Adrian Carmack
Adrian Carmack is an American artist and co-founder of id Software. Known for pioneering realistic graphics in early video games, Carmack co-created the Commander Keen series alongside Tom Hall and John Romero.
Blackroom from Night Work Games promises to take fans back to the dark atmospheres and genre-defining mechanics found in Quake and Doom, promising an immersive first person shooter experience.
Early Life and Education
Adrian Carmack spent much of his childhood playing with chemistry sets and building model rockets, reading science fiction novels, playing Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing games, and collecting personal computers as hobbies. To help support his hobby he worked at his local hospital where he photocopied images depicting death and disease – this developed into an almost morbid fascination for dark images that later found their way into his artwork.
He met fellow future id Software founders John Romero and Adrian Carmack (not related). These three went on to create the Commander Keen video game series; though it took some time before they achieved market success.
Professional Career
Adrian Carmack is an artist known for his contributions to Doom and Quake games, while also making significant software development contributions to computer gaming. As a charity supporter and community advocate for open source software usage and space exploration.
At first he attended computer science classes at the University of Missouri before dropping out and seeking contract programming work. While at Softdisk – a software publishing company in Shreveport Louisiana – John Romero and Tom Hall joined forces to develop the first Commander Keen game released as shareware in 1990.
After leaving Softdisk to co-found id Software with programmer John Carmack (no relation), they created Wolfenstein 3D and Doom which revolutionized computer gaming technology.
Achievement and Honors
Carmack is widely recognized for revolutionizing the gaming industry with his groundbreaking work on first-person shooters such as Doom and Quake, pioneering three-dimensional graphics technology and becoming one of the most prolific game developers ever. He remains one of the most prolific game creators to date.
He is well known as an active philanthropist, having taken part in various charity projects. Additionally, he’s an avid collector of VR headsets – boasting an impressive assortment of VR devices in his personal collection.
Carmack met his future co-founders of id Software at Softdisk: Tom Hall and John Romero, with whom he would go on to develop the Commander Keen series of computer games together. Additionally, in 1996 Carmack unveiled Quake which marked an important step forward for 3-D graphics with immersive gameplay that made you feel as though you were present in its real time experience.
Personal Life
Carmack was encouraged by his parents to attend college, but after two semesters decided instead to focus on programming instead. After landing work with Softdisk’s Gamer’s Edge division – where he met fellow computer gaming enthusiast Tom Hall and John Carmack (no relation). Together they created games for Softdisk by day while staying up late into the night coding in their free time at night.
After their market success with Commander Keen, they left Softdisk in 1991 and established id Software in Madison, Wisconsin. Although living in an apartment building with drug dealers nearby, they did not pay much heed to their surroundings.
Carmack announced his resignation from id in 2005, telling the press he intended to pursue his interest in fine art. Although no longer working at id, he still makes contributions to charities and gaming communities.
Net Worth
Success of his video games has contributed significantly to his accumulated wealth. Additionally, he established software company Armadillo Aerospace and virtual reality technology company Oculus VR.
He maintains a blog and is an active Twitter user, while participating in online discussions on Slashdot.
Carmack has inspired an entire generation of game designers. His success has earned him one of the wealthiest people on earth with an estimated net worth of $650 Million and numerous profitable companies under his control. Living in Heath, Texas with his wife and son he prefers keeping his personal life private but remains vegan with an interest in rocketry (Armadillo Aerospace being involved in various space exploration competitions).