his rockets never come near me. :icon25:

About JC: i remember that he wrote D3 probably would be his last engine, but Tim Willits already said that he'll be making a new engine for a game about the main character in Quake 4.

[Timbo]

Yes he programs the games

It's a blurry line, but I stongly suspect he has much more to do with programming engines than the games themselves. It may have escaped the understanding of your tiny little mind, but the several hundred thousand LOC (maybe even breaking 1MLOC?) that make up D3 required more than one programmer to create.

But what he does do is have a the final say in every aspect of the game. He's the director, if you will.

He is Technical Director at id, which is not at all like Director. The credits on D3 do not list a Director, instead they call it "Game Designer", and that is Tim Willits.

He was the one who said there'd be no flashlight if you were shooting in Doom 3, everyone else at id said they didn't like that. He was the one who didn't even originally want ragdoll physics in Doom 3, he thought they should still use animated deaths for enemies.

How can you possibly know that?

I suggest you go and get some credibility, because right now you have none. :icon23:

[Timbo]

Ravenholm was a joke, if you found it scary. I couldn't help laughing out loud at the sound that the headcrab dudes make when you set them on fire. I chuckled my way through that entire episode.

Yeah, that was way over hyped. And what was with all those conveniently placed spinny helicopter blade things? I mean, what actually were they? In any case... dumb.

For the record, I agree about D3 being a tech demo. There isn't much of a game there to speak of.

[obsidian]

Carmack (at least I remember it being Carmack) did mention in an article somewhere that <i>originally</i> he was against ragdoll physics since he thought it was just a gimmick or fad and prefered the animated deaths but reconsidered when he actually saw ragdoll in action. Anyway, I thought some animated deaths would have been cool too. How amazing would it be to see a mancubus' back split open and see the meat fall off the bone like in old-school Doom... but in 3-D with unified per-pixel lighting and normalmapped?

The flashlight thing was mentioned by Tim Willits, IIRC. He said something about it having to do with add to the "alone in the dark" feeling, which I do agree with since with a flashlight always on, it wouldn't have been nearly as scary. My 2 cents, anyway.

[obsidian]

Oh, and the spinning blades in HL2 was (I suppose) built by the Reverend dude as another one of his traps to keep the headcrab zombies at bay. Just like the cars on pullys and the fire traps.

It did make sense, it just wasn't very scary.

[obsidian]

Another thought that I've been having recently:

Seems as if some game design companies have grown to overwhelmingly large sizes... employing 50-100 or more people for a single game title. Programmers, concept artists, texture artists, modelers, level designers... that's a lot of communication that needs to be done properly between teams of people and in fact, different departments. Naturally, this makes any kind of management and asset organization a nightmare.

Do you suppose the way Id Software works with a small group of (20ish) people working on the primary technology and then outsourcing other projects like Q4 to Raven Software and Quake World to Splash Damage is a better way of managing workflow? It might be the future of what they're trying to do.

[Lenard]

All of my friends that are programmers, regardless of wether they've even heard of quake, all know and revere John Carmack. He seems to be a bit of a legend in the field.

Doom 3 was not spooky at all, but I didn't play through it because it was just too suspensefull. The scare factor was all surprise and I really hated it. I would go into a new room thinking, "OH GOD-i know something is going to jump out and kill me so why am I still scared?" It really took all the fun out of the game.

A flashlight cannot ruin a game.

I didn't really see any scary parts of hl2... hl1 was awesomely scary in the beginning-middle though. Before the marines came in.

[Timbo]

Oh, and the spinning blades in HL2 was (I suppose) built by the Reverend dude as another one of his traps to keep the headcrab zombies at bay. Just like the cars on pullys and the fire traps.

It did make sense, it just wasn't very scary.

Yeah that makes sense, though it seems a bit silly, especially when they need to be switched on. I can think of a bunch of better ways to make traps that aren't quite so dumb.

With cynical mode engaged, it seems like a crappy excuse to mince enemies with rotor blades.

[redfella]

Carmack is still my favorite nerd genius, regardless.

[Hr.O]

1) game = gfx engine + sound engine + physics engine + content (pretty picures+ nice sounds)

2) coders are more often then not thinkers not talkers

3) after the succes of Q3, the various UT versions, and all those war-games I dare to say that Doom3 failed by it's (crappy) multiplayer

4) Doom3 is nothing more then a fancy looking corridor shooter. Not much news to Q2 or D2. And that gave it it's neckshot

and that was my €0.02

Hr.O

[voodoochopstiks]

Doom 3 lacks speed, every id game up to then had alot of speed. But the decision concerning the flashlight was a good one in my opinion. It made things alot scarier, although frustrating, I had two options while playing the game all the time, either I checked every nook and cranny with the flashlight before I fully entered a room, or I rushed straight in and fought. I think the biggest problem with doom 3 was the pacing of the combat in the levels, some parts of the original levels had some very fun fights, and I've played some custom maps that took on a more rough and tough and faster paced style to the fighting, which was very fun. Definately preferrable to the slower pace which was in many parts of the game. Multiplayer was also quite a bit too slow. I hope and believe Quake 4 will correct this and bring back the speed. (Doom 2 is probably the fastest fps game I've played, the run speed is sickeningly fast.)

[obsidian]

Resurrection of Evil picks up the action a bit. Some pretty large firefights in that expansion. If you've found the action in Doom3 to be 'meh', you'll like the expansion quite a bit more.

Just using the double barrel shotty's worth it.

[DooMer]

I totally agree about ragdoll physics. When its not looking awkward, its looking boring. Zero personality.