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Comment by troughway | Hacker News Reader

I find it a curiosity that John Carmack is perpetually touted as the whiz kid even though Tim Sweeney has done far, far more from both a technological standpoint and a business standpoint. But then again I'll never understand the fawning to begin with so there's that.

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Carmack came first. id's groundbreaking games -- Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake -- were all released by 1996, while Unreal didn't come along until 1998.

It's natural to have a lot of respect for the pioneers because those who come after are building upon what they created.

Masters of Doom is a great book going in length about the personalities and talents of Carmack and others from the early days of id Software. If you're genuinely curious about it, I think you'll find the book a fascinating read.

Read it some 15 years ago.

Is Sweeney the lead programmer with Unreal still? Carmack seemed to care more about the technical side of things and programming. I think to him ID Software just served for allowing him to just do what he loved to do.

I faintly recall an interview with one of the developers not too long ago, maybe a few years ago or so, where they said Sweeney still touches some 80% of the code base.

Also, there's always this old gem that HN should get giddy about: https://www.st.cs.uni-saarland.de/edu/seminare/2005/advanced...

I just think JC/Abrash/etc have an aura/cult of personality that doesn't seem all that impressive when you get someone who is a powerhouse of tech and business acumen like Sweeney next to them.

What makes those slides so special?

Do we have to choose? They are both giants.

Because Tim Sweeney is just not as charismatic, unfortunately. Great guy though.

Rocket League used to have Linux support before he came along. Now playing it in Linux can get you banned from their platform.

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