In Real Life

Doom Creator Helping Bring Rockets To Racing

You may know John Carmack, co-founder of id Software and lead programmer of Doom, keeps busy building space rockets with his Armadillo Aerospace team. But rockets aren’t all they do.


November 5, 2008
Uncategorized

John Carmack Plans Space Fishbowl

Lord British may have reached for the stars – and given us a cryptic message in space runes – but to do so he had to splurge millions of his hard earned Gold and train for months with Russian cosmonauts. If another Gaming Legend has his way, however, taking in the view from orbit might become a little easier – if slightly crazier looking.


October 31, 2007
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Carmack Good At Coding, Making Rockets Explode

Longtime id programmer and technical director John Carmack is good at many, many things—writing and rewriting 3D game engines, typing up .plan files that read like moonspeak, and nearly being successful at simulating lunar landings. Unfortunately, Carmack and his team at Armadillo Aerospace are also quite proficient at blowing up aircraft on the landing pad, throwing them out of competition in the recent Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. While the team was successful in getting its modular class rocket off the ground, an engine explosion ultimately kept them grounded.

Don’t worry, no one was hurt, including Carmack. He’ll still be able to put his typing skills to good use for id’s upcoming Rage. You can read all about the harrowing, explosive experience at the official X PRIZE site.

Armadillo Aerospace Nearly Wins Northrop Grumman [X-Prize Foundation]