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Code Review of Doom For the iPhone

Posted by Soulskill on from the old-dogs-new-tricks dept.

Developer Fabien Sanglard has written a code review for id Software's iPhone port of Doom. It's an interesting look into how the original 1993 game (which he also reviewed to understand its rendering process) was adapted to a modern platform. "Just like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom was rendering a screenframe pixel per pixel. The only way to do this on iPhone with an acceptable framerate would be to use CoreSurface/CoreSurface.h framework. But it is unfortunately restricted and using it would prevent distribution on the AppStore. The only solution is to use OpenGL, but this comes with a few challenges: Doom was faking 3D with a 2D map. OpenGL needs real 3D vertices. More than 3D vertices, OpenGL needs data to be sent as triangles (among other things because they are easy to rasterize). But Doom sectors were made of arbitrary forms. Doom 1993's perspective was also faked, it was actually closer to an orthogonal projection than a perspective projection. Doom was using VGA palette indexing to perform special effect (red for damage, silver for invulnerable...)."

12 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Already done by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    When in slashdot, nerds dont RTFA.

  2. Re:Already done by VShael · · Score: 5, Funny

    did you even read the article?

    You must be new here...

  3. Re:Pushing pixels by pananza · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nah, too easy and direct approach.

  4. Bloody Hell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I thought it was "Code Review of Doom" for the iPhone not "Code Review" of "Doom for the iPhone".
    I've seen some "code reviews of doom". I was looking forward to some juicy ApplePain.
    Oh well.

  5. Re:Already done by sznupi · · Score: 2, Funny

    What makes articles slashdotted anyway?...

    Or is that some mystery not approachable "even" by 6-digiters?

    --
    One that hath name thou can not otter
  6. Re:Classics never die by Hadlock · · Score: 4, Funny

    DOOM was a good game but it wasn't ground breaking in the same way that Quake was a few years later. It was the first FPS to do real 3D, and gave birth to real FPS competitive play, based on the groundwork that DOOM did with FPS LAN play. Aside from that, the Quake engine led to all sorts of interesting gamemodes and mods that live with us still (Team Fortress was originally a Quake mod), and the physics of Quake 1 still has a legacy today (rocket jumping, bunny hopping).

    You sir, have a career in video game blogging! Let me sign you up for a 3000 word "Top 10 Groundbreaking games of the 1990s" blog entry.

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  7. I'd like to read this article by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Funny

    But it won't fit on a 800 pixel wide screen. WTF? I thought it was a code review, not a flash game.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  8. Re:Already done by JosKarith · · Score: 2, Funny

    10,000 geeks hitting a server designed for 1000 connections max. Simultaneously.

    --
    'Don't worry' said the trees when they saw the axe coming, 'The handle is one of us.'
  9. Re:Classics never die by imakemusic · · Score: 2, Funny

    it's story line is simple and not drug out

    Unlike, say, Pacman in which the main character spends the entire game eating pills.

    I think the word you're looking for is 'dragged'.

    --
    Brain surgery - it's not rocket science!
  10. Re:Already done by buanzo · · Score: 2, Funny

    .\ is the MS-DOS oriented slashdot, right?

    --
    Buanzo Consulting - 15 Years of GNU/Linux experience, for you.
  11. Re:What's with this CoreSurface licensing restrict by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    What was that RMS was saying again?

    I don't remember, I was too busy watching him while he was talking.

  12. Code Review of DOOM by asylumx · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think this is how I'll start referring to ALL my code reviews ;-)