RAGE HD to get Game Center patched in, no new missions or weapons in future updates

RAGE HD is one of the top-grossing games on the App Store, coming in second to Angry Birds, and id's John Carmack seems rather pleased with the game's reception and how RAGE HD itself came out.

Speaking with PocketGamer, Carmack said the team did what it "set out to do on the device", and his excitement over it "feels like the early days" when Doom and Wolfenstein were released.

However, despite the success of RAGE HD, Carmack is also aware of the criticisms.

According to the man himself, the development team was more concerned with delivering a game with a simple, accessible gameplay elements with a good presentation instead of adding in extra features. However, players want more features,especially leaderboards and melee attacks and those two examples are something Carmack agrees were missing in the final product.

"We actually did have Game Center integrated, but when it came to crunch time we didn't feel that the integration was polished enough to keep it in the initial release," he said. "There was a melee attack in the game that didn't work well, so we took it out. It never had that solid feel and with as many virtual buttons as are already on the screen, it proved too much [to have a melee attack button].

"We made the right choice to omit it. So much of game design is know about what to leave out as much as what to put in."

Melee attacks will not be implemented into the game in the future either, but Game Center integration is planned via an update later this year. The update or any future updates will not include any new weapons or levels, "due to the amount of retuning required and the fact it raises the file size", said Carmack.

Instead, the team plans to release more RAGE games for the APP Store.

"I want to have us do two more RAGE mobile games before the PC and console game ships," he said. "I want to continue to explore different aspects of the universe in future games. I'd like to support [iPhone] 3G and second-gen iPod touch in those games too. I promised myself I'd only spend 10 percent on mobile projects and I've broke that bank on this game, but it was worth it."

If you're in the mood for more on RAGE HD and are interested in hearing what Carmack has to say on "space exploration and Ferraris", check out the latest Bethesda Podcast.

Meanwhile, RAGE is slated for 2011 on consoles and PC, and there's also RAGE Mutant Bash TV available on the App Store.