5 ms·

Whenever I read stuff from him (especially his tweets), I feel like he's on a whole different level than the programmers I usually see. Incredible.

partisan 15y ago
He is definitely on a different level. He is like a superstar athlete at the top of his game. I expect Rage to be a hit because of the passion that John Carmack is investing in it.
- ShardPhoenix 15y ago
  Maybe, but good programming is not the same thing as good gameplay design.
  - nvarsj 15y ago
    Case in point: Doom 3 vs Half Life 2.
    - Dramatize 15y ago
      Doom 3 was one of the last games I finished. Loved it.
  - georgemcbay 15y ago
    While one could certainly argue that id's games haven't changed much over the years in terms of macro gameplay elements (running & shooting), I think Carmack and his cohorts at id are vastly underrated when it comes to micro gameplay design... the art of just making a game feel fun to play. Sure, you're just running and gunning down a horde of aliens/demons in all of id's games, but doing it is a LOT more fun than in most other games in the genre. A lot of this is actually due to gameplay-via-code and thus attributable pretty directly to Carmack. Turning feels right, movement feels right (not realistic -- right, there's a difference), shooting feels right, jumping feels right. It is amazingly hard to get these micro-gameplay elements to truly feel "right", and few manage to do it as consistently as id has (some other notables here include Nintendo and Bungie).
ecaradec 15y ago
He is very nice to listen to as well. You can find some podcast here and there. I'd wish he talks more often, but he has better to do of course ;)
- digitalbanana 15y ago
  here's a small video interview (game industry focused)from this year e3: http://www.giantbomb.com/e3-2011-a-word-with-john-carmack/17-4383/ http://www.giantbomb.com/e3-2011-a-word-with-john-carmack/17...
zmonkeyz 15y ago
I'm glad I was around to read the .plan files back in the quake days.

partisan 15y ago

He is definitely on a different level. He is like a superstar athlete at the top of his game. I expect Rage to be a hit because of the passion that John Carmack is investing in it.

ShardPhoenix 15y ago
Maybe, but good programming is not the same thing as good gameplay design.
- nvarsj 15y ago
  Case in point: Doom 3 vs Half Life 2.
  - Dramatize 15y ago
    Doom 3 was one of the last games I finished. Loved it.
- georgemcbay 15y ago
  While one could certainly argue that id's games haven't changed much over the years in terms of macro gameplay elements (running & shooting), I think Carmack and his cohorts at id are vastly underrated when it comes to micro gameplay design... the art of just making a game feel fun to play. Sure, you're just running and gunning down a horde of aliens/demons in all of id's games, but doing it is a LOT more fun than in most other games in the genre. A lot of this is actually due to gameplay-via-code and thus attributable pretty directly to Carmack. Turning feels right, movement feels right (not realistic -- right, there's a difference), shooting feels right, jumping feels right. It is amazingly hard to get these micro-gameplay elements to truly feel "right", and few manage to do it as consistently as id has (some other notables here include Nintendo and Bungie).

ecaradec 15y ago

He is very nice to listen to as well. You can find some podcast here and there. I'd wish he talks more often, but he has better to do of course ;)

digitalbanana 15y ago
here's a small video interview (game industry focused)from this year e3: http://www.giantbomb.com/e3-2011-a-word-with-john-carmack/17-4383/ http://www.giantbomb.com/e3-2011-a-word-with-john-carmack/17...

zmonkeyz 15y ago

I'm glad I was around to read the .plan files back in the quake days.