Carmack: mobile games offer 'pure play'

Speaking with Ars Technica, Quake III designer John Carmack lauds the advent of the mobile game development scene for what it has done for the market. "I was really happy that when mobile came along with the more 'pure' games, they didn't have to be a $50 game that had man-centuries in them," Carmack tells Ars Technica. "You can have these small things that cost people a couple bucks." "I don't have a lot of free time and I don't have 50 hours for Skyrim. That's not to take anything away from the massive titles, but it's great to have this broad spectrum of gaming," Carmack added. A father of two, Carmack also looks to what his children are playing to inform his current preferences in games. "I do wish the games that I made were more things that I could share with my sons," he said. In addition to Quake III, Carmack is best known for his involvement developing Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. "It would be nice to make something that's family friendly." Nevertheless, Carmack believes his time in the programming spotlight has passed, and it's now up to the future generation of developers to explore the new design landscape. "So many people can have such a large fraction of their life on the net: you have your challenges, entertainment, work, and they're happening in an essentially virtual space. Is it such a dystopian thing after all?"