id Software: Mobile development 'a growing aspect of our company'

By Tom Pakinkis for computerandvideogames.com

John Carmack first showed off Rage on a tiny little iPhone at QuakeCon last year to a good reception.

And according to Jaspm Kim, producer on the full-fat Rage due for release in October, that mobile adaptation was knocked up by Carmack single-handedly in a couple of weeks.

The mobile sector is a growing part of id Software, Kim told CVG, but the studio's direction is still undefined aside from a commitment to AAA games on console and PC.

"It's really been interesting to see our mobile development team work on that compartmentalised piece of Rage content," Kim said.

"It's another one of those great things working at id with John Carmack and those guys that are able to take some idea and turn it into a whole product that people can actually play and get in their hands.

"John went away and literally in a matter of days, or a couple of weeks, came back with an engine that works on the iPhone," he continued.

"When he was walking around the office with it working on the iPhone, he would show it to people and their jaws were dropping like, 'Oh my God is that running on iPhone? Is that real time or is that a video?'

"He was moving things around in real time and this is just him going off and making something that runs on a little mobile device.

"That's him being able to analyse the hardware and understanding how to create rendering technology and maximises the opportunities within that piece of hardware and what he can program to make it work.

"It is an aspect of our company that is still growing," Kim added.

"I think there's a lot more that could be done there but we don't have it all planned out, it's actually nice not to know how different things are going to be.

"Mobile devices are changing very quickly, some people are changing their phones every year. I think it depends on what really happens with these mobile devices, what happens on the Apple Store, how Android works and what kind of store front they have and how popular those apps become.

"There are so many different ways that this could go and it's not totally clear to us but we put something out there and I think it's done really well for us.

"It remains to be seen how big a part of the studio that becomes," Kim concluded. "But it's a foray into uncharted territory and it begins with John saying, 'I want to get a game working on that little device'.'"

Read our full interview with Rage producer Jason Kim to find out more about the game and id's stance on the future of gaming.