A Short Interview with John Carmack 15
The Guardian Gamesblog had the chance to pick John Carmack's brain about mobile gaming's first official doom title: The Doom RPG. From the article: "Q: On your blog you talked about getting into Java programming as a means of resetting some assumptions and habits after working on Quake III. So did Doom RPG help? How?
A: It wasn't so much the Java aspects as the mobile platform that is the diversion. It has been worthwhile, but I didn't get to go all that far down the detour before my primary responsibilities asserted themselves. I did three major blocks of coding on the project and regular design review meetings, which was all I could spare the time for. The crew at Fountainhead did a great job of following up on the direction and turning my rough project into a polished product."
design flexibility (Score:4, Informative)
Layer on Layer on Layer on Layer on... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm interested in developing mobile games -- it seems like it's indie-developer friendly, as Palm OS was back in 2000. However, as Carmack suggests, developers are constrained by the architecture. Things like a 64k memory block limit (remember the days of 16-bit programming?) are a pain in the rump. Here's hoping for a good Mobile Python [theregister.co.uk].
Re:Layer on Layer on Layer on Layer on... (Score:3, Interesting)
There's also a lack of reviewability for cellphone games, since the experience is variable across cellular platforms, and a general lack of interest, in my opinion. My phone can handle 3D games, supposedly, but given the performance I've seen
Re:Layer on Layer on Layer on Layer on... (Score:2)
For anyone who hasn't played it (Score:5, Informative)
The designteam clearly noticed the limitations on a mobile phone, and instead of playing the game 'real time', it's now turn-based.
This obviously makes aiming not to be important, and instead the player is given different stats as he levels up through killing monsters/fullfilling objectives.
As said, get this game: It's been worth its money for me for sure.
Finally (Score:3, Insightful)
Doom RPG? Whaaat? (Score:5, Funny)
>kill imp
Imp hits you.
You hit Imp hard.
Imp scratches you.
You hit Imp very hard.
Imp falls to the ground.
Imp is bleeding to death.
>kill imp
Imp has died.
You got 4 gold.
An Imp appears!
Um, yeah. Count me in...
Looks familiar .. (Score:2)
Re:Looks familiar .. (Score:2)
Though, I think all LP Muds share the same library. The combat code is usually kept slim and unaltered because usually 50%+ of the players are using it at any given time
Re:Doom RPG? Whaaat? (Score:2)
Carmack is unpreditable once again. (Score:2)