In a shocking announcement, John Carmack reveals id's next project: a new DOOM game. And with it we are shown that things at id are going pretty wild:
Well, this is going to be an interesting .plan update. Most of this is not really public business, but if some things aren't stated explicitly, it will reflect unfairly on someone. As many people have heard discussed, there was quite a desire to remake DOOM as our next project after Q3. Discussing it brought an almost palpable thrill to most of the employees, but Adrian had a strong enough dislike for the idea that it was shot down over and over again. Design work on an alternate game has been going on in parallel with the mission pack development and my research work. Several factors, including a general lack of enthusiasm for the proposed plan, the warmth that Wolfenstien was met with at E3, and excitement about what we can do with the latest rendering technology were making it seem more and more like we weren't going down the right path. I discussed it with some of the other guys, and we decided that it was important enough to drag the company through an unpleasant fight over it. An ultimatum was issued to Kevin and Adrian (who control >50% of the company): We are working on DOOM for the next project unless you fire us. Obviously no fun for anyone involved, but the project direction was changed,new hires have been expedited, and the design work has begun. It wasn't planned to announce this soon, but here it is: We are working on a new DOOM game, focusing on the single player game experience, and using brand new technology in almost every aspect of it. That is all we are prepared to say about the game for quite some time, so don't push for interviews. We will talk about it when things are actually built, to avoid giving misleading comments. It went smoother than expected, but the other shoe dropped yesterday. Kevin and Adrian fired Paul Steed in retaliation, over my opposition. Paul has certainly done things in the past that could be grounds for dismissal, but this was retaliatory for him being among the "conspirators". I happen to think Paul was damn good at his job, and that he was going to be one of the most valuable contributors to DOOM. We need to hire two new modeler/animator/cinematic director types. If you have a significant commercial track record in all three areas, and consider yourself at the top of your field, send your resume to Kevin Cloud.
Most of this is not really public business, but if some things aren't stated explicitly, it will reflect unfairly on someone.
As many people have heard discussed, there was quite a desire to remake DOOM as our next project after Q3. Discussing it brought an almost palpable thrill to most of the employees, but Adrian had a strong enough dislike for the idea that it was shot down over and over again.
Design work on an alternate game has been going on in parallel with the mission pack development and my research work.
Several factors, including a general lack of enthusiasm for the proposed plan, the warmth that Wolfenstien was met with at E3, and excitement about what we can do with the latest rendering technology were making it seem more and more like we weren't going down the right path.
I discussed it with some of the other guys, and we decided that it was important enough to drag the company through an unpleasant fight over it.
An ultimatum was issued to Kevin and Adrian (who control >50% of the company): We are working on DOOM for the next project unless you fire us.
Obviously no fun for anyone involved, but the project direction was changed,new hires have been expedited, and the design work has begun.
It wasn't planned to announce this soon, but here it is: We are working on a new DOOM game, focusing on the single player game experience, and using brand new technology in almost every aspect of it. That is all we are prepared to say about the game for quite some time, so don't push for interviews. We will talk about it when things are actually built, to avoid giving misleading comments.
It went smoother than expected, but the other shoe dropped yesterday.
Kevin and Adrian fired Paul Steed in retaliation, over my opposition.
Paul has certainly done things in the past that could be grounds for dismissal, but this was retaliatory for him being among the "conspirators".
I happen to think Paul was damn good at his job, and that he was going to be one of the most valuable contributors to DOOM.
We need to hire two new modeler/animator/cinematic director types. If you have a significant commercial track record in all three areas, and consider yourself at the top of your field, send your resume to Kevin Cloud.
His hobbies include model rocket building and driving expensive red cars.
Comments to the effect that John Carmack is 'unable to do anything new' or 'obsessed with shooters' indicate a breath-taking lack of understanding on the part of the commentator. (Yeah, and that Antonio Stradivari only knew how to make violins.) PC games would still be around the Solitaire level of advancement without the contribution of Carmack and others like him.
Also, he added dynamic lighting to the Quake engine in just over an hour, according to Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book. Porting Quake to OpenGL took a while longer (a weekend!).
Slordax was written in C? And so? DooM was written in C.
Quake 1 was "internet enabled" as you put it. QuakeWorld added stuff like prediction.
He brought a workstation on his honeymoon so he could code. He tells everyone what he's doing by writing .plan logs on his site.
Geeks worship him because he's able to be conversed with. While I'm sure Natalie Portman hangs out on E2 (she's probably TheBooBooKitty), most celebrities don't make their presence known like him. Oh, and most others can't be believed for being the real thing (like stile).
Oh, and he's blond, and wears glasses.
One more thing about John Carmack- he not only writes software for rocket launchers; he also designs, builds and launches rockets!
In his spare time, and with his not inconsiderable wealth, he's actually working on a rocket that can launch passengers to an altitude of about 100km or so, which is generally recognized as being 'in space', and return them safely to earth.
Testing so far has been restricted to about 30 feet (and that was when the throttle got stuck ;-), primarily because he hasn't got a launch licence yet- but he's working on it.
The vehicle he is designing is computer controlled and is capable of hovering. The fuel of choice is hydrogen peroxide, because it is a monopropellent but he is experimenting with different fuels, including reacting hydrocarbons with it.
Personally, I think if he can start small and build up from there, he stands a good chance of ramping up to full-on orbital space tourism! I wish him well.
printable version chaos
Everything2 Help
