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Ten Years Of Doom Celebrated

Posted by simoniker on from the keep-phobos-tidy dept.

mmx writes "GameSpy is partway through a week-long feature celebrating the 10th anniversary of seminal FPS Doom: 'Ten years ago today, Jay Wilbur uploaded an executable to the overloaded University of Wisconsin FTP that pretty much changed first person shooter games forever. He was having trouble because it was packed with rabid DOOM fans, slavering over the demo's imminent release. Eventually Wilbur had to have them all kicked off, and only then did he manage to get the roughly two-megabyte file online.' GameSpy's Doom timeline is pretty interesting, and Doomworld has also started a special anniversary feature. Happy birthday, Doom... and thank you, id software."

51 comments

  1. All the good times... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    The time you were cornered in a secret room, with only the chainsaw with which to defend yourself while your fully armed roomate who just chased you into the hallway stalked you with the RPG. Only to have you sneak up and go Friday the 13th on him as your fellow dorm dwellers watched.

    That time you were teaching the guy across the hall how to play agaist the guy down the hall. He was standing at the bottom of a "T" intersection with the rocket launcher, and just watched Eric run by. You shouted "FIRE NOW!" with Eric no where in sight, only to watch him get gibbed as he ran directly in front of the rocket a second later.

  2. I was being Ironical by smothra · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What better way to celebrate the on-time release of Doom 3 than to rehash the story of how the little-shooter-that-could changed the world and stopped global warming.

    I don't know about you, but it was Wolfenstein 3D (still one of the handful of shareware titles I have actually purchased) that changed my world far more than Doom.

    I guess my tolerance for nostalgia is a little low today. I need to go play some Colossal Cave.

    "You are standing at the end of a hallway inside a moonbase. Around you is a crapload of demonic mutants. A small stream of blood flows out of your mid-section and down a gully."

    --
    Look ma, no tpyos^H^H^H^H^H^H . . . oh crap.
    1. Re:I was being Ironical by understyled · · Score: 1

      I don't know about you, but it was Wolfenstein 3D (still one of the handful of shareware titles I have actually purchased) that changed my world far more than Doom.

      wolfenstein was a classic, most definitely. i remember playing it for the first time and being amazed at the uber 3D-ness. doom, however, i remember more fondly just because it was the first game i could play against my buddies. IMO, unequaled deathmatching goodness - the first game to bring that concept to the masses.

      --
      Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
    2. Re:I was being Ironical by kisrael · · Score: 1

      I thought Wolf3d had better music, some neat remixes of patriotic tunes in there.

      I remember being surprised when I saw a Wolf3D level editor and realized you could completely edit a level with a tile based editor...

      --
      SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
  3. DOOM today by kisrael · · Score: 1

    I tell you, I wish someone would release a cheap and cheerful port of DOOM and DOOM II to the PS2 and addin online capabilities...I'd play that game before one-shot-kill, wait-for-match-to-end junk like SOCOM anyday. PS2 is seriously lacking in the online FPS department...

    --
    SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
    1. Re:DOOM today by fredrikj · · Score: 1

      There's the PS1 version of Doom, and if you got Linux to run on your PS2 you could play the original game with PrBoom.

    2. Re:DOOM today by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I highly recommend you try Tribes: Aerial Assault. Its not a pure shoot em up FPS (you have jetpacks), but its based on the tribes PC games. Very cool stuff. Im plugging it because its a great game that suffered from a severe lack of marketing at its release, and at the time of release it lacked communication, which made many critics very harsh on the game. They have since added in communication capabilities. But yeah, thats my story on that.

  4. Duke Nukem sez... by Violet+Null · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's one doomed space marine!

    1. Re:Duke Nukem sez... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      What's idiotic about it?

      Duke actually said that if you found a secret with a doom guy on some pike on one of the levels.

      I think the Shawshank Redemption level was my favorite reference. But the Raiders of the Lost Ark one was pretty good too.

  5. And in related news: by Schnapple · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I totally missed my prediction that DOOM 3 would ship today, on the 10th anniversary of shareware DOOM (give or take a day).

    Plus, in years past this December 9/10th thing was the ship date for other id Games - Quake 2, Quake 3: Arena, Quake 3: Team Arena, etc. It's enough before Christmas to make it a hot holiday item, but late enough to maximize development time.

    --

    Schnapple

    1. Re:And in related news: by irc.goatse.cx+troll · · Score: 1

      Just give it a year, Doom3 is in no hurry to be released :/

      --
      Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
    2. Re:And in related news: by ziggles · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Could be a sign that they're really trying to make a great game this time. Q3A was fun and all, but kinda.. empty. I think they want (hope they're trying) to shed this "id makes good game engines and their games are just tech demos" image.

    3. Re:And in related news: by JFMulder · · Score: 1

      You know what this might mean then : Doom3 will be out only in a year for now. ;)

  6. No matter how we try to bash it by MMaestro · · Score: 4, Funny

    Video game history will be kind to Doom, because it wrote video game history. As far as other video games have made an impact, Doom has had the most influencial impact launching shareware into mainstream (at least at the time) and re/defining multiplayer.

    1. Re:No matter how we try to bash it by dev0n · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Redefining multiplayer is understating it a bit. At least for me. I will never forget the first time I played multiplayer Doom. The whole concept of playing while linked up with someone else totally blew me away. I was young, impressionable, and I completely fell in love with mulitplayer FPS games. Thanks, Doom.

      Doom turned me into a hardcore gamer for many years. Quake II sorta killed it for me, and I haven't played a FPS since it came out, but those glory years were amazing.

      Thank you, id Software. You wasted many years of this girl's life, and many years of many other people's lives as well. :)

    2. Re:No matter how we try to bash it by dev0n · · Score: 2, Funny

      Oh.. one more thank you. I STILL have nightmares that heavily feature the sound of arachnotrons walking around. There was one level, a big square with hallways surrounding it, that had a bunch of these guys in it. Every single time I played it, it scared the shit outta me.

      So thank you, id Software.. for fueling my nightmares for 10 years. :)

    3. Re:No matter how we try to bash it by Xzzy · · Score: 1

      I did a map like that a ways back, but populated it with those rocket launching cyberdemons instead. I had to have been around 14 at the time so to my still developing sense of balance obviously the best bet was to put a LOT of them in there.

      The halls surrounding the square were too small for the demons to fit into, so the map ended up being a test of cat and mouse trying to pick them off from the shadows.

      Probably be a pretty stupid map these days (well it was probably stupid back then too) but I still have sharp memories of those thumping footsteps chasing me down and can't remember having more fun in an FPS.

      Some of the cheats that were out too that caused monsters to spawn unlimited were a great trip too, mowing down entire armies with the gatling gun.

    4. Re:No matter how we try to bash it by Suppafly · · Score: 1

      Redefining multiplayer is understating it a bit. At least for me. I will never forget the first time I played multiplayer Doom. The whole concept of playing while linked up with someone else totally blew me away. I was young, impressionable, and I completely fell in love with mulitplayer FPS games. Thanks, Doom.

      I agree, perhaps its because I was so young, but doom made an impression on me that few FPS and few games in general can hold a candle too.

    5. Re:No matter how we try to bash it by bsharitt · · Score: 1

      It seem like no matter how gory and realistic games get, Doom still seems like one of the scariest to me. I guess when it came out I had just ever seen anything like it before, and nothing else has affected me since. Doom and SimCity are the two games that really got me in to PC gaming, and I haven't stopped since. So thanks Id for being the root cause of me failing chemistry last semester, now I'll never get out of college.

  7. So many memories by xalres · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I remember first learning how to lead with my rocket shots and getting a SWEET kill on my bud from across the level.

    I used to use a program called DeHackEd that would let you utilize all of the information referenced in the doom.exe file. I remember spending days and days building the perfect DeHackEd patch and bringing it to my friend's dorm to try it out on him, only to be trumped by his semi-invisible "trip mines" that would sit on the ground and explode when you walked into em. They also had a negative mass so if you shot them they'd rocket towards you and you had to move the hell out of the way. Sure, we started out with the usual one-hit-kills-everything-you-see kind of weapons but they gradually got more unique and more strategic. GOD I loved DOOM hacking!

    --
    If whales learn how to use weapons we're all screwed!
    1. Re:So many memories by dpilot · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Now you cut to the heart of the matter.

      Doom was FUN!

      There's much lamentation about how gameplay is getting lost in the effects and realism. But we need to put in another word - FUN. A few years back, someone on Usenet mentioned coming across Doom on his computer - he'd forgotten about it, not having played it in a year or two. He turned the lights down, the sound up, and started the game. The old feel was back, and it was fun!

      So with newer games, how much is 3D addiction, (a particular weakness of mine) how much is novelty addiction, and how much is fun?

      My personal favorite was Hexen, a nifty combination of FPS, puzzles, and neat settings. Now that my son is old enough, I've been trying to get things set for a network game. Unfortunately none of the source ports will compile on both of my desktop machines. (old and new) It never was a popular game, and has languished.

      --
      The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
    2. Re:So many memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Heh. ROTT. Now there was a game. Story? Not really. Style? Sort of. Easter eggs? Out the ass.

      Man some of those levels. Like the Shrooms giant trampoline level. I practically puked because the disorientation. The codes? /JOHNWOO? The gibbs? So jucie. Their God, and Dog modes. Especially Dog mode in multi-player.

      The missles, the heat seeking, the flame wall and the tears. Oh the sweet sweet tears of my enemies.

      And the excalibat. Multiplayer. On the baseball diamond. And hitting a heat seeker out of the park, and into the guy that just shot it at you. Funny. So funny. So very very funny.

      Oddly enought, I just found my Old ROTT disks the other day. The full version was pretty hard to come by last time I looked for it too....

    3. Re:So many memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ROTT? Nice game, pity about the balance. I made it as far as the NME boss without any problems, and it made mincemeat of me every evening for about a week, and then I never played the game again. (I was going through an anti-cheating phase at the time.)

    4. Re:So many memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      NME? Was that the rolling missle bot? Yeah, pain in the ass. I can't remember what I had to do to beat him the first time. But there was no taking it out with a pistol like the missle chucking cyberdemon from DooM. I just remember there was something tricky and gay about it.

      There was one of those in the secret shroom level with the trampolines. I had to use codes to get out of that. If I didn't I never would have, and filled my dorm room with puke in the attempt.

  8. My first real problem with floppy disks by octover · · Score: 1

    Doom was my first experience with how floppies can be fickle. I remember my cousin who introduced me to Wolfenstein 3D, told me his dad had gotten a new game like it called Doom. I think it took like two weeks from when I first got a set of disks with the Doom demo on them before I got a complete set that all of the disks worked. I had even tried downloading it from a local BBS (a hard thing to do when you are not allowed to leave the computer on overnight, and use the modem on your family's only phone line). There was nothing worse then having the 2nd or 3rd disc not work in my computer or my cousin's. Finally after a lot of persistence we got to enjoy Doom.

    1. Re:My first real problem with floppy disks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I did something similar with the shareware version of Quake - I had a modem, and a friend didn't, and he wanted a copy of the demo.

      Cue large piles of floppy disks, which all had to be virus checked at the friend's father's office (it being a PC provided by his work). A good proportion failed, and after several weeks we eventually gave up. He only had a 486 anyway, so it was probably for the best. Plus the school's resident Doom nut bursting out laughing when we told him what we were doing probably didn't help.

      I got a similar vibe years later when transferring the Deus Ex demo over Zip disks - only for one of them to fail. Aaargh.

  9. Oh the blood. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I couldn't have been the only one who messed with the animation pointers so little bluod drops and big blood drops would form small and large pools of blood that would persist indefinately.

    The only problem was one of the short cuts doom would use to determine what it should render could cause an enemy heavy room to lay down enough blood that stuff behind it would be occluded.

    Yeah, that was a good util. The T2 "easy money" patch, and who can forget the Aliens TC patch. Badass with a capital "Mo' Fo'"

    1. Re:Oh the blood. by xalres · · Score: 1

      I remember doing the blood splatters on the floor. Only problem was all those sprites on the screen at once would make my poor lil 486 SCREAM. It was so satisfying to see huge pools of the stuff after you took out a Hell Knight with your last 20 shotgun shells. One other thing I remember doing was making all of the "explodable" enemies' death animations into an endless loop of exploding piles of slop. The sound generated by a roomfull of those was pretty disgusting...That's it! I'm gonna go download DHE again!

      --
      If whales learn how to use weapons we're all screwed!
  10. Ah, memories... by SuperMo0 · · Score: 1

    Doom was my introduction to FPS gaming... currently I'm into CounterStrike... However, I'm not all that excited about Doom 3, if only because I don't have the computer to run it...

  11. sprites! lots and lots and lots of sprites! by kisrael · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One advantage that DOOM had over later game was in using sprites, it could put TONS of enemies and projectiles on screen. Not only that, but the corpses would STAY THERE, like a gory trail of breadcrumbs marking your path...

    Quake and other all-polygone games only really reflected DOOM's "survival-horror"-ish vibe, and didn't have the ability to throw tons and tons of enemies at you. And the "corpses just fade away" shtick was a throwback to 8-bit NES 'punch 'em til they blink' dynamics.

    I think the currently released game that comes closest to DOOM's too many enemies, corpses stick around vibe is Halo. Serious Sam tries for some of the same vibe, but still...after all, Master Cheif looks a LOT like the Space Marine...

    --
    SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
    1. Re:sprites! lots and lots and lots of sprites! by xalres · · Score: 1

      I think you really hit on something there. you mentioned two of, what I think, are the best shooters ever, DOOM and Halo. I think part of what makes them so great is being able to turn your enemies into permanent parts of the scenery. There's some visceral pleasure you get walking back through a tough fought battleground littered with the bodies of your enemies.

      --
      If whales learn how to use weapons we're all screwed!
  12. Don't forget the 5 year stuff... by bigbigbison · · Score: 3, Informative

    Doomworld still has some pretty usefull stuff up from their last celebration, five years ago. 5 Years of Doom is still a pretty interesting read.

    --
    http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
  13. The newer DooM ports by axolotl_farmer · · Score: 4, Informative

    Remember that DooM is still being developed. The newer source ports adds a lot to the DooM experience, like higher resolutions, mouselook and even 3d models.

    Check out ZDooM available for Windows and Linux. It's a very stable port that adds a lot of playability compared to running iD's original DooM under Win32.

    Also JDooM, a fun port that adds a lot of eyecandy under OpenGL.

    This post is pretty much a rerun of one of my earlier!

    1. Re:The newer DooM ports by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 0

      Don't forget Doom Legacy, possibly the best Doom source port available for Linux. It's been actively developed for some 5 or 6 years now, and seems very, very solid.

      But since jDoom will probably be out for Linux soon, Legacy Doom might fade a bit in comparison...

      --
      Eat the rich.
    2. Re:The newer DooM ports by Kris_J · · Score: 1
      Or Doom for Series 60 mobile phones...

      I've also played Doom on a Kodak DC265 digital camera.

  14. First look by DrMorris · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is how Doom looked like when it was still at alpha stage.

    1. Re:First look by Suppafly · · Score: 1

      This is how Doom looked like when it was still at alpha stage.

      Awesome, I had no idea that doom originally implemented some of cool HUD features that many modern games have.. It's a shame some of that stuff didn't make the cut.. Although, the maybe in the long run the game was better without them.

  15. jDoom servers? by antdude · · Score: 1

    Is anyone running jDoom servers? Everytime I try to find a game server through master server, I find none.

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  16. Man... by AdamTrace · · Score: 1

    I still remember it like it was yesterday...

    I was in my freshman dorm room at UC Davis at midnight, reading newgroups and pounding on FTP sites (that were all full, 250/250 users or something!)

    Finally, I got on (I think it was cactus.org) and was able to download the puppy. I'm pretty sure I played the entire shareware version that night, and for many more to come.

    What a game...

  17. Happy Birthday Doom by Thrymm · · Score: 1

    Many a days and drunken nights were used to play this and all the user created mods! Fun times!

  18. I posted this on Monday by Zevets · · Score: 1

    I hate to be bitter, and I know i will be moderated down, but I posted this on Monday about the same article.

    --

    Mod Wisely.

  19. Doom's impact by Castaa · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In my opinion Doom pushed the bar higher than any video game ever in any era.

    Here are seven reason why I believe this:

    1.) Network play
    While id Software didn't invent it they certainly made put Deathmatch on the map.

    2.) Sound and Lighting
    Both were used with tremendous skill to set a very suspenseful mood. You could hear the creatures but the question was, where were they?

    3.) Visual Quality
    It was the state of the art in video game graphics when it was released. The 2D sprite art and 3D texture maps were the best seen in that era.

    4.) Level design
    The level design was inspired. The player was challenged with puzzles, secrets and traps in nearly every map. When has pressing a single been a source simultaneous terror and excitement.

    5.) Scary
    This game was scary as hell. There were times when I would have to quit playing late a night because I was actually freaked out.

    6.) Mod community
    This game also set a standard for player created maps and content.

    7.) FUN
    Whether it was blowing away 3 imps with one shotgun blast or getting a room of demons to destroy themselves, this game was packed with fun things to do and experience.

    --
    Chew: You Nexus, huh? I design your eyes.
    Roy: Chew, if only you could see what I've seen with your eyes.
    1. Re:Doom's impact by pipingguy · · Score: 1

      Not to mention introducing the concept of "3D" walkthru to millions.

  20. The birth of hobby networking by Psykechan · · Score: 2

    1.) Network play

    Agreed. I consider Doom to be the birth of hobbyist networking. Just think about how many IT professionals got their start playing this game.

  21. Doom fan before it was cool by Teddy+Beartuzzi · · Score: 3, Interesting
    One of the cooler events in my life so far has to do with Doom. I used to call long distance to BIX, the Byte magazine online bulletin board. One of the discussion groups was graphics, and Michael Abrash used to hang out there. It was extremely cool to get help with your clipping algorithms etc from a master.

    So one day, this young guy starts posting about this graphic stuff he's working on for an upcoming game, and his problems and solutions, and Abrash and him start getting into deep discussions (which quickly flew over my head, couldn't keep up at all). You could tell this kid was deeply impressing Abrash, and doing things in ways he'd never thought of.

    As you've guessed, the kid was John Carmack, and the upcoming game was Doom.

    I'd love to find an archive of those discussions, they were fantastic.

  22. Anyone here made DOOM maps/mods? by antdude · · Score: 1

    I made two mini-mods during the crazy DOOM years. :)

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  23. Amazing stuff by slux · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The 100 best Doom WADs feature on Doomworld is really worth checking out. I remember playing Tei Tenga with Zdoom and couldn't believe what I was seeing - Zdoom's scripting makes it possible to have dialog, movable objects, new effects, colored lighting (ok that's maybe not scripting) and map nodes that make it possible to return to earlier "levels". Teitenga is simply one of the best single player experiences I've had and I do include all the newer games in that. Only Deus Ex is even comparable.

    The original doom gameplay dynamics which still are excellent combined with modern scripting features and the level of detail possible only with today's machines and source ports really make Doom a great experience.

    One more great news for today is that Daedalus, formerly known as Doom2000 has finally been released. It's done by the folks that made Final Doom's levels, TeamTNT. Sadly I can't play it as it requires a 2.0.x series Zdoom and that hasn't yet been ported to GNU/Linux. Oh well, I guess I'll go celebrate with finishing The Plutonia experiment and TNT: Evilution from Final Doom. :)