Adrian Carmack

A photo of Adrian Carmack.

Adrian Carmack (born May 5, 1969) is one of the four founders of id Software, along with Tom Hall, John Romero, and John Carmack. He had worked there as an artist. He was a major shareholder of id Software until he left the company.

History[edit]

Adrian began working with the original id Software team members during their time at Softdisk.^[1]^:37 Unlike the rest of the "straight-laced" art department at the company, Adrian stood out to John Romero with his long hair and heavy metal t-shirts.^[1]^:37 When the id founders decided to leave, Adrian went with them.^[1]^:60 Adrian preferred working on games with dark and grisly themes, and strongly resented the cutesy nature of the Commander Keen series.^[1]^:64 He had occasional tensions with Tom Hall, the character's creator, as well.^[1]^:55,76,91

“	Doom was precisely the kind of game Adrian had always wanted to do: something that could allow him to exorcise his most nightmarish visions.	”
—David Kushner, Masters of Doom^[1]^:109-110

While in college, Adrian had worked as an aide in the communications department of a hospital, where he photocopied pictures taken in the emergency room. He drew upon these macabre experiences later during the creation of several games, including Doom, using them as an outlet.^[1]^:38,109-110

Adrian Carmack left id Software in 2005. At the time, the press was told he felt he had done all he could do in the gaming field and was planning to concentrate on his art. However, in September 2005, the Wall Street Journal revealed that he was taking his former business partners to court, claiming he was effectively fired by them in an attempt to force him to sell his 41% stake in the company for $11 million under the terms of a contract he wants the court to nullify. $11 million is thought to be a fraction of the true value of his stake, which is thought to be closer to $43 million after the company received a $105 million bid from Activision in 2004. The parties settled out of court.

In September 2014, Carmack was revealed as the new owner of the five-star Heritage Golf & Spa Resort in Killenard, Ireland.^[2]

In April 2016, it was reported that Carmack had reunited with Romero under a new Galway, Ireland-based start-up, Night Work Games, to produce a new video game, Blackroom, for which they had launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.^[3] The game has been described as "a return to fast, violent and masterful play on the PC". Later the campaign was put on hold to allow Carmack and Romero time to complete a working demo of the game.^[4]^[5]

Games[edit]

At Softdisk[edit]

At id Software[edit]

Notes[edit]

During Doom development Adrian built clay models of the baron of Hell, the Doomguy, and the cyberdemon before Gregor Punchatz was hired.
Adrian is not related to John Carmack.
Adrian is credited with coining the term gibs, short for giblets, as it pertains to gaming.

External links[edit]

Sources[edit]

This article incorporates text from the open-content Wikipedia online encyclopedia article Adrian Carmack.
Shacknews: "Rocket Jump" Chapter 19: Domain
Irish Times: ‘Doom’ game creator buys Heritage resort
Irish Times: Ryanair battles Revenue, Ashley calls for a 20% internet tax and Heritage hotel sale

References[edit]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 ^1.5 ^1.6 Kushner, David. Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture. Random House, LLC, 2004. pp. 37-38, 55, 60, 64, 76, 91, 109-110.
↑ Lyons, Tom (23 September 2014). "'Doom' game creator buys Heritage resort." The Irish Times (archived 🏛). Retrieved 18 December 2015.
↑ Machkovech, Sam (25 April 2016). "John Romero, Adrian Carmack announce new video game and not much else." Ars Technica (archived 🏛). Retrieved 25 April 2016.
↑ Fields, Sarah (30 April 2016). "Romero's Blackroom Kickstarter Cancelled, Demo in Development." Game Rant (archived 🏛). Retrieved 10 January 2018.
↑ Kushner, David (27 May 2016). "Life After 'Doom': Creators of Era-Defining Game Speak." Rolling Stone (archived 🏛). Retrieved 4 July 2018.

id Software v · t · e
Doom era (1993-2003)	Employees Michael Abrash • Adrian Carmack • John Carmack • Kevin Cloud • Tom Hall • Todd Hollenshead • Donna Jackson • American McGee • Sandy Petersen • John Romero • Shawn Green • Dave Taylor • Jay Wilbur • Tim Willits • Mike Wilson
Doom era (1993-2003)	Hired associates John Anderson • Gerald Brom • Dario Casali • Milo Casali • John Cash • John Coffey • Bernd Kreimeier • Randy Linden • Robert Prince • Don Ivan Punchatz • Gregor Punchatz • Paul Radek • Trent Reznor Nerve Software • Raven Software • Rogue Entertainment • TeamTNT • Williams Entertainment
Doom 3 era (2004-2008)	Employees Christian Antkow • Adrian Carmack • John Carmack • Kevin Cloud • Todd Hollenshead • Donna Jackson • Katherine Anna Kang • Fredrik Nilsson • Kenneth Scott • J.M.P van Waveren • Tim Willits
Doom 3 era (2004-2008)	Hired associates Matthew Costello • Trent Reznor • Chris Vrenna id Mobile • Nerve Software • Raven Software
ZeniMax era (2009+)	Employees Dakota Cann • Kevin Cloud • Mark Diaz • Donna Jackson • Hugo Martin • Jason Martin • Chad Mossholder • Jason O'Connell • Mike Rubits • Tiago Sousa • Marty Stratton • Emerson Tung • Tim Willits
ZeniMax era (2009+)	Related Mick Gordon • Andrew Hulshult • Bethesda Softworks • Nerve Software • Nightdive Studios • ZeniMax Media

[mod-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 ^1.5 ^1.6 Kushner, David. Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture. Random House, LLC, 2004. pp. 37-38, 55, 60, 64, 76, 91, 109-110.

[2] Lyons, Tom (23 September 2014). "'Doom' game creator buys Heritage resort." The Irish Times (archived 🏛). Retrieved 18 December 2015.

[3] Machkovech, Sam (25 April 2016). "John Romero, Adrian Carmack announce new video game and not much else." Ars Technica (archived 🏛). Retrieved 25 April 2016.

[4] Fields, Sarah (30 April 2016). "Romero's Blackroom Kickstarter Cancelled, Demo in Development." Game Rant (archived 🏛). Retrieved 10 January 2018.

[5] Kushner, David (27 May 2016). "Life After 'Doom': Creators of Era-Defining Game Speak." Rolling Stone (archived 🏛). Retrieved 4 July 2018.

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