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Carmack About Q3A On Dreamcast
andr0meda writes: "C|Net's GameCenter recently interviewed John Carmack about Q3A's Dreamcast conversion. The interview was conducted after the QuakeCon talk John gave last weekend, which was Slashdotted earlier. Here are both parts of the lengthy interview: [1,2]"
Make no mistake -- the PS2 is definately more powerful than the dreamcast. For some types of things, it is easier to get a dreamcast game to look better due to a better back end filter, autoamtically working mip-mapping, and larger addressable texture space, but the second generation PS2 games should really start showing off the increased power. Dreamcast should be able to undercut the price, but I don't know how significant that will be. There are few things that I would really call "revolutionary", but that doesn't mean that Sony didn't build a good machine. It just happens to be built with a set of tradeoffs that I don't completely agree with. John Carmack
"Can you seriously imagine playing multi-management games like Civilization, Myth 2, or StarCraft without a mouse and keyboard? "
Perhaps if strategy games did not involve so many redundant repetition, and allowed you to concentrate on strategy, you would not need very many controls.
Really, why can't you tell the UI/AI you want marines in perpetutity with a 1000 credit reserve, and forget about it?
Whoops, I mean utah-glx. This is what happens when I don't paste urls.
right at the start:
... no ... that would have been Descent by Parallax.
... no ... many people played Doom over the 'net (it was an ugly hack, especially compared with 'net games today, but it did work).
The first real-time 3D environments were pioneered by the house of id...
um
And with Quake's robust networking code, action gamers went head-to-head on the Net for the first time.
um
This isn't as much "normalization" as it is "don't take so many drugs when you're designing tables."
I do not believe you guys give the 'joystick' playing mindless drones enough credit'
some of the absolutely best players I have met in Quake used a Joystick or a gamepad, not all but some.. anywhu
Jeremy
If you think education is expensive, try ignornace
History :) :)
This OT post is just to cool to let die...
Normally I dislike trolls but this one did a really good job
Thhht!
I don't actually exist.
Last time I looked Carmack was one of the main developers on the utah-glx project. I believe that he's been involved in bringing GLX support to Linux, writing an X server for MacOS X and releasing games under the GPL.
Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake 1 are all released under the GPL.
Many people don't realize that:
- There will be a keyboard and a mouse that you can attach to Dreamcast, they were shown at QuakeCon (here is a pic of the mouse and you can see the keyboard here).
- Sega does plan to release a "LAN adapter" that will allow LAN/DSL/cable modem connection, as stated in this interview.
Just wanted to clarify on that.
-jfedor
You can hear Carmack say all the same things, sometimes nearly verbatim, in the recordings of his QC workshop (especially in recording #1). Beware the murky sound quality, though it's a vast improvement over the first attempt to release these .mp3s.
EOF
In conclusion,
sarcasm: YAI! fake people: BOO!
Love legolas
i've looked at love from both sides now. from win and lose, and still somehow...
You gotta love somebody who's willing to REWRITE the networking code for a console game system just to eke out better performance. Question is, will John ever get tired of writing games and turn that brain of his towards writing something like a financial planner package or some other business-oriented software?
Hell, if he can port X Window System to Mac OS X in his spare time, why couldn't he work for a few weeks on StarOffice and turn it into an Office-killer?
I use Macs for work, Linux for education, and Windows for cardplaying.
heh... no, i didn't say that non-sarcastic people were fake. i just indicated they were a better target to say 'sux' then the poor, poor sarcastic cynics.
personally, i find sarcasm a great way to express what i really feel, instead of being fake on the outside. yes, it is easy to be carried away, but people can know that when i say something, i'm not lying to them.
and, also, sarcastic conversation (between many people who enjoy it) can be quite enjoyable. it turns a bland business meeting into exciting free-for-all. i have to pay close attention to make sure i'm not suckered into the sarcasm. good fun.
my conclusion (this time): :( :( :)
boring conversation =
fake people's conversation =
exciting, sarcastic conversation =
love legolas
(ps argh... apple must die for the crappy keyboard on this ibook. the shift, ctrl, and apple keys are barely working. must ship it back to tx =^/ )
i've looked at love from both sides now. from win and lose, and still somehow...
Each Q+A is on a different page. It's sad how some companies try to get banner impressions. As far as play on dreamcast goes, I wouldn't be interested until Sega gets off their asses and gets us an Ethernet module (yay 30ms ping on SDSL) for network/internet games. Also play on the gamepad could be difficult, but couldn't you use the dreamcast keyboard that sega.net/AT&T provides? If I buy a DC, it will be for games like Crazy Taxi, not Q3A.
Shine on, you crazy diamond.
---------///----------
All generalizations are false.
--
I like to watch.
Game design for joypads is different. For one thing, driving and flying simulators are nearly unplayable on joypads.
I'm saying that a BSD licensed piece of software is more useful to ME than a GPLd piece of software. If the author doesn't care about making his software more useful for other people, but instead prefers to limit its usefulness for ideological reasons that's fine. I think it's stupid but it is up to the author.
EOF
Does anyone know where the advantages of vector quantization compression are when it comes to storing textures for a game (as mentioned on page 2 of the article)? Can they be decompressed very fast? Can different levels of detail be accessed easily to be mapped to surfaces at varying distances?
As it seems to be implemented in hardware in this case, is there a software package of some VQ compression algorithm that comes close to wavelets or similar state-of-the-art compression? I just wonder because lately anyone seems to use wavelets...
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i feel that consoles and pc provide different gaming experiences. there are lots of console games that would not make good pc games due to the control.(same goes for pc - console ports) games like cool boarders and tony hawk for playstation would not work on pc because of how they use controlls. fps have many gameplay difference on consoles. medal of honour(also for playstation) is a great game. it could be played on pc without many gamplay changes. the reason it is a good fps on a console is because the game was designed to be played with a simple thumb controled anologe joystick and 8 buttons, the gameplay is good becuase it is well paced for the fact that it lakes a crosshair and freelook. were as quake3 is made for a mouse and even though the dreamcast controller has enough buttons for movement and fireing location and type of the buttons is what matters. i think quake3 on dc will play different then on pc. more gameplay emphasis will be on the plasma gun,lightning gun, and shotgun becuase the other weapons need to be aimed up or down(aim rockets at feet) and the rail gun will be damn hard to aim. and fighting games are the ones most likely to hurt a non-console gamers fingers. racing is probably the easiest on fingers to play. anyways my rant is done
[20:36] wwwdot/.dotorg
Ooh ooh! That would be so cool! Heh, I'd love to play Commander Keen on a Gameboy Color... I'd buy one expressly for that purpose. Erm, I'm sorry, got a little bit nostalgic and stuff... But I think a Commander Keen GBC game would kickass and sell a lot, too :)
Ports are cool.
-tsunakeNot be cynical or bent on criticism, but what's the big deal about q3 getting onto a dreamcast? It seems like a logical step as a software company looking to capatalize on a most likely popular gaming system. In the interview, Carmack states that porting from the DreamCast to the PC and vise versa are very simple, and to me, it seems very logical, because the DreamCast is just a PC in a smaller box with a controller.
Personally, I don't understand why people believe that the Dreamcast and furthermore, any other console will cause the end of the PC as a viable gaming system. Can you seriously imagine playing multi-management games like Civilization, Myth 2, or StarCraft without a mouse and keyboard? Or a game that requires precise placement like Quake 3 being played with a controller? I had enough trouble playing Street Fighter 2 on my SNES, and any game more challenging will just cause blisters and frustration, not a genuine challenge. Both the PC and console markets have niche games that suit both systems, and I believe that the convergence two will promote creative game design, not hinder it.
Help me through college please!
If it doesn't impress Carmack, meaning that he doesn't think it's revolutionary and that he won't develop for it, it's a sad statement for Sony. I think the Xbox is going to whup up on the PS2's ass. It's going to be easier to develop for and it offers more avenues for developers to explore.
I agree with John that it is a shame what Sony has done to the Dreamcast with its incessant and unwarranted hype of the PS2. I think Sony will get a taste of its own medicine with the torrential $500 million marketing campaign for the Xbox.
Any way this shakes out, competition is good for us. We'll get cheaper consoles faster and better games. I just hope we don' get into the stupidity that Sony began with locking down developers to one console. EA and Square made a deal with the devil. I hope it doesn't turn around to bite them in the ass. Actually, being a Dreamcast owner, I hope it does.
-- You see, there would be these conclusions that you could jump to
Carmack commented on all the consoles in relation to his next porting job.
Dreamcast: Good thinking to include modem. Not enough memory.
PSX2: Not enough memory.
PSX: Cool architecture. No memory.
XBox: Little cramped on memory but obviously easy to port for.
Dolphin: Not mentioned by interviewer. Doh!
N64: Ditto gamecenter ignorance.