At his QuakeCon keynote on Thursday, Id Software co-founder and lead programmer John Carmack revealed that the company intends on releasing the source code for 2004's
Doom 3.
According to a
VG247 report on his talk (which is just concluding at press time), Carmack said that he received permission from parent company Zenimax to release his code, which the company plans to do after its next game,
Rage, is released in October.
Carmack then challenged other developers to release their source code for study as well, saying it helps the developer community.
The well-known developer has often said in the past that he planned on releasing the code, but this is the first time that he has declared an approximate timeframe.
Note that
Doom 3's famous shadow renderer is based on technology patented by Creative Labs. According to an alleged
2009 email conversation with Carmack, anyone using the renderer would "potentially be infringing" on that patent.
QuakeCon, a gathering of PC gamers often described as the world's largest LAN party that is named after Id Software's
Quake, is taking place in Dallas, Texas today through Sunday.
