Doom Archive Reopened

Obiwan Kenobi writes "Computer game history buffs rejoice: Lee Killough's Doom Archive has been reopened at John Romero's site. Its been offline since 1998, when it was handed to Romero to look after, and has finally resurfaced. The info inside is priceless, if a bit Romero-centric, but who can deny the nostalgia of downloadable alpha versions, beta screenshots (complete with wild health meters) and the original Doom Press Release where the game tagline reads "Doom-the sanest place is behind a trigger.""

Comments

I have a theory DOOM III will be out on 12/10/2003

[antdude]

It might be a demo, full version, or a test version. It would be a good way to celebrate 10 years of DOOM. ;)

Re:Yikes

[dameron]

the game looks VERY amatuer.

No, the game looked state of the art, even without the lighting and level changes. At the time only "Ultima Underworld" was remotely close to what Doom would become.

For a quick kick in the pants to your favorite Luddite show them a screenshot of alpha doom, then show them a movie from the lastest Doom beta while chanting: "It's only been nine years, it's only been nine years..."

Take a close look yourself and realize what the future holds. FPS games in 2011 should make Doom III look like these "amateurish" screenshots. We'll probably have Carmack to thank even then, or in 2022 when Doom VI looks like crap in comparison to Doom III. Should be fun...

Hell, I'll probably be playing FPSs until advanced age makes it too difficult, sometime around 2035... then I'll camp...

-dameron

nostalgia? withstanding the test of time?

[yerricde]

Why would anyone want to play a game that looks like DooM on the PS3 or XBox 2?

Why would anyone want to play a game that looks like the original Super Mario Bros. on a 2 GHz Pentium 4 based PC with a GeForce 4 processor?

Why would anyone want to play Solitaire on that same system?

Why would anyone want to play Tetris on that same system?

Because they're still fun.

Doomlight shadow

[Alioth]

The thing that made DOOM, and no other game since has managed to recreate (apart from the Alien DOOM mod, which was basically DOOM again) was the atmosphere.

DOOM was a favorite on damp winter afternoons. I would play it wearing headphones so as to not disturb others in the house. It felt _creepy_. You felt a bit of anxiety as you could hear another Imp shuffling around the place, but couldn't tell exactly where he was. You'd jump when you went around a corner and suddenly heard one of those half-man-half-goat things shout "Wwooooooooooooooo!!!" and start hurling fireballs at you.

I've not found an FPS since that does that for me. ID got the atmosphere absolutely right on that, and I hope they can recreate this in DOOM 3 - to a bigger extent with the graphics capabilities they should have.

One afternoon, I was playing DOOM and got the fright of my life. I was playing along, headphones on, volume up, creeping around one of the levels when my housemate sneaked up behind me and threw one of those beanbag frogs that were used to prop open doors. The frog landed on my shoulder JUST as a room erupted with Imps. I almost died of fright!