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magazines:pc_zone_55_october_1997_uk [2011/12/03 12:30] – [Scans] Spirit | magazines:pc_zone_55_october_1997_uk [2011/12/03 12:44] – Spirit |
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==== Scans ==== | ==== Scans ==== |
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Taken from ''75eb8c9a274e6cfd696c0a1ad606ff82 PC Zone 55 (October 1997).pdf'' (thanks to Pix2 on UG) | Taken from ''75eb8c9a274e6cfd696c0a1ad606ff82 PC Zone 55 (October 1997).pdf'' (thanks to Pix2 on UG) |
Pretty spartan, is the official line on John Carmack's office. A mere six workstations sit humming on a row of desks. A couple of biros and a bit of paper can be seen. Oh, and a bunch of real life, real sharp medieval swords are piled in the corner. Carmack is articulate and boying looking. He could easily be 14, but he drives a rather expensive Ferrari and is regarded as one of the greatest programmers in the world. He's not exactly a party person, though he's rather 'good' at writing real-time, perspective-correcting, dynamically-lit 3D game engines. But you knew that. | Pretty spartan, is the official line on John Carmack's office. A mere six workstations sit humming on a row of desks. A couple of biros and a bit of paper can be seen. Oh, and a bunch of real life, real sharp medieval swords are piled in the corner. Carmack is articulate and boying looking. He could easily be 14, but he drives a rather expensive Ferrari and is regarded as one of the greatest programmers in the world. He's not exactly a party person, though he's rather 'good' at writing real-time, perspective-correcting, dynamically-lit 3D game engines. But you knew that. |
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PC Zone: <span interview-question>Did you always anticipate Doom and Quake to take off in quite the way they did?</span> | **PC Zone**: <span interview-question>Did you always anticipate Doom and Quake to take off in quite the way they did?</span> |
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John Carmack: <span interview-answer>It's worked out how we expected it to, really. There have been conscious decisions in Doom to make it more amenable to the modifications. Then in Quake, we went a further step and created a really excellent extension mechanism. So yeah, I would have to say we made all the right decisions, but we're still surprised at how extensive it has been.</span> | **John Carmack**: <span interview-answer>It's worked out how we expected it to, really. There have been conscious decisions in Doom to make it more amenable to the modifications. Then in Quake, we went a further step and created a really excellent extension mechanism. So yeah, I would have to say we made all the right decisions, but we're still surprised at how extensive it has been.</span> |
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<span interview-question>Does it please you?</span> | <span interview-question>Does it please you?</span> |
<span interview-answer>We're a lot closer to that right now. After Doom was released, there were 50 teams doing Doom-style engines. Most of them failed miserably and I think many companies took this as a learning experieice. And in the end there were only a couple worth a damn. There was the BUILD engine which 3D Realms used and there was Dark Forces. Quake is a hell lot more complicated to duplicate than Doom was. But when you balance it against say, half a million dollars, for most companies it makes good business sense to license the engine with proven technology instead of taking a blind shot. We stopped after about six licenses but we're going to open it up after Quake 2 ships. We're going to wash our hands of it. We're on to other things. Let everyone else fight it out over content.</span> | <span interview-answer>We're a lot closer to that right now. After Doom was released, there were 50 teams doing Doom-style engines. Most of them failed miserably and I think many companies took this as a learning experieice. And in the end there were only a couple worth a damn. There was the BUILD engine which 3D Realms used and there was Dark Forces. Quake is a hell lot more complicated to duplicate than Doom was. But when you balance it against say, half a million dollars, for most companies it makes good business sense to license the engine with proven technology instead of taking a blind shot. We stopped after about six licenses but we're going to open it up after Quake 2 ships. We're going to wash our hands of it. We're on to other things. Let everyone else fight it out over content.</span> |
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<span interview-question>s this going to improve the quality of games?</span> | <span interview-question>Is this going to improve the quality of games?</span> |
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<span interview-answer>If you have eight companies doing roughly similar games with the same technology, then they'll have to compete on content. It's almost like a console for PC games. The console has the same hardware capabilities and everyone has to differentiate without radical technical innovation. It's like there's now a gaming platform with the Quake engine and people differentiate on content.</span> | <span interview-answer>If you have eight companies doing roughly similar games with the same technology, then they'll have to compete on content. It's almost like a console for PC games. The console has the same hardware capabilities and everyone has to differentiate without radical technical innovation. It's like there's now a gaming platform with the Quake engine and people differentiate on content.</span> |