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139-400: There are two types of WADs: IWADs (internal WADs) and PWADs (patch WADs). IWADs contain the data necessary to load the game, while PWADs contain additional data, such as new character sprites, as necessary for custom levels. When developing Doom , id Software was aware that many players had tried to create custom levels and other modifications for their previous game, Wolfenstein 3D , but

278-472: A Doom editing program created by Greg Lewis, addressed this by letting users modify parameters inside of the Doom executable itself, allowing for a greater degree of customization. Around 1994 and 1995, WADs were distributed primarily through BBSs and via CD collections found in computer shops or bundled together with instruction guides for level creation, while in later years Internet FTP servers became

417-449: A level (also referred to as a map , mission , stage , course , or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively increasing difficulty to appeal to players with different skill levels. Each level may present new concepts and challenges to keep a player's interest high. In games with linear progression, levels are areas of

556-425: A loading screen while the game loaded level information from storage. With more advanced computing hardware with faster input/output data transfer rates, such as optical drives, hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), and larger amounts of memory, game developers have been able to take advantage of continuously loading new level assets – models, textures, and audio – into

695-435: A video game . An individual involved with the development of game levels is a level designer or mapper. In some cases, the developer of a video game includes built-in level editing tools; for example, a track editor for a racing game. Other times they may release an official level editor for the game as a separate application. Sometimes players of the game develop fan-made level editors. Developing level editors will allow

834-400: A "paradigm shift", prompting the rise in popularity of 3D games, first-person shooters, licensed technology between developers, and support for game modifications. It helped spark the rise of both online multiplayer games and player-driven content generation, and popularized the business model of online distribution. In their book Dungeons & Dreamers: A Story of how Computer Games Created

973-439: A 3D editing mode. As of now, these variants have been discontinued, but a newer fork has been released and is regularly updated, known as Ultimate Doom Builder. Many specialized Doom editors are used to modify graphics and audio lumps, such as XWE, SLADE, Wintex, and SLumpEd. The DeHackEd executable patching utility modifies monsters, items, and weapon behavior. In ZDoom, users can create new monsters, weapons, and items through

1112-403: A Global Community in 2014, Brad King and John Borland claimed that Doom was one of the first widespread instances of an "online collective virtual reality", and did more than any other game to create a modern world of "networked games and gamers". PC Gamer proclaimed Doom the most influential game of all time in 2004, and in 2023 said its development was one of the most well-documented in

1251-664: A community that has persisted for decades since. The deathmatch mode was an important factor in its popularity. Doom was the first game to coin the term "deathmatch" and introduced multiplayer shooting battles to a wide audience. This led to a widespread community of players who had never experienced fast-paced multiplayer combat before. Another popular aspect of Doom was the versatility of its WAD files, enabling user-generated levels and other game modifications. John Carmack and Romero had strongly advocated for mod support, overriding other id employees who were concerned about commercial and legal implications. Although WAD files exposed

1390-409: A complete free version of Heretic , but is less fully developed than Freedoom, from which it has recycled assets. Currently three episodes are drafted and a deathmatch set called BlasphDM is available. Zauberer and Lastermaul have also been initiated for Hexen , and Animosity for Strife . Many level editors are available for Doom . The original Doom Editing Utility (DEU) was ported to

1529-480: A deep story, he wanted to focus on technological innovation, dropping the levels and episodes of Wolfenstein in favor of a fast, continuous world. Hall disliked the idea, but the rest of the team sided with Carmack. Hall spent the next few weeks reworking the Doom Bible to work with Carmack's technological ideas. However, the team then realized that Carmack's vision for a seamless world would be impossible given

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1668-415: A different environment. Level designers sometimes make hidden rooms and areas that usually require more effort for the player to reach or to notice. These usually give some additional rewards, such as ammo or powerups. They serve to induce players to explore. Sometimes, they serve as easter eggs , containing messages such as the level designers' names or pictures, or political or humorous messages. One of

1807-404: A different level each time, until he finally confronts Kong. 1983's Lode Runner was one of the first titles to ship with a level editor. Its designer, Doug Smith , reputedly paid neighborhood children to design levels for the game. The same year, the multiplayer dungeon crawl Dandy was released, and it also shipped with a level editor which was documented in the manual. ZZT (1991)

1946-532: A four-player online multiplayer mode was made available one year after launch through the DWANGO service. Doom is divided into three episodes, each containing about nine levels: "Knee-Deep in the Dead", "The Shores of Hell", and "Inferno". A fourth episode, "Thy Flesh Consumed", was added in an expanded version, The Ultimate Doom , released two years after Doom . The campaign contains very few plot elements, with

2085-467: A full, free game. The project distributes three IWAD files: the two single-player campaigns named Freedoom: Phase 1 and Freedoom: Phase 2 , and FreeDM , which contains a collection of deathmatch levels. Originally a Boom-oriented mapset, it was later made merely limit-removing, and finally fully vanilla compatible, allowing play through the original executable and conservative ports like Chocolate Doom . A similar project, Blasphemer , aims to create

2224-505: A game than simply adding new levels, a software development kit (SDK) is sometimes needed. In the early years of video gaming, some games came with a utility called a "construction set". This was similar in many ways to a level editor. Some games used them to make extra levels, whereas others (like the Shoot-'Em-Up Construction Kit ) used them as a means to develop a game rather than be a game in itself. Maps' design can significantly impact

2363-598: A gaming platform, and Microsoft CEO Bill Gates briefly considered buying the company. When id declined, Microsoft made its own licensed port, with a team led by Gabe Newell . One promotional video for Windows 95 had Gates digitally superimposed into the game. Other official ports of Doom were released for the 32X and Atari Jaguar in 1994, SNES and PlayStation in 1995, 3DO in 1996, Sega Saturn in 1997, Acorn Risc PC in 1998, Game Boy Advance in 2001, Xbox 360 in 2006, iOS in 2009, and Nintendo Switch , Xbox One , PlayStation 4 , and Android in 2019, with

2502-411: A great improvement. Hall was upset with the reception of his designs and how little impact he was having as the lead designer. He was also upset with how much he was having to fight with John Carmack to get what he saw as obvious gameplay improvements, such as flying enemies, and began to spend less time at work. The other developers, however, felt that Hall was not in sync with the team's vision and

2641-400: A larger world, such as Green Hill Zone . Games may also feature interconnected levels, representing locations. Although the challenge in a game is often to defeat some sort of character, levels are sometimes designed with a movement challenge, such as a jumping puzzle, a form of obstacle course . Players must judge the distance between platforms or ledges and safely jump between them to reach

2780-407: A level. Sometimes, professional 3D editing software , such as 3D Studio Max , Blender , AutoCAD , Lightwave , Maya , Softimage XSI or Grome is used, usually customized with a special plugin developed for the specific game. A level editor (also known as a map , campaign or scenario editor ) is a game development tool used to design levels, maps, campaigns and virtual worlds for

2919-557: A line from the 1986 film The Color of Money : " 'What you got in there?' / 'In here? Doom. ' " The team agreed to pursue the Doom concept, and development began in November 1992. The initial development team was composed of five people: programmers John Carmack and Romero, artists Adrian Carmack and Kevin Cloud , and designer Hall. They moved operations to a dark office building, naming it "Suite 666" while drawing inspiration from

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3058-544: A long-running meme , "Can it run Doom ?" and "It runs Doom ". Upon its release in December 1993, Doom became an "overnight phenomenon". It was an immediate financial success for id, making a profit within a day after release. Although the company estimated that only 1% of shareware downloaders bought the full game, this was enough to generate initial daily revenue of US$ 100,000 , selling in one day what Wolfenstein had sold in one month. By May 1994, Wilbur said that

3197-426: A marked exit room. Levels are grouped into named episodes, with the final level of each focusing on a boss fight . While traversing the levels, the player must fight a variety of enemies, including demons and possessed undead humans. Enemies often appear in large groups. The five difficulty levels adjust the number of enemies and amount of damage they do, with enemies moving and attacking faster than normal on

3336-526: A minimal story presented mostly through the instruction manual and text descriptions between episodes. In the future, an unnamed marine is posted to a dead-end assignment on Mars after assaulting a superior officer who ordered his unit to fire on civilians. The Union Aerospace Corporation, which operates radioactive waste facilities there, allows the military to conduct secret teleportation experiments that turn deadly. A base on Phobos urgently requests military support, while Deimos disappears entirely, and

3475-633: A more distinctive setting or mood. Both single-player and deathmatch multiplayer levels are common. WADs may have a level pack in the form of an episode , replacing nine levels, and sometimes in the form of a megawad , which replaces 15 or more levels in the game (27 in Doom , 32 in Doom II , 36 in The Ultimate Doom ). A WAD that gives the game an overhaul to incorporate an entirely different game setting , character set, and story, instead of simply providing new levels or graphic changes,

3614-461: A new 3D game engine from the lead programmer, John Carmack . The designer Tom Hall initially wrote a science fiction plot, but he and most of the story were removed from the project, with the final game featuring an action-heavy design by John Romero and Sandy Petersen . Id published Doom as a set of three episodes under the shareware model, marketing the full game by releasing the first episode free. A retail version with an additional episode

3753-525: A new engine Carmack was developing. Co-founder and lead designer Tom Hall proposed a new game in the Commander Keen series, but the team decided that the Keen platforming gameplay was a poor fit for Carmack's fast-paced 3D engines. Additionally, the other co-founders, designer John Romero and lead artist Adrian Carmack (no relation to John Carmack) wanted to create something in a darker style than

3892-790: A number of operating systems , but lost significance over time; many modern Doom editors still have their roots in DEU and its editing paradigm, including DETH, DeePsea, Linux Doom Editor, and Yadex and its fork Eureka. Other level editors include WadAuthor, Doom Builder (released in January 2003), Doom Builder 2 (released in May 2009 as the successor to Doom Builder), GZDoom Builder (released in March 2012), and Doom Builder X (released in September 2017). Some Doom level editors, such as Doom Builder family feature

4031-494: A pistol, a shotgun , a chainsaw , a plasma rifle , and the BFG 9000 . The player also encounters pits of toxic waste , ceilings that lower and crush objects, and locked doors requiring a collectable keycard or a remote switch. Power-ups include health or armor points, a mapping computer, partial invisibility , a radiation suit against toxic waste, invulnerability, or a super-strong melee berserker status. Cheat codes allow

4170-456: A pre-rendered map of the level (or entire game world) for the player. Level design is necessary for two primary purposes: providing players with a goal and providing players with enjoyable play experience. Good level design strives to produce quality gameplay, provide an immersive experience, and sometimes, especially in story-based games, to advance the storyline. Levels are generally constructed with flow control in mind; that is, directing

4309-448: A range of groups. Doom has been ported to a variety of platforms both officially and unofficially and has been followed by several games in the series, including Doom II (1994), Doom 64 (1997), Doom 3 (2004), Doom (2016), Doom Eternal (2020), and Doom: The Dark Ages (2025), as well as the films Doom (2005) and Doom: Annihilation (2019). Doom is a first-person shooter presented with 3D graphics . While

Doom modding - Misplaced Pages Continue

4448-562: A scripting language called DECORATE, made to address many of the shortcomings of DeHackEd, such as not being able to add new objects, and not being able to deviate far from the behavior of the original weapons and monsters. In Quake , WAD files were replaced with PAK files. WAD files still remain in Quake files, though their use is limited to textures. Since WAD2 and WAD3 use a slightly larger directory structure, they are incompatible with Doom . Level (video gaming) In video games ,

4587-540: A specific spot where they do not have to move to gain experience , because monsters are constantly spawned but can be easily and immediately killed. In multiplayer maps, a player may be able to reach areas of the map designed to be inaccessible; for example, reaching an advantageous rooftop position and camping other players. A player might be able to fall out-of-bounds of a map where other players cannot reach them. Invisible walls are cited to be level design bugs, and might be "left-over geometry" from an earlier version of

4726-448: A starting base, but will have resource distribution and terrain features designed to draw players out of their base and engage each other. Teamplay maps can provide noticeable advantages to one team over another, when designed poorly. Commonly on older hardware, most games would load a single level and all of its assets at one time, and when the player completed the level, the next level would be loaded. The player would be presented with

4865-456: A teleporter to the Deimos base. After the battle, the marine passes through the teleporter and is knocked unconscious by a horde of enemies, awakening with only a pistol. In "The Shores of Hell", the marine fights through corrupted research facilities on Deimos, culminating in the defeat of a gigantic cyberdemon. From an overlook, he discovers that the moon is floating above hell and rappels down to

5004-488: A third programmer, Dave Taylor . Petersen and Romero designed the rest of Doom 's levels, with different aims: the team believed that Petersen's designs were more technically interesting and varied, while Romero's were more aesthetically interesting. In late 1993, a month before release, John Carmack began to add multiplayer. After the multiplayer component was coded, the development team began playing four-player games, which Romero termed "deathmatch", and Cloud named

5143-458: A total high data throughput can eliminate the need for any loading tunnels in a seamless world game. A level designer is a game designer who makes environments and scenarios using a level editor and other tools. Level designers will usually work on a level from pre-production to completion – working with both incomplete and complete versions of the game. Video game programmers usually produce level editors and design tools for

5282-461: A valid direction. Another early modification is Aliens TC , a total conversion based on the film Aliens . Even though WADs modified Doom by replacing graphics and audio, the amount of customization was somewhat limited; much of the game's behavior, including the timing and strength of weapons and enemies, was hard-coded in the Doom executable file and impossible to alter in WADs. DeHackEd ,

5421-416: A year. Doom II was followed by an expansion pack from id, Master Levels for Doom II (1995), consisting of 21 commissioned levels and over 3000 user-created levels for Doom and Doom II . Two sets of Doom II levels by different amateur map-making teams were released together by id as the standalone game Final Doom (1996). Doom and Doom II were both included, along with previous id games, in

5560-448: Is a first-person shooter game developed and published by id Software . Released on December 10, 1993, for DOS , it is the first installment in the Doom franchise . The player assumes the role of a space marine , later unofficially referred to as Doomguy , fighting through hordes of undead humans and invading demons . The game begins on the moons of Mars and finishes in hell , with

5699-503: Is a later game with user-accessible mapping and scripting. A game genre that required significant amounts of time to design areas were text-based games, such as MUDs . Often, promoted users were assigned to make new paths, new rooms, new equipment, and new actions, often using the game interface itself. 3D first-person shooters Doom (1993) and Doom II (1994) were two of the first games to attract focused game modding activity, and many WAD level files were made for them. One of

Doom modding - Misplaced Pages Continue

5838-554: Is called a total conversion . The phrase was coined by Justin Fisher, as part of the title of Aliens TC , or Aliens Total Conversion . Add-ons that provide extensive changes to a similar degree but retain distinctive parts or characteristics of the original games, such as characters or weapons, are often by extension called partial conversions . Since custom map editing started in 1994, many Doom , Doom II and Doom 64 WADs have been created, and some have acquired fame even outside of

5977-478: Is commonly done using a level editor, a game development software designed for building levels; however, some games feature built-in level editing tools. In the early days of video games (1970s–2000s), a single programmer would develop the maps and layouts for a game, and a discipline or profession dedicated solely to level design did not exist. Early games often featured a level system of ascending difficulty as opposed to progression of storyline. An example of

6116-501: Is credited with creating the first custom WAD for Doom , called Origwad , on March 7, 1994. Soon, countless players were creating custom WADs and sharing them over AOL , the CompuServe forums, and other Internet-based channels. Many of the WADs were made in the style of the base game, others were based on existing TV series , films , or original themes. Some of the id Software staff have revealed that they were impressed by some of

6255-430: Is regarded as one of the most important games in the genre. It has been cited by video game historians as shifting the direction and public perception of the medium as a whole, as well as sparking the rise of online games and communities. It led to an array of imitators and clones , as well as a robust modding scene and the birth of speedrunning as a community. Its high level of graphic violence led to controversy from

6394-419: The Doom engine allows for walls and floors at any angle or height but does not allow areas to be stacked vertically. The lighting system is based on adjusting the color palette of surfaces directly. Rather than calculating how light traveled from light sources to surfaces using ray tracing , the game calculates the "light level" of a small area based on the predetermined brightness of said area. It then modifies

6533-401: The Doom Bible as a whole was rejected. Romero wanted a game even "more brutal and fast" than Wolfenstein , which did not leave room for the character-driven plot Hall had created. Additionally, the team believed it emphasized realism over entertaining gameplay, and they did not see the need for a design document at all. Some ideas were retained, but the story was dropped and most of the design

6672-435: The Doom Bible , and a "pre-alpha" version of the first level included Hall's introductory base scene. Initial versions also retained Wolfenstein ' s arcade -style scoring , but this was later removed as it clashed with Doom ' s intended tone. The studio also experimented with other game systems before removing them, such as lives , an inventory, a secondary shield, and a complex user interface. Soon, however,

6811-636: The Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons and could not be sold to children or displayed where they could see it, which was only rescinded in 2011. Doom again sparked controversy in the United States when it was found that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold , who committed the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999, were avid players. While planning for the massacre, Harris said in his journal that

6950-493: The Keen games. John Carmack conceived a game about using technology to fight demons, inspired by a Dungeons & Dragons campaign the team played . This campaign would also influence the design of Quake (1996) and Daikatana (2000). More broadly the team intended to combine the styles of the Evil Dead II and Aliens films. The working title was Green and Pissed , but Carmack renamed it Doom based on

7089-602: The README file included with the program distribution. Yadex, a fork of DEU 5.21 for Unix systems running the X Window System , was later released under the GNU/GPL license. Carmack additionally released the source code for the utilities used to create the game, but these were programmed in Objective-C , for NeXT workstations, and were therefore not directly usable by the mass userbase of IBM PC compatible . Jeff Bird

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7228-412: The id Anthology compilation (1996). The Doom franchise has continued since the 1990s in several iterations and forms. The video game series includes Doom 3 (2004), Doom (2016), and Doom Eternal (2020), along with other spin-off video games. It additionally includes multiple novels , a comic book, board games, and two films: Doom (2005) and Doom: Annihilation (2019). Doom

7367-512: The "grandfather of 3D shooters", it established the genre's popularity and its reputation for fast action and technological advancement. When most of the studio began work on additional episodes for Wolfenstein , id co-founder and lead programmer John Carmack instead began technical research on a new game. Following the release of Wolfenstein 3D: Spear of Destiny in September 1992, the team began to plan their next game. They were tired of Wolfenstein and wanted to create another 3D game using

7506-636: The Jaguar version high scores, comparing it favorably with the PC version. GamePro and Computer and Video Games also rated the 32X version highly, though they noted that the graphics were worse and the game shorter than the PC or Jaguar versions. The 1995 ports received mixed reviews. The PlayStation version was rated highly by HobbyConsolas , GamePro , and Maximum , which praised the inclusion of Doom II and extra levels, and favorably compared it to other PlayStation shooter games. The SNES version, however,

7645-664: The Sega Saturn port also met with low reviews for poor graphics and low quality from Mean Machines and Sega Saturn Magazine . Doom has been termed "inarguably the most important" first-person shooter, as well as the "father" of the genre. Although not the first in the genre, it was the game with the greatest impact. Dan Pinchbeck in Doom: Scarydarkfast (2013) noted the direct influence of Doom ' s design choices on those of first-person and third-person shooter games two decades later, as influenced by

7784-448: The United States. This led PC Data to declare it the country's 4th-best-selling computer game since 1993. The Ultimate Doom sold over 780,000 units by September 1999, and all versions combined sold 3.5 million copies by the end of 1999. In addition to sales, an estimated six million people played the shareware version by 2002; other sources estimated in 2000 that 10–20 million people played Doom within 24 months of its launch. Doom

7923-457: The WADs. John Carmack later said the following about a Star Wars -themed modification: I still remember the first time I saw the original Star Wars DOOM mod. Seeing how someone had put the Death Star into our game felt so amazingly cool. I was so proud of what had been made possible, and I was completely sure that making games that could serve as a canvas for other people to work on was

8062-491: The Year in 1993 shortly after release, and Computer Gaming World and PC Gamer UK did the same the year after. Reviewers heavily praised the single-player gameplay: Electronic Entertainment called it "a skull-banging, palm-sweating, blood-pounding game", while The Age said it was "a technically superb and thrilling 3D adventure". PC Zone called it the best arcade game ever, and it and Computer Gaming World praised

8201-464: The act of killing other players " fragging ". According to Romero, the deathmatch mode was inspired by fighting games such as Street Fighter II , Fatal Fury , and Art of Fighting . Doom was written largely in the C programming language, with a few elements in assembly language . The developers used NeXT computers running the NeXTSTEP operating system. The level and graphical data

8340-610: The belief that it would not be of any benefit to the company's business. Immediately after the initial shareware release of Doom on December 10, 1993, players began working on various tools to modify the game. On January 26, 1994, Brendon Wyber released the first public domain version of the Doom Editing Utility (DEU) program on the Internet, a program created by Doom fans which made it possible to create entirely new levels. DEU continued development until May 21 of

8479-405: The best video games ever for nearly three decades since its release. In 1995, Next Generation said it was "the most talked about PC game ever". The PC version was ranked the 3rd best video game by Flux in 1995, and in 1996 was ranked fifth best and third most innovative by Computer Gaming World . In 2000, Doom was ranked as the second-best game ever by GameSpot . The following year, it

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8618-405: The business team, planned the marketing and distribution of Doom . As id would make the most money from copies they sold directly to customers—up to 85% of the planned US$ 40 price—he decided to leverage the shareware market as much as possible. He believed that the mainstream press was uninterested in the game and bought only a single ad in any gaming magazine. Instead, he gave software retailers

8757-411: The color palette of that section's surface textures to mimic how dark it would look. This same system is used to cause far away surfaces to look darker than close ones. Romero came up with new ways to use Carmack's lighting engine, such as strobe lights. He programmed engine features such as switches and movable stairs and platforms. After Romero's complex level designs started to cause problems with

8896-518: The computer hardware sufficient time to load the assets for the next area. The player's speed may be reduced, while story cues are presented to draw the player's attention. The player may be required to enter areas in which their view of the world is plausibly restricted, sometimes referred to as "loading tunnels". With newer consoles, such as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S , special SSD arrays alongside software libraries that have

9035-428: The computer or console's memory as the player approaches the edge of one level and the start of a new one. This can effectively make the transition from one level to another level appear to be seamless and avoid the use of loading screens. This is known as level streaming or in-game streaming, and is often used for open world games to give the perception of a fully-interconnected space. There are often tricks used to give

9174-440: The designers to use. This eliminates the need for designers to access or modify game code . As opposed to the level editing tools sometimes available to the community, level designers often work with placeholders and prototypes aiming for level consistency and clear layout before required artwork is produced by game artists. Many level designers have skills as both a visual artist and game designer , although in recent years

9313-487: The development of other games: Around 1997, interest in Doom WADs began to decline, as attention was drawn to newer games with more advanced technology and more customizable design, including id Software's own Quake and Quake II , but a dedicated following continued into the new century, with modern Doom modding becoming more popular than Quake and Quake II modding. On December 23, 1997, id Software released

9452-569: The development team at id uploaded the first episode to the internet, letting interested players distribute it for them. The team was unable to connect to the FTP server at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where they planned to upload the game, since there were so many users already connected in anticipation of the release. The network administrator was forced to first increase the number of connections, and then kick off all users to make room. When

9591-511: The engine, Carmack began to use binary space partitioning to quickly select the reduced portion of a level that the player could see at a given time. Taylor, along with programming other features, added cheat codes to aid in development and left them in for players. Adrian Carmack was the lead artist for Doom , with Kevin Cloud as an additional artist. They designed the monsters to be "nightmarish", with graphics that were realistic and dark instead of staged or rendered. A mixed media approach

9730-482: The engine. Tom Hall is responsible for coming up with the name WAD. The idea of making Doom easily modifiable was primarily backed by Carmack, a well-known supporter of copyleft and the hacker ideal of people sharing and building upon each other's work, and by John Romero , who had hacked games in his youth and wanted to allow other gamers to do the same. In contrast, some video game artists, including Jay Wilbur and Kevin Cloud , objected due to legal concerns and

9869-457: The environment is shown in a 3D perspective, the enemies and objects are instead 2D sprites rendered at fixed angles, a technique sometimes referred to as 2.5D graphics or billboarding . In the single-player campaign mode, the player controls an unnamed space marine —later unofficially termed " Doomguy "—through military bases on the moons of Mars and in hell . To finish a level, the player must traverse through labyrinthine areas to reach

10008-483: The first games with a 3D engine to feature hidden features was Wolfenstein 3D , where certain walls could be pushed to reveal hidden passages. Sometimes, a whole level may be designed as a secret level. A bonus stage (also known as a bonus level or bonus round) is a special level within a video game designed to reward the player or players, and typically allows the player to collect extra points or power-ups . Bonus stage either have no enemies or hazards, or replace

10147-491: The former approach is the arcade shoot 'em up game Space Invaders (1978), where each level looks the same, repeating endlessly until the player loses all their lives . An example of the latter approach is the arcade platform game Donkey Kong (1981), which uses multiple distinct levels to progress a storyline; as Mario (originally called Jumpman) tries to rescue Pauline from Donkey Kong , each level ends with Kong fleeing with Pauline and then Mario having to complete

10286-415: The game because of their limited replay value. A minigame (also spelled mini-game or mini game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short video game often contained within another video game, and sometimes in application software or on a display of any form of hardware. A minigame contains different gameplay elements than the main game, may be optional, and is often smaller or more simplistic than

10425-407: The game creator to use the same load- and rendering routines as the game itself, and may make it easier and more pleasant to create levels. Developers of FOSS -games may argue that a game is not complete until other users easily can add new levels. One of the first 3D games which became popular partially due to level editors and fan-made maps, other game addons, and other works related to the game,

10564-476: The game data, id provided no instructions for how they worked. Still, players were able to modify leaked alpha versions of the game, allowing them to release level editors within weeks of the game's release. On January 26, 1994, university student Brendon Wyber led a group to create the first full level editor , the Doom Editor Utility, leading to the first custom level by Jeff Bird in March. It

10703-547: The game had sold over 65,000 copies, and estimated that the shareware version had been distributed over 1 million times. In 1995, Wilbur estimated the first-year sales as 140,000, while in 2002 Petersen said it had sold around 200,000 copies in its first year. By late 1995, Doom was estimated to be installed on more computers worldwide than Microsoft's new operating system, Windows 95 . According to PC Data , by April 1998 Doom ' s shareware edition had yielded 1.36 million units sold and US$ 8.74 million in revenue in

10842-428: The game in which it is contained. Minigames are sometimes also offered separately for free to promote the main game. Some minigames can also be bonus stages or secret levels. They are distinguishable from levels in that a level is an environment bound to a set of mechanics and rules that all defines all other normal levels in a game, whereas a minigame can use different rules and playstyles but may not necessarily be set in

10981-494: The game is usually designed to get players to explore the mechanics of the game, notably in World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. Cut scenes may be triggered by events in a level, but require distinctly different skills, and may be produced by a different person or team. The level design process may be iterated several times before achieving the desired outcome. Level designers and concept artists may also be required to provide

11120-420: The game's engine, including LucasArts 's Star Wars: Dark Forces (1995). Several other games termed Doom clones, such as PowerSlave (1996) and Duke Nukem 3D (1996), used the 1995 Build engine , a 2.5D engine inspired by Doom created by Ken Silverman with some consultation with John Carmack. After completing Doom , id Software began working on a sequel using the same engine, Doom II , which

11259-639: The game's levels in order to meet the console's launch date, while the PlayStation port includes The Ultimate Doom and Doom II . The source code for Doom was released under a non-commercial license in 1997, and freely released under the GNU General Public License in 1999. Due to the release of its source code, Doom has been unofficially ported to numerous platforms. These ports include esoteric devices such as smart thermostats, pianos, and Doom itself, which led to variations of

11398-597: The gameplay. For example, the gameplay may be shifted towards a platformer (by careful placement of platforms) or a puzzle game (by extensive use of buttons, keys, and doors). Some FPS maps may be designed to prevent sniping by not including any long hallways, while other maps may allow for a mix of sniping and closer combat. Gimmick maps are sometimes developed to explore selected features of gameplay, such as sniping or fist fighting. While they are briefly useful to level designers and interesting to experienced players, they are usually not included in final list of levels of

11537-493: The games released in the intervening years. Doom , and to a lesser extent Wolfenstein 3D , has been characterized as "mark[ing] a turning point" in the perception of video games in popular culture, with Doom and first-person shooters in general becoming the predominant perception of video games in media. Historians such as Tristan Donovan in Replay: The History of Video Games (2010) have termed it as causing

11676-503: The genre. Id Software licensed the Doom engine to several other companies, which resulted in several games similar to Doom , including Heretic (1994), Hexen: Beyond Heretic (1995), and Strife: Quest for the Sigil (1996). A Doom -based game called Chex Quest was released in 1996 by Ralston Foods as a promotion to increase cereal sales. Other games were inspired by Doom , if not rumored to be built by reverse engineering

11815-400: The graphics and levels but criticized the straightforward shooting gameplay. The review concluded: "If only you could talk to these creatures, then perhaps you could try and make friends with them, form alliances... Now, that would be interesting." The review attracted mockery and "if only you could talk to these creatures" became a running joke in video game culture . The multiplayer gameplay

11954-422: The graphics excellent and unlike any other game's. PC Zone , Dragon , Computer Gaming World , and Electronic Entertainment all praised the atmosphere and art direction, saying that the level design, lighting effects, and sound effects combined to create a "claustrophobic" and "nightmarish experience". Computer Gaming World also praised the music, as did The Mercury News , which called it as "ominous as

12093-413: The hardest difficulty setting. The monsters have simple behavior: they move toward their opponent if they see or hear them, and attack by biting, clawing, or using magic abilities such as fireballs. The player must manage supplies of ammunition, health , and armor while traversing the levels. The player can find weapons and ammunition throughout the levels or can collect them from dead enemies, including

12232-420: The hardware limitations, and Hall was forced to rework the design document once again. At the start of 1993, id put out a press release, touting Hall's story about fighting off demons while "knee-deep in the dead". The press release proclaimed the new 3D engine features that John Carmack had created, as well as aspects including multiplayer, that had not yet even been designed. Early versions were built to match

12371-616: The history of video games. It has also been used in scholarly research since its release, including for machine learning , video game aesthetics and design, and the effects of video games on aggression, memory, and attention. In 2007 Doom was listed among the ten " game canon " video games selected for preservation by the Library of Congress , and in 2015 The Strong National Museum of Play inducted Doom to its World Video Game Hall of Fame as part of its initial set of games. Doom has continued to be included highly in lists of

12510-513: The intensity. Id only gave a single press preview, to Computer Gaming World in June, to a glowing response, but had also released development updates to the public continuously throughout development on the nascent internet . Id began receiving calls from people interested in the game or angry that it had missed its planned release date, as anticipation built over the year. At midnight on December 10, 1993, after working for 30 straight hours testing,

12649-409: The killing would be "like playing Doom ". A rumor spread afterward that Harris had designed a custom Doom level that looked like the high school, populated with representations of Harris's classmates and teachers, which he used to practice for the shooting. Although Harris did design several custom Doom levels, which later became known as the " Harris levels ", none were based on the school. Doom

12788-421: The latter-most platforms (excluding Android) receiving a further expanded port alongside Doom II in 2024 along with ports for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S . Some of these became bestsellers even many years after the initial release. The ports did not all have the same content, with some having fewer levels, such as the 32X port created by John Carmack, which was released with only two-thirds of

12927-487: The level or an object's improperly aligned "collision box". In some cases, specific mapping tools can be designed to automatically detect problems such as falling "outside" a level, and reaching "stuck" areas. Careful level designers run these tools as the last step before releasing a new version of a level. In most cases, the best way to improve a map is by playtesting it with experienced players, and allowing them to try to exploit any problems. DeHackEd Doom

13066-451: The limited amount of additional content and recommended it only to major fans or those who had not played it. Fusion reviewed the edition positively, praising the difficulty of the new levels, as did GameSpot , which reviewed it from the perspective of introducing the game to new players. The first ports of Doom received comparable reviews to the original PC version. VideoGames , GamePro , and Computer and Video Games all gave

13205-522: The load. In 1995, id created an expanded version of Doom for the retail market with a fourth episode of levels, which was published by GT Interactive as The Ultimate Doom . Doom has also been ported to numerous different platforms, independent from id Software. The first port of Doom was an unofficial port to Linux, released by id programmer Dave Taylor in 1994; it was hosted by id but not supported or made official. Microsoft attempted to hire id to port Doom to Windows in 1995 to promote Windows as

13344-429: The marine joins a combat force to secure Phobos. He waits at the perimeter as ordered while the entire assault team is wiped out. With no way off the moon, and armed with only a pistol, he enters the base intent on revenge. In "Knee-Deep in the Dead", the marine fights demons and possessed humans in the military and waste facilities on Phobos. The episode ends with the marine defeating two powerful Barons of Hell guarding

13483-425: The modding community. The following is a select listing of popular and historically significant WADs. Freedoom is a project aiming to create a free replacement (modified BSD License ) for the set of graphics , music , sound effects , and levels (and miscellaneous other resources) used by Doom . Since the Doom engine is free software , it can be distributed along with the new resources, in effect providing

13622-437: The most imitated game of all time". These games were often referred to as " Doom clones ", with "first-person shooter" only overtaking it as the name of the genre after a few years. As the "first-person shooter" genre label had not yet solidified at the time, Doom was described as a "first person perspective adventure" and "atmospheric 3-D action game". Doom clones ranged from close imitators to more innovative takes on

13761-412: The most talented WAD makers from the Doom community to create official expansions and to compete with the unauthorized collection CDs. The team produced the 21 Master Levels , which, on December 26, 1995, were released on a CD along with Maximum Doom , a collection of 1,830 WADs that had been downloaded from the Internet. In 1996, Final Doom , a package of two 32-level megawads created by TeamTNT ,

13900-422: The next area. These puzzles can slow the momentum down for players of fast action games ; the first Half-Life 's penultimate chapter, "Interloper", featured multiple moving platforms high in the air with enemies firing at the player from all sides. Level design or environment design , is a discipline of game development involving the making of video game levels—locales, stages or missions. This

14039-416: The noises they heard from a neighboring dental practice. They also decided to cut ties with Apogee Software , their previous publisher, and self-publish Doom , as they felt that they were outgrowing the publisher and could make more money by self-publishing. In November, Hall delivered a design document that he called the "Doom Bible", detailing the project's plot, backstory, and design goals. His design

14178-534: The normal penalties for being struck by enemies or hazards with simply being thrown out of the bonus stage. Many bonus stages need to be activated or discovered in some manner, or certain conditions must be satisfied to access them. Otherwise, they appear after the player has completed a certain number of regular stages. There are many map bugs that level designers try to avoid, but sometimes go unnoticed for some time. A player might get stuck in map geometry with no way to escape or to die. A player might be able to find

14317-410: The option to sell copies of the first Doom episode at any price, in hopes of motivating customers to buy the full game directly from id. The team planned to release Doom in the third quarter of 1993 but ultimately needed more time. By December 1993, the team was working non-stop, with several employees sleeping at the office. Taylor said that the work gave him such a rush that he would pass out from

14456-403: The others. The weapons were made from combined parts of children's toys. The developers photographed themselves as well, using Cloud's arm for the marine's arm holding a gun, and Adrian's snakeskin boots and wounded knee for textures. The cover art was created by Don Ivan Punchatz , Gregor Punchatz's father, who worked from a short description of the game rather than detailed references. Romero

14595-417: The placing of game specific entities (actors), usually with the aid of a level editor. A level editor may be distributed as a complete stand-alone package, at times, rivaling commercial 3D modelling software. There are various steps involved in laying out a map and these steps may vary dramatically across the many different game genres that exist as of the 2020s. General steps include: The first level of

14734-404: The player to unlock all weapons, walk through walls, or become invulnerable. Two multiplayer modes are playable over a network: cooperative , in which two to four players team up to complete the main campaign, and deathmatch , in which two to four players compete to kill the other players' characters as many times as possible. Multiplayer was initially only playable over local networks, but

14873-418: The player towards the correct path. Similarly, clearly marked choke-points can be introduced. Another method is strategic placement of obstacles and aesthetic environment props that direct the player's attention to "clear" paths instead. This is often used in closed, "stuffed" environments. Levels may be designed to force the players to explore the map and advance. Most Real-Time Strategy maps give each player

15012-469: The player towards the goal of the level and preventing confusion and idling. This can be accomplished by various means. Often the level layouts feature power-ups and items positioned so that collecting them inevitably makes the player move in the correct direction. This is one of the basic player direction techniques and is most often seen in platformers. Lighting and illumination, as well as distinctly-coloured objects, are often used to unambiguously guide

15151-461: The player traversing each level to find its exit or defeat its final boss . It is an early example of 3D graphics in video games, and has enemies and objects as 2D images, a technique sometimes referred to as 2.5D graphics. Doom was the third major independent release by id Software, after Commander Keen (1990–1991) and Wolfenstein 3D (1992). In May 1992, id started developing a darker game focused on fighting demons with technology, using

15290-427: The primary method for obtaining these works. Although the Doom software license required that no profit be made from custom WADs, and Shawn Green objected to people selling their WADs for money, some WAD sets and shovelware bundles were nonetheless obtainable for a price at certain outlets. During this time, id Software was working on their next game, Quake , using new technology, but started projects picking up

15429-455: The procedures involved in creating and loading modifications for that game were cumbersome. John Carmack , lead programmer at id Software, designed the Doom internals from the ground up to allow players to extend the game. For that reason, game data such as levels, graphics , sound effects , and music are stored separately from the game engine , in "WAD" files, allowing for third parties to make new games without making any modifications to

15568-450: The reasons was a clear separation between the level files and game engine itself. Half-Life , Quake 3 , and many other games have notable mapping tools and communities focusing on user-generated content . Level design for each individual level in a modern game typically starts with concept art, sketches, renderings, and physical models. Once completed, these concepts transform into extensive documentation, environment modeling, and

15707-505: The responsibility for visual-, structural- and gameplay-related tasks has been increasingly divided among several specialists. A wide variety of tools may be used by someone designing and making a level. Although it is faster to design models and textures with general-purpose multimedia development tools, games usually require the data to be in a unique format suited for that game's engine . For this, specific compilers and converters of models, textures, and audio data may be required to lay out

15846-555: The same year. It was made possible by Matt Fell's release of the Unofficial Doom specifications. Shortly thereafter, Doom players became involved with further enhancing DEU. Raphaël Quinet spearheaded the program development efforts and overall project release, while Steve Bareman led the documentation effort and creation of the DEU Tutorial. More than 30 other people also helped with the effort and their names appear in

15985-412: The scenario". The Ultimate Doom received mixed reviews upon its release in 1995, as in the review from PC Zone , which gave it a score of 90/100 for new players but 20/100 for anyone who had the original game. The reviewer viewed it as solely a level pack due to the lack of new features and compared it negatively to the hundreds of free fan-made levels available on the internet. Joystick disliked

16124-504: The sounds to be distinct on the limited sound hardware of the time, even when many sounds were playing at once. He also designed the sound effects to play on different frequencies from those used for the MIDI music, so they would clearly cut through the music. Id Software planned to self-publish Doom for DOS -based computers and set up a distribution system leading up to the release. Jay Wilbur, who had been hired as CEO and sole member of

16263-470: The source code to the Doom engine , initially under a restrictive license. On October 3, 1999, it was released again under the terms of the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later . With the source code available, it became possible for programmers to modify any aspect of the game, remove technical limitations and bugs , and add entirely new features. These engine modifications, or Doom source ports , have since become

16402-484: The surface. In "Inferno", the marine battles through hell itself and destroys a cybernetic spider-demon that masterminded the invasion of the moons. When a portal to Earth opens, the marine steps through to discover that Earth has been invaded. "Thy Flesh Consumed" follows the marine's initial assault on the Earth invaders, setting the stage for Doom II . Id Software released Wolfenstein 3D in May 1992. Later called

16541-495: The target for much of the WAD editing activity, and with the decline of MS-DOS , using a source port became the only feasible way to play Doom for most people. Several source ports are in active development, and Doom retains a strong following of WAD creators. The most common type of WAD consists of a single level , usually retaining the theme of the original game, but possibly including new music and some modified graphics to define

16680-443: The team, and Romero incorporated both. Prince did not make music for specific levels, as they were composed before the levels were completed. Instead, Romero assigned each track to each level late in development. Prince created the sound effects based on short descriptions or concept art of a monster or weapon and adjusted them to match the completed animations. The monster sounds were created from animal noises, and Prince designed all

16819-506: The upload finished 30 minutes later, 10,000 people attempted to download the game at once, crashing the university's network. Within hours of Doom ' s release, university networks began banning Doom multiplayer games, as a rush of players overwhelmed their systems. The morning after release, John Carmack quickly released a patch in response to complaints of network congestion from administrators, who still needed to implement Doom -specific rules to keep their networks from crashing from

16958-482: The variety of monsters and weapons. Computer Gaming World concluded that it was "a virtuoso performance". Other reviewers, while also praising the gameplay, commented on the lack of complexity: Computer and Video Games found it captivating and praised the variety and complexity of the level design, but called the overall gameplay repetitive, while Dragon similarly praised the fast gameplay and level design, but said that overall it lacked depth. Edge praised

17097-508: Was Doom . The development of various third-party editors led to the formation of an online community trading fan-made maps. A level editor is often limited to designing levels for only a certain game engine . Developing a level editor takes a lot of time; it is more time- and cost-efficient to release multiple games using the same engine instead of developing a new engine and level editor for each game. As level editors generally allow for limited game-development work, to make larger changes to

17236-490: Was a science fiction horror concept wherein scientists on the Moon open a portal to an alien invasion. Over a series of levels, the player discovers that the aliens are demons while hell steadily infects the level design. John Carmack not only disliked the proposed story but dismissed the idea of having a story at all: "Story in a game is like story in a porn movie; it's expected to be there, but it's not that important." Rather than

17375-417: Was becoming a problem. In July the other founders of id fired Hall, who went to work for Apogee. He was replaced by Sandy Petersen in September, ten weeks before the game was released. Petersen later recalled that John Carmack and Romero wanted to hire other artists instead, but Cloud and Adrian disagreed, saying that a designer was required to help build a cohesive gameplay experience. The team also added

17514-429: Was dubbed a "mass murder simulator" by critic and Killology Research Group founder David Grossman . In the earliest release versions, the level E1M4: Command Control contains a swastika -shaped structure, which was put in as a homage to Wolfenstein 3D . The swastika was removed in later versions, out of respect for a military veteran's request, according to Romero. Doom ' s popularity and innovations attracted

17653-428: Was followed by "countless" others, including many based on other franchises like Aliens and Star Wars total conversion mods , as well as DeHackEd, a patch editor first released in 1994 by Greg Lewis that allowed editing of the game engine. Soon after the first mods appeared, id CEO Wilbur posted legal terms to the company's website, allowing mod authors to charge money without any fees to id, while also absolving

17792-525: Was highly praised in contemporaneous reviews. In April 1994, a few months after release, PC Gamer UK named it the third-best computer game of all time, claiming " Doom has already done more to establish the PC's arcade clout than any other title in gaming history," and PC Gamer US named it the best computer game of all time that August. It won the Best Action Adventure award at Cybermania '94 . GamesRadar UK named Doom Game of

17931-420: Was noted for weaker graphics and unresponsive controls, though reviewers such as Computer and Video Games , GamePro , and Next Generation were split on awarding high or middling scores due to these faults. Later 1990s ports received worse reviews; the 3DO port was panned by GamePro and Maximum for having worse graphics, a smaller screen size, and less intelligent enemies than any previous version, and

18070-520: Was notorious for its high levels of graphic violence and satanic imagery, which generated controversy from a broad range of groups. Doom for the 32X was one of the first video games to be given a Mature 17+ rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board due to its violent gore and nature, while Doom II was the first. In Germany, shortly after its publication, Doom was classified as "harmful to minors" by

18209-616: Was praised: Computer Gaming World called it "the most intense gaming experience available", and Dragon called it "the biggest adrenaline rush available on computers". PC Zone named it as the best multiplayer game available, in addition to the best arcade game. The 3D graphics and art style were praised by reviewers; Computer Gaming World called the graphics remarkable, while Edge said that it "made serious advances in what people will expect of 3D graphics in future", surpassing not only prior games but games that had yet to be released. Compute! and Electronic Games similarly called

18348-399: Was published in 1995 by GT Interactive as The Ultimate Doom . Doom was a critical and commercial success, earning a reputation as one of the best and most influential video games of all time. It sold an estimated 3.5 million copies by 1999, and up to 20 million people are estimated to have played it within two years of launch. It has been termed the "father" of first-person shooters and

18487-400: Was released as an official id Software product. Various first-person shooter games released at the time use the Doom engine under a commercial license from id Software, as such essentially being custom WADs packaged with the Doom engine, such as Hacx: Twitch 'n Kill (1997). In addition to the many people who contributed to commercially released WADs, various authors became involved with

18626-491: Was released to retail on October 10, 1994, ten months after the first game. GT Interactive had approached id before the release of Doom with plans to release a retail version of Doom and Doom II . Id chose to create the sequel as a set of episodes rather than a new game, allowing John Carmack and the other programmers to begin work on id's next game, Quake . Doom II was the United States' highest-selling software product of 1994 and sold more than 1.2 million copies within

18765-406: Was removed. By early 1993, Hall created levels that became part of an internal demo. Carmack and Romero, however, rejected the military architecture of Hall's level design. Romero especially believed that the boxy, flat level designs failed to innovate on Wolfenstein , and failed to show off the engine's capabilities. He began to create his own, more abstract levels, which the rest of the team saw as

18904-604: Was stored in WAD files, short for "Where's All the Data?", separately from the engine. This allowed for any part of the design to be changed without needing to adjust the engine code. Carmack designed this system so that fans could easily modify the game; he had been impressed by the modifications made by fans of Wolfenstein 3D and wanted to support that by releasing a map editor with an easily swappable file structure. Unlike Wolfenstein , which has flat levels with walls at right angles,

19043-423: Was taken to create them. The artists sculpted models of some of the enemies and took pictures of them in stop motion from five to eight different angles so that they could be rotated realistically in-game. The images were then digitized and converted to 2D characters with a program written by John Carmack. Adrian Carmack made clay models for a few demons and had Gregor Punchatz build latex and metal sculptures of

19182-619: Was the body model used for cover; he posed during a photoshoot to demonstrate to the intended model what the pose should look like, and Punchatz used his photo. As with Wolfenstein 3D , id hired composer Bobby Prince to create the music and sound effects. Romero directed Prince to make the music in techno and metal styles. Many tracks were directly inspired by songs by metal bands such as Alice in Chains and Pantera . Prince believed that ambient music would be more appropriate and produced numerous tracks in both styles in hope of convincing

19321-713: Was voted the number one game of all time in a poll among over 100 game developers and journalists conducted by GameSpy , and was ranked the sixth best game by Game Informer . GameTrailers ranked it the most "breakthrough PC game" in 2009 and Game Informer again ranked it the sixth-best game that same year. Doom has also been ranked among the best games of all time by GamesMaster , Hyper , The Independent , Entertainment Weekly , GamesTM , Jeuxvideo.com , Gamereactor , Time , Polygon , and The Times , among others, as recently as 2023. The success of Doom led to dozens of new first-person shooter games. In 1998, PC Gamer declared it "probably

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