John Carmack, the main programming force behind Doom and id software's other games, is working on a cell-phone version of Doom, dubbed DoomRPG. Unhappy with the Java demo's installed on his new cell phone, he decided he wanted to make his own game:
You aren’t going to be able to make an immersive experience on a 2” screen, no matter what the graphics look like. Moody and atmospheric are pretty much out. Stylish and fun is about the best you can do.
The standard cell phone style discrete button direction pad with a center action button is a good interface for one handed navigation and selection, but it sucks for games, where you really want a game boy style rocking direction pad for one thumb, and a couple separate action buttons for the other thumb.
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I have a small list of games that I think would work out well, but what I decided to work on is DoomRPG – sort of Bard’s Tale meets Doom. Step based smooth sliding/turning tile movement and combat works out well for the phone input buttons, and exploring a 3D world through the cell phone window is pretty neat. We talked to Jamdat about the business side of things, and hired Fountainhead Entertainment to turn my proof-of-concept demo and game plans into a full-featured game.
John Carmack's blog
Related info:
id Software
Armadillo AeroSpace - Carmack's aerospace startup company
John Carmack profile on Wikipedia
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