Doom
Doom took the concept of shareware to new heights. On the 10th of December, 1993 id Software uploaded the first episode of Doom to a fledgling internet. Because of the hype surrounding its release, there were so many people logged on waiting, that id Software could not log on to upload it!The full version of Doom was installed on a million computers, but the shareware version was estimated to be on over six million! For many of us Doom entered our lives and changed them irrevocably. Suddenly 2am bedtimes were perfectly acceptable and talking about tomato monsters and robo-minotaurs was de rigueur.
id Software built on the 3D ‘trickery’ pioneered by them in Wolfenstein 3D and added an incredible amount of detail to the gameworld. Stairs, variable lighting, elevators and some stunning textures added to the 3D illusion. However, Doom was not 3D at all but 2D.
The Doom engine used a flat map to create its levels. Each ‘room’ was given a height attribute which allowed for the creation of some pretty amazing structures but there were no rooms on top of other rooms, which a full 3D engine would have allowed. This is similar to the Super Nintendo’s Mode 7, used to great effect in games like Mario Kart.
Doom legitimised the concept of level editing, and what was previously tricky and laborious became slightly less so and millions of levels flooded the internet. Some were good but most were crap, id’s designers set lofty precedents.
Two of the most popular Doom editors were Doom Editing Utility and Doom Construction Kit and some of the best custom multi-player levels I ever played were Run & Gun, Ledges and Snake.
Doom also popularised multi player gaming, with up to four players getting involved in hilarious frag-fests. Office productivity began to fall below tolerable levels and Doom was banned from many office networks.
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Hot Tips
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DOOM SECRETS (SW)
All formats Doom FAQ
Some Info & Pics taken from id Software’s WWW site
Doom consisted of three episodes with nine missions apiece.
Episode |
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Knee-Deep in the Dead |
Phobos Military Base |
Shores of Hell |
Deimos Installation |
Inferno |
Hell |
And an additional episode in Ultimate Doom |
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Thy Flesh Consumed |
Return to Earth |
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Doom – The Cast |
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Imp |
Demon
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Former Human
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Seargent
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Barons of Hell |
Cacodemon (AKA Tomato-Monster) |
Lost Soul |
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Cyberdemon
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Spider Mastermind |
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ULTIMATE DOOM
Situation Analysis:
Doom – Multi-Format
A superb implementation for Nintendo’s Gameboy Advance as well as many mobile phones and PDAs means that Doom is now available on the go. |
Doom has been converted to a number of systems over the years and after the release of the source code in 1998, a huge amount of progress has been made enhancing the engine.
Doom was converted to the Sega Saturn and the Sony Playstation with considerable success, primarily due to its fast game engine. The Playstation version was a combination of levels and enemies from Doom 1 & 2.