Today, id and Carmack continue to dive into new territory, including cell phones, where they’ve released role-playing games (RPGs) based on Doom and a new franchise called Orcs & Elves. Carmack notes: “It was a lot of fun to look at a brand new platform and work out some way to leverage all the hindsight wisdom that I had from the era of personal computers with similar capabilities. There have been huge strides in the storytelling, design, and technology.”

He confirms that “there are lots of things I would like to pursue on the iPhone, which is a very different platform than the cell phones we have designed games for.” In the meantime, he says that his interest in mobile gaming “has happened concurrent with the development of a single high-end title in Rage,” which will take Carmack into yet another new realm: outdoor vehicle racing in a post-apocalyptic world. The game made its debut at Apple’s 2007 Worldwide Developers Conference, when Carmack introduced the engine, known as id Tech 5, that powers it. That technology will also drive the upcoming Doom 4.

Musing on the current state of gaming, Carmack relates: “Recently, playing games with my four-year-old son has brought me back to appreciating the innate magic of games. Games are fabulous today in so many ways, and we have dedicated and passionate designers at id.”

As he and the 80-plus employees at id Software look to the future, it’s clear that creativity will eventually trump whiz-bang technology. “Advances in technology won’t be as significant as they have been in the past,” Carmack speculates. “Most games won’t be materially improved by simulating every drop of water in the pond you are wading through. More resources can be profitably spent to make the creation process easier.”

He adds: “How things will play out with respect to connectivity and where the data resides and processing takes place is still a very interesting question. The overlap and convergence between desktop computers, consoles, laptops, handheld gaming devices, and cell phones is also interesting. It is all still quite exciting.”