John Carmack
Programmer behind Doom and Quake and pioneer of 3D games and VR
- Age
- 56 yrs
- Birthday in 289 days
- Works listed
- 2
- Video game
- Honours
- 2
- Most recent 2010
- Profile views
- 0
- 0 followers
John Carmack is an American programmer who co-founded id Software and wrote the game engines for Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake, which defined the first-person shooter and pushed 3D graphics on PCs. He later led technology at Oculus VR and founded the AI company Keen Technologies.
Biography
id Software
Carmack attended the University of Missouri–Kansas City briefly, then worked at Softdisk. In 1991 he co-founded id Software with John Romero, Adrian Carmack and Tom Hall; their Commander Keen games brought smooth scrolling to PCs.
Doom and Quake
Wolfenstein 3D (1992) and Doom (1993) used Carmack’s fast 3D-like engines, shareware distribution and modding support. Quake (1996) was fully 3D and popularised online multiplayer and graphics cards.
Open source
Carmack released the source code of his older engines, influencing generations of game programmers. He also founded Armadillo Aerospace to build rockets.
VR and AI
He became CTO of Oculus VR in 2013 and stayed after Facebook bought it, leaving Meta in 2022. He then founded Keen Technologies to pursue artificial general intelligence.
Timeline
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1970
Born in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, United States
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1991
Co-founds id Software
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1992
Wolfenstein 3D
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1993
Doom
-
1996
Quake
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2000
Founds Armadillo Aerospace
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2013
CTO of Oculus VR
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2022
Leaves Meta; founds Keen Technologies
Notable works
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1993
Doom Video game
With id Software.
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1996
Quake Video game
Awards and honours
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Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame
2001
-
Game Developers Choice Lifetime Achievement Award
2010
Did you know?
-
1
“Carmack’s reverse” is a graphics shadow technique named after him.
-
2
Doom has been ported to calculators, printers and pregnancy tests.
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3
He bought several Ferraris with his early earnings.
Connections
Related people
-
John Romero
Technology · Game designer who co-created Doom and Quake at id Software
id Software co-founder
-
Palmer Luckey
Technology · Inventor of the Oculus Rift and founder of the defence company Anduril
Oculus founder
-
Mark Zuckerberg
Technology · Co-founder and CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta
Meta CEO
Also born on 21 August
-
Sergey Brin
Technology · Russian-born co-founder of Google who returned to work on Gemini AI
1973
-
Ismat Chughtai
Literature · Urdu writer known for bold stories about women’s lives
1911
-
Joe Gebbia
Technology · Designer who co-founded Airbnb
1981
-
Steve Case
Technology · Co-founder of AOL who brought millions of Americans online
1958
Frequently asked
Who is John Carmack?
John Carmack is an American programmer who co-founded id Software and wrote the game engines for Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake, which defined the first-person shooter and pushed 3D graphics on PCs. He later led technology at Oculus VR and founded the AI company Keen Technologies.
How old is John Carmack?
John Carmack is 56 years old, born on 21 August 1970 in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, United States.
Where is John Carmack from?
John Carmack was born in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, United States.
What is John Carmack known for?
John Carmack is best known for Co-founding id Software; Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake engines; Oculus CTO; Keen Technologies.
What awards has John Carmack received?
Notable honours include Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame (2001), Game Developers Choice Lifetime Achievement Award (2010).
References
- John Carmack — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- John Carmack — Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- John Carmack — IMDb. IMDb. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- John Carmack (Q92605) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “John Carmack”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“John Carmack.” TrackFame, last updated 4 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/john-carmack
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