Chapter Fourteen Give Kamak a Job

  Jester approached the little kid as the creator of "American Blocks".

  At first, the other party did not quite believe it, but after Jester found Jedi to be a witness, he finally made this little boy named John Carmack believe his identity.

  Then Jester used the excuse of chatting about his feelings on this game to invite Carmack to a nearby fast food restaurant for a chat, and also treated him to dinner.

  The little boy who was already a bit hungry hesitated for only one second before agreeing.

  "It's still pretty interesting!" Swallowing the last piece of hamburger, this 13 or 14-year-old kid finally gave his evaluation of "American Block".

  He was praised by John Carmack as a game that would definitely occupy a high position in the future, Jest had some tears and laughter, if someone else dared to say so, he would definitely open his mouth cannon mode, what kind of thing dares to say this about my game? But in front of this person, he didn't have the urge to spray at all.

  Looking at this still somewhat immature face in front of him, Jester already had enough to associate it with the legendary figure of later years.

  Both of them have such an arrogant attitude as if they are the best in the world, without considering other people's feelings, seemingly no one is worthy of their attention.

  "No wonder when he entered the juvenile home, the evaluation by the mental assessor was 'This boy is like a moving body... completely unaware of how to empathize with others.' Such a terrible evaluation..."

  His EQ is almost zero...

  This kid named John Carmack didn't care about Jester's expression at all, and said bluntly: "There are some good ideas, especially that last Easter egg..." At this point, Carmack smiled somewhat proudly, then continued to say, "But technically, there is nothing worth praising in this game, and your level is too low. If I were to do it, the size of the game could be reduced by one-fifth without changing the content."

  Then John Carmack paused, seemingly thinking that a game originally under 10KB in size wouldn't have much use even if he could shrink it by one-fifth. He continued to boast, "If you give me enough time, I think I can compress it by one-third!"

  He thought Jester didn't believe what he said, so he told Jester about some logical algorithm problems in the code of "American Blocks" and asserted that you definitely don't use this processing method.

  Jester listened and fell silent, a hint of emotion rising from the bottom of his heart.

  I thought the programming skills of the owner of this body I reincarnated into were already very powerful, but it turns out that in front of a true technical expert, they are still not worthy of mention.

  It's John Carmack indeed!

  Father of 3D engines, father of FPS, father of Doom, a man who changed the course of the gaming industry with his own strength, widely regarded by his peers as the world's number one programmer, ranked tenth among the fifty most influential people in the technology field by Time Magazine at the age of twenty-nine, and inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame at thirty-one, John Carmack!

  It can be said without exaggeration that his life is a legend.

  Although he may not be at the level of a few years later when researching 'dynamic shadow algorithm', 'Carmack reverse', 'dynamic light effect', 'diffuse reflection light source', 'Shadow-Volume's Z-Fail method' and other crucial 3D engine technologies, being called the "Graphics Pope" would put him in an unparalleled position. However, when reading John Carmack and John Romero's biography "Masters of Doom", he was still deeply impressed by John Carmack's talent. A teenager's programming skills surpassed those of ninety percent of the world's geniuses, a prodigy who could master a brand new programming language in half the time it took others - how could you not be impressed?

  "I just want to write excellent programs." That's how Carmack expressed his dream.

  Jest can still recall the feeling of reading "Doomsday Prophecy" for the first time and has written it down in his notebook to motivate himself.

  "It's as if the adoration for those geniuses behind DOOM, hidden deep in my heart, has been reignited after reading 'DOOM Apocalypse'. What a legendary era it was, and what a batch of legendary geniuses created one legend after another. Compared to those so-called stars who are just showing off, they are the true idols worthy of my adoration."

  Yes, id Software's John Carmack is a huge fan of DOOM and isn't shy about it because that was his former idol!

  The idol of all programmers!

  As far as I know, "DOOM: Scourge of Armageddon" is a book that has influenced countless programmers. It inspired one young programmer after another to embark on the path of coding, aspiring to become geniuses like John Carmack or John Romero who changed the world with their skills.

  But most of them will never become John Carmack or John Romero, and can only be coders for their whole lives.

  But Jester was a little curious, he remembered that John Carmack wasn't from California, if his impression was correct, he should be from Kansas.

  What is he doing here?

  "I'm the one who escaped." Karmak didn't hide it, he said his situation straightforwardly, and then he looked at Jester with a straight eye, which was also the first time he looked at Jester with a straight eye.

  He hesitated for a moment before speaking up, "I'm saying... did you really make 'American Blocks'?"

  Jester smiled and nodded. Upon hearing this, he suddenly remembered that Carmack should still be in the juvenile home at this time.

  So he ran away from the juvenile home?

  Then, the little kid Kamak pouted and his bright eyes sparkled as he said to Jester in a loud voice: "So you must have a game company, right? How about hiring me? My skills are top-notch. Don't believe me? You can give me any programming questions, including ones you can't do yourself, and I'll be able to complete them!"

  It really has John Carmack's style.

  Jest thought to himself that the two founders of id Software were both freaks, despite being geniuses in terms of technology, but their emotional intelligence was too low.

  Is there such a job search...

  Jester thought of John Romero who should still be in England and hadn't returned to America yet.

  This Carmack was an intimate partner of id Software in its early days, and along with John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the gaming world, he made a living by writing game code for gaming magazines. He would even send letters to those magazine companies that left them crying and laughing at the same time, along with his latest written game code.

  For example, he would write letters to magazines like this.

  "This time, the champion of the programming competition is definitely me. My program is awesome, don't bother setting up a $500 prize, just give it to me directly. And that annual award, yeah, the $1000 one, just give it to me too."

  Signed as usual with a flourish: "John Romero, King of Programmers".

  Then he won the championship.

  Worth mentioning is that the first air combat simulation program on a small machine for the British Air Force was done by John Romero, who at the time saw his task in a top-secret military base and simply said: "No problem, I'm best at games!" He was only fifteen years old at the time.

  Think about what you were doing at 15 years old?

  Yeah, Jester thought for a moment, when he was 15 years old, he only knew how to play Diablo on the computer, and then discovered that he could copy equipment by copying the archive, so he kept it as his own biggest secret and didn't share it with his friends...

  As for John Carmack? He is not only more outstanding than John Romero in technology, but also more unhuman than John Romero in character.

  Incidentally, in the real pioneering era of games, those first-generation game programmers who had made a game and wanted to sell it would either do something like the Williams couple did - put their game code on punched cards in a suitcase, that's right, you heard me, cards, the earliest programs were stored by punching holes in cards - and then go door-to-door selling them to people interested in their games.

  Isn't it hilarious?

  It's actually not funny at all, but by this kind of peddler-like method, the Williams couple created what would later become the world's second-largest PC game publisher in the PC gaming industry - Sierra On-Line.

  Either send your own code to some software magazines and let them publish what you have written.

  As for how others play?

  It's very simple, first you need to master programming, then you can input these codes into your own APPLE or Commodore 64 to play the game, which is basically equivalent to re-making this game on your own computer.

  Isn't it frustrating?

  Jester knew that Kamaq was a genius and one of the most gifted and talented in the world, but he still couldn't agree to his request.

  Not bad, Jester indeed very much wants Carmack to join his not-yet-established game company, and in the future his company will indeed need such a genius who is unparalleled in the world in terms of 3D engine development, but the problem is that he is only fourteen years old this year!

  Without his guardian's consent, he cannot be employed by himself, and even if he is taken in, he can be prosecuted by the federal government.

  But Jester really didn't want to let go of this opportunity to have in-depth communication with Karmak.

  Kamark's talent is really too high, it would be a waste if left unused...

  Jester furrowed his brow in thought for a moment, and after a moment, he finally came up with a method.

  "First of all, you need to go home." As soon as Jester finished saying this, he could see the disdainful look in Karmak's eyes.

  He apparently didn't agree with Jester's proposal.

  "Then, after you go home, I'll offer you a part-time job, such as writing some small games for my company. It won't be too difficult, and I'll pay you. I can guarantee that the payment will be much more than what you get from writing code for those magazines." Jester seemed to ignore Carmack's dismissive expression earlier and continued on his own, "I can even guarantee that the payment for the first task alone will be enough for you to buy a brand new Apple computer."

  When Jest uttered his last words, Kamaq's throat moved slightly and a look of longing flashed in his eyes without any concealment.

  "Really?" Kamaq's voice trembled slightly.

  "Of course." Jester nodded.

  He was all too aware of what Karmak yearned for now, having just been sentenced to a year in juvenile detention, and the days away from his computer were leaving him with nothing.

  It's probably because of this that he managed to escape from there, his free-spirited and uninhibited personality couldn't possibly withstand the rigid rules of the orphanage where life was measured with a ruler.

  The juvenile home is similar to our domestic juvenile correctional facility, and the vast majority of students inside are locked up because of drug abuse. But Kamaq is different, he was locked up for an Apple computer.

  As for why he ended up in the juvenile home...

  It's not complicated at all, it's even a bit ridiculous.

  Karmak used his homemade thermite to melt the glass of the school's computer lab, which had Apple computers inside, with the intention of quietly "borrowing" an Apple computer.

  He thought it would be better to give him something more meaningful to do with such a good Apple computer rather than letting it collect dust in school.

  But things went wrong and he and his companions triggered an alarm and were surrounded by police.

  Later, when Kamak was being questioned, one of the questioners asked him, "If you hadn't been caught this time, do you think you would have done something similar again?"

  Then Kamark said without hesitation, "Yes."

  The result was that those who were with him didn't have much trouble, but he was tragically sentenced to a year of reeducation in a juvenile home, where he was accompanied by drug-addicted teenagers.

  So Jester knew that for Kamak at this moment, an Apple computer was an irresistible temptation.

  Jester could clearly see Karmak's face full of surprise after hearing his answer.

  Kamark licked his lips and asked in an extremely urgent tone, "Tell me, no matter how complex the program is, I can complete it with the most concise and clear method."

  For a programmer, there is no such thing as easy or difficult in programming, only complex and non-complex.

  And their greatest dream is to write a complex program in a simple and clear way.

  "Don't be in a hurry." Jester smiled and didn't say what he wanted Kamak to do, but instead repeated his first sentence again, "You should go home first."

  Kamark didn't have a scornful expression on his face this time, only a hesitant look that appeared for a few seconds before he nodded vigorously: "I promise you, I'll go home."

  But after saying that, Karmak patted his pocket and showed a troubled expression, whispering to Jester: "I don't have any money."

  "Haha!" Jester smiled, pulled out his wallet from his pocket and handed over $300 to him, saying "This should be enough for you to get back home. However, I'm not giving this money away for free, I'll deduct it from your future pay."

  "Now you can tell me what you want me to do, right?" Karmak pocketed the three hundred dollars and snorted, "What a cheapskate."

  Jester just listened and smiled.

  "The first task I gave you was to help me design a small game that can be compatible with all personal computers at present... As for the name of the game, I call it Minesweeper."

  When Jest described the game he called 'Minesweeper', Carmack's eyes, which had been somewhat distracted, lit up instantly.

  "This game seems...not bad!"

  He thought so.