Carmack said that id Software's next game will continue the Doom 3 theme of a mostly single player experience with only a mimimal multiplayer experience. Carmack feels creating a new graphics renderer can be better appreciated via a slower single player game with partner companies going in to make more robust multiplayer game experienced later through expansion packs and sequel.

Carmack has been working on the new rendering engine for the next id game for a couple of months and he hopes that by the end of the year it will be up to running actual tech demos with artwork. Carmack and id declined to show what they have been working on for the next engine and game at QuakeCon for this year, but Carmack expects to show off the new rendering tech and a bit of the new game at next year's QuakeCon.

With multiple graphics cards close to release in single PCs, Carmack expects that in a few years, the costs of making these PC will allow TV and even film studios to abandon the typical GGI render farm way of making film graphics and switching to the most cost effective and time effective real time graphcs rendering, perhaps with using game graphics tech as its base.

GameSpy: Now that the game is done, what's next for DOOM 3? Do you have any plans for patches, expansion packs, etc?

Todd Hollenshead: The guys are already working on a patch, because there are some multiplayer bugs. We didn't have a multiplayer test that came out first -- even if we had, there's inevitably going to be some issue or two that crops up -- so we're going to get the issues that we're aware of addressed as soon as possible. Of course, work on the demo is a big priority alongside of getting the first patch out. We'll be working with Vicarious Visions to finish up the Xbox conversion, and after that, and even while we're speaking now, work has started on the next game that we're going to work on.

GameSpy: Which is...?

Todd Hollenshead: We don't have a title for it yet. In fact, we're still fleshing out what the design is going to be. I can say it's going to use an updated version of the DOOM 3 engine because (John) Carmack's was making changes and additions to the DOOM 3 tech right up until the very last, like the heat shimmer, was added in the last six weeks. If you're playing on a high-end system, you'll see it on rocket trails, you'll see it on pipes off the steam, you'll see where the hellish lava is breaking through the floor, and it's an amazing visual effect.