Rage on iPhone is "actually possible"

By Robert Purchese Published 2 November, 2010

Carmack reckons he could do it.

Only John Carmack could claim it's possible to recreate Rage entirely on iPhone - and then be taken seriously.

That's why people have gotten the wrong end of the stick.

"While it would (amazingly!) actually be possible to compile the full-blown PC/console Rage game for an iPhone4 with some effort," wrote Carmack on the Bethesda blog, "it would be a hopelessly bad idea.

"Even the latest and greatest mobile devices are still a fraction of the power of a 360 or PS3, let alone a high-end gaming PC, so none of the carefully made performance trade-offs would be appropriate for the platform, to say nothing of the vast differences in controls."

Carmack said the technology demo he showed on iPhone at QuakeCon - "It's Rage. On the iPhone. At 60 frames a second" - mislead people into thinking the entire experience was being translated to iPhone.

"In hindsight, I probably introduced it poorly."

Instead, what the iPhone will get is Mutant Bash TV, a post-apocalyptic combat game show based in the Rage world. The idea is to get from start to finish alive and with the best score possible. Carmack wants you to enjoy playing the content again and again.

"Many of the elements that made Doom Resurrection good the first time you played it hurt the replayability, for instance. Rage iOS is all action," Carmack wrote, "all the time.

"I have played the game dozens of times, and testing it is still fun instead of a chore."

Visually and technically it'll be a showpiece - of course it will, it's John Carmack. The data the game requires is "big, really big" and the HD version is "more like getting a movie than an app" - "so be prepared for a long download".

"What we do have is something unlike anything ever seen on the iOS platforms," puffed Carmack. "It is glorious, and a lot of fun. Development has been proceeding at high intensity since QuakeCon, and we hope to have the app out by the end of November."

Nevertheless, id Software won't charge much for Mutant Bash TV - hardly anything, in fact.

"We decided that this would be a good opportunity to try a $0.99 SD / $1.99 HD price point," explained Carmack. "We need to stay focused on not letting the project creep out of control, but I think people will be very happy with the value."

Rage on console - with id Tech 5 underneath - has been so far visually and technically impressive. Whether the innards can match the outards - to make up a word - remains to be seen. But we'll watch very closely.

RAGE at E3 2010.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • StolenGlory #1 2 years ago

    "Rage is due to be released 14/09/2011 on Mac, PlayStation 3, and PC."

    No mention of the 360 version?

  • Redeye #2 2 years ago

    Ah, Carmack, you crazy bastard...always trying to squeeze a quart into a thimble.

    But just because you can, doesn't mean etc. etc.

    (Actually quite intrigued to see what he's up to, though...)

  • Shakey_Jake33 #3 2 years ago

    Carmack once publically stated that Quake could not be done on the Saturn. Lobotomy Software were quick to prove him wrong. It's all about the ways in which you make up for the trade-offs that will inevitably have to be made. With Quake on the Saturn, a more suitable engine was used, and one result was that it features lighting effects superior to the PC version (making up for the more simple geometry).

    Saying 'it could be done' makes for an interesting technical demo, but the iPhone's strengths would have to be considered if wanting to make a proper game out of it. Of course, Carmack acknowledges this.

  • drxym #4 2 years ago

    Of course it's possible. You just have to decide how deep you're going to cut into the graphics, game logic, map etc. in order to shoehorn it in with the limitations of the platform while preserving the essence of the original.

    Look at Little Big Planet for example - the PSP version does a pretty damned good job of capturing the spirit of its big brother version even though things were cut to fit. The biggest issue with LBP PSP is community aspect was cut and the level designs are a bit dull. Another good example is GTA Chinatown Wars for the DS, PSP & iPad which kept the core GTA gameplay even though it moved to a top down style view.

    Conversely there have been truly abysmal ports to lesser systems. For example Far Cry on the Wii was a joke and the PSP has its fair share of "tactics" style games where the devs can't be arsed to port a game properly so they do some turn based parody of it.
    Edited by drxym at 02/11/10 @ 12:40

  • DoctorFouad #5 2 years ago

    even uncharted 2 could run on iphone if sony wanted to, anything could run on any platform, but at which price ?fo example what is the point of uncharted 2 to run at quarter the resolution, half the framerate, a bare minimum of visual effects and clumsy unresponsive controls ? it is all about tradeoffs...so "Rage on iphone is actually possible" doesent give any worth new information...

  • Der_tolle_Emil #6 2 years ago

    Another good example is GTA Chinatown Wars for the DS, PSP & iPad which kept the core GTA gameplay even though it moved to a top down style view.

    Top down IS the core GTA gameplay. It was here long before the 3d versions.

  • DrStrangelove #7 2 years ago

    1-2$? id software, you're still my official heroes. For 15 years and counting.

  • asphaltcowboy #8 2 years ago

    Wow, some people thought they'd actually put RAGE on iPhone as is?

  • frunk #9 2 years ago

    I'll buy that for a dollar!

  • Skywise #10 2 years ago

    I'm sure they can make something that looks great, but how will it control? I've moved to playing mostly turn-based games on the iPhone now, I really miss a d-pad and buttons...
    Edited by Skywise at 02/11/10 @ 15:47

  • marmaduke #11 2 years ago

    I really hope this game doesn't turn out to be as tedious as it looks

  • infernox1 #12 2 years ago

    if he can put rage onto the iphone, y cant he make a monster game for the PC. the current pc hardware is alot better then the iphones. i hope rage is the next crysis.