Doom RPG for mobiles

Legendary programmer John Carmack has announced that he is currently working on a turn-based RPG for mobile phones.

Carmack co-founded id Software in 1991 and helped to create the hugely successful Doom and Quake series. The studio's next major project is still under wraps, but Carmack's blog reveals that he is also developing DoomRPG - a turn-based tile combat game described as "sort of Bard's Tale meets Doom."

"Step based smooth sliding/turning tile movement and combat works out well for the phone input buttons," says Carmack.

"Exploring a 3D world through the cell phone window is pretty neat," he continues, whilst observing that "You aren't going to be able to make an immersive experience on a 2-inch 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."

There's no word on how long we'll have to wait for DoomRPG, but it could be some time judging by the way Carmack seems to be struggling with the J2ME Java programming language.

"The biggest problem is that Java is really slow," he says. "On a pure cpu/memory/display/communications level, most modern cell phones should be considerably better gaming platforms than a Game Boy Advance. With Java, on most phones you are left with about the CPU power of an original 4.77 MHz IBM PC, and lousy control over everything."

However, we do know who'll be publishing the title: "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."

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