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This question has been asked before, but between the last asking of it and now, changes have taken place, obviously. So what do you think most revolutionized (or impressive) Doom, especially in regard to the Doom community? Examples would be released editors, SLIGE, code modifications, full 3D, GL stuff, etc.

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The two most relevant and cool things that happened in DOOM's history are the backwards engineering done independently of id (Matt Fell, early editor coders, etc.), which allowed us to edit the game, and Compet-n.

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I can't necissarily say. I've seen how many ways alot of different things changed the way we play Doom now. If it wasn't for OpenGl, we wouldn't have alot of awesome wads that we play. And stuff such as true 3D floors and the such branch off of OpenGl.

But since you asked for a specific instead of a list, I'll say OpenGl, since that's the only real example of something that revolutionized Doom that I can think of right now anyway.

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I know this may sound silly, but I'd say id software did.

Before Doom no games had the massive level of community modification that can be seen for almost every game that is released nowadays. They had the forethought and inspiration to allow their game to be easily modifiable, extending its life way beyond that of any other game before it (I think).

They invented deathmatching and all that has been spawned as a result.

They released the source code to Doom (and other games).

etc. etc.

As far as openGL is concerned, I wouldn't say that was as much a revolution as a continuation of change. I don't see that openGL has has a huge impact on the community. Sure there have been a few mods that rely on it, but the OpenGL ports do not seem to be anywhere near the mainstream. The real editing change (IMO) has to lie with BOOM and it continues with its derivatives which remove so many editing limits and add so many new editing options (line types etc). So many mods and wads nowadays require at least a visplane limit removing port and probably a few BOOM line types too.

I also thought the ability to have other-than-horizontal floors (Slopes) in Zdoom was a big step too. Although in itself, a quiet revolution, not a full blown uprising.

And scripting (eg ACS in Zdoom) is another "quiet" one. Even the simple ability to flick a switch and have a series of different things happen is liberating for a level designer. Let alone all the other fancy effects that can be achieved.

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Enjay is right. Before Doom no other game brings the user so much control. Teroically in Doom you can change EVERYTHING. From levels to Crew Credits. From Monster Behavior to music embedded.
Another thing i consider crucial is the multiplayer stuff. The cooperative mode is cool as hell but really what changes the world is Deathmatch. Humans against other humans, wow, a very revolutionary concept IMHO. Mandatory! Can't imagine nowadays games without it.

Cya!

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Enjay said:

I know this may sound silly, but I'd say id software did.


id did? What?

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What did id did, um do?

Released a totally revolutionary game that completely changed how end users treated the games they play, introduced new game modes and styles and sparked the invention of online competative gaming and modding communities.

That's what id did. Didn't id?

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Yeah... but the intro phrase was sort of confusing in relation to the thread, which is about what doom-related thing or event has been most impressive or important.

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Erik said:

Hmm. The first pwad.


Hmm... good question, what was the first pwad? O_o

edit: god, Never surf on the forums 4:00am :P

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Actually, DOOM's customizability is much like a role-playing game's, and so is the first-person concept. It's not coincidential that the authors played RPGs...

As for deathmatch, many multi-player computer games before DOOM were pretty much like that, like the early tank game for Atari and whatnot.

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Enjay said:

Before Doom no games had the massive level of community modification that can be seen for almost every game that is released nowadays. They had the forethought and inspiration to allow their game to be easily modifiable, extending its life way beyond that of any other game before it (I think).


UIhh, hate to break it to you, but the original Doom is NOT easily modifiable, nor did id at first even like the fact that people had figured out ways to change maps, graphics and so on. All the original editors and such are all based off the unofficial doom specs which was pretty much a reverse engineering of the doom exe.

The major reason for things such as -file was simply so id could quickly test out a level they were working on rather than merging it with the main wad file.

You couldn't add new sprites without a lot of trouble, you couldn't add new flats without a few problems, there was no way to add new monster behavior or new things or change weapon behavior without a lot of trouble and actually hex editing the exe (which is pretty much what dehacked does). Textures and levels were about the only thing easily done, and it was a while before id finally realized that people building their own stuff for Doom wasn't A Bad Thing after all. Since then all of their games have been easily editable (QuakeC for instance, or how the released the game dlls for Q2 and Q3 days after the games were in stores). Doom was only like that by accicdent.

I do agree with all the other stuff you said tho, and I actually wish I had mentioned the deathmatch thing first :P

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Cyb, you're right but not absolutely right. They were familiar with people messing with the game from Wolf3d, and did organize DOOM in a way that made it easier to access information. But indeed they were very wary about it and didn't help anyone get to the info or anything, and must have been surprised at how much people managed to do. That's what eventually convinced then to do it from the start like with Quake.

As for deathmatch, the concept isn't new... two opponents facing each other was a standard game mode since the beginning of computer games, but the immersiveness of DOOM, coupled with the possibility of 4 player LANs, strengthened this mode and made it big for the very first time. actually cooperative play is as innovative as DM, but also had precedents, such as role-play type games (like Wizardry in the 80s.)

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Fair points Cyb. Although I think myk maybe has it closer to the mark. At least that's how I see it. Id kind of tentatively testing the water with a fair enough concern that things could get out of hand. Not overtly promoting the idea of modification (although I don't think they were ever especially happy about the dehacked concept) but not particularly standing in its way either. Lets face it, at that stage no-one knew what the implications of people making add ons for games would be.

But yeah, I guess I kind of forget about the slow discovery of how to edit different bits of doom as new utils came out. The fun of hearing (and making) sound mods for the first time when DMAUD was new, the awful graphics patches that came in zips with batch files and dmgraph... Yes, perhaps it wasn't too easy "back in the day".

On the DM thing

Head to head gaming wasn't new, true, but there was something extra about doom DM that had never been seen before. Yes, the Doom immersiveness helped it, but there was even more IMO.

I think what really felt different about DM compared to previous multiplayer games was the fact that you were playing on an entirely different machine to the other guy, and that little sprite in front of you WAS the other guy playing. OK, so not really, but it felt like it, and the idea was mind blowing. Sure there had been head to head games for ages. I even had one of those "bat and ball" tennis games that plugged into a TV and where each player got to be a white rectangle batting a square ball around the screen. But it was the same screen, and I think that's where the difference lies.

To actually see the other guy on your screen, from your point of view, and blow the snot out of him with a rocket that you knew he could see coming towards him from his point of view - WOW! We take it for granted now, but I remember those early DMs on an IPX network at work, and over a null modem cable at home when we would take our machines to each other's houses. Absolutely stunning stuff. Genuinely exciting and yes, revolutionary. You should have heard us screaming at out computers with total excitement and amazement during those first few DMs at work on a Saturday morning.

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I am too stupid in the ways of editing doom, and all that knowledge.

I would say either source code released, or the game being made.
but I don't know anything else..

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yeah, the source page, without that, we would have seen the ports, etc...

doom will never die...

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Torn said:

yeah, the source page, without that, we would have seen the ports, etc...

doom will never die...

Only the players, amen.(sic)

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Source code release for sure.
Mouse support maybe, I'm not sure of the history, but how was the mouse used in previous games and when did Doom get it? I missed the beginning of Doom and was a console junkie at the time.:( The degree of control it gives certainly makes you feel inside the game more than any other method of control for most (keyborders aside).

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Easy. Release of the code, nothing would have been able to happen without that inspired move.

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No doubt in my mind, the release of the Doom Source Code. With the Code being released, there'd be no ZDoom, Legacy, JDoom, or any of that.

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imo, the unofficial doom specs was a much more important move than the release of the source. High res came with doom95 anyway for people who like such stuff. Without pwads released as early as '94 there would be no community.

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This may sound silly, but I still like the mood in Doom. Sure some other games out there have more gore, I can't pin point it, there is some magic id created with Doom I have not come across before. At times you seem to be in hopeless situations. Suburbs and those hordes, run, shoot run again, oops from behind, no this way, no that way, well I should have gone, too late. You go through skull door ways, trip in acid blood falls get bit by fiery heads.

Do I make sense? No! You have to play it. That is what I think makes Doom stand out and was the first game I played for days at a time.

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