John D. Carmack II is an American computer programmer and video game developer who co-founded id Software and served as its lead programmer on influential 1990s games such as Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake. He made significant innovations in 3D computer graphics, including the Carmack's Reverse algorithm for shadow volumes Rosetta. In 2013, he joined Oculus VR as its chief technology officer, later becoming a consulting CTO and eventually leaving to focus on artificial general intelligence with his company Keen Technologies.
Carmack's work has shaped the first-person shooter genre and computer graphics broadly, and his later forays into virtual reality (VR) and AGI have kept him a central figure in technology. He is known for a distinctive work ethic and for advocating incremental progress, a philosophy he likens to gradient descent in machine learning.
Early life and education
Carmack was born on August 21, 1970, in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, to Stan Carmack, a local television news reporter. He grew up in the Kansas City metropolitan area, where he developed an early interest in computers. He attended Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, Kansas, and later Raytown South High School in Raytown, Missouri.
As a child, Carmack was introduced to video games through arcade classics like Space Invaders (1978) and Pac-Man (1980), which left a lasting impression. He cited Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto as the game developer he most admired.
At age 14, Carmack and other children broke into a school to steal Apple II computers. He had created a sticky substance of thermite mixed with Vaseline to melt through windows, but the attempt failed when an accomplice opened a window, triggering a silent alarm. Carmack was arrested, sent for psychiatric evaluation, and sentenced to a year in a juvenile home. He later attended the University of Missouri–Kansas City for two semesters before leaving to work as a freelance programmer.
Early career at Softdisk and id Software
Carmack's professional career began at Softdisk, a computer company in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he worked on Softdisk G-S, an Apple IIGS publication. There he met John Romero, Adrian Carmack (no relation), and other future id Software members. Softdisk later assigned the team to Gamer's Edge, a short-lived bi-monthly game product for IBM PC (DOS). In 1990, while still at Softdisk, Carmack and Romero created the first Commander Keen game, released via shareware by Apogee Software starting in 1991. Carmack then left Softdisk to co-found id Software.
At id Software, Carmack pioneered or popularized numerous computer graphics techniques. For Commander Keen, he developed adaptive tile refresh. For games like Hovertank 3D, Catacomb 3-D, and Wolfenstein 3D, he used ray casting. Doom was the first game to use binary space partitioning, and for Quake he invented surface caching. He devised Carmack's Reverse (formally z-fail stencil shadows) for Doom 3 and developed MegaTexture technology, first used in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Quake 3 also popularized the fast inverse square root algorithm. His engines were licensed for other influential first-person shooters, including Half-Life, Call of Duty, and Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. In 2005, he developed his first mobile game, Doom RPG.
Oculus VR and virtual reality
On August 7, 2013, Carmack joined Oculus VR as its CTO, and on November 22, 2013, he resigned from id Software to work full-time there. His departure was partly due to id's parent company, ZeniMax Media, not wanting to support the Oculus Rift. His dual roles later became central to a ZeniMax lawsuit against Oculus's parent company, Meta (then Facebook), claiming theft of VR intellectual property. The jury absolved Carmack of liability, though Oculus and other corporate officers were found liable for trademark, copyright, and contract violations.
In February 2017, Carmack sued ZeniMax, alleging it refused to pay the remaining $22.5 million owed from the id Software purchase. In October 2018, he stated that he and ZeniMax had reached an agreement and that ZeniMax had fully satisfied its obligations, ending the suit.
Transition to artificial intelligence
On November 13, 2019, Carmack stepped down from the Oculus CTO role to become consulting CTO, allowing more time for work on AGI. On August 19, 2022, he announced raising $20 million for Keen Technologies, his new AGI company. On December 16, 2022, he left Oculus entirely to focus on Keen. In September 2023, he partnered with computer scientist Richard S. Sutton from the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute to further AI research.
Carmack's interest in AGI aligns with broader developments in fields like Artificial intelligence, Machine learning, and Deep learning. He has expressed views on the importance of continuous incremental improvement, reminiscent of optimization methods like Stochastic Gradient Descent Variants and Learning Rate Scheduling. His approach to AGI, while not directly tied to specific technologies like Transformer (architecture) or Large language model, reflects a pragmatic, engineering-driven perspective.
Workstyle and philosophy
Carmack claims to have maintained a 60-hour work week (10-hour days, six days a week) throughout his career. He emphasizes the importance of long periods of uninterrupted focus, stating that high intensity speeds progress and that long hours are crucial for maintaining a focused mindset over time. He reportedly has never experienced burnout despite this demanding schedule.
He is known for week-long programming retreats, during which he isolates himself in a random city and hotel to tackle specific problems or learn new skills. The solitude and physical isolation offer an environment for deep focus and reflection, which he considers essential to his creative process.
Carmack was vocal about bureaucratic inefficiencies at Meta, writing in his departure memo: "We have a ridiculous amount of people and resources, but we constantly self-sabotage and squander effort." He also subscribes to a philosophy of small, incremental steps as the fastest route to innovation, drawing an analogy to the "magic of gradient descent" in machine learning. He has said, "Little tiny steps using local information winds up leading to all the best answers."
Armadillo Aerospace
Around 2000, Carmack pursued rocketry, a hobby from his youth, by financially supporting amateur engineers. He funded the company Armadillo Aerospace, which aimed to develop low-cost space launch vehicles. Armadillo Aerospace competed in the Ansari X Prize and later in the NASA Centennial Challenges, achieving notable successes in 2009 with the lunar lander challenge. The company operated until around 2013, when Carmack shifted focus back to video games and VR.
Legacy and impact
Carmack's contributions to computer graphics and game engines have been foundational, influencing entire generations of developers. His work on 3D rendering, from ray casting to deferred shading and shadow algorithms, is still used in modern games and simulations. His engines laid the groundwork for competitive multiplayer gaming and modding communities.
In the broader technology landscape, Carmack's move to VR and AGI has kept him at the forefront of emerging fields. His advocacy for hands-on engineering and rapid iteration resonates in communities like OpenAI and Google DeepMind, though he remains independent. His collaboration with Richard Sutton, a pioneer in Reinforcement learning, signals his commitment to advancing AI research.
Carmack's public writings and talks have made technical topics accessible to a wide audience. His annual .plan updates and later public posts on AI and technology have a following. He remains an influential voice, often critiquing industry hype and favoring empirical evidence over conjecture.
Personal life and public persona
Carmack is known for his intense focus and frequently discusses his work in public forums)Skip navigation.
=== Personal life ===
Carmack married Katherine Anna Kang in 2000, a former id Software employee who created the game doom-rpg. He has two children. He has been open about his atheism and his interest in science and technology. In 2022, Carmack donated to the umbrella-corporation for AI safety research. He remains an advocate for open science and has shared his research on Recurrent neural network and other AI topics.
In his spare time, Carmack enjoys hiking and has completed several long-distance trails. He has also been involved in competitive rocket-league? No, that is not correct. He is a licensed pilot and has flown aerobatic aircraft. His public persona is that of a dedicated engineer, often downplaying monetary rewards for intellectual curiosity.
Recognition and awards
Carmack has received numerous honors, including induction into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 2001. He received the Technology & Engineering Emmy Award in 2010 for his work on 3D graphics. He was also honored with the Game Developers Choice Award for Lifetime Achievement in 200æ—º. In 2016, he received the BAFTA Fellowship for his contributions to video games and technology.
In 2020, Carmack was named a fellow of the International Game Developers Association. He has also been recognized for his contributions to AI research, though specific awards are less formalized. His papers and lectures on AI often get cited in academic circles, and he is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences.