Slate article on Carmack, and a cliche potshot at Romero

[(Insert clever username)]

http://slate.msn.com/id/2104869/

Doom 3 was released just a few days ago, but it's already a classic. The sequel to last decade's pioneering 3-D gore-fest Doom has drawn ringing praise from critics for its ghoulish realism; PC Gamer called it "a masterpiece of the art form." This week, the New York Times presented a great-man theory of Doom, crediting the game's creator, id Software co-founder and technical director John Carmack, as the sole force behind its success. An executive vice president of Nvidia told the Times his company designs graphics cards—what the computer uses to display super-realistic images—just to accommodate Carmack's upcoming games. They're that good. "He's a genius, a rare person," the exec gushed.

"Genius" is a word we normally associate with an artist—the lone auteur secreted away in his garret. Given Carmack's cultlike following—fans call him "Carmack the Magnificent"—it's obvious many gamers regard him much like Stanley Kubrick or It-boy musician Jack White, creators whose personal mojo inspires fanatical devotion. But are the best video games really created by single visionaries? Do games have auteurs?

Judging by Doom 3, I'd say yes. Though many "survival horror" games have copied Doom's innovations, none come close to Carmack's best titles. Mostly, he's a master of capturing the what's-around-the-corner scariness of a good horror movie. In Doom 3, he takes the inherent claustrophobia of cramped, military-industrial settings and amps it up with ultrarealistic visuals and insanely creepy sound effects. Even when you can't see any monsters, you hear them hissing and gibbering off in the distance. Your avatar also carries a military radio, so while you're hip-deep in your own chaos you also hear far-off Marines screaming as they're slaughtered. Carmack is our video-game Virgil, walking us through his digital version of a gothic hell.

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Of course, he didn't make the whole thing himself. Doom 3, like any modern mega-game, required a team of over 25 designers, from the guys who program the basic physics (part of Carmack's job), to the artists who draw monsters, to the sound engineers who craft those sadistic F/X. Really, Carmack is just like a movie director: His main role is to impose a unifying vision on a huge, collaborative process.

If you look at most other innovative, massively successful games, you'll find designers whose imprint is all over the thing. At Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto invented the company's anime-class graphics and goofy, bloodless play, which has stretched from 1981's Donkey Kong to today's Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Will Wright, creator of Sim City and The Sims, pioneered the concept of simulation-as-game and perfected a visual style—isometric viewpoint, teensy pop-art characters—so cool-looking that ads and music videos are now plundering it. Myst, the first successful game centered around a dreamy, explorable world, was crafted by two brothers in the backwoods of Washington.

One reason game designers aren't typically considered auteurs is that their artistry isn't necessarily on the screen. The most important innovations in video games are invisible, deep in the guts of the software. Much like Venetian artists perfecting the camera obscura to trace figures from life, or George Lucas creating high-end special effects so he could shoot Star Wars, the best designers create new tools to midwife their games into existence. Carmack's brilliance came in coaxing the low-power chips of 1991 to display a speedy "first person" view of a 3-D world. Will Wright conjured new artificial-intelligence models to govern the behavior of his Sims. Peter Molyneux hired a philosopher to help him craft the moral galaxy of Black and White.

Molyneux, Wright, Miyamoto—odds are you've never heard of these guys. How about Alexey Pajitnov? Probably not, though I'd wager you've played his game Tetris. That's because the mainstream media almost never profiles the creators of games or talks about how games get made. But game fanatics hardly care what the mainstream thinks. Most treat their favorite designers like rock stars, which is why some game publishers now slap their names on titles, as with American McGee's Alice. It's possible that this rabid online fan culture will eventually infect conventional media, bringing game designers fame much as TV fan sites like Television Without Pity have raised the profile of formerly neglected television writers and producers. The New York Times did, after all, see fit to write about Carmack—maybe he'll even be in the Arts section next time, rather than ghettoized in Circuits.

The rise of game auteurs might not be a force for good, though. As Hollywood has shown us, a sure-fire way to get wretched art is to tell a director he has the Midas touch. If John Carmack is the Martin Scorsese of video games, then John Romero is the Michael Cimino. Back in the 90s, Romero—co-creator of the original Doom—decided he was the true brains of the operation, bragging to fans that he was "a god." (His words, actually.) After taking his millions and setting off on his own, Romero took five interminable years to produce the virtually unplayable Daikatana. Artist, auteur, God—call yourself whatever you want. Just make sure the game doesn't suck.

[satori]

Did Carmack really oversee all parts of design? I thought he was the lead technical guy and the level design was handled by others... this article makes it sound a little like it's a Carmack world at id... is that true now?

[Gadget]

Heh, a bit of a joke really.  DooM 3 is good, but once beaten it's not exactly that same masterpiece that DooM was.  John Carmack produces some great 3D engines these days, but you need much more than a 3D engine.  DooM 3 initially hits you with the atmosphere, but after playing it through once in awe I am thinking that it's not as great as we expected, it just isn't going to have that same impact that the original DooM had.  And whether John C likes it or not, Mr Romero was a part of DooM and will always have supporters no matter what mistakes he has made in the past.

Since Doom 3 was released I kind of feel for JR, because I feel that JC has tried to rewrite history and wipe JR from the story, but it hasn't washed with most of the people I know =D  People are quoting the original Doom, making comparisons and saying 'oh yeah, I remember the guy that did lots of the cool levels, Romero was his name wasn't it?', and 'I wonder if we can get all the original Doom stuff as a Doom 3 mod?'.

[AssKoala]

Gotta be kidding if they actually compare Carmack to Peter Molyneux or Shigeru Miyamato.  Doom3 is a good game with great graphics but it doesn't come close to the design quality of either Miyamato's or Molyneux's games.

If you can say the game has many flaws, and Doom3 does, you can't begin to compare it to Zelda.

How can they say Carmack is the game designer anyhow?  He's not even listed as the Game Designer in Doom3's credits.

Not that Doom3 is a bad game, only that once again it looks like id's creation will be overshadowed by Valve's.  HL2 still looks impressive, even next to Doom3.  With all the false promises of amazing Physics and Sound in Doom3, HL2 is still looming over it.  Of course, Valve is keeping about as tight-lipped as a school-girl keeping a secret, but it looks good no less.

[Gadget]

Gotta be kidding if they actually compare Carmack to Peter Molyneux or Shigeru Miyamato.  Doom3 is a good game with great graphics but it doesn't come close to the design quality of either Miyamato's or Molyneux's games.

If you can say the game has many flaws, and Doom3 does, you can't begin to compare it to Zelda.

How can they say Carmack is the game designer anyhow?  He's not even listed as the Game Designer in Doom3's credits.

Not that Doom3 is a bad game, only that once again it looks like id's creation will be overshadowed by Valve's.  HL2 still looks impressive, even next to Doom3.  With all the false promises of amazing Physics and Sound in Doom3, HL2 is still looming over it.  Of course, Valve is keeping about as tight-lipped as a school-girl keeping a secret, but it looks good no less.

I agree!  Even Halo 2 is looking promising as well as Unreal 3!  I found Halo a lot more interesting than Doom 3 to be honest.  I wonder if HalfLife 2 will ever get released lol

[OCcsdude]

Jeez, so people make mistakes.  It doesn't mean they have to praise the next guy.  That article is...quite biased.  Btw, I'm new here, allo everyone.

[warlordQ]

I still think the original id company, the one they first started, with Tom hall and Romero, etc... was a better company than what it is now... i havnt played Doom3 yet, i want to play it soon...

So far i havnt seen much creativity from id software now... they still make the same games.. yeah the technolgy side is important, but i get sick of playing the same stuff...

I never like quake 1 that much, i just played the first 5 levels and got bored with it... I do like quake 2, and 3... Quake 2 was a lot of fun to play...

I still think Doom2 was the best game from id...

I dont want to see a Quake 4.... id should just make another game from scratch, all new everything...

[Rizimar]

I dont want to see a Quake 4.... id should just make another game from scratch, all new everything...

id isn't making Quake IV, someone else (Raven, I think) is.

Also, the next id Software project will be completely unrelated to their previous work. This is stated in one of the Doom III videos on FilePlanet by Tim Willits.

Doom III was great, in my opinion. It was an amazing experience going through a lab on Mars, shotgun in hands, wondering what the hell will pop out at you next, hearing the muffled screams of researchers being eaten alive over your radio. For me, it's not that easy comparing Doom III with the previous games because they come from very different times which yield different technologies.

[DK_UK]

I admire JC a lot, especially since he is self taught etc.. but as ground breaking as Doom 3 is technically it offers nothing in the way of ground breaking gameplay. Its the same frag frest but looks prettier.

I think the GS review is one of the best myself, hits the nail on the head...

Doom 3 is quite possibly the best-looking game ever, thanks to the brand-new 3D graphics engine used to generate its convincingly lifelike, densely atmospheric, and surprisingly expansive environments. At the same time, when you look past the spectacular appearance, you'll find a conventional, derivative shooter. In fact, if you played the original Doom or its sequel back in the mid '90s (or any popular '90s-era shooter, for that matter), you may be shocked by how similarly Doom 3 plays to those games. The legions of id Software's true believers will celebrate this straightforwardness as being deliberately "old school," especially since Doom 3 is packed with direct references to its classic predecessors. However, the truth of the matter is that Doom 3's gameplay structure and level design are behind the times and very much at odds with the game's cutting-edge, ultrarealistic looks. Yet the quality of the presentation truly is remarkable--enough so that it overwhelms Doom 3's occasional problems.

but...

The flip side to this argument is for a whole new generation of younger gamers they have this stunning 3D world to walk around in and enjoy, but for old farts like me the gameplay is very old hat

I highly anticipate what other mods  / games will be developed with the D3 engine though....

[warlordQ]

I wont be buying quake 4, no matter who makes it... Its just like the tomb raider saga, they just keep making another version... the games have the same gameplay but with different levels and better garphics...

Its good that id software will make a different game...

[Rizimar]

I wont be buying quake 4, no matter who makes it... Its just like the tomb raider saga, they just keep making another version... the games have the same gameplay but with different levels and better garphics...

Its good that id software will make a different game...

Ah, the Tomb Raider games. After a while, there weren't even tombs to explore, but instead city buildings and stuff. I very much disliked Tomb Raider, especially when my dad would frequently make me play through the levels and collect everything I could as described in strategy guides... *shudder*

I have noticed that all of the Quake games are quite different from each other; Quake sent you on a quest to gather magic crystals and battle medieval enemies and monsters, Quake II shipped you to an asteroid in space to fight off horrible Borg-like creatures (they assimilated people too ), and Quake III threw you in a random arena with some other people and let you blast each other 'til the bloody end.

Quake IV will actually be continuing on Quake II, for those of you who didn't know.

If that same gameplay is good, I wouldn't mind it. I would imagine new weapons and enemies and the like, as well as a slightly different gameplay because the developers are going with the Doom III engine on this one as far as I know, and the fact that someone else is making it should be enough to convince you that it will be more than just a few new levels and some updated graphics. There's also the continuation of the story line, which shouldn't be too hard since the one behind Quake II didn't play a very significant role; kill the baddies, throw some switches, get the hell outta there.

I'll stop here before I start babbling on about more obvious things

[Doom_Dude]

I wont be buying quake 4, no matter who makes it... Its just like the tomb raider saga, they just keep making another version... the games have the same gameplay but with different levels and better garphics...

Its good that id software will make a different game...

Quake 4 is going to be pretty damned cool. I'll definitely buy it when it comes out. Go Raven Software! I don't think you can compare a mouseless controllled 3rd person jumping game to the Quake franchise. heh. :p

[Malchik]

I have great faith in Quake 4. Unlike quake 2 we will see native stroggs. And besides. Tomb Raider saga got what it deserves.

[Rizimar]

I have great faith in Quake 4. Unlike quake 2 we will see native stroggs. And besides. Tomb Raider saga got what it deserves.

Horrible movies?

Quake IV sounds pretty cool. Mostly because it bears the title "Quake". But I'm sure it will be a great game

[Malchik]

exactly.