Seriously, I admire this man a lot.
John Carmack
Co-founder of id Software, Carmack is a technical innovator in the video game industry. He is best known for his work in the Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake franchises. He officially resigned from id in November 2013 to join Oculus VR.
This guy is my hero
John Carmack invented the PC sidescroller and the first person shooter to name two things. Basically, he is exceptionally good at taking a problem and figuring out a way to solve it. Granted, if he didn't do those things, someone else would have eventually, but he did do it first. And he doesn't just sit back on his laurels and let other people do the hard work. He's still the lead programmer for id and just enjoys programming for its own sake.
He also does rocket science as a hobby which is pretty awesome.
So I don't mean "hero" as in someone who actually saves people. Carmack is in the profession that I want for myself someday, and he is very good at it. As such I admire his skill. I guess that's what I mean to say. I don't necessarily admire him as a person, because I don't know him as a person, but I admire his achievements and his continued achievement.
I'm sorry if my wording before was misleading.
It's interesting that this little topic has led me to take a closer look at what I mean when I call someone my hero.
I guess when I was younger I had this concept that everyone was supposed to have a hero. Someone they looked up to. It always seemed to be athletes for other people, but I was never interested in sports. So even though I didn't have a hero at the time it seemed that I needed one, one that was relevant to my interests as it were. After reading The Masters of Doom, which was about how id started, I decided John Carmack was my hero. The whole thing sounds rather silly to me now that I've thought about it.
Except to Steve Job, but those are justified, referring to games on the Mac or iPhone, saying that Steve doesn't actually care about that one way or the other because he doesn't play games, hes just trying to jump on the bandwagon, which is completely true... but I agree, John Carmack has done great things, and is definitely at the very top of the chain as far as game making and talent go.
On a totally unrelated note, I just want to forewarn you before you become a game programmer that it's not as romantic as it sounds. It's difficult, tough, and stressful work that goes by strict, often unrealistic deadlines. A friend of mine who is in the field told me that if you want to get into game development, you should become a graphic designer/artist instead.
Oh, I definitely know that it will be hard as hell, and I'll have to work ridiculous hours. The graphic designer path isn't so much an option for me since I'm somewhat colorblind. On the other hand that could be a useful trait to a developer that wants to make their game accessible to colorblind people.
"On the other hand that could be a useful trait to a developer that wants to make their game accessible to colorblind people."Gotta be honest, there's not that much of a clamoring for that. I'm colorblind, and it has yet to truly interfere with my enjoyment of a video game.
"Seriously, I admire this man a lot.Agreed. He's accomplished a lot in his career and is very talented.
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