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Carmack: RAGE for iPhone will be 'glorious, fun, all action, 99c' and out end of November

High (score) concept

Carmack: RAGE for iPhone will be 'glorious, fun, all action, 99c' and out end of November

The news that John Carmack was working to bring id Software's much anticipated shooter RAGE to iPhone and iPad was the surprise of Quakecon.

Equally eye opening was the fact Carmack showed a tech demo of the game in operation, something he's refered to as perhaps not explaining the concept sufficiently.

So, on the Bethesda blog, he's written a huge post, explaining everything.

Bullet points

The main points are:

The mobile version will not be the full version of RAGE. Even iPhone 4 doesn't have that sort of power. The game will use the RAGE engine and development technology however, including the MegaTexture system.

The game will be large - the high definition version for Retina display and iPad will be around a 1.5GB download.

In terms of its scope, it will be based around Mutant Bash TV, post apocalyptic combat game show. In terms of its gameplay, this means it's a high score experience, in which 'you pick your targets, aim your shots, time your reloads, dodge the bad guys, and try and make it through to the end of the level with a better score than last time.'

Carmack says; "Beyond basic survival, there are pickups, head shots, and hit streak multipliers to add more options to the gameplay, and there is a broad range of skill levels available from keep-hitting-fire-and-you-should-make-it to almost-impossible."

Do it all over again

Basically RAGE doesn't have any plot or character development. It's designed to be played over and over again. Carmack says; "I have played the game dozens of times, and testing it is still fun instead of a chore."

And that's the reason it's so cheap - 99c for the standard version and $1.99 for the HD version.

It will also be out soon, at the end of November.

Of course, Carmack being Carmack, he also goes into a lot of detail about the coding of the game, rendering, sounds, texturing, data extraction etc.

You can read the full details over on the Bethesda blog.

Jon Jordan
Jon Jordan
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon can turn his hand to anything except hand turning. He is editor-at-large at PG.biz which means he can arrive anywhere in the world, acting like a slightly confused uncle looking for the way out. He likes letters, cameras, imaginary numbers and legumes.