Carmack Addresses FPS Creativity Concerns [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

donniebaseball23 writes "id Software co-founder John Carmack defended the creativity of first-person shooter games in a recent interview. The legendary programmer, who was a pioneer in the shooter genre with Doom and Quake, said he doesn't like hearing from developers that shooters aren't good because they're not reinventing the wheel. 'I am pretty down on people who take the sort of creative auteurs' perspective. It's like "Oh, we're not being creative." But we're creating value for people — that's our job! It's not to do something that nobody's ever seen before. It's to do something that people love so much they're willing to give us money for... you see some of the indie developers that really take a snooty attitude about this,' he lamented."http://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgames.slashdot.org%2Fsto ry%2F11%2F07%2F20%2F0129202%2FCarmack-Addresses-FPS-Creativity-Concerns%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfa cebook) http://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Carmack+Addresses+FPS+Creativity+Conce rns%3A+http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FqgYRQq)

Read more of this story (http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/07/20/0129202/Carmack-Addresses-FPS-Creativity-Concerns?utm_source=rss1.0&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/1FcIECI1E0lw51Fb5bFJ7j8955c/0/di (http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/1FcIECI1E0lw51Fb5bFJ7j8955c/0/da)
http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/1FcIECI1E0lw51Fb5bFJ7j8955c/1/di (http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/1FcIECI1E0lw51Fb5bFJ7j8955c/1/da)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~4/69PnhQQpVgQ

More... (http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotGames/~3/69PnhQQpVgQ/Carmack-Addresses-FPS-Creativity-Concerns)

[calthaer]

This whole thing depends quite a bit on one's definition of "creative." Most FPS games are "creative" in the sense that they get created...but let's not try and pretend that they're anything but the adventure-serial pulp of the video game world, the interactive equivalent of a cheesy, low-budget action flick. There's a reason Duke Nukem was quoting Army of Darkness - Ash is his cinematic counterpart.

Carmack's code may be finely honed, and a work of art, but the resultant product thereof hasn't lately been touched by any muse's fingers.

[Berserker]

This whole thing depends quite a bit on one's definition of "creative." Most FPS games are "creative" in the sense that they get created...but let's not try and pretend that they're anything but the adventure-serial pulp of the video game world, the interactive equivalent of a cheesy, low-budget action flick. There's a reason Duke Nukem was quoting Army of Darkness - Ash is his cinematic counterpart.

Carmack's code may be finely honed, and a work of art, but the resultant product thereof hasn't lately been touched by any muse's fingers.

It seems like Carmack is looking at it from the perspective of an engineer: Creativity is simply a problem to be solved by creating a game that generates sufficient entertainment value. The sort of higher-order concept seems utterly lost on him, but ironically I think it was within this seemingly limited pragmatic world that, when surrounded by the right people, he really shined creatively.

He's a brilliant guy, but Rage doesn't give me hope for the future of gaming - it's those damned snooty indie developers that do.

[WCP]

It's actually kind of sad to see where id is now. I remember when they were on top of the world, and could do no wrong. Seems like things kinda went south with Doom 3's monster closets. Great graphics will only get you so far. I've seen a bunch of videos of Rage, and it seems they are behind the times again, not with the graphics, but the mechanics, level design and things like that. It just seems like another Action Jackson shooter from id. While that is kinda cool on one hand, it's also kinda played out as well.

I just think id needs to hire some creative producers who will take full advantage of their tech. I'm also more excited about the possibility that Todd Howard's team at Bethesda might use Id Tech 5 on their next game (unfortunately, Skyrim as pretty as it is, doesn't use Id Tech 5)

[Gapporin]

Two words: Daikatana II.

As always, Berserker is right on the money:


He's a brilliant guy, but Rage doesn't give me hope for the future of gaming - it's those damned snooty indie developers that do.

[kedawa]

I'm not sure what his point is regarding the CoD hate. Yeah, the games is popular, but not due to any sort of innovation. Popularity and commercial success do not equal quality in any medium, whether it's film, music, games, books, or whatever.
I would agree that there are some people who hate the series merely because it's more successful than other, better games, but that doesn't make all criticism invalid. If it's okay for people who enjoy it to buy it, then it has to be okay for those that hate it to criticize it. Hatorade certainly hasn't hindered its success.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Two words: Daikatana II.

As always, Berserker is right on the money:

Add two more: Tunnel vision

That also precedes grey out. To make the analogy relevant to modern FPSs, brown out.

[durhamwitenite]

I really think it's getting more and more difficult to compete in the FPS genre. I'm not sure Rage will be able to gain a substantial market.
__________________
There is a huge market for vtech innotab (http://toygurus.hubpages.com/hub/Vtech-InnoTab) and leapfrog leappad tablet (http://toygurus.hubpages.com/hub/LeapFrog-LeapPad-Explorer-Tablet) apps.

[BHvrd]

It's actually kind of sad to see where id is now. I remember when they were on top of the world, and could do no wrong. Seems like things kinda went south with Doom 3's monster closets. Great graphics will only get you so far. I've seen a bunch of videos of Rage, and it seems they are behind the times again, not with the graphics, but the mechanics, level design and things like that. It just seems like another Action Jackson shooter from id. While that is kinda cool on one hand, it's also kinda played out as well.

I just think id needs to hire some creative producers who will take full advantage of their tech. I'm also more excited about the possibility that Todd Howard's team at Bethesda might use Id Tech 5 on their next game (unfortunately, Skyrim as pretty as it is, doesn't use Id Tech 5)

Nice post, pretty much hits the nail straight on the head.

Maybe Carmack can knock one out of the park here soon, but his last couple of ventures have been pop fly's at best.

[duffmanth]

There's not just a lack of creativity and originality with shooters, the whole gaming industry is at fault for this. FPS are probably the worst offenders for this though. FPS have been done to death over the last 10 years, but people keep buying them, do studios will keep pumping them out.

[YoshiM]

There's not just a lack of creativity and originality with shooters, the whole gaming industry is at fault for this. FPS are probably the worst offenders for this though. FPS have been done to death over the last 10 years, but people keep buying them, do studios will keep pumping them out.

This is nothing new. The same complaints were made back in the late 80's/early 90's when platformers were the rage, followed by fighting games.

It's funny that "monster closets" were mentioned as a knock against id. That method is still used and has leaked through to 3rd person shooters (Dead Space anyone?).

[kedawa]

To some extent, it is the fault of the consumer, since we tend to buy more refined versions of the same games over and over again while largely ignoring games that are more original.