What would an official doom remake be like?

If there was a official doom remake by Id ( not the doom 3 mod) what would you like in it or how do you think it would be like?

I think a good example of what I'd like to see is the XBLA port of Perfect Dark. (Except not, because the new models in that port are ugly and not faithful to the original at all, and the level geometry is almost unchanged, but it serves as a good example.) But I want professional quality models and textures overlayed on the original game. The gameplay should be identical, but the levels, monsters, weapons, and effects should look similar to any other game coming out today.

It would never happen, it's asking too much. Unlike PD, they couldn't get away with reusing the original level geometry. Look at how bad the community made high res textures look in maps that aren't designed for them. They'd need to render using entirely different maps that are 100% faithful to the originals as far as gameplay is concerned, using the originals for all interactions to keep things working as intended.

Doom remakes are like opinions. If that poll was anything to go by, people seem divided between a "don't change a thing" and a "just start all over" ideal.

I'd settle for higher resolution, smoother (more frames) sprites. Maybe limitless visplanes, etc. like in ZDoom.

More textures would be nice, too.

The question seems ill-defined. I'm not sure what you're asking.

Not to be a twat but I suppose it depends on what you mean by remake. Id have officially released the BFG, XBLA and iPhone versions in recent years and all that really happened was JC used (I think) Boom as a foundation to 'rebuild' Doom for those platforms...

As for a AAA remake looking at today's games and tech used it would most probably look dark and grey with some shiny effects and be a little underwhelming... A cross between Doom 3, Wolfenstein and ROTT 2013. Basically looking the same as pretty much everything else out there... :(

EDIT: Took away some of the early morning whinging prose... :P

Doom 3.

Average said:

Not to be a twat but I suppose it depends on what you mean by remake. Id have officially released the BFG, XBLA and iPhone versions in recent years and all that really happened was JC used (I think) Boom as a foundation to 'rebuild' Doom for those platforms...

Not even that. It's been proven time and again that especially the XBLA and BFG versions are just a brushed up Linuxdoom code. Interestingly, they used MUS2MIDI to be able to play back MUS files (!), rather than finding some obscure source code dating back to the MS-DOS days of id. Yeah, that's id (eye-dee) using 20 yo freeware code based on a third-party disassembly of their music format, for their very own game. Commercially. Go figure. I doubt they paid the MUS2MIDI author any royalties, though.

I can already picture it: An HD remake of Doom, while keeping the original look of the monsters, and the feel of the game. But the levels and graphics will be different. Maybe the monsters could be made to look scarier while still attaining their original recognizable looks. Weapons made more realistic, added more types of switches and actions for the levels...

Doom Ascension. ;)

Doom 4.

I've said this before in another thread, but I'd love to see a new official oldskool Doom game running on a version of the original engine. Retro remakes are a dime a dozen and it would be nice to see Doom getting the treatment.

I'd like it to be like what New Super Mario Bros is to SMB. A souped up version of classic Doom that is good enough to stand on its own merits but doesn't pay too much mind to modern FPS traits.

The BFG edition is probably as close as we'll get though.

My personal choice for Doom remake would throw away the idea that the aesthetic has to be believable in any way, shape or form. Instead, it would use hi-res comic-style art with heavy inking and good contrast. Not Borderlands' filtering and occasional pencil textures, but a real comic-book look.

After all, the old games are pretty goofy against newer shooters: why not run with that? Also, they could probably keep the same blistering pace and it wouldn't look so odd.

What about a new patch "Doom version 1.12" with every bugs fixed? It would be astonishing to see id Software release such a patch to replace Doom v1.9 which hasn't been updated for 18 years.

That problem with that is defining what's a bug, what's a feature, and what's obviously a bug but people like anyway. Frankly, I don't trust anyone at id to update the game.

1.9 (and Ultimate. and Final.) are set in stone standards. They're what the game needs to have a competitive demo scene and vanilla compatible maps.

axdoom1 said:

What about a new patch "Doom version 1.12" with every bugs fixed? It would be astonishing to see id Software release such a patch to replace Doom v1.9 which hasn't been updated for 18 years.

That's what the Classic Doom in Doom 3: BFG Edition is, pretty much. But it's far from a complete bug fix: it just extends some limits, refactors some code, fills in some missing elements from linuxdoom "officially", and lacks some functionality like networking, while features such PWAD loading and demo compatibility are for the most part untested.

fraggle said:

The question seems ill-defined. I'm not sure what you're asking.

What do think the game would be like (Identical to the original with Hi res graphics or Identical to the original with modern FPS mechanics, ETC.)

What would you want in the remake if it happened (New Guns,More Levels,ETC)

Hope this clears things up for you.

Maes said:

That's what the Classic Doom in Doom 3: BFG Edition is, pretty much. But it's far from a complete bug fix: it just extends some limits, refactors some code, fills in some missing elements from linuxdoom "officially", and lacks some functionality like networking, while features such PWAD loading and demo compatibility are for the most part untested.

Yes, I knew about Classic Doom, that's why I didn't say I'd like to have a v1.11 patch. I'm talking about an update for DOS! :)

axdoom1 said:

I'm talking about an update for DOS! :)

Since somebody else already made Boom, why should they bother themselves? ;-)

Also, is there any reason for this thread not to be merged with my -not so- older poll, at this point? I see pretty much the same things being asked, and there already was enough participation in the poll to form a clear idea of what Doomers want: Doomers as a whole don't know what they want, and sticking to existing community-driven source ports might be a better idea than expecting id to pick up development after 20 years or beating source ports at their own game.

Maes said:

Since somebody else already made Boom, why should they bother themselves? ;-)

I'm kidding. Of course, id will never do such a thing. That would be ridiculous. I'm just feeding my fantasy.

Jayextee said:

My personal choice for Doom remake would throw away the idea that the aesthetic has to be believable in any way, shape or form. Instead, it would use hi-res comic-style art with heavy inking and good contrast. Not Borderlands' filtering and occasional pencil textures, but a real comic-book look.

That I would like to see, though I suspect we'd more likely be offered a rail shooter with Doom 3 textures and sprites.

Doom 3 with more brown.

An official Doom remake would most probably be an outright failure.

They have a choice:
Keep it original, recreate the old game and make it look good, this choice will please current fans but alienate new ones.
Modernize it, recreate Doom with less exloring and secrets, more scripted events and tack on multiplayer that DOESN'T BLOODY WORK for the current generation, this choice will alienate current fans but bring in new ones...
The stats could vary for each side, making it impossible to win.

They could easily make something really nicely balanced across old and new if they tried. The Sbrighmaps.pk3, Sigvatr's Contrast.wad, the PSXSM.pk3 music file along with Cosmetic Doom running in GZDoom with Software style lighting enabled is what I use for that classic yet modern feel. I can play with full controller support on my telly at 1280x720 in full 5.1 sound. It really makes for a very dark and atmospheric game with all the simplicity and art style of the original.

If this was all packaged together in a nice official release I reckon that would please most folk out there. They could even have PSX Doom music and PSX coloured lighting as switchable options... if they really wanted to make everyone happy. Of course, that'll never happen and Bethesda will just keep milking it 'til nobody gives a shit anymore...

Average said:

If this was all packaged together in a nice official release I reckon that would please most folk out there. They could even have PSX Doom music and PSX coloured lighting as switchable options... if they really wanted to make everyone happy. Of course, that'll never happen and Bethesda will just keep milking it 'til nobody gives a shit anymore...

Then the question is whether you'd pay for what amounts to a GZDoom PWAD, with all that free stuff out there, most of which would be hard to top even by professionals using the same tools. But I guess that's the same criticism once directed at Final Doom and, much later, at NERVE.WAD....

Avoozl said:

Doom 3.

Literally this. Doom 3 was a remake, albeit with a changed story so there wasn't an explicit episodic format and Doomguy was just a rookie instead of a marine sent to the ass end of nowhere for choosing morals over orders.

Although I am curious how a Fallout-style open-world RPG in the Doom setting would work... could be a neat dual-developer game, but it would probably turn out terrible given the state of each company.

If there was an official Doom remake, you guys wouldn't fucking like it anyways lol. I can see it now, it's not exactly like the original Doom, the music isn't heavy enough, the monsters are uninspired blah blah blah.

I think the backlash from the Doom community concerning Doom 3 and modern shooters aren't totally unreasonable. Design aesthetics are really critical to gameplay and if you're a Doom fan, you're probably a fan of a design approach that hasn't been popular in years.

Piper Maru said:

If there was an official Doom remake, you guys wouldn't fucking like it anyways lol. I can see it now, it's not exactly like the original Doom, the music isn't heavy enough, the monsters are uninspired blah blah blah.

Pretty much this, but not that simplistic: no matter what id did, they would end up pleasing only part of the community and displeasing another large chunk of it. Any of the possible approaches would be labelled as either being too little, too late or on the contrary, "too modern", "too far away from the original", or even "more of the same" and "lazy".

Perhaps the approach they chose (throw everything out of the window for Doom 3, make the Doom XBLA etc. editions based on nothing but linuxdoom etc.) gave them the best of both worlds: they certainly catered to the "CoD crowd" out there, and you can't accuse them for having abandoned classic Doom in any way, while at the same time they were careful not to "pick a fight" with the "heavyweights" in the source port world. And hey, who can say no to YET ANOTHER implementation of linuxdoom, amirite? After all, it's, like, FREAKIN' DOOM, man.