Quote Originally Posted by Syn. View Post
Because as much he is good at programing he is just as bad at everything else.
You don't say... Maybe that's because his part IS just the engine programming? So what does "everything else" have to do with him?

iD engines where something years ago, today none cares much as people are able to make their own engines that fit their needs better. As the most famous OpenGL developer his other ideas to do with games are making things worse for overall game industry plus the OpenGL groups.
His engines are generally untouchable at their time of release. Technologically speaking IDTech4(doom 3 engine) wiped the floor with both cryengine 1 and source. All 3 engines weren't touched much by other companies. Most companies stuck to Unreal engine 2/2.5x due to it's console abilities while the doom 3 engine was a bit too overzealous for consoles at the time.

Sure games look better but the gameplay hasn't evolved since Quake 1. I am sorry but no matter how you look at it "Pretty colours" will only keep me entertained for few minutes the rest of the time gameplay has to keep me hooked. I completed both Doom3 and Qauke4 and i wouldn't be able to tell you what happens in them, the story line was so entertaining that i forgot it completely.
What does that have to do with the engine programmer? Again, Carmack has nothing to do with the gameplay side, only the engine. Modders have proven that idtech4 was capable of whatever you really wanted to do gameplay wise...

So yea he is a good programmer but that is not that impressive these days. When he made his name IT industry was quite small compared to what it is today. He is yet to do anything impressive these days, all interest in iD Tech5 is that it is platform independent.
You haven't paid much attention to developer buzz, have you? When carmack speaks, the entire industry listens... idtech5 is presently the most promising engines coming from ANY studio, and it's not just because it's platform independent. It's because it pretty much removes the performance block from the art team!

They can add whatever amount of detail they please, without worry of it introducing graphical or physics clipping at any point in a level. As in, IT REMOVES THE ENTIRE DEBUGGING PROCESS AFTER ADDING YOUR DETAILS! Now, that may mean nothing to you, but anyone who's ever dabbled in 3d knows how big of a pain it is to attempt to debug after adding all art to your level, you've got to go over every inch(which most companies fail to do, thus flickering textures throughout the game when you stand in certain spots) and make sure nothing happens. A tiny texture at the start of a level can cause a crash in a corner near the end that you'd never even think to stand in with most engines... Not with IDTech5.

Now, think about this.... Every inch of every map can be 100% unique, with no worry about any loss of performance due to it, at obscenely high resolutions, with every inch reacting properly to the lighting of the map and displaying proper shadowing, with only half the normal debug process as you no longer have to test with each texture added, running with no problem on current hardware REGARDLESS OF PLATFORM!... It took 10 days to make the demo for the first showing of it, and it ran flawlessly. Less than a week later that had a demo of it looking almost 3 times as clean running even smoother without issue!

They cut the development process in half(or less) and allow the art team and game programmers to work at the same time rather than one then the other. You want to tell me that's not a big deal?... To make it all the more impressive, he built the engine himself. Did what no other TEAM could do, all by himself.

Meanwhile, heralded companies like valve are still using source which still can't even compete lighting and shadows wise with carmacks LAST engine, and they have a whole team working on updates to their engine!

Carmack's still hands down the best in the industry, deny it all you want, but there isn't a single programmer in any company that can touch what he does.