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Also seems to be confirmed he's leaving id: http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/07/oculus-rift-john-carmack-cto/ http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/07/oculus-rift-john

Also seems to be confirmed he's leaving id: http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/07/oculus-rift-john-carmack-cto/ http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/07/oculus-rift-john-carmack-...

cobrausn 13y ago
From the link: Update: Bethesda Softworks (parent company to id Software) responded with the following statement to today's news: "John has long been interested in the work at Oculus VR and wishes to spend time on that project. The technical leadership he provides for games in development at id Software is unaffected." We've followed up for clarification as to what that means for Carmack's efforts at id. In the note from Oculus, Carmack is said to be heading up and working out of newly created Dallas offices for Oculus.
runevault 13y ago
They've updated it, now looks like he's supposedly still involved with Bethesda/Zenimax. Which at least to me seems weird, since last I knew he did at least a LOT of the work on any new engines himself. Hard to do that if he's busy with being CTO of another company working on the Rift.
- flogic 13y ago
  It's worth remembering that John also did Armadillo Aerospace on the side too.
- AdrianRossouw 13y ago
  he's done the dual executive thing for many many years. he used to be id first, armadillo airpspace second. now he's occulus first, id second. it'll only preclude him from doing much programming.
- nknighthb 13y ago
  Carmack is a workaholic of legendary productivity. If there are truly 10x programmers out there, he is undoubtedly one. Another important point is that it's not games he develops, it's game engines. Other people do most of the game logic and design. Working on a 3d display for those engines doesn't seem so far removed from that, and of potential value to future id/ZeniMax work.
  - projectileboy 13y ago
    I remember reading his .plan files in the 90s; the amount of work he would do in a single day was utterly insane.
- steauengeglase 13y ago
  Lately it seems like this work has been more pre-engine research and crunch time follow-up, so I can't say I'm too worried for id. He has made it pretty clear over the last few years that there really isn't a lot for him to do there, at least on interesting stuff. Writing rendering engines has become more incremental than revolutionary and I get the feeling that, for him, stuff like mega texture was about as interesting as writing a new zip program.
deletes 13y ago
Don't make assumptions. He could still work at Id as a consultant or continue as a technical director with a diminished role. EDIT: He still works at Id http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/16593/article/john-carmack-joins-oculus-vr-remains-at-id-software/ http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/16593/article/john-carmac...
- tveita 13y ago
  Good to hear. I hope they will finish id Tech 6 some day. I've been sold on sparse voxel octrees since I first heard about them, and I think the super-scalable level of detail would be great for VR as well.
  - MLR 13y ago
    I think in his keynote or graphics talk this year he mentioned that he didn't think that was the way forward anymore. Don't quote me on that though because a lot of those talks did go over my head.
mjhagen 13y ago
“My time division is now Oculus over Id over Armadillo. Busy busy busy!” ~ @ID_AA_Carmack https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/365126783290445824 https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/365126783290445824

Also seems to be confirmed he's leaving id: http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/07/oculus-rift-john-carmack-cto/ http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/07/oculus-rift-john-carmack-...

cobrausn 13y ago

From the link: Update: Bethesda Softworks (parent company to id Software) responded with the following statement to today's news: "John has long been interested in the work at Oculus VR and wishes to spend time on that project. The technical leadership he provides for games in development at id Software is unaffected." We've followed up for clarification as to what that means for Carmack's efforts at id. In the note from Oculus, Carmack is said to be heading up and working out of newly created Dallas offices for Oculus.

runevault 13y ago

They've updated it, now looks like he's supposedly still involved with Bethesda/Zenimax. Which at least to me seems weird, since last I knew he did at least a LOT of the work on any new engines himself. Hard to do that if he's busy with being CTO of another company working on the Rift.

flogic 13y ago
It's worth remembering that John also did Armadillo Aerospace on the side too.
AdrianRossouw 13y ago
he's done the dual executive thing for many many years. he used to be id first, armadillo airpspace second. now he's occulus first, id second. it'll only preclude him from doing much programming.
nknighthb 13y ago
Carmack is a workaholic of legendary productivity. If there are truly 10x programmers out there, he is undoubtedly one. Another important point is that it's not games he develops, it's game engines. Other people do most of the game logic and design. Working on a 3d display for those engines doesn't seem so far removed from that, and of potential value to future id/ZeniMax work.
- projectileboy 13y ago
  I remember reading his .plan files in the 90s; the amount of work he would do in a single day was utterly insane.
steauengeglase 13y ago
Lately it seems like this work has been more pre-engine research and crunch time follow-up, so I can't say I'm too worried for id. He has made it pretty clear over the last few years that there really isn't a lot for him to do there, at least on interesting stuff. Writing rendering engines has become more incremental than revolutionary and I get the feeling that, for him, stuff like mega texture was about as interesting as writing a new zip program.

deletes 13y ago

Don't make assumptions. He could still work at Id as a consultant or continue as a technical director with a diminished role. EDIT: He still works at Id http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/16593/article/john-carmack-joins-oculus-vr-remains-at-id-software/ http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/16593/article/john-carmac...

tveita 13y ago
Good to hear. I hope they will finish id Tech 6 some day. I've been sold on sparse voxel octrees since I first heard about them, and I think the super-scalable level of detail would be great for VR as well.
- MLR 13y ago
  I think in his keynote or graphics talk this year he mentioned that he didn't think that was the way forward anymore. Don't quote me on that though because a lot of those talks did go over my head.

mjhagen 13y ago

“My time division is now Oculus over Id over Armadillo. Busy busy busy!” ~ @ID_AA_Carmack https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/365126783290445824 https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/365126783290445824