John D. Carmack II was born on the 20th August 1970, in Roeland Park, Kansas USA, and is a game programmer, who is perhaps best known for being the founder of id Software, and the main programmer of a number of games, including “Rage”, “Commander Keen”, “Doom”, “Quake”, etc. He is also recognized for working at Oculus VR. His career has been active since the late 1980s.
Have you ever wondered how rich John Carmack is, as of early 2016? According to sources, it has been estimated that the size of John’s net worth is over $40 million, which has been accumulated through his successful involvement in the business industry as a professional video game programmer.
John Carmack Net Worth $40 Million
John Carmack is the son of Stan Carmack, who was a local TV news reporter, and he was raised in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. John went to Shawnee Mission East High School and Raytown South High School; both at the same time, after which he enrolled at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, where he studied for only two semesters and dropped out as he began working as a freelance programmer. From an early age John had been interested in computers and programming – while in high school, John was arrested with a bunch of other kids for trying to steal an Apple II computer.
John`s career began in the late 1980s, when he was hired by Softdisk, where he soon met John Romero, one of the co-founders of id Software, and Adrian Carmack as well. He worked for Softdisk until 1991, on the platform Gamer`s Edge, but left Softdisk after his first game “Commander Keen”, became successful, which encouraged him to start his own company id Software.
From that point on, his career has gone only upwards, and also his net worth. As a part of id Software, John has been credited as a programmer and developer of such popular games as “Shadow Knights” (1991), “Wolfenstein 3D” (1992), “Doom” (1993), and its sequels “Doom II: Hell On Earth” (1994), “Doom 3” (2004), and “Doom 3: Resurrection Of Evil” (2005). Furthermore, he is also credited with such video game titles as “Quake” (1996), “Quake II” (1997), “Quake III: Arena” (1999), “Quake 4” (2005), and many others, all of which added to his net worth.
He has also been credited for implementing and creating new technologies in game graphics, including Adaptive Tile Refresh, Raycasting, Surface Caching, and Mega Texture among many others, which have also increased his net worth, and popularity.
To speak further of his accomplishments, he has created an aerospace company entitled Armadillo Aerospace, which primary focus was creating suborbital spacecraft which will be used for space tourism. The company won several NASA challenges, including Lunar Lander 1 and Lunar Lander 2, which won the company around $850,000, which further increased John`s net worth. However, in 2013, the company went into hibernation mode, due to the several unsuccessful operations. Most recently, John left id Software, and joined Oculus VR in 2013 as its CTO, which is now the main source of his net worth.
Thanks to his successful career John has received several prestigious awards, including induction into the Hall of Fame of Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, and Lifetime Achievement award given by the Game Developers Conference. Furthermore, he was named in the top 10 most influential people in several magazines, including Time, MIT Technology Review, and Computer Gaming World, among others. Regarding his personal life, John Carmack has been married to Katherine Anna Kang since 2000; the couple has a son and they currently reside in Heath, Texas USA.
BAFTA Fellowship, Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Video Gaming Technology and Applications, BAFTA Fellowship, Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Video Gaming Technology and Applications
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Quote
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Like most things, it is difficult to come up with a single weighted sum of the value of a programmer. I prefer to evaluate multiple axis independently. Programming is really just the mundane aspect of expressing a solution to a problem. There are talents that are specifically related to actually coding, but the real issue is being able to grasp problems and devise solutions that are detailed enough to actually be coded. Being able to clearly keep a lot of aspects of a complex system visualized is valuable. Having a good feel for time and storage that is flexible enough to work over a range of ten orders of magnitude is valuable. Experience is valuable. Knowing the literature is valuable. Being able to integrate methods and knowledge from different fields is valuable. Being consistent is valuable. Being creative is valuable. Focus is extremely important. Being able to maintain focus for the length of a project gets harder and harder as schedules grow longer, but it is critical to doing great work. I certainly respect the abilities of my primary competitors. Back in the DOOM days, Ken Silverman was extremely impressive, and today Tim Sweeny is producing much of value.
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If you don't care enough to have something of your own to say, they shouldn't be quoting you.
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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 offence after an evaluation by a psychologist went very badly.
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Fact
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Programming for the new DOOM game to be released sometime in 2002. [2001]
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Son, Christopher Ryan Carmack, with Katherine Anna Kang, was born on Friday, August 13 at 12:50 pm weighing six pounds, seven ounces.
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Took a computer workstation with him on a honeymoon
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Parents Stan and Inga Carmack
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Older brother of Peter Carmack
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Every game released by Carmack's company has pushed the game and graphics envelops to new levels, leading the next revolution in 3-D interactive games with both single and multiplayer technology. Wolfenstein 3D (1992) ushered in the concept of the first-person shooter game. This concept was forever changed when Doom (1993) (VG) was released, setting the benchmark for all 3-D action games. Doom II (1994) (VG) further built on this success. Quake (1996) (VG) set the new standard in multi-player, true 3-D, combat action games. Use of OpenGL 3-D accelorator cards for smoother 16-bit graphics and lighting effects were prevalent in Quake II (1998) (VG). Quake III: Arena (1999) (VG)'s graphics engine offers curved surface rendering and high detail textures to create visual features such as moody atmospheric fog and spectacular lighting.
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One of Carmack's favorite novels is Vernor Vinge's "A Deepness in the Sky".
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Has made enough money from id Software [us] that he really does not have to work anymore. This gives John "the freedom from anybody having the ability to have any leverage" over him and the freedom to drive his exotic cars. John owns a 600hp twin-turbo Ferrari F50 and a 1000hp twin-turbo V-12 Ferrari Testarossa GTO.
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Lives in Mesquite, Texas with his wife, Anna Kang (ex-director of id Software [us]).
Miscellaneous
Title
Year
Status
Character
Doom³
2004
Video Game programmer / technical director
Quake III: Arena
1999
Video Game lead programmer
Quake II
1997
Video Game lead programmer
Doom 64
1997
Video Game programmer
Quake
1996
Video Game lead programmer
Final Doom
1996
Video Game programmer
Hexen
1995
Video Game programmer: 3D engine
Doom II: Hell on Earth
1994
Video Game lead programmer
Heretic
1994
Video Game programmer: 3-D engine / set engineer
Ultimate Doom
1993
Video Game programmer
Spear of Destiny
1992
Video Game software engineer
'Goodbye, Galaxy!' Episode IV: Secret of the Oracle
1991
Video Game programming team
'Goodbye, Galaxy!' Episode V: The Armageddon Machine