Carmack Talks OpenGL

In a series of weekend posts to Slashdot.org forums, id Software's lead programmer John Carmack reaffirmed his commitment to supporting the OpenGL graphics API in his current and future projects. Carmack's support for OpenGL has previously put a question mark over id support for Xbox.

Though Carmack did state that Microsoft's forthcoming DirectX 8.0 drivers seem as though they'll help improve the Direct3D API even further, he cited the Microsoft API's compatibility issues with Linux and the MacOS as well as with some near-future hardware designs as sufficient reason to continue support for OpenGL.

He also suggested that the level of id software's participation in developing for Microsoft's highly anticipated X-Box would depend on the console's OpenGL support: "Last I heard, Nvidia was going to be providing OpenGL for the X-Box. If they do, we will probably do some simultaneous development for X-Box. If not, it would have to wait until after the game ships to be ported."

Since the X-Box is currently more than a year away from being released, it seems probable that the first id game to be targeted at the console would be Doom 3, currently in early development. Id's other project Quake III: Team Arena is due this fall.