Exclusive: Carmack on Doom & Next-Gen

The famed development boss at id Software talks to Kikizo about Doom RPG, the Doom movie, next gen consoles and more.

When it comes to big names in games, few western creators come to mind as promptly as John Carmack, father of the legendary Doom series, and the technical mastermind behind other massive IP such as Quake and Wolfenstein.

And, with so much happening at Id Software right now - including an all-new RPG spin-off for mobile phones and the release of the big-screen Doom big movie, it's impressive that Carmack even has time for the press. But with Doom RPG finished and heating up mobile gameplay on mobiles as we speak, John took time out to catch up with Kikizo. The full interview will be published later tonight.

"When I decided, essentially on a whim, to look into making a mobile game, my first task was to take a clear look at what characteristics differentiated it from other platforms", explains John. "The generally low resolution and low speed of most target phones was an issue... but the biggest factor was the user input by way of phone keypad, which makes for a pretty poor traditional game controller."

"Nobody expects a video game movie to be Oscar material"

But the mobile is still a viable option for a title like Doom RPG, as John explains: "Doom RPG brought together a lot of positive traits... RPG play could be done one-handed with the phone, and we could borrow a lot of existing media from the original game. It could be done at about the same time the Doom movie would be released, which we weren't able to do with any major PC or console title."

And talking of the Doom movie, which stars The Rock and hit movie theatres at the end of 2005, what did John think about it? "I intentionally stayed completely out of the process, so I was able to get a fair first impression at the theatre. I liked it. Nobody expects a video game movie to be Oscar material, but I thought it was a solid action movie with lots of fun nods to the gaming community."

The mobile title, Doom RPG, is out now

So it's a bit of a chore to make games on mobile, without the power of a console or PC? Perhaps not: "I like working within tight [technical] limits, because it makes the distinction between good choices and bad choices much more obvious."

Doom is so popular that countless spin offs have seen release, including a board game. "I never played the board game, and I'm not personally all that involved with most of the spin-off projects", reveals John. "Generally, extending the [brand] is probably a positive thing, but we are still a small company, so we don't pursue it nearly as aggressively as a larger corporation would."

And with so much happening in gaming right now, with new consoles on the horizon, John has a lot to be thinking about. "If I could stop time or spin off a few clones, I would enjoy doing a DS or PSP game, but at this point I can't imagine having the time to be seriously involved in it. I really like developing on the Xbox 360, because of the exceptionally good development tools and clean hardware design, but all of our decisions at this point are based on providing great support for the 360, PlayStation 3 and PC."

So, Xbox 360 and PS3... but nothing Doom related on the horizon for Nintendo's next console, Revolution? After all, Nintendo boss Saturo Iwata claimed back at TGS that the innovative controller design is ideal for first person shooters. "The Revolution is the console I am least familiar with, so I can't really comment", reports John, "we haven't really looked at the Revolution."

Concluding with a smile, John reflects a little: "I look back and think that I have done a lot of good work over the years, but I am much more excited about what the future holds."

Stay tuned for the full interview with John, perhaps later tonight, unless a giant demon rips our head off while we're on the way to the shop later.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com