Inspiration is secondary. Hard work is primary.

- John Carmack

"The cost of adding a feature isn't just the time it takes to code it. The cost also includes the addition of an obstacle to future expansion. ... The trick is to pick the features that don't fight each other." "I have more faith in the sadistic nature of reality" o Referring to the development cycle of his rockets and that he expects to lose some. "Focus is a matter of deciding what things you're not going to do." "Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal, and just keep taking the next step towards completing it. If you aren't sure which way to do something, do it both ways and see which works better." "Low-level programming is good for the programmer's soul." "I'd rather have a search engine or a compiler on a deserted island than a game..." "Programming is not a zero-sum game. Teaching something to a fellow programmer doesn't take it away from you. I'm happy to share what I can, because I'm in it for the love of programming." "If all of the X-Prize teams were given $5 million each to build their vehicles, almost all of them would fail for completely technical reasons." "The low level operating system SUCKS SO BAD it is hard to believe. The first order problem is lack of memory management / protection. It took me a while to figure out that the zen of mac development is 'be at peace while rebooting'. I rebooted my mac system more times the first weekend than I have rebooted all the WinNT systems I have ever owned.... there is just no excuse for an operating system in this day and age to act like it doesn't have access to memory protection." o On programming under the Classic Mac OS, in his '.plan' file. "The good thing, is that the game characters don't have to really be intelligent. They just need to avoid doing stupid things in front of the player, a much easier task than actually creating a sentient artificial being" "My wife got me a new cell phone a year and a half ago, and it had some little Java games on it. When I played through them, I was almost morally indignant that someone would make these really awful games on this platform. Because I was looking at this and thinking, "There's more power in this handset than all of the early [personal-computer] games that we made back in the Commander Keen days. Why do these games suck so bad?" "If there were a small set of professional rules that I agree with in theory but have chosen not to pursue because they conflict with more common play, then an official "pro mode" might make sense. Any other suggestions along those lines?" o September 1999. Idea for Quake 3 Mod CPMA was born

"Im going to turn on every damn light in protest of Earth Hour. Lighting the darkness is fundamental to humanity's climb." o (from John's Twitter feed, 3/30/2012)

~~~

Sourced

In the information age, the barriers [to entry into programming] just aren't there. The barriers are self imposed. If you want to set off and go develop some grand new thing, you don't need millions of dollars of capitalization. You need enough pizza and Diet Coke to stick in your refrigerator, a cheap PC to work on, and the dedication to go through with it. We slept on floors. We waded across rivers. o Quoted in David Kushner, Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture Chapter 16, p. 292. Honestly, I spend very little time thinking about past events, and I certainly don't have them ranked in any way. I look back and think that I have done a lot of good work over the years, but I am much more excited about what the future holds. o When asked about the highlight of his career, Quoted in "John Carmack Interview, January 2006" Video Games Daily (2006-01-03) Because of the nature of Moore's law, anything that an extremely clever graphics programmer can do at one point can be replicated by a merely competent programmer some number of years later. o Quoted in Tom Ham, "Interview: John Carmack" gamespy.com (2004-01) The Xbox 360 is the first console that I've ever worked with that actually has development tools that are better for games than what we've had on PC. o Quoted in Seth Schiesel, Microsoft Unveils Games For Its New Xbox 360 The New York Times (2005-10-06) Nvidia's OpenGL drivers are my 'gold standard', and it has been quite a while since I have had to report a problem to them, and even their brand new extensions work as documented the first time I try them. When I have a problem on an Nvidia, I assume that it is my fault. With anyone else's drivers, I assume it is their fault. o Quoted in Thomas McGuire, Creative 3D Blaster GeForce4 Ti4400 review TechSpot (2002-0502) The situation is so much better for programmers today - a cheap used PC, a linux CD, and an internet account, and you have all the tools necessary to work your way to any level of programming skill you want to shoot for. o Quoted in David Kushner, Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture Chapter 14, p. 254. Note to self: Pasty-skinned programmers ought not stand in the Mojave desert for multiple hours. o Quoted in John Carmack's .plan file (2000-05-15) The speed of light sucks.

Referring to network latency limitations, Quoted in John Carmack Biography.

Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important. o Quoted in David Kushner, Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture Chapter 8, p. 120. I'm good? Seriously? o Quoted in John Carmack Biography. It's nice to have a game that sells a million copies. o Quoted in John Carmack Biography. It's done, when it's done. o Referring to Doom 3, Quoted in John Carmack Biography. It's a good thing Doom 3 is selling very well... o Having destroyed a rocket test vehicle worth $35,000 USD, Quoted in John Carmack Biography. [A]t its best, entertainment is going to be a subjective thing that can't win for everyone, while at worst, a particular game just becomes a random symbol for petty tribal behavior. o Quoted in John Carmack Biography. This is a bit more expensive than my previous turbo-Ferrari habit, but not too bad. o On spending $2 million on building rockets, Quoted in "Carmack's Jet Vanes" (2004-05-13) The idea that I can be presented with a problem, set out to logically solve it with the tools at hand, and wind up with a program that could not be legally used because someone else followed the same logical steps some years ago and filed for a patent on it is horrifying. o On software patents, Quoted in "John Carmack: Knee Deep in the Voodoo" Voodo Extreme(2000-09-20) Programming in the abstract sense is what I really enjoy. I enjoy lots of different areas of it... I'm taking a great deal of enjoyment writing device drivers for Linux. I could also be having a good time writing a database manager or something because there are always interesting problems. o Quoted in Bob Colayco, "John Carmack Interview" Firing Squad(2000-02-09) "I was sort of an amoral little jerk when I was young. I was arrogant about being smarter than other people, but unhappy that I wasn't able to spend all my time doing what I wanted. I spent a year in a juvenile home for a first offense after an evaluation by a psychologist went very badly." o Quoted in "John Carmack Answers" Slashdot (1999-10-15) "But realistically, we dont have that many problems at QuakeCon. If it was a football convention or something, there would probably be a lot more incidents." o Quoted in Billy Berghammer, "CES 2007: John Carmack And Todd Hollenshead Speak" Game Informer (2007-01-09) "Personally, Ive always been of the sleek and minimalist design school: make sure the core play is consistent and strong, then let that idea play out against different environments and challenges, this

tends toward focusing on bio-mechanical twitch responses, audio-visual awe, and leaning more toward general strategy and tactics development over specific puzzle solving." o Quoted in Brad Cook, "John Carmack: Making the Magic Happen" Apple.com

"Sharing the code just seems like The Right Thing to Do, it costs us rather little, but it benefits a lot of people in sometimes very significant ways. There are many university research projects, proof of concept publisher demos, and new platform test beds that have leveraged the code. Free software that people value adds wealth to the world." o Quoted in Brad Cook, "John Carmack: Making the Magic Happen" Apple.com "Advances in technology wont be as significant as they have been in the past, most games wont be materially improved by simulating every drop of water in the pond you are wading through. More resources can be profitably spent to make the creation process easier. How things will play out with respect to connectivity and where the data resides and processing takes place is still a very interesting question. The overlap and convergence between desktop computers, consoles, laptops, handheld gaming devices, and cell phones is also interesting. It is all still quite exciting." o Quoted in Brad Cook, "John Carmack: Making the Magic Happen" Apple.com

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_D._Carmack ~~~ Carmack is my personal hero. I'd like to share this with you:
At 09:59 PM 1/27/2008, you wrote: > >Hey John, > >How does someone like yourself become a better engineer? I'm >nineteen, and I dropped out of high school during my senior year to >work in game development. Your work is inspiring on many levels. >Were you simply born with the ability to learn very quickly, or was >it the result of hard work? I'd like to be the best engineer I can, >but I'm not sure how to keep improving. What are your thoughts? Using your time effectively is very important, and there is often a non-linear relationship between the amount of time you can stay focused and the amount that you can learn or accomplish. It is often possible to get more done in a highly focused 12 hour stretch than in a normal 40 hour work week that is interspersed with email, chat, and other distractions. Someone that can be completely obsessive about something does have an advantage, but the same questions about focus apply for any amount of time you choose to devote to an undertaking. Most people work at only a fraction of their potential. John Carmack

It profoundly inspired me. From that day to this, I've worked to push my technical ability as far as my brain and body allow. When I someday succeed in my life's work (to build a game studio), I'll owe it entirely to him. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3536925