2A00:23C5:F23A:7701:70C2:7150:3943:7966: /* Game programmer */

2025-06-21T11:01:55Z

Game programmer

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{{short description|American programmer and technical writer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Michael Abrash
| image = Michael Abrash at Facebook's F8 2015.jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1957}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Abrash |first1=Michael |title=Some Things I've Learned About Win32 Game Programming |url=https://www.drdobbs.com/windows/some-things-ive-learned-about-win32-game/184410376 |website=Dr. Dobb's |date=April 1, 1997}}</ref>
| caption = As [[Oculus VR]] Chief Scientist on stage at [[Facebook]]'s F8 2015
| occupation = Programmer<br>Technical writer
| title = Chief scientist
| employer = [[Oculus VR]] (2014–present)
}}

'''Michael Abrash''' is an American [[programmer]] and [[technical writer]]. He has written dozens of magazine articles and multiple books on [[program optimization|code optimization]] and software-rendered graphics for [[IBM PC compatible]]s. He worked at [[id Software]] in the mid-1990s on the rendering technology for ''[[Quake (video game)|Quake]]''. He later wrote the Pixomatic [[software renderer]] for RAD Game Tools. Since 2014, he has been the chief scientist of [[Oculus VR]], a subsidiary of [[Meta Platforms]].<ref name="Oculus01" />

Abrash started his career in 1982 writing action video games for the IBM PC, which eventually resulted in a 1990 book, ''Zen of Assembly Language Volume 1: Knowledge'', about optimization for the 16-bit 8086 and 8088 processors.<ref name="zenassembly"/> He began writing about programming the [[Enhanced Graphics Adapter|EGA]] and [[Video Graphics Array|VGA]] hardware of IBM PC compatibles for ''Programmer's Journal'' in the late 1980s, followed by a column for ''[[Dr. Dobb's Journal]]'' in the early 1990s. In the latter, he introduced a method of adjusting VGA [[mode 13h]] to have a resolution of 320×240 with square pixels, which he called [[Mode X]]. He also used his ''Dr. Dobbs's'' column to write about the details of his work on ''Quake''.

==Game programmer==

Abrash began writing video games in the early days of the [[IBM PC]] and the [[Color Graphics Adapter]]. His first commercial game was a clone of ''[[Space Invaders]]'' published by [[Datamost]] in 1982 as ''[[Space Strike]]''.<ref name="CGW9">{{cite magazine |last=Lacine |first=Mark |date=Mar–Apr 1983 |title=Micro-Reviews |magazine=Computer Gaming World |volume=1 |issue=9 |pages=44}}</ref> He followed it with ''[[Cosmic Crusader]]'' (1982) and ''[[Big Top (video game)|Big Top]]'' (1983), both published by Funtastic. Working with Dan Illowsky, who had previously programmed the Apple II ''[[Pac-Man]]'' clone ''[[Snack Attack]]'', he co-wrote ''Snack Attack II'' (1982) for the IBM PC.<ref name=giantlist/> All of his IBM PC games were written in 8086 [[assembly language]].

After working at [[Microsoft]] on graphics and assembly code for [[Windows NT 3.1]], he was hired by [[id Software]] in the mid-1990s to work on ''[[Quake (video game)|Quake]]''. Some of the technology behind ''Quake'' is documented in Abrash's ''Ramblings in Realtime'' published in ''[[Dr. Dobb's Journal]]''.<ref name="rir"/> He mentions Quake as his favourite game of all time.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Valve Pipeline|title=Pipeline Interviews: Michael Abrash on Virtual Reality & the Future of Gaming|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l461vIVtDZM |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/l461vIVtDZM| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|website=YouTube|access-date=8 November 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref> After ''Quake'' was released, Abrash returned to Microsoft to work on natural language research, then moved to the [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]] team until 2001.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Xbox Graphics Analyzed |url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-graphics-analyzed/1100-2609442/ |access-date=2022-08-25 |website=GameSpot |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2002, Abrash went to RAD Game Tools where he co-wrote the Pixomatic [[software rendering|software renderer]], which emulates the functionality of a [[DirectX 7]]-level graphics card. At the end of 2005, Pixomatic was acquired by [[Intel]]. When developing Pixomatic, he and Mike Sartain designed a new architecture called [[Larrabee (microarchitecture)|Larrabee]], which now is part of Intel's [[GPGPU]] project.<ref name="larrabee">{{cite web|title=A First Look at the Larrabee New Instructions (LRBni)| author-link = Michael Abrash| url=http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/216402188| last=Abrash| first=Michael| publisher=drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design| date=2009-04-01| access-date=2010-07-10}}</ref>

[[Gabe Newell]], managing director of [[Valve Corporation|Valve]], said that he had "been trying to hire Michael Abrash forever. ''[...]'' About once a quarter we go for dinner and I say 'are you ready to work here yet?{{' "}}<ref name="gabenewell">{{cite web|url=http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/11/21/rps-exclusive-gabe-newell-interview/|title=RPS Exclusive: Gabe Newell Interview| last=Walker| first=John| date=2007-11-21| publisher=[[Rock, Paper, Shotgun]] | access-date=22 January 2010}}</ref> In 2011 Abrash joined Valve.<ref name="develop">{{cite web|url=http://www.develop-online.net/news/37665/Valve-hires-world-class-development-trio |title=Valve hires world-class development trio| last=Crossley| first=Rob| date=2011-05-13| publisher=Develop| access-date=16 May 2011}}</ref>

On March 28, 2014, three days after [[Facebook]] announced agreements to purchase the [[virtual reality]] headset company,<ref name="Oculus022">{{cite web|url=http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/03/facebook-to-acquire-oculus/|title=Facebook to Acquire Oculus|date=2014-03-25|publisher=Facebook|access-date=28 March 2014}}</ref> [[Oculus VR]] published a statement saying that Michael Abrash had joined their company as [[Chief science officer|Chief Scientist]].<ref name="Oculus01">{{cite web|url=http://www.oculusvr.com/blog/introducing-michael-abrash-oculus-chief-scientist/|title=Introducing Michael Abrash, Oculus Chief Scientist| date=2014-03-28| publisher=Oculus VR| access-date=28 March 2014}}</ref> This reunited him with [[id Software]]'s [[John Carmack]], who was [[chief technology officer]] there at the time.

==Technical writer==
Michael Abrash was a columnist in the 1980s for the magazine ''Programmer's Journal''. The articles were collected in the 1989 book, ''Power Graphics Programming''. His second book, ''Zen of Assembly Language Volume 1: Knowledge'' (1990),<ref name=zengraphic/> is about writing efficient [[assembly code]] for the original IBM PC's [[Intel 8088]] processor, but was released after the [[80486]] CPU was already being used in IBM PC compatibles.<ref name="jameshague"/> Volume 2 was never published.

In the early to mid-1990s, Abrash wrote a column about graphics programming for IBM PC compatibles for ''[[Dr. Dobb's Journal]]'' called "Ramblings in Realtime." In 1991, his column introduced [[Mode X]]: a 256 color 320x240 graphics mode with square pixels instead of the slightly elongated pixels of the standard 320x200 mode. The same column covers a [[Video Graphics Array|VGA]] feature allowing up to four pixels to be written at once—something which had not been widely documented outside of the VGA specification. The article and its follow-ups ignited interest among MS-DOS game programmers. "Ramblings in Realtime" also covered polygon drawing, 3D graphics, and texture mapping.

Much of the content of ''Zen of Assembly Language'' was updated in ''Zen of Code Optimization: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Software That Pushes PCs to the Limit'' (1994).<ref name="zen"/>
In 1997 Abrash's ''Graphics Programming Black Book'',<ref name="gpbb-book"/><ref name="gpbb"/> was published. It is a collection of ''Dr. Dobb's Journal'' articles and his work on the ''[[Quake (video game)|Quake]]'' graphic subsystem.

Abrash stopped writing publicly in the 2000s until maintaining a public blog at Valve, "Ramblings in Valve Time", from April 2012 until January 2014.

==References==
<references>
<ref name="giantlist">{{cite web
|url=https://dadgum.com/giantlist/
|title=The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers
|last=Hague
|first=James}}</ref>
<ref name="rir">{{cite web
|url=http://www.drdobbs.com/184410037
|title=Ramblings in Realtime
|last=Abrash
|first=Michael
|date=1996-02-01
|publisher=www.drdobbs.com
|access-date=2010-07-10 }}</ref>
<ref name="gpbb">{{cite web
|title=Graphics Programming Black Book
|url=http://www.drdobbs.com/high-performance-computing/184404919
|last=Abrash
|first=Michael
|author-link = Michael Abrash
|publisher=www.drdobbs.com/high-performance-computing
|date=2001-11-01
|access-date=2010-07-10}}</ref>
<ref name="jameshague">
{{cite web
|title=Five Memorable Books About Programming
|url=https://prog21.dadgum.com/19.html
|last=Hague
|first=James
|date=2008-02-18
|access-date=2010-07-10}}</ref>
<ref name="gpbb-book">{{cite book
|last = Abrash
|first = Michael
|author-link = Michael Abrash
|title = Graphics Programming Black Book
|url = https://archive.org/details/michaelabrashsgr00abra
|url-access = registration
|publisher = Coriolis Group Books
|date= July 1997|isbn = 978-1-57610-174-2
}}</ref>
<ref name="zenassembly">{{cite book
|last = Abrash
|first = Michael
|author-link = Michael Abrash
|title = Zen of Assembly Language: Knowledge
|publisher = Scott Foresman Trade
|date= January 1990|isbn = 978-0-673-38602-1
}}</ref>
<ref name="zen">{{cite book
|last = Abrash
|first = Michael
|author-link = Michael Abrash
|title = Zen of Code Optimization: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Software That Pushes PCs to the Limit
|publisher = Coriolis Group Books
|date = 1994-12-08
|isbn = 978-1-883577-03-2
|url-access = registration
|url = https://archive.org/details/zenofcodeoptimiz0000abra
}}</ref>
<ref name="zengraphic">{{cite book
|last = Abrash
|first = Michael
|author-link = Michael Abrash
|title = Zen of Graphics Programming: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Fast PC Graphics
|publisher = Coriolis Group; Bk&Disk edition
|date = 1994-01-15
|isbn = 978-1-883577-08-7
}}</ref>
</references>

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200423104346/http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/ Ramblings in Valve Time - A blog by Michael Abrash (archived)]
* {{moby developer|id=213|name=Michael Abrash's developer profile}}
* [http://www.bluesnews.com/abrash/ ''Ramblings in Realtime'' by Michael Abrash], detailed description of ''Quake''{{'s}} graphics engine programming ([http://www.bluesnews.com/abrash/abrash.pdf PDF version])
* [http://www.drdobbs.com/high-performance-computing/184404919 ''Graphics Programming Black Book'' by Michael Abrash] ([http://www.jagregory.com/abrash-black-book HTML version] and [https://github.com/jagregory/abrash-black-book ebook source])

* [http://babysoftmurderhands.com/2012/08/quakecon-2012-exclusive-interview-40-minutes-michael-abrash-valve-software/ "40 minutes with Michael Abrash of Valve Software"], Audio interview with Michael Abrash at QuakeCon 2012 discussing Abrash's career and work at Valve

{{id Software}}
{{Valve}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abrash, Michael}}
[[Category:American technology writers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Microsoft employees]]
[[Category:Valve Corporation people]]
[[Category:American video game programmers]]
[[Category:Id Software people]]
[[Category:1957 births]]

Michael Abrash - Revision history

2A00:23C5:F23A:7701:70C2:7150:3943:7966: /* Game programmer */