John Carmack make me want to commit suicide from his implausible talk of the new DOOM. I consider that man smarter than Einstein! Someone try and help me strengthen my grip on sanity here. I desire to be a game programmer or have something to do with gaming when I get older and believe it or not, John Carmack discourages me rather than encourages me. I''m doing pretty well in Math but I still can''t fathom almost anything he says. AH! FYI: I am a very depressed person that has confidence in the negatives and see no hope in the future for myself. I try to sitdown and say to myself "OK, I will be like Carmack in the manner of intelligence so I will learn something very beneficial before I leave this chair.". But it never happens, I leave saying I''m a loser and will only be a garbage man. I talked to John Romero and he was the only one that gave me somewhat confidence but it was taken away after the daunting C++ exam. I know Carmack is the best of the best but I can''t even draw a damn line in C++! Please, someone, help me refind my confidence and motivation for gaming so I can actually grow up and be proud of myself. -K. Rudisill, 16 "I don''''t watch TV. I don''''t do sports." -John Romero

I''m sure John Carmack didn''t get good overnight.

By the way, if it makes you feel any better, he writes ugly code :-)

Helpful links:
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way | Google can help with your question | Search MSDN for help with standard C or Windows functions

Yeah right dude. Look at QIII! I''ve used other engines (played them, used the console, etc.) and QIII has been the neatess engine I have yet to see. An example would be when I wanted to page up in the QIII console, a line of dots appeared above the text region. Simple but helpful I believe. I dunno.

You can''t draw a line and you think you should understand the math behind Doom III and others, (sigh).

Start at the beginners link above.

,Jay

quote:
By the way, if it makes you feel any better, he writes ugly code :-)

id Nut: What siaspete meant by the above is that Carmack is notorious for his poor coding style. This has nothing to do the fact that it works WELL, which is something I''m sure very few would argue.

Mike

Well... if you can''t even draw a line in C++ then maybe Carmack is right. However... that really doesn''t mean you will never be able to draw a line in C++, there once was a day (although it is in the far far past) that Carmack didn''t know how to draw a line in C++ as well.

Secondly... the chances that you will be a programmer at the standard of "John Carmack" is very slim... that chance is probably just as big as you being a movie producer like Steven Spielberg or an artist like Leonardo da Vincie... However... there are lots of lower skilled game programmers in the world and they all are in the industry as well...

The basic idea behind this text is this: NEVER GIVE UP... although you might never become as good as John Carmack... you might end in the game industry just as well.

Something about myself:
I aspire to be a game programmer in the future as well (and I can do lines in C++ , I can do PVS/CSG/BSP and many other things as well... but there are a lot of people who can do that. That is because those are just techniques... being a game programmer means that you are able to see the whole picture of the game programming related subjects (yes... that also means those nasty software engineering courses I had on university (and thrust me... I really hated them... but afterwards they were quit usefull)) and being able to find good solutions to different situations... Note that I said finding good solutions... and the PVS/CSG/BSP/Line Drawing are just algorithms that everyone can learn... however John Carmack was the person that was able to unleash the extra potential that the BSP tree had hidden inside (that is part of what makes him a great programmer). Anyways... back to myself... Unfortunately I am not in the game programming business... at least not yet... and maybe never will... but I am trying and I will keep trying. Another horrible aspect is that I am currently a student in CS... and that means that I really do not have the time to really progam as in 60 hours a week... but I am straying from the point I am about to make... the point is this... actually it are 3 points

1) Learn a lot of math/C++/Software Engineering/etc.
2) Then try to see the overall picture and develop your skills from that
3) NEVER GIVE UP!!!

As long as you believe in yourself... you will succeed... just because if you are any good... you could probably lift your own small software company from the ground... and become the much aspired game programmer



That was all

ICQ: 130925152
Email: e.j.folkertsma@student.utwente.nl

There's gonna be a new DOOM? When did John Carmack talk about?


You've got to keep in mind that he's been programming for I don't know how long probably 20+ years. You just can't expect to reach that level of experience and knowledge when you're just starting out. It's good to aspire to his greatness, as long as you know you're gonna have to put the same amount of work into it that he did.

[edited by - Xanth on April 20, 2002 3:26:33 PM]

Check out this site for movies on it, get all of them if you have a fast connection, they''re great. http://gamespot.com/gamespot/filters/products/media/0,11100,469881,00.html

"I don''''t watch TV.
I don''''t do sports."
-John Romero

I took my knowledge of linear algebra and came up with makeshift ways of doing 3D graphics without OpenGL or DirectX. That was prior to 1995.

Then, when I looked at the spec for the Doom games, I learned about BSP data structures and how they apply themselves to rendering internal environments.

I wrote a simple outer space battle demo, and a simple skeletoned figure.

I have a lot of ideas of HOW to do things, and have dabbled in little bits here and there (including sound programming and multiplayer).

Even after all that work, I have yet to write a BSP splitter for a full 3D environment, much less implement simple collision detection for it. And forget triggered occurrences like doors and moving ledges. (At least, not yet, anyway...)

What I'm saying is, you have to start somewhere that makes sense. Built a hut, THEN a house, THEN a business building, THEN move on to skyscrapers.

There aren't a lot of John Carmacks or John Romeros in the world. It's all doable, and we can all learn and know and understand as much as they do.

But John Carmack, as an example, plans ahead for future technologies and keeps up on the latest rendering theories, so his engines are always one step above most. That doesn't come easy. It takes a lot of dedication and time spent, and knowing where to go and having the resources. And it results in his lingo being near undecipherable to a lot of us!

Don't get down on yourself just because, figuritively speaking, you can't take a final exam before you've taken the course. Be prepared to realize your limits and adapt to them, or conquer them.

In retrospect, during an interview I was once told that I could tell if a triangle was facing the viewpoint by finding its product (and I'm thinking, what the hell is a triangle's product!?)

[edited by - Waverider on April 20, 2002 3:37:41 PM]

Wow. Thanks, I appreciate that. I like the phrase "taking the final exam without the course" very true. Thanks a bunch. Now I just have to get money for a game programming book.