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Dev Diary: John Carmack on RAGE for iOS

94 points by cosbynator 16y ago

there 16y ago
Provide Date of Birth to Continue This site requires cookies. Please enable cookies and try visiting this site again. is this a joke?
- wmf 16y ago
  You can thank ESRB for that.
  - badmonkey0001 16y ago
    Speaking of ESRB ratings, how is this going to get on the iOs devices? Aren't the app store rules against the following: "This is the perfect setup for a quintessential first person shooter game play experience — you pick your targets, aim your shots, time your reloads, dodge the bad guys, and try and make it through to the end of the level with a better score than last time. Beyond basic survival, there are pickups, head shots, and hit streak multipliers to add more options to the gameplay, and there is a broad range of skill levels available from keep-hitting-fire-and-you-should-make-it to almost-impossible." -JC (off to go look...) Sure enough, part 15 should prevent this app from ever getting to the public (see http://photos.appleinsider.com/App%20Store%20Review%20Guidelines%20-%20App%20Store%20Resource%20Centerai.pdf http://photos.appleinsider.com/App%20Store%20Review%20Guidel... ). I doubt Apple has the eggs to tell Carmack no. Time to see if Jobs' moral views outweigh his greed. (edit: BTW, I think his greed will win)
    - palish 16y ago
      Oh come on... Here are the specific guidelines you are referring to: Apps portraying realistic images of people or animals being killed or maimed, shot, stabbed, tortured or injured will be rejected Apps that depict violence or abuse of children will be rejected "Enemies" within the context of a game cannot solely target a specific race, culture, a real government or corporation, or any other real entity Apps involving realistic depictions of weapons in such a way as to encourage illegal or reckless use of such weapons will be rejected Apps that include games of Russian roulette will be rejected How would those guidelines apply to someone's awesome first person shooter? Maybe the "reckless use of weapons" part. But that's not the spirit of the law --- the spirit was likely to prevent people from e.g. making an app that gives a step-by-step photographic guide to creating a pipe bomb, or something of that sort.
- pjscott 16y ago
  If they look at their logs, I bet they'll find that most people claim to have been born on the first day of January.
- Xuzz 16y ago
  Ruined my attempt to read it in Instapaper, too. Ugh.
pkaler 16y ago
I had been harboring some suspicions that our big codebases might benefit from the application of some more of the various “modern” C++ design patterns, despite seeing other large game codebases suffer under them. I have since recanted that suspicion. Quoted for truth. I learned C++ during the Meyers/Sutter era. Then Andrei Alexandrescu came along and I had Boost libraries sprinkled all over my code. My beard is growing grey and these days my C++ looks more and more like straight up C.
- colkassad 16y ago
  I found this part of his article to be interesting. I'm working through a CS degree and learning C++ for the first time after cutting my teeth on Python and C#. What exactly does he mean by "(restrained) C++"? He mentions a contract studio using the STL and boost. We are using the STL in our data structures class...does John Carmack eschew the STL and roll his own data structures?
  - cosbynator 16y ago
    In his own words: http://twitter.com/#!/ID_AA_Carmack/status/21119808432 http://twitter.com/#!/ID_AA_Carmack/status/21119808432 I consider myself a decent programmer but I have more trouble reading template heavy C++ than I do haskell code. To me, restrained C++ means keeping the unreadable bits outside the code base and isolated in their own library, like Boost :)
    - dhess 16y ago
      One problem with C++ templates is that they're infectious. You're right that the Boost source code is quite unreadable compared to vanilla C++, but even using Boost types and algorithms in your own code often makes it impenetrable, too.
    - InclinedPlane 16y ago
      Template meta programming is very neat stuff, but the problem is that it's basically another language that lives on top of your language. Except that it's not a full-fledged language so it lacks all of the features that keep other programming languages manageable. It's like assembly code, except instead of just twiddling some bits in registers and RAM you're working with a far more complicated entity (an entire program), making the problem that much worse.
erikpukinskis 16y ago
I’m sure I could do it in four months or so (but I am probably wrong) Perfectly encapsulates the essential pain of estimating.
initself 16y ago
Please provide date of birth to continue?
zmonkeyz 16y ago
John Carmack has always been my mancrush since the Quake days.
- bryanlarsen 16y ago
  Youngster! I've had mine ever since Wolf3D was released. His plan file updates held the same place HN does now: I checked for updates constantly. finger johnc@idsoftware.com [idsoftware.com] finger: connect: Connection refused sigh...
- WesleyJohnson 16y ago
  I consider myself sharp, but not smart. So I'm often humbled when I read stuff on Hacker News, but I am always completely dumbfounded when I read any of the technical pieces by John Carmack. I read 90% of that article and I comprehended about 20% of it. I toil with silly web development side projects for months on end that evolve into nothing and he's coding complete games, single-handedly (though admittedly using some existing codebases and content) in a couple of months. That guy is wicked smart.
  - frou_dh 16y ago
    ...and, just as important, has done his "10,000 hours" and then some, on the practice of game engine development.
  - InclinedPlane 16y ago
    You know he builds rockets in his spare time right? http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/ http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/
  - NickPollard 16y ago
    I'm a game developer (though only ~3 years experience) and I only understood 50% of it. Gives me something to aspire to that someone can be that good at it.
    - petercooper 16y ago

94 points by cosbynator 16y ago

there 16y ago

Provide Date of Birth to Continue This site requires cookies. Please enable cookies and try visiting this site again. is this a joke?

wmf 16y ago
You can thank ESRB for that.
- badmonkey0001 16y ago
  Speaking of ESRB ratings, how is this going to get on the iOs devices? Aren't the app store rules against the following: "This is the perfect setup for a quintessential first person shooter game play experience — you pick your targets, aim your shots, time your reloads, dodge the bad guys, and try and make it through to the end of the level with a better score than last time. Beyond basic survival, there are pickups, head shots, and hit streak multipliers to add more options to the gameplay, and there is a broad range of skill levels available from keep-hitting-fire-and-you-should-make-it to almost-impossible." -JC (off to go look...) Sure enough, part 15 should prevent this app from ever getting to the public (see http://photos.appleinsider.com/App%20Store%20Review%20Guidelines%20-%20App%20Store%20Resource%20Centerai.pdf http://photos.appleinsider.com/App%20Store%20Review%20Guidel... ). I doubt Apple has the eggs to tell Carmack no. Time to see if Jobs' moral views outweigh his greed. (edit: BTW, I think his greed will win)
  - palish 16y ago
    Oh come on... Here are the specific guidelines you are referring to: Apps portraying realistic images of people or animals being killed or maimed, shot, stabbed, tortured or injured will be rejected Apps that depict violence or abuse of children will be rejected "Enemies" within the context of a game cannot solely target a specific race, culture, a real government or corporation, or any other real entity Apps involving realistic depictions of weapons in such a way as to encourage illegal or reckless use of such weapons will be rejected Apps that include games of Russian roulette will be rejected How would those guidelines apply to someone's awesome first person shooter? Maybe the "reckless use of weapons" part. But that's not the spirit of the law --- the spirit was likely to prevent people from e.g. making an app that gives a step-by-step photographic guide to creating a pipe bomb, or something of that sort.
pjscott 16y ago
If they look at their logs, I bet they'll find that most people claim to have been born on the first day of January.
Xuzz 16y ago
Ruined my attempt to read it in Instapaper, too. Ugh.

pkaler 16y ago

I had been harboring some suspicions that our big codebases might benefit from the application of some more of the various “modern” C++ design patterns, despite seeing other large game codebases suffer under them. I have since recanted that suspicion. Quoted for truth. I learned C++ during the Meyers/Sutter era. Then Andrei Alexandrescu came along and I had Boost libraries sprinkled all over my code. My beard is growing grey and these days my C++ looks more and more like straight up C.

colkassad 16y ago
I found this part of his article to be interesting. I'm working through a CS degree and learning C++ for the first time after cutting my teeth on Python and C#. What exactly does he mean by "(restrained) C++"? He mentions a contract studio using the STL and boost. We are using the STL in our data structures class...does John Carmack eschew the STL and roll his own data structures?
- cosbynator 16y ago
  In his own words: http://twitter.com/#!/ID_AA_Carmack/status/21119808432 http://twitter.com/#!/ID_AA_Carmack/status/21119808432 I consider myself a decent programmer but I have more trouble reading template heavy C++ than I do haskell code. To me, restrained C++ means keeping the unreadable bits outside the code base and isolated in their own library, like Boost :)
  - dhess 16y ago
    One problem with C++ templates is that they're infectious. You're right that the Boost source code is quite unreadable compared to vanilla C++, but even using Boost types and algorithms in your own code often makes it impenetrable, too.
  - InclinedPlane 16y ago
    Template meta programming is very neat stuff, but the problem is that it's basically another language that lives on top of your language. Except that it's not a full-fledged language so it lacks all of the features that keep other programming languages manageable. It's like assembly code, except instead of just twiddling some bits in registers and RAM you're working with a far more complicated entity (an entire program), making the problem that much worse.

erikpukinskis 16y ago

I’m sure I could do it in four months or so (but I am probably wrong) Perfectly encapsulates the essential pain of estimating.

initself 16y ago

Please provide date of birth to continue?

zmonkeyz 16y ago

John Carmack has always been my mancrush since the Quake days.

bryanlarsen 16y ago
Youngster! I've had mine ever since Wolf3D was released. His plan file updates held the same place HN does now: I checked for updates constantly. finger johnc@idsoftware.com [idsoftware.com] finger: connect: Connection refused sigh...
WesleyJohnson 16y ago
I consider myself sharp, but not smart. So I'm often humbled when I read stuff on Hacker News, but I am always completely dumbfounded when I read any of the technical pieces by John Carmack. I read 90% of that article and I comprehended about 20% of it. I toil with silly web development side projects for months on end that evolve into nothing and he's coding complete games, single-handedly (though admittedly using some existing codebases and content) in a couple of months. That guy is wicked smart.
- frou_dh 16y ago
  ...and, just as important, has done his "10,000 hours" and then some, on the practice of game engine development.
- InclinedPlane 16y ago
  You know he builds rockets in his spare time right? http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/ http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/
- NickPollard 16y ago
  I'm a game developer (though only ~3 years experience) and I only understood 50% of it. Gives me something to aspire to that someone can be that good at it.
  - petercooper 16y ago