A true gaming pioneer Doom is one of the most successful and influential video games ever created, and John Carmack was the lead programmer behind this groundbreaking project. Carmack went above and beyond to bring Doom to life, finalizing its code during a grueling coding marathon that few could endure.
Doom was originally released for DOS in December 1993, but work on the project began in November 1992. As with many modern projects, id Software developers faced delays, and the game's code still wasn't ready for release.
John Carmack seemingly "solved" the problem by pulling an all-nighter, coding Doom's groundbreaking graphics engine (id Tech 1) for 28 hours straight. His efforts not only completed the game but also sparked a technological revolution in the gaming industry.
Terry Kim, founder of Kaizen Business Coach, recently reflected on Doom's origin story, emphasizing the far-reaching impact of Carmack's work across various industries. In a detailed thread on X, Kim described Carmack as more than just a god-tier video game programmer – he was a true innovator.
Kim noted that while developing Doom, Carmack established principles that transformed entire industries. On the technological front, Doom is celebrated as the first truly "modern" first-person shooter. Its pioneering use of fast, immersive, real-time 3D graphics in a first-person perspective laid the foundation for the entire FPS genre – one of the most enduring and popular categories in gaming today.
In 1991, one man coded for 28 hours straight without sleep.
– Terry Kim (@projectkim) January 21, 2025
What he created transformed both gaming and aerospace engineering.
The story of DOOM is wilder than you think.
Here's how one coding marathon changed technology forever: pic.twitter.com/fhdgZ13oFy
Carmack's contributions to gaming began even before his work at id Software. He developed a smooth, console-like platforming engine for the Commander Keen series, laying the groundwork for future innovations. According to Kim, Carmack was "obsessed" with creating immersive 3D environments, which led him to adopt a groundbreaking technique known as Binary Space Partitioning (BSP) for Doom.
The BSP technique, never before used in gaming, enabled the game engine to determine which parts of the environment needed to be visible to the player. This innovation, combined with the advanced 3D rendering system, dynamic lighting effects, and moderately complex level architecture of the id Tech 1 engine, revolutionized the gaming industry.
They used NeXTStep, a Unix-based system, to create DoomED.
– Terry Kim (@projectkim) January 21, 2025
This revolutionary level editor let designers focus on creativity instead of coding.
They could combine bitmaps without having to draw new ones.
This changed how games were made, but there was an even bigger... pic.twitter.com/zt9PGedLxa
Carmack's influence extended beyond gaming after his departure from id Software. He applied lessons from game development to aerospace engineering with his startup Armadillo Aerospace. Through rapid iteration, modular design, and efficient resource utilization, the company developed suborbital spacecraft for space tourism applications. Despite these advances, Armadillo was placed in "hibernation mode" in 2013.
Also read: Ripping and Tearing: 3 Decades of Doom
"Greatness requires obsession," Kim says, and Carmack's obsession with technology is undeniable. However, Kim doesn't mention some of Carmack's more polarizing ideas and notable missteps in recent years.
His predictions – such as artificial general intelligence emerging by 2030 thanks to Quake bots, or GPUs eventually replacing CPUs entirely – remain highly controversial. While these bold claims reflect Carmack's visionary thinking, they have yet to be realized, and I wouldn't bet on them coming true.
John Carmack developed Doom's engine during a 28-hour coding marathon
