that Carmack is NOT as good as the hype says? Let's look at his work, shall we? Doom: competent, but numerous small stuffups, and glaring omissions that could easily have been added in. More of a proof-of-concept than a full game engine. Markedly inferior to competitors, but stomped them anyway.
Quake: groundbreaking, yes, but suffered hugely from taking exactly the wrong approach to level geometry - one that still has yet to be corrected in its descendants. Cranky, hard to map for, and distinctly horrendous to script for. Again, markedly inferior to competitors; in this case, however, the competition is doing rather better.
Doom 3: delayed, delayed and delayed again; pretty but limited by its best "selling feature"; the reason Doom 3 and Quake 4 are so dark is the unified lighting/shadowing engine chokes on higher light levels. This leaves aside the hideous gameplay deficiencies; those can be laid at the feet of others (but not my feet; I don't want stupid on my nice shoes). |
