The Lives of Remarkable People: John Carmack. Biography of John Carmack how I wrote games
John Carmack was born on August 20, 1970 in the USA, in Kansas. The future programmer was only a few years old when he first became interested in computer technology.
After graduating from high school, Carmack entered the University of Missouri. After some time, having received a diploma, John began to work as a programmer, independently of any company.
John Carmack turned out to be a talented and in-demand specialist. His team has been actively working on many projects, taking part in various competitions, such as the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, for example.
In 1991, the programmer founded id Software, which soon became famous for creating computer games, such as DOOM, Wolfenstein 3D, Quake (currently - online games a).
From the outset, Carmack became the company's chief computer scientist. Not surprising, because his programming methods, as well as original design ideas, really deserved the closest attention and respect of his colleagues.
In 2005, John and others began work on the new id Tech 5 program, which later became the basis for the popular Doom 4 and Rage games. Three years later, in 2008, John Carmack and his colleagues took part in the initial stage of the competition for the best aircraft design - the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Then they won, defeating the only enemy, whose apparatus, after a short stay in the air, almost fell apart.
Currently, John Carmack is an extremely famous person. Fans of computer games (complex online games and simple flash games, including) are eagerly following the activities of a talented programmer, each time expecting something new from a professional.
Every day the number of fans of various computer "toys" (including flash games) is growing and, in order to satisfy the interests of the majority, John has to work hard.
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The last article was dedicated to John Romero, but in it we also paid a lot of attention to John Carmack - after all, they worked together for a very long time and, speaking of one John, it's hard not to mention the second. Therefore, we will not repeat ourselves in this article. We will tell the story from the beginning, but in a slightly different way. Let's skip something, but add something, on the contrary. If you've read the previous article, you might be more interested.
John Carmack is the complete opposite of Romero in everything. He is not a fan of games, he does not understand anything in design, in his games the plot is given a distant second plan. Carmack does not attend social events, he is shy and not talkative. But at the same time, his achievements are very great: in 1999, in Time magazine, he was ranked tenth in the list of people who seriously influenced the development of modern technologies. And in 2001, he was honored with a place in the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame ...
Dreams Dreams...
Hard childhood
John was born in the state of Kansas into a modest poor family. Even in early childhood, he dreamed of becoming a programmer. He did not explain this in any way, but his parents guessed the reasons - John is too tight-lipped and secretive, it is hard for him to be around people. And the programmer does not need a company, if he is, if he has a computer, he can create. However, John did not have a computer - the family did not have enough money.
Young Carmack loved not only programming, he loved pyrotechnics. He was not going to do it professionally, but he wanted to indulge in plenty and play pranks. He made bombs and rockets himself. And one day he tried to get himself a computer with the help of his pyrotechnic experiments. He prepared small portion war termite and melted the glass of the college, where the ill-fated computer stood. However, a friend with whom he went "on business" hit the alarm. The result is one year in a juvenile colony.
The boy has matured
But the colony did not prevent John from continuing his studies. He returned home and graduated from school a few years later. Parents by that time began to earn much more, and the Karmakov family no longer needed money so much. They even bought a car for John and put him in a good university.
At home he got a computer, and he completely devoted himself to programming. Little by little I began to forget about the university. So, after studying for only one year, he leaves the educational institution and goes to work.
Parents did not find a place for themselves. How so? Trade your studies for the devil knows what kind of work! But Carmack didn't listen to them. He was happy in Softdisk... There was everything you need: computers and high salaries. John has long dreamed of earning his living and not depending on his parents - and now the dream has come true.
Frivolous start
But Carmack didn't spend much time with software. He was quickly transferred to Gamer "s Edge under the patronage of Romero.
Carmack was not averse to working on games - there is a lot of programming and in general there is a lot of room for creativity. In addition, he was spurred on by the fact that few people were involved in games for IBM - it was too difficult - and their company could become the founder of the direction. The main thing is to be able to program well. And since both Romero and Carmack were great programmers, they were knee-deep in the sea. Why not make history?
Several months of work, and the first game is ready - Catacomb. Working on it equalized everyone in Gamer's Edge. They became a real team, where Romero was in charge only “on paper.” So Carmack decided that now they could release the game that he invented. Super mario brothers 3 for IBM. Romero agreed, but said that he himself was not involved in the project - he was not interested in arcades. Neither Carmack nor Tom Hall objected - not much work, we can handle it ourselves. But first it was necessary to provide the bosses with a demo version. Therefore, the work began with her.
Carmack is not just taking on the clone of "Mario Bros". This is due to the video adapter that appeared EGA which allowed to display sixteen colors. Funny? But this is a breakthrough, before it the picture was four-color. Strategies, of course, did not really need beautiful graphics, but arcades, on the contrary, were very, very. Therefore, Carmack decided to try his luck right now, when the PC began to at least slightly resemble a gaming platform. Although it is said very loudly. For development Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons- that very arcade - John had to stay awake at night in order to make smooth scrolling possible, although it was already on Nintendo, and for a long time. John was assisted in his work by a new employee - Tom Hall. Together they made a demo version of the game.
The bosses looked at the game, shook their head and rejected it. They did not want to release a game that required a computer with a video card. And then three friends - Romero, Carmack and Hall - decided to create their own game company. But while it was necessary to do something with the game: the main work on it had already been completed - the engine was done, the design was invented. All that remained was to finish the work on the levels. But what to do with a game that the bosses do not want to publish? We must secretly find the publisher and give Kina to him. So they did, but later. In the meantime - left Softdisk and created their own company - id Software.
Adult guys
After selling Commander Keen, Carmack decided to return to action movies. But now from the first person and in three dimensions. True, then they did not have such a name yet, and there were no such militants either. In general, Carmack decided to open new genre... Romero and Hall didn't join him, they were working on additions to the first games.
But Carmack came up with the idea and for some time rushed around with the idea of releasing an aircraft simulator. He even wrote an engine for it. But nobody supported the idea. They said Carmack was playing the fool, not working. After that, he abandoned all attempts to create simulators - he took offense at everyone. Although, perhaps, Carmack would have made a wonderful game - after all, he is very fond of aviation.
It is interesting: but Sid Meyer himself started with a simulator. Who knows what would have happened if Carmack had finished the game.
Then John decided to remake his first game, Catacomb, in a new way. Attempts to create real 3D were unsuccessful - computers were too weak in those years. But some tricks allowed Carmack to trick the player's eye and greatly reduce the system requirements. How it was possible, we told in the last article. Let's just say that John found another trick - he did not draw the floor and ceiling. This saved computer resources. V Catacomb 3D Carmack hadn't given much thought to the design and hadn't asked Romero for help. Therefore, the game turned out to be lackluster. Well, yes, we run and shoot with packs of monsters. Plot? No. Meaning? No. And what? Gameplay and manufacturability. Carmack took this both then and later. However, the controls in the game were somewhat unusual. The character often crashed into unexpectedly appearing walls, and it was not always possible to turn right or left immediately.
But the beginning was made - a new genre of games appeared. Carmack did not want to stop there, and his second solo project turned out to be much stronger and won great public love. Yes we are talking about Wolfenstein 3d... Many believe that it was this game that became the founders of the genre of first-person action in three dimensions, completely forgetting about Catacomb 3D.
John didn't push the genre too far with this game. The only major innovation is the full sound that has emerged. Music played during the passage, and the Nazi enemies vying with each other yelled: "Akhtung-akhtung!"
It is interesting: of course, there was no professional announcer at id Software. A professional German, however, too. And all the screams are the voices of Romero and Hall. They played and recorded their shouts along the way. So we got fascists with an American accent.
They decided to leave the floor and ceiling alone and not draw - there is no need to load computers, the game is already too demanding. Wolfenstein 3D is perhaps Carmack's only project where he personally chose the path of design, not technology. So, having decided to push fascists into the game instead of monsters, he guessed right. The players liked to fight with people. They died beautifully, rightly. Behaved like a human being. In addition, in addition to people, there were also zombies, and this fantastic component also gave the game a certain piquancy.
The gameplay has become more dynamic - there are much more enemies, killing them is even more fun and carefree. It wasn't hard to play, but a lot of fun. For many players, Wolfenstein was a real relief after a hard day.
It is interesting: many say Carmack is pushing the iron market forward a lot. He releases games that require a powerful computer. Yes, this is largely true. But this did not happen after the release of the second or third Doom, but earlier: already when Wolfenstein appeared on the shelves, many began to abruptly change the configuration of computers.
Scientific and technical progress
After the successful release of the game, id Software stagnated. They were tired of creating sequels and additions, and there was not enough technology for new good action movies. I didn't want to do the same thing, just a little differently. Still, they made two versions of the same game. In the first, we kill monsters, in the second - people.
The current situation was corrected by scientific and technological progress. PCs began to build momentum very quickly and eventually overtook all gaming platforms. Then the comrades got down to business again.
They started work on Doom... In the last article we talked a lot about design, now we will talk about the technical side of the game.
New game
When Carmack got down to the Doom engine, he realized that the time had not yet come for a real 3D game. Although computers "grew up", an honest calculation of three dimensions required an outrageous configuration so far.
Therefore, he threw his main efforts to make the game look three-dimensional and no one doubted it. He achieved this in many clever ways, which are pointless to talk about in this article - there will be too much technical information. Let's just say about his main illusion - he "curved" the surface. If earlier there were squares in a circle, then sharp and obtuse corners appeared in the new game. The character stopped turning very abruptly - everything is smooth. Carmack drew the ceiling and walls, now it was impossible to refuse this, otherwise the deception would be revealed. Everything had to look natural.
John, however, never claimed that the game was actually three-dimensional. But he was not going to shout at every corner that there are only two dimensions in it.
Prose of life
When id Software had a lot of work to do, Carmack was as happy as a child. Every year he liked the company of people less and less, he was very comfortable and good at his computer. He gradually moved away even from his friends and colleagues. While the guys were playing, he locked himself in and wrote the code for some new game.
That is why he single-handedly worked on the earliest first-person action films - society was a burden. And even when the work got to Doom, he did not participate in the overall development as much as possible.
When the game began to be tested in order to find bugs, he avoided it. In one room, comrades screamed and threw empty bottles during the next playthrough of the game, and in another Carmack wrote the network code.
True, when Romero saw the fruit of all this closed work, he was delighted. Carmack was the first to make true online mode. Before him, it was possible to play together either on the same computer or via e-mail. So today's esports players have to thank John for making their sport possible.
And again the eternal battle
Doom came out - the success was tremendous, and now the comrades were preparing another game. This time, Carmack promised that he would make a real third dimension, whatever the cost.
But first, he decided to release Doom again. Romero refused to help him - he had already begun to study Quake- so Carmack made the game almost alone. He did not add new technologies, he just diversified the gameplay with even more enemies. Added one new weapon and that's it. But this was enough for the players: running with a double-barreled gun at the ready, they destroyed monsters with special pleasure. Well, now you can take on the third dimension.
And the first project was Quake - we will not repeat everything that was in the last article. Yes, Carmack played the main fiddle in the making of this game. He created 3D, came up with an engine, developed a great network mode. Therefore, it is not strange that the public considered him to be the main one in the project. After that, Romero and Carmack had a lot of disagreements, and id Software came under the wing of Carmack - now he was in charge everywhere. Both on paper and in fact.
It is interesting: a little later it turns out that Carmack will have only 30% of the company's shares, while Adrian has about 50. John simply forgot about the business, and divided the company without him.
Services to the fatherland |
| In fact, Carmack's credit goes beyond making great games. No, he did a lot more for the gaming industry. All modern action films owe it to him, and not only because he developed this genre. We owe John the current excellent graphics in games. But let's plunge into history and remember how it was. After the release of Quake, 3D accelerators began to flourish. The game on computers will not start without them. But this is not the main thing: there was an understanding of the inevitability of rapid progress in graphics. Physics must become more realistic, and the picture - more believable. However, this will lead to appalling system requirements. This means that it will stop the whole process. Games will be, iron - no. And here Carmack, together with several other developers of software and hardware, is developing a completely different way of creating games at the hardware level. In fact, the development remained the same, only the code was written a little differently. It's hard to believe that 3D accelerators started coming out just because of one game. Now, however, we see something similar. Crysis, for example, simply forces players to upgrade to a new operating system. But then the scope was somewhat different. That is, Quake could turn out to be the only game where an accelerator might be needed. This is the time, these are the customs. But that's not all. Carmack, in fact, is the culprit for the fact that we have a section "For the militants" on the disk. He was the first to open source an action movie. Thousands of modifications appeared for his games. In addition, the engine could be licensed, which in many ways helped other developers to do the design, and not kill thousands of hours and dollars for the engine, and not very good. And here for you - Carmack has the most technologically advanced engine, you can take it. Pay and take. |
He is the master of the house
Left without Romero, the company didn't get too scared. Adrian, John and Sandy had the opportunity to release sequels for Quake and Doom, and it was already worth a lot. And it's not a fact that without Romero the company will lose a lot in design - Sandy was not a mistake either. In general, the guys quickly shook themselves up and continued to work. As you would expect, over Quake.
No matter how strange it may seem, but Carmack in his next project decided not to develop technology too much, but to take it with an interesting gameplay and ... design. Yes, right now, when Romero is no longer on the team. Perhaps John decided to prove something to himself or to others? Who knows...
However, the matter was not limited to design only. Carmack did sit down to the new game engine. Gradually, adding more and more new technologies, he achieved an excellent effect. The graphics went ahead so much that all other games, and especially action films, looked extremely dull.
True, the single player campaign that John was betting on fell short of expectations. The plot, of course, was not bad. But the gameplay itself was not very good. Slow run, weapon physics, enemy intelligence.
Although the network mode did not go far ahead, it was after it that esports competitions began. True, the players swore for a long time - they demanded a much stronger network mode. But Quake II received well (the fault is, of course, the first part of the game, but this is already the lyrics).
Not to please everyone
Still, Carmack was touched by the players' requests. They need good online mode - they'll get it. And only him, and nothing else. True, Carmack and id Software were no longer alone in their work. Several other companies emerged that were capable of making awesome third-person action movies. In 1998 comes out Unreal Is the first game to easily beat Quake.
Carmack didn't care too much - he continued to sculpt his game. And in 1999 he releases Quake iii arena... Since he didn't have to deal with a single player campaign, he spent all of his time on the engine. And made it amazing. But what can I say, even now many play the third part and do not notice that the game, to put it mildly, is somewhat old.
True, everything was not so rosy. Although the gameplay was good, it was released a month earlier Unreal Tournament, and it turned out to be much more interesting - even if in graphics it did not quite reach the new Quake.
Since there was no single player campaign in the game, many players were somewhat angry at id Software - everyone wanted to fight the computer again and find out the continuation of events. But no, one could only mindlessly fight each other. True, the players did not grieve for a long time, soon it came out Half-life and for a long time (is it forever?) overshadowed the rest of the militants.
John and Adrian Strike Back
Id Software needed to fix the situation. They did not release games for a long time, and their last projects were good only thanks to the first games. Yes, John made great engines, but something was missing in his games. What? Obviously not technological - a good atmosphere. Great design.
Therefore, it was not by chance that he chose Doom for his next project. Yes, he decided to resurrect the series. But without Romero. It was a challenge: could he, not the best designer, be able to make a great, atmospheric game?
After learning about development Doom iii, the gaming community began to go crazy. But she quickly got worried - how is it, Doom without Romero? But Carmack began to appear in public, talking about what a wonderful game he would have.
By the way, at this time Carmack got married to his current wife. She helps him overcome his fear of people. He specially arranges many meetings, sometimes with ordinary fans of his games, sometimes with partners. After that, he, of course, did not become a guy-shirt and the soul of the company, but changed somewhat. True, he still doesn't like his popularity. He even asked players not to create fan sites about him. After all, he, Carmack, only makes money. And he is no hero. I’m even a little ashamed that I’m writing about him ...
We were fed
Carmack took the game's advertising very thoroughly. Wherever possible, he showed two things: amazing graphics and monsters jumping out of the dark. Players have already celebrated the return of the legendary series. Everything is in place, and the same atmosphere, and, again, a breakthrough in technology.
But not everyone understood: Doom III will not be a revelation, like the first part. By 2004, there were a lot of good first-person action games out there, and a bunch of mediocre games are coming out every month. This is why Carmack tried so hard to make the game special. Special in everything. Only the network mode he cut a little - the engine is too powerful.
Favourite hobby |
| Oddly enough, but Carmack most of all loves to invent not games, but flying machines. He built small planes as a child, but now he is already making real rockets that are trying to leave our atmosphere and go into outer space. It's not easy to do, but Carmack has been trying for years. He even opened his own company where he researches and manufactures these missiles. So far, he has not particularly succeeded in this matter - too many missiles exploded, barely taking off. John has only four successful launches. But his rockets are improving, as are his games. Now he dreams of creating a real amateur spaceship... Unmanned for now, but what will happen next is unknown. Maybe Carmack will be the world's first space tourist to fly off Earth in his own rocket. |
We are full and fed up
And so the game came out. In 2004. And what? No breakthrough, no revelation - nothing. An ordinary good game. It was difficult to explain to the players that the old Doom cannot be returned, but the new one is really interesting to play. In general, there were many disappointments. Carmack was blamed for all mortal sins, but what should he say in return?
In addition, the game was released very inconveniently - almost together with Half-life 2... It turned out to be a masterpiece and quickly overshadowed Doom III. Even the online mode - and that in HL2 was better.
After this "failure" Carmack no longer took up games, although during one of the interviews, even before the release of Doom III, he said that the company is preparing to develop new game... They will not do it for long - two years, no more. But more has passed, much more - and still there is not even advertising. It seems that while Carmack doesn't want to torment himself with games, he is working on various technologies that bring both money and fame. Well, what about games? And then the games ...
John Carmack is a legend in the gaming industry. He came up with revolutionary programming techniques to make games more realistic. He contributed to masterpieces such as Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, Doom and many others.
John Carmack: biography
Carmack was born on August 20, 1970 in a suburb of Kansas City (USA). As a child, John was fond of chemical experiments, simulated rockets, read science fiction. But most of all he liked fantasy role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.
With the advent of the computer age, Carmack's life changed. He became obsessed with electronic gadgets, but his parents could not buy an expensive toy. When the future genius was fourteen years old, he and a group of friends tried to steal Apple II computers from school. They were caught and John Carmack spent the next year in a juvenile institution.
After his release, Carmack calmed down and took up programming. He taught himself how to write codes. The parents saw that their son had extraordinary potential, and found the money to buy the first computer.
Carier start
After failing at the University, John Carmack became a freelancer. He worked as an independent contractor for Apple for a while, but made very little money. In the end, the young man got a job as a programmer at the Softdisk office. One of his first developments was the two-dimensional arcade game Invasion of the Vorticons.
Carmack's colleagues were two computer-obsessed geeks: John Romero (1967) and Adrian Carmack (1969). They developed games for Softdisk during the day and experimented with coding at night. Soon, a friendly company created their own video game called Commander Keen.
Own business
Inspired by the game's success, the trio left Softdisk to form ID Software in 1991. Later, John Carmack would become trendsetters in the gaming industry for decades.
As young people, Carmack and Romero enjoyed playing computer games. They were especially fascinated by the Castle Wolfenstein project. They soon released their own version, Wolfenstein 3D. There was no three-dimensional image in the modern sense, but Carmack came up with technical tricks that created the illusion of volume. The hero explored the labyrinths of the Nazis, fought enemies and collected treasures. The project became incredibly successful overnight. Due to the fact that the game was conducted in the first person, players for the first time were able to feel like participants in realistic adventures. The gamer saw the world through the sight of the weapon and could direct it to the target.
Wealth and hard work
Wolfenstein was so popular that each of its creators made $ 120,000 a month. John Carmack, whose photo began to appear on the covers of publications, became a rich man at the age of 21.
John didn't care much about money, though. He worked over 8 hours daily to tweak and improve the coding. In the world of ID, the poised, put together Carmack was the king of coding, bringing the ideas of 3D reality to life. Romero was assigned the role of scriptwriter, mastermind, responsible for the atmosphere of games, game design of the landscape and characters.
Age of Doom
In 1993, the team released the groundbreaking hit Doom. They created a three-dimensional virtual world so powerful, compelling and exhilarating that it changed the gaming industry. The plot of the game fit in one and a half lines: the hero in the research center on Mars is fighting the attacking demons. However, the graphic design was truly unique, complex and very realistic for its time.
Before Doom, most video games were pretty flat and unrealistic. Carmack's programming techniques allowed the fantasy world to become more natural, detailed. In 1994, the project brought in $ 7 million in profits, while copies were sorely lacking. The game has become one of the best-selling games in history. John Carmack and Romero became legends.
Quake
In 1996, the duo introduced the game Quake. Gamers were offered an even higher level of realism. The multiplayer project has become the trendsetter of the arena genre, when real players fight over the network with each other.
Quake has become both a bestseller and a cult phenomenon. Quake II was released later in 1996. Quake III Arena was released in 2000 and is an online game that allows a large number of players to fight at the same time.
Best games
John Carmack is involved in the development of 44 games. The most famous are:
- Commander Keen Series (1990, 1991);
- Hovertank 3D (1991);
- Wolfenstein 3D (05/05/1992);
- Spear of Destiny (09/18/1992);
- Doom (10.12.1993);
- Doom II (10/10/1994);
- Heretic (12/23/1994);
- Quake (06.22.1996);
- Quake II (9.12.1997);
- Quake III Arena (2.12.1999);
- Doom III (3.08.2004);
- Quake IV (10/18/2005);
- Wolfenstein (Aug 18, 2009);
- Quake Champions (announced 2017).
Present time
Carmack is currently overseeing the Rift development project. He believes that the future lies with virtual reality. He was incredibly captivated by this idea - so much so that John left ID Software, to which he gave 22 best years own life. Even earlier, we parted ways with John Romero. Two creative personalities had too different views for the future of the gaming industry.
Carmack is a proponent of open source software. He made ID Tech 1, 2, and 3 available for download and stated that eventually ID Tech 4 and ID Tech 5 will be open source. He also opposes the concept of patents in software.
John is married and has two children. His wife was Catherine Kang, who served as director of business development at ID Software.
John Carmack(also John D. Carmack, also J.C.) - 1970 production, not a virgin, not bearded, but very programmer. Zadrot. He has written and continues to write thousands of racial / / in the genre of First Person Shooter, such as Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, Quake, although he is more involved in the technical side.
Memeticity
"When it" s done "- the exact date of the release of id software games. The phrase has gained some distribution in the game-magazine, as well as among the coders / coders.
Past guilt
Former SoftDisc started up Id in 1991, which, according to the creators themselves, means "Ideas from the Deep". Then, however, they rested their horns and argued that this was not an abbreviation, but a Freudian term for the subconscious (which is not very different in meaning, the bowels of the brain are the bowels of the brain).
The guys bungled their desk on their knees and began to mend good, good games. Meaty and hilarious Dangerous Dave, Commander Keen TV series, Catacomb 3D prototride and Hovertank. And then the very same Wolf, Doom and Kwaka, who are categorically and one hundred percent fierce guilt in the performance of IDs. The last good game of the subject, according to the anonymous author, is DooM3 (which is debatable, because the linearity of the levels is slightly less than in the hated CoD). Further creativity in the person of RAGE raises a lot of questions, not to mention the hazy future performed by DooM4 and the promised Quake5 according to the canonical first part (with the entourage of Lovecraftian plots, Black Capricorns and other Cthulhu).
Also, every Linuxoid is grateful to Carmack for opening the source previous versions game engines. The ability to rivet your crafts a la Kwaka 3 pleases.
Possible end of an era
Carmack in a more relevant form
With the release of the raw version of RAGE for the PC (probably the reason for such a gloomy fact was the venality of id to the gazebo / zimax), it is likely that both id in general and Carmack in particular are no longer a cake. Which is sad. In addition to the curvature of the PC version of post-nuclear races with post-shot mutants, Carmack delighted fans with the message that PC has long been UG, and it is necessary to play on Sonya and huyboxes.
Rage itself, yeah, the game is not bad (to finish with a patch / change of firewood), but the fact that the game was released to the masses by the game developers themselves in such an undercooked form is a clear sign of the first steps of the Fat Polar Fox. May Carmack devour Cthulhu!
End of an era canceled
J.C. Facts
Actually, laughs:
- Carmack sees the world in four dimensions and once even drew a self-portrait at right angles along the 4th axis on a piece of paper. True, in the drawing in our 3-dimensional world, this image degenerated into a straight line (probably, an unsuccessful angle was chosen), so no one still believes him.
- Carmack invented lighting model in 3D games better than real sunlight, which gives an acceptable FPS on Pentium-2, but does not release the engine, since he likes God, and Carmack does not want to show his incompetence in this matter.
- Carmack once fell asleep on a keyboard on the DEL button and lost a solid chunk of his invaluable code. Therefore, now he makes and stores for 5 years video archives with the recording of the keyboard and his fingers running over it when he writes the code.
- Carmack knows how to bring up the console for the real universe to type cheats and sv_gravity 0. But he despises cheaters.
- Carmack is gothic.
- Carmack owns a patent for the feeling of pleasure obtained from shooting any unpleasant creature from a double-barreled gun at close range.
- Carmack wrote the perfect physics engine for any computer game in two days. But then it took many months to disfigure it to simulate real physics, since real physics far from perfect.
- The devil sold his soul to Carmack to write DooM and Quake.
- The safe in his office contains a portal to hell.
- Most of Carmack's games are based on true events in 2110.
- The weight of bodies on Earth is weakening towards the equator, because Carmack once, being on a polar expedition, nevertheless typed sv_gravity 9.83 in the console of the Universe, and forgot to change it back.
- Carmack invented the W, S, A, D buttons.
- Carmack created the rocketjump, which made millions of modern masochists delighted (if you don't suffer, you won't jump).
- Carmack knows how to divide by zero. Anyone.
- Carmack had a case of beer with the Architect and wrote The Matrix in 40 minutes as a screensaver. And the dastardly Architect came up with the idea of using it as an alternative reality.
- Carmack is still not satisfied with the color of the sky in the Matrix, but he cannot do anything, because the rights to the Architect for using, rewriting, copy-pasting, etc. have already been transferred.
- Carmack is the only person Chuck Norris fears, as John can summon the console and turn Chuck into a piece of shit.
- Carmack is the brother of Linus Torvalds and godson of Onotole.
- When Gabe Newell announced that he wanted to create Half-Life, Carmack said, "Say please."
- Carmack made Doom 3 in three days, he generated the models and textures. After that, I waited 5 years to give Half-Life 2 a head start.
- Carmack created a program that creates other programs by receiving voice input from a user. However, he keeps it a secret so that other programmers can somehow make a living.
- Carmack does not program: he stares hard at the computer, and he creates the program himself.
- Carmack debugs programs by redirecting the binary to the sound card. Finds the cause of the error by sounds.
- Carmack always knows which electron in the device caused the error.
- One day Carmack got bored and created an Artificial Brain. Now he plays chess with him, and his brain plays the role of all id employees using controlled dummies.
- John Carmack crashed four times in his Ferrari (at a speed of 290-310 km / h) while driving drunk. Nevertheless, after each accident, the next day, he returned to his office.
- UAC is a real organization created in 2076 by Carmack himself. He got into the 80s thanks to the time machine developed by UAC. Of course, he knew all the technologies for making video cards, building 3D, etc., etc.
- Carmack does not like to be in large open areas, because his Z-buffer is buggy. An unclosed doorway gives Carmack an intense feeling of annoyance, since an open portal reduces FPS.
- In Carmack's house, many straight lines are drawn on the walls and floor, converging at different angles - the result of a BSP tree dissection. It also has a custom-built GPS device that shows which side and which leaf-node it is from.
- For Carmack, the word "impossible" does not exist, and he especially does not like the word "unreal".
- Carmack doesn't like to blink, as closed eyelids put a heavy load on the fill rate.
- Carmack does not believe in God for creating the universe, mostly out-door, not in-door. "How much more beautiful, more detailed and more realistic the world could be!" - he argues.
- Driving along a forest road, Carmack usually lowers his head to his knees and looks at the floor - so that textures and polygons can be loaded in time.
- When Carmack drives his car, he often hears the crackle of the hard drive of the universe, loading the next street.
- One day Carmack was driving his car and blinked at the moment when the hard drive of the universe was loading the next street. Because of the brakes, his heart stopped for 3.5 seconds. So Carmack tries not to blink at the wheel.
- Once Carmack was driving a car, and the next street did not have time to load from the hard disk of the Universe. For almost half a minute, Carmack drove through the void and was afraid to blink.
- Once, when Carmack was driving his car, three streets were loaded at once right along the course, and due to the abundance of polygons, the fill rate dropped sharply, and, moreover, the Z-buffer turned off. Carmack was afraid that his heart would stop again, and drove without looking around, but looking at his feet for almost two and a half minutes. Unfortunately, he was stopped and fined by a police officer.
- One day, when Carmack was driving his car, he clearly heard that the hard disk of the Universe slammed its head against a pancake. At first, Carmack was worried, but when he read about the Tunguska meteorite in the newspaper, he understood everything and calmed down.
- Carmack strongly discourages settling in the area where the Tunguska meteorite falls. It's not a good idea to settle down to live on a bad block.
- The real Carmack was left to burn in hell, because he was caught by a cyberdemon at the time of photographing textures and general views.
- The real Carmack will return from hell at the end of the crisis, because the Wachowski brother-sister needs an idea for the next trilogy, and the fake refused.
- Once John Carmack was kissing a girl with open eyes. The girl's face was cut with the middle plane of clipping. Since then, Carmack has been kissing with her eyes closed.
- Carmack always lets the lady go ahead. So that she does not telephrase him.
- Once a hammer, a Swiss watch, Carmack's source codes and other things competed for reliability. As a result, Carmack's sources took 0x0 place, no one was able to come out on top, the second place was shared between a hammer and a Swiss watch
An interesting fact associated with the name of Carmack (sad copy-paste from Pedivikia)
Dull copy-paste about dull kin:
In Doom, released back in 2005, Carmack was "paid tribute." The role of a leading scientist conducting genetic experiments, and, in principle, is, as it were, the outset of the whole film.
Quoting from Wikipedia:
Carmack, wounded by the monster, later turns into a mutant himself. He is killed by the Sergeant with a shot in the mouth when Carmack gets stuck in the nano-door. This hero is a clear reference to John Carmack of id Software.
Also
- Received a criminal record at the age of 14 for trying to steal an Apple II computer. Proof look in the book "Masters of Doom".
- On the profit from the Doom sales, "and dad a Ferrari 328, and then another, another, another ... As a result, in 1997 he put the first one in the tournament on the very first Kwake - Red Annihilation. The prize went to the mega-nerd Denis" Thresh "Fong ...
- He drives a red Ferrari with an operating system to which he has been given full access by the manufacturer of these cars.
- Until now, he leads the team of developers of sequels (and not only) of these games.
- Most modern FPS engines are based on copy-paste from John Carmack's products (although there are exceptions: Unreal Engine, Serious Engine, Cry Engine, X-Ray ...).
- Leads the team of developers of engines (real) for lunar landing modules - Armadillo Aerospace. The only one whose development can be called win "to some extent, since he implemented a full simulation of takeoff from the Moon and won a tender for this case at NASA.
Links
- id Software is a company founded by Carmack and his friends. Carmack and the company recently sold out to ZeniMax Media, the same company that produced Morrowind and Oblivion, which caused a stir among fans.
Notes (edit)
| Carmack | |
The modern gaming industry is not only about computer games, the latest graphic technologies, it is, first of all, people, enthusiasts, true fans and true professionals in their field. Today we are opening a series of publications about outstanding people in the gaming industry, about those whose hands have built the past, the present, and the future of computer games continues to be built.
We dedicated our first publication from the ZhZL (Life of Remarkable People) cycle to John Carmack, an outstanding programmer, founder of id Software, which gave the world such titles as Quake and Doom, and also, with its technologies, largely predetermined the future development and formation of the image of modern computer entertainment.
On August 20, 1970, in Kansas (Missouri), a son was born to the family of Inga and Stan Karmakov, whom they named John. From early childhood, the future maestro of the gaming industry was confident in his programming future, but his mother's plans were somewhat different, and John simply did not have the opportunity to develop his talent. Perhaps that is why John's school years (as he himself calls them) were violent and immoral.
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John Carmack at work |
Parental plans collapsed after his son's first year at university, when he dropped out and started working as a programmer, creating programs for Apple II / IIGS. Carmack's decision to drop out of school is more natural than unexpected. Later, he will remember this period of his life with some regret, but he will not regret that he dropped out of school, but that he considered himself smarter than everyone else and did not learn anything.
At 20, John gets a job at a software development company. - Softdisk... It was a wonderful time, he said. And it's not even about a hundredfold increase in wages, but about working with wonderful people in the industry. Every day Carmack drove to work in his new car as if it were a holiday (the Ferrari 308 is the very first Ferrari John will put up for the grand prize at the 1997 "Red Annihilation" Quake tournament). Finally, his dreams come true, he becomes an economically independent person who can afford to buy a 386 computer with four megabytes. random access memory!
The very remarkable people of the industry (including Tom Hall, John Romero and Adrian Carmack) six months later will become the basis of the team of the new company -. Unfortunately, the team turned out to be not very friendly: John Carmack constantly had conflict situations with colleagues. In 1992, Tom Hall left id (the reason - different views on the need for games with a detailed plot), in 1996 John Romero, and in 2005 Adrian Carmack. However, whether this is good or bad is difficult to say, because all the "renegades" have achieved little on their own, while John Carmack continues to amaze everyone with his bright mind even today.
Technological genius
Id's first game was the debut of the genius Kramak. In it, John embodies his first invention - smooth scrolling. Previously, PC games had serious problems with smooth background scrolling in 2D games as the player moved, but Carmack defeats the stubborn dash and makes his first game, Commander Keen, popular.
Over the next months, id has been releasing several similar 2D games for PC with smooth scrolling, but Carmack is trying day after day to figure out a way to turn 2D into 3D. In those very significant years for the entire gaming industry, id released several pseudo-3D games, in which it is easy to track Carmack's train of thought.
Hover Tank (the first pseudo-3D game) didn't even have textures. However, the beginning of the FPS genre was laid. Comes out a little later " Catacomb 3D"- in some way a technological breakthrough, because it was the first to use textures. True, the success of this game completely eclipsed Wolfenstein, which was released in 1992. Even later," Doom "appeared, in which binary space partitioning (BSP) was first implemented, seriously simplifying the procedure for calculating the order of drawing objects game world(first distant, then near). At the same time, multilevel ceilings and dynamic lighting appeared.
The triumph of the genius of thought came in 1996, when the first truly three-dimensional game, "Quake", was released. One more invention had to be put into the realization of true three-dimensionality - surface caching. The invention made it possible to almost double the productivity! Its essence lies in the fact that the calculation of the illumination of any surface occurs only once, after which the result of this calculation is cached and used as long as necessary.
After the release of "Quake II", Carmack decides to postpone the war with the Strogs indefinitely and make a purely multiplayer game, which, as you probably already guessed, is called Quake III Arena. Despite the high manufacturability and flexibility of the Q3 engine, Carmack's new inventions are not there. But after the release of Q3, Carmack decides to translate dynamic lighting into albeit virtual, but reality. For such an implementation, one more invention had to be made - Carmack "s Reverse (its essence is to normalize the image in those moments when the player's" eye "is inside the shadow volume).
Interestingly, id, represented by Carmack, "exchanged" this technology with Creative labs on the EAX... The point is that Carmack himself has always hated Creative, and has always used alternative EAX sound engines. Remember at least the ancient competitor EAX - A3D, which was developed by a company that has already sunk into oblivion Aurean, and which was partially implemented in Quake III.
True hobbies
Most consider Carmack an ardent fan of games, the FPS genre in particular. However, as mentioned above, from childhood Carmack was sure that he would become a programmer, and games are only to some extent a random sphere of application of John's potentials (and the FPS genre is a "side" effect of the implementation of pseudo-three-dimensionality). Even touching on his idea of only games, you can make a number of interesting discoveries for yourself. Yes, John likes straightforward games without a convoluted plot. Yes, he likes arcade and simplicity. But with genre preferences, everything is not so predictable.
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Family man In August 1996, during QuakeCon, two people walked into id's office. At that moment, John Carmack may not have suspected that his future wife was standing in front of him with his friend, but in January 2000, John Carmack and Catherine Anna Kang got married. On August 13, 2004, their son Christopher was born, due to which John was lost to the public: he did not attend many events (including QuakeCon`s 2004 and 2005), did not disclose the details of his work ... However, at QuakeCon 2005, Carmack said his now famous speech, from which it became clear that he is still full of creative plans and is ready to continue working on creating games. In an interview, Carmack was asked what unites you and your wife? The answer was quite interesting: “We are building some models of rockets together. Several years ago I was asked what I liked to do as a child. I replied that I liked to blow up bombs and launch rockets, and then I thought, why not take it seriously? And I, as you already know, got busy. Today there are rockets with a capacity of about two thousand newtons per second! This is enough to launch a person into a suborbital flight! " In another interview, Carmack said that he regularly plays death match with his wife: “the other day Katherine was playing with one guy, and I was supposed to be at a conference. dramatically and how high that guy's skill has grown! " |
When asked in an interview which game (not id) do you like best, John said: "F-Zero X" (Nintendo racing). A little further, in the same interview, even more interesting details are revealed. It turns out that after the release of "Wolfenstein" Carmack wanted to make a simulator, and even began to create a special technology for rendering landscapes, but his colleagues were not ready for this, id continued to develop the FPS genre. In addition to racing, Carmack likes flight simulators and even RPGs, but the inventor of smooth scrolling is cold to RTS.
The main hobby in Carmack's life is rockets. Having already become a fairly wealthy man, John founded a company for the research and production of suborbital missiles of the project X-Prize(in such missiles there are no stabilizers, and computer gyroscopes are responsible for stability). Things are not going well: a couple of successful launches look dull against the background of constant explosions. But Carmack is not giving up, and plans to work on full-fledged orbiting spacecraft in the future. Time will tell whether the main hobby of the genius's life will overshadow his activities in the gaming industry. On the this moment we can say with confidence that John is "in business" and is working on the creation of a fundamentally new game engine.
Conclusion
Today, John Carmack continues to be one of the most influential people in the gaming industry. Having completed the development of the unique technology "Megatexture", John began work on his new graphics engine (about which, by the way, absolutely nothing is known). Carmack's healthy approach to programming can be clearly seen not only in his already famous commitment to cross-platform and open source code, but also in his recently awakened interest in the next generation of game consoles - the Xbox 360 and PS3. At the same time, the inventor of deathmatch and strafe continues to work on his rockets and raise his son.
Will we remember this exactly like this, without exaggeration great person? Of course not! After all, John is only 35 years old, and a person is remembered for his latest achievements, which, undoubtedly, will not come in his life very soon.
