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There are a few things that I look back on as my mistakes in the early days

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Re: There are a few things that I look back on as my mistakes in the early days

#211

Post by modeless »

blt wrote: post #196
tejohnso wrote: post #4

Quake III Arena was pretty entertaining. Doesn't seem like it came from a company that had been ruined for years. I definitely noticed something around the Doom 3 release many years after Quake III Arena. The new game just didn't seem to have the same industry pushing, genre changing energy. Or maybe I was just older and had moved on, and didn't care as much.

There was a spirited debate about Quake III Arena versus Unreal Tournament. Both were praised, but UT had more creativity in game modes (Assault, Domination) and weapons, better bot AI, and more polished sound/art assets. Reading the Gamespot reviews (below) is fun. Each had standout maps that made you want to own both, such as Q3A's Longest Yard and UT's Facing Worlds. I ended up playing more hours of UT because I h…

Both The Longest Yard and Facing Worlds can now be played instantly on the web:

https://thelongestyard.link/q3a-demo/ (instant, even works on phones)

https://dos.zone/mp/?lobby=ut (scroll down and click Create on CTF-FACE)

They even have multiplayer support.

I hope someone ports UT2K4 someday so I can play ONS-Torlan.

Re: There are a few things that I look back on as my mistakes in the early days

#212

Post by colkassad »

blt wrote: post #196
tejohnso wrote: post #4

Quake III Arena was pretty entertaining. Doesn't seem like it came from a company that had been ruined for years. I definitely noticed something around the Doom 3 release many years after Quake III Arena. The new game just didn't seem to have the same industry pushing, genre changing energy. Or maybe I was just older and had moved on, and didn't care as much.

There was a spirited debate about Quake III Arena versus Unreal Tournament. Both were praised, but UT had more creativity in game modes (Assault, Domination) and weapons, better bot AI, and more polished sound/art assets. Reading the Gamespot reviews (below) is fun. Each had standout maps that made you want to own both, such as Q3A's Longest Yard and UT's Facing Worlds. I ended up playing more hours of UT because I h…

I was deep into the worlds of Quake 3 and UT99 back then. I made maps for Weapons Factory Arena, a popular spin on Team Fortress but much faster and frenetic (more like Overwatch). I also created all the weapons and some maps for the port of Weapons Factory to Unreal Tournament, which did well but was no where near as popular as the original. UT was by far the easier game to mod but there was something about the physics in Quake 3 that just lent itself better to that type of mod.

As for id drama, there was plenty after Quake 3. I remember a .plan update from John where he talked about people leaving and people getting fired...I think one of them was John Steed (rest in peace), one of the player modelers who was very active in the modeling community and well liked. Felt like a disaster at the time. I just think there was a lot of conflicting personalities at the company and it was doomed to fail (no pun intended).

Re: There are a few things that I look back on as my mistakes in the early days

#213

Post by sterwill »

gorjusborg wrote: post #103
somenameforme wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rocket. Jump.

The original Team Fortress on quake.net is where I grew to appreciate the beauty.

Same here. I enjoyed Q3A, but I spent so many hours playing TF/MegaTF.

Re: There are a few things that I look back on as my mistakes in the early days

#215

Post by ryandrake »

mikeocool wrote: post #130
lokimedes wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sitting here in Denmark having been affected by these geeks. They may not have built the Pantheon, but surely they have channeled a group of people’s creativity towards something we have integrated into our society?

Not saying they didn't have an impact -- just that it's worth debating whether the impact is truly a net positive for society on a grand scale, particularly if we're going to give them a pass on less than stellar behavior. Zuckerberg likely has similar tendencies, should he be given a pass for making social media such a large part of our society?

A lot of people on HN confuse "large impact" with "positive impact."

Re: There are a few things that I look back on as my mistakes in the early days

#216

Post by saghm »

MyHonestOpinon wrote: post #160
jurgenaut23 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so true. It is a direct result of the American dream and the (misdirected) idea that one’s success is a direct (and inevitable) consequence of hard work, talent and intelligence. Flash news: it is not, and success is massively dependent on luck and initial conditions. Dumb, lazy a$$holes with a rich/powerful dad will beat smart, hard working poor bastards almost every time, barring some black swan events. Now…

Not disagreeing with you. Successfull people tend to have IQs between 120 and 135. (citation needed) It makes sense because there are a LOT more people in that range than in the 135+ range. 120-135 is often sufficient. I suspect that something similar on the rich scale. People like Gates, Bezos and Musk were not fabulous wealthy, but they had enough to be able to bet big and take big chances.

The point they were making is that no matter how smart you are or hard you work, there are factors outside of your control that can prevent you from succeeding. That's not to say being smart or working hard doesn't improve the likelihood of success, but they're not a guarantee.

Re: There are a few things that I look back on as my mistakes in the early days

#217

Post by miiiiiike »

mrhottakes wrote: post #201
MyHonestOpinon wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always thought that an Engineering degree with an MBA is a very good combination. You get very practical, useful things when you are younger. Once you have acquired enough life and work experience then you can appreciate the subtleties of cases that you study in an MBA.

Two degrees with practically zero education in the liberal arts, humanities, or philosophy. You're missing a big chunk there.

You still study the humanities. I majored in software engineering, minored in business. I still took a full year of philosophy classes. Literature too.

Four years is a long time, you’re not just focused on business and engineering every waking second.

I’ve talked to a lot of journalists over the years and they almost always make this point if the conversation drifts to education. After a few years I started replying with, “Yes, I’ve studied X, maybe not as in depth as you have, but I did spend a semester on it. Have you ever taken a calculus class? Physics? Computer Science? What about economics? Statistics? Industrial and organizational psychology?”

The answer is almost always no. You get tech writers who’ve never touched a compiler and business reporters that have never studied economics. Don’t even get me started on “entertainment journalists.” It’s why almost every article, no matter the topic, feels like it was written through someone viewing the world through a very particular lens.

Engineers and business people should absolutely study the humanities. And, humanities people should absolutely study science, engineering, and economics. Specialization is for insects.

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

―Heinlein

Re: There are a few things that I look back on as my mistakes in the early days

#218

Post by stephbook »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #3

> I pushed everyone too hard. I didn’t appreciate how maturing companies need more slack, and that running people at startup intensity constantly will wear them out. Sounds like wisdom many companies might consider...

Ironically you're only listening to his words of wisdom because the team created an incredible game.

Re: There are a few things that I look back on as my mistakes in the early days

#219

Post by nozzlegear »

LarsDu88 wrote: post #152
ibejoeb wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. Can anyone recommend a good write-up on that history? 41%... I suppose these were non-voting shares. Imagine owning nearly half the company and being denied access to company documents.

John Carmack slaved away writing super optimized ground breaking realtime 3d game engine code that created a multibillion dollar industry. Adrian Carmack mostly took photographs of clay scultures (and in some cases actual plastic toys, in the case of the chainsaw and pistol used in the original Doom), and digitized them in Corel. Something any half-way decent art student could do (not to discount the iconic visual st…

> Adrian Carmack mostly took photographs of clay scultures (and in some cases actual plastic toys, in the case of the chainsaw and pistol used in the original Doom), and digitized them in Corel. Something any half-way decent art student could do (not to discount the iconic visual style of Commander Keen and Doom!)

> It was Adrian who walked away with 41% of the >100 million dollars company!

Work smarter, not harder.

Re: There are a few things that I look back on as my mistakes in the early days

#220

Post by KaiserPro »

jacobgold wrote: post #64
john_strinlai wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's silly to revisit your mistakes like this revisiting mistakes (in a healthy, non-obsessive way) is not silly at all. it is great for self growth, and in this case, is a great way to pass on wisdom.

The actual quote is "It's a little silly to revisit your mistakes like this, as if you could have done anything better." What you're saying sounds very nice and correct, except it isn’t necessarily true. It's extremely easy to draw wrong lessons in retrospect. There are so many variables, including personalities, market conditions, timing, constraints, and accidents of history. You can't recall or even really underst…

If we don't look back and asses what worked, and what didn't, how do we grow?
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