DECK: Doom Engine Creator's Kit

Hi everyone. I've lurked at the edges of the Doom community for years now, though I've only released one thing publicly and wrote a widely-circulated article analyzing Doom's design and legacy.

I recently started a project that I hope will make it easier to make stuff that is - how to put it? - more different from Doom than the average mod or TC. It's called the Doom Engine Creator's Kit:

http://vectorpoem.com/deck

All the relevant info is on that page so check that if you have questions, but TL;DR: this will be a G/ZDoom-focused IWAD of public domain (ie no restrictions on reuse) art and sound content that people can use to make things with, different from FreeDoom in that it provides assets for various avenues of non-Doom-like gameplay and takes advantage of G/ZDoom-specific features likes ACS scripting, conversation trees, fancy decorate stuff, etc.

A few weeks ago I put out a call for contributors on the makegam.es forums, and got a few great responses so I now feel comfortable extending that call to the masters - you folks.

The asset list page shows some of the contributions so far, and outlines what we consider a good minimum base of content to build a small-but-complete game from. The submitted content packs are great, but the latter sections - the asset list entries - are what we could use some help with... the IWAD will need more mundane stuff like health pickups, trim textures, etc. This seems like work that will fall easily if enough people take a chunk.

One important note: because we intend to release this content as public domain (CC0 license), the work can't be derived from copyrighted assets, or must be modified enough to constitute an original work. This is sort of a fuzzy line, just steer well clear of palette-swapped imps, stuff ripped from obscure games, any kind of minimal modifications.

Also please make sure what you're submitting is your own work; there's been a lot of fantastic stuff made over the years in the Doom scene and people are pretty free about sharing, but we want to make sure not to ruffle someone's feathers by swiping their work.

One more point, on asset resolution: avoid super hi-def content, anything that tries to look "triple A" - part of the DECK's goal is to show people how easy it is to make cool stuff with Doom, so textures and sprites that are original Doom res are fine. High-fidelity sound assets are fine, though.

Feedback on any aspect of the project is most welcome. We want this to be a resource that existing Doom creators find useful, as well as new people who may be coming from eg the DIY or indie game spheres who are looking for a cool engine with great level design tools.

Thanks much!

Very interesting. Though I could of sworn there was something similar to this a while back. Maybe my memory is eluding me.

Neat idea. I could contribute some MIDI music if I can come up with a decent idea.

Very ambitious! You are essentially proposing a post 20 years 'next gen' doom metamorphosis. This project suggests that the doom engine is upon itself a corner stone of the game community, and that it is due for (or deserves) a major tune-up to compete with modern indie gamers. I applaud the idea, and especially like the bit about public domain. I think you have yourself a progressive idea, something that isn't seen very often around here. Good luck!

Kaiser said:

Very interesting. Though I could of sworn there was something similar to this a while back. Maybe my memory is eluding me.

Someone actually did post a thread about DECK a few weeks ago:
http://www.doomworld.com/vb/source-ports/68614-deck-doom-engine-creators-kit/

Not sure that I have much to offer besides encouragement right now, but I really like the idea.

ambitious project...

Seeing as Freedoom still doesn't have some stuff done (or have but of rather poor/mediocre quality) after like 10 years, I can't help but be very skeptical about this. I guess the main differences now are that the project is backed by a serious video game person and that you don't need all the resources to be in one unified style.

so basically, it's like realm667?
not saying its a rip-off or anything, but is that the general concept?

I like this idea, and I have a load of respect for the coordinator. Sounds like it should be a well organized ordeal, and I hope to see it get on its feet.

When you compare to Freedoom or Realm667, you miss the point.

The point isn't to have a set of free resources to make Doom mods. It is instead to have a set of free resources to make indie games absolutely unrelated to Doom.

Realm667's resources are, in their overwhelming majority, derived from commercial game rips. They can be used freely in mods on the basis that nobody really cares, but their legal status is rather flimsy.

Freedoom is literally a Doom clone and despite some recent attempt to give it more of its own identity, it is still extremely close to Doom's aesthetics and themes.

For these reasons, neither are good bases to make an indie game.

also, is DECK supposed to be like the GECK from Fallout?

EDIT: I mean, similar names?

Gez said:

When you compare to Freedoom or Realm667, you miss the point.

The point isn't to have a set of free resources to make Doom mods. It is instead to have a set of free resources to make indie games absolutely unrelated to Doom.

Realm667's resources are, in their overwhelming majority, derived from commercial game rips. They can be used freely in mods on the basis that nobody really cares, but their legal status is rather flimsy.

Freedoom is literally a Doom clone and despite some recent attempt to give it more of its own identity, it is still extremely close to Doom's aesthetics and themes.

For these reasons, neither are good bases to make an indie game.

Ooooohhh, i get it now. that is pretty excellent. I fully support it.

Maybe for music some songs with appropriate license can be cherry picked from the Free Music Archive
http://www.freemusicarchive.org/faq

Especially from the chiptune genre. Just an idea.

A few clarifications:

Differences from FreeDoom: FD is looking to 1:1 replace 100% of Doom's assets, so it needs a lot more work to be done. DECK just needs a minimal base of content; though the more the better (up to a point).

Differences from Realm667: Realm667 is an exhaustive repository of everything people have made, plus some of it may infringe copyright. DECK is a finite curated pool of assets, and it's public domain so derived works can be distributed outside of a legal grey area.

To be clear, both those projects are awesome and I hope DECK fills a clearly different useful role.

Tylerisepic1 said:

also, is DECK supposed to be like the GECK from Fallout?

EDIT: I mean, similar names?

Yes, though I made sure it was different enough - Creator's vs Creation - to not wind up in the crosshairs of Bethesda's legal team (remember Scrolls?)

I just found out about this project and it looks like a really awesome idea!!

GZDoom is truly a powerful engine capable of so much that it really deserves a "Creator's Kit" and more facilities to develop for it.

I'm also intrigued about your IWAD and what will you show in the sample level to demostrate the engine's features.

I see in the last status update (Dec 2014) you were planning to crowdfund the production of the assets. Has anything happened since then?

I also see DECK is not included in your "Doom Stuff" page... which doesn't look like a good sign... neither the fact that the link to the so called "project's forum thread" is dead (maybe link to this thread instead?).

It's great to see that all the programming tasks you mention in your FAQ actually did came to happen already: FMOD is no longer needed in GZDoom, ZScript is a reality now and SLADE has an OSX port. So I guess all that's left now is the IWAD.

On 07/18/2017 at 1:09 PM, Ferk said:

I just found out about this project and it looks like a really awesome idea!!

GZDoom is truly a powerful engine capable of so much that it really deserves a "Creator's Kit" and more facilities to develop for it.

I'm also intrigued about your IWAD and what will you show in the sample level to demostrate the engine's features.

 

I see in the last status update (Dec 2014) you were planning to crowdfund the production of the assets. Has anything happened since then?

I also see DECK is not included in your "Doom Stuff" page... which doesn't look like a good sign... neither the fact that the link to the so called "project's forum thread" is dead (maybe link to this thread instead?).

 

It's great to see that all the programming tasks you mention in your FAQ actually did came to happen already: FMOD is no longer needed in GZDoom, ZScript is a reality now and SLADE has an OSX port. So I guess all that's left now is the IWAD.

Correct, nothing has happened since then. I need to finish other projects before I can justify restarting this one.