

Carmack release open source Wolfenstein for iPhone - pistoriusp
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/03/24/carmack-releases-open-source-wolfenstein-for-iphone/

======
rms
Development notes:
[http://www.idsoftware.com/wolfenstein3dclassic/wolfdevelopme...](http://www.idsoftware.com/wolfenstein3dclassic/wolfdevelopment.htm)

~~~
tumult
Thanks for that link, it was fantastic. It remained mostly non-technical and
yet was still a great nerd read. I always thought Carmack wrote fun stuff (and
not just in code.)

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pavlov
The license situation with this game is interesting. Carmack based this new
port on an updated "Redux" version of his original codebase which is under
GPL, so the resulting iPhone game is under GPL as well. But the iPhone user
cannot benefit from the free license: although the source is available, it's
not possible to install a freshly compiled version of the game on the device.

I suppose that someone could submit a free version of the app to the App
Store, but Apple would probably reject it as a duplicate. (I'm not sure if
Wolf3D includes artwork or other external assets that are not GPL'd. If so,
then a free version would have to provide replacements for those assets, which
would essentially make it a different game.)

Here's a question which I would love to have answered: does the "anti-
tivoization clause" in version 3 of the GPL prevent the distribution of a
GPLv3 application on an iPhone-style closed platform? Or is "tivoization"
strictly limited to code that's shipped with hardware?

~~~
nutmeg
According to the FSF, GPLv3 is incompatible with the iPhone:
[http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/why-free-software-and-
app...](http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/why-free-software-and-apples-
iphone-dont-mix)

------
tlrobinson
Open source at it's best:

1\. original developer releases project as open source

2\. 3rd party developer ports to OpenGL

3\. years later original developer ports OpenGL version to iPhone

4\. releases result as open source.

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ciscoriordan
This is amazing. I tried to run it in the iPhone Simulator but got a couple
errors. Eventually I got it to run by commenting out some lines with functions
references in the errors (366 and 405 in opengl_main.c if you have the SDK).
I'm not sure what I broke but it works well enough to run when I switched to
the 3.0 OS instead of the 2.0 default. It's not that much fun in the simulator
since it isn't designed for use with one input.

When I tried to run it on my iPhone I kept on getting a "code signing
identity" error with "John Carmack" or "Cass Everitt" mentioned. I spent a
while messing around and eventually found Project -> Edit Project Settings,
where I changed "Any iPhone OS Device" to the settings for my device, for each
configuration setting.

Abra cadabra, I now have Wolfenstein on my iPhone and owe id $0.99 when the
app is released.

The frame rate is less than ideal, but the controls are excellent (virtual
thumbstick) and the game is very playable. I would actually probably be
willing to pay $5 - $10, but a lot of that is for nostalgia and because I owe
them for making this open source.

~~~
ciscoriordan
Looks like they released it, and at $4.99.

~~~
andrewf
Looks like the plan was to release Episode 1 only (what the shareware
Wolfenstein was) for $0.99, and Eps 1-6 for $5. I only see the $5 bundle on
the app store though.

------
jodrellblank
The man is amazingly _unbothered_ by things, and he writes really interesting
notes, too.

 _I started to get a sinking feeling. I searched around in the level for a
view that would confirm my suspicion, and when I found a clear enough view of
some angled geometry I saw the tell-tale mid-polygon affine swim in the
texture as I rotated. They were using the software rasterizer on the iPhone.
[..] The developers came back and said it [rewriting it for OpenGL] would take
two months and exceed their budget.

[..] I told them to just send the project to me and I would do it myself. [..]
my off the cuff estimate of "Two days!" was optimistic, but I did get it done
in four_

:D

~~~
palish
To be fair, it's probably 10x harder to repurpose someone else's code than to
repurpose your own. So it probably would've taken anywhere from 40-60 days for
someone else to do it. Plus, Carmack's code isn't exactly clear. :)

~~~
pistoriusp
Have you ever gone back and looked at your own code that is ~2 years old?

It usually takes some time for me to get familiar with what I was trying to
achieve, I should comment more, but what I'm trying to get at is that code
that ~18 years old is probably very different from the code you're making
today.

~~~
Hexstream
Yes, however if you wrote the code you can remember "where things come from",
why things are the way they are (you have a vague recollection of
refactorings) and that helps for perspective. A third-party can't do that.

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luigi
For those of us with non-jailbroken iPhones, it's not yet up on the App Store:

<http://www.idsoftware.com/wolfenstein3dclassic/>

Hopefully soon...

~~~
dangoldin
It's up now. Not free though.

------
asmosoinio
Review at iPhone App Ratings.org:

<http://www.iphoneappratings.org/wolfenstein-3d-classic>

They also have a full copy of Carmacks texts on that page...

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dejb
Wonder how it compares with Quake for Pocket PC which I used to play about 4
years ago. Tricky to reproduce all the controls without many buttons but
hopefully they'll come up with something. The accelerometer might come in
handy.

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adsyoung
Yep, still has the ability to induce motion sickness. My thumbs are slightly
too big for the controls it seems but I'm glad they didn't use tilt controls,
that really doesn't work for me.

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FictiveEvan
Pretty cool stuff - I remember playing this game non-stop back in the early
90's.

I think he's wrong about tearing open app bundles though - you can just unzip
them.

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dangoldin
You can also get the source code for it at
ftp://www.idsoftware.com/idstuff/wolf3d/wolf3d_iphone_v1.0_src.zip if you want
to play around with iPhone development.

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jodrellblank
_I'm going back to Rage for a while, but I do expect Classic Doom to come
fairly soon for the iPhone._

For those of us with jailbroken iPhones, Classic Doom has been available for
it for a while.

<http://code.google.com/p/iphonedoom/>

