Doom Wad Movie

I've been thinking about this while I was at work all day, I think it would be pretty sick.

Okay we all know the Doom Movie was junk. The guy who directed it obviously did not know a whole lot about doom. (At least not as much as us) So I figured we remake our own movie. And what better utility to make a Doom Movie out of than Doom??

I'm not really sure how to make it simple, so you may be in for a lot of reading. The best I can say is that we round up a team of people to make a bunch of maps, sprites, sounds, etc that is all entirely visually appealing, and not actually meant to be played. The benefit would be that we record someone who has fluently memorized the maps that are made, and have him 'act' like he's playing it very seriously. The result would be a fantastic youtube video that would look like a trailer to some unbeleivably amazing wad or movie or something. The team would consist of a bunch of groups.

Set Design - The mappers. These people are in charge of making super detailed and linear maps. The maps must have lots of moving terrain, elevators, switches, flashing lights, doors, etc. These people have to make some very impressive sights, and exciting events. Bugs in the maps are okay, as long as they are addressed to the acting group so they don't exploit the bug during the recording of the video.

Costume Design - Sprite artists. I expect the movie to have MANY different monsters to be encountered. This sound's like a lot of work, but like I said, it only has to be visually appealing, it doesn't have to function entirely properly. This means unfinished material may be in order. Sprite artists may only have to draw the front frames of the monsters, and maybe some walking and attacking frames. If not every single aspect of the monster is created, that's okay, because we can just make it not serve a huge role in the movie.

Actors/Stuntmen - Like most movies, it will need actors. The whole movie will be done in first person through the eyes of doomguy, like i expected the actual doom movie to be like. This means we will need one main character to run through the maps that the Set Design group made. That character will have to memorize those maps and play them in a way that makes it look like a blast. Things like shaking the view with the mouse whenever taking damage, and swaying the view when running frantically. I'd suggest using a person that does regular speedruns of doom to be that person. There will also be other actors. Maybe at some point in the video there will be a coop session. Another thing that can be done is to replace the player sprite with a new monster, so that the Main character (in first person) will fight a real player dressed up like a monster, so the battle can look more lifelike and less like AI.

Voice Actors - The video isn't going to have any text, so all communication must be done with voice. Someone will have to do the voice of both the main character and any other actors that have a dialogue. Voice actors will have to make grunting noises for when the player takes damage, or heavy breathing when running. Maybe some shouts when taking on hoardes of monsters. Think about the part in the Doom movie where the Doom guy fights the Pinky Demon. Like how the he would occasionally call out "Sam? Sam!?"

Audio Studio - These people are in charge of selecting, or recording the music that sets the mood for the scene. Dark hallways would have slow creepy suspenseful music, while giant battles would have metal music (preferably without lyrics if possible) They may also have to make soundfx that corresponds to the events happening, since doom does not provide soundfx that activate for every little nook and cranny. These people will have to assume that role.

Props - Mostly just design the textures that will be used in the maps. Preferably high contrast Doom 3 looking textures. NMN corporation texture pack would fit well. They may also draw out sprites for other objects that may spruce up the atmosphere.

The movie will be done entirely using Doom 2, an OpenGL source port (that doesn't lag) would be necessary. The simplest way I can describe this, is that it would be a really long recording of someone playing doom, but playing doom very dramatically.

Forgive me if I am being too unclear, If you are having a hard time understanding the project I have in mind, feel free to ask for clarification and I'll help you out the best I can. Is anyone interested in working on something like this?

This sounds like it would take a lot of time and effort. in all honesty, while its a great idea, no one around here is motivated enough to do anything about it. furthermore, making something entirely convincing as a good movie would be difficult. i think it would be more in people's interest to be doing a graphic novel or something

DOOM 3 would be more suitable for this.

I've tried this before, just setting up GZDoom to have one giant cutscene, and I must say, it is quite frustrating to get the actors to go into the right places at the proper times, and is also quite boring to watch...

You'd be better off figuring out how to integrate cutscenes well enough into the gameplay to make a highly cinematic levelset.


EDIT: Whoops, read that wrong, thought you were talking about having a wad play the video when you load it up into a port.

I agree with Janitor. This is a very neat idea and would be entertaining to watch if its pulled off good. But a lot of time would be involved, and for something like this, not many people (including myself) would be up for the job.

I think that doing this on a grand scale is more or less out of the question, due to all the effort that would be required. Also, anything with a complex script is bound to suck, unless master script writers and directors show up in this community with a lot of free time to share. The writing and direction are by far the most important elements (and you've forgotten to include either of those sorts of staff in your original list). Still, I have imagined things along these lines before. It would be possible with much less time and effort to put together a very cinematic three or four minutes of Doom. What I find most intriguing with this sort of idea is that it would actually be possible to sync the music with the events. Instead of just general mood music, it would be possible to have specific orchestral crashes and shrieks to match the attacks of monsters and players... etc. Think "Doom opera."

I think it would have a higher chance of success if it were:
1. episodic
2. funny

Bucket said:

I think it would have a higher chance of success if it were:
1. episodic
2. funny

I agree. It can't take itself too seriously, or else it will just seem silly. We make it funny, but not crappy funny...we still stick with the new sprites and cool maps and all that, but just dont make it very serious.

Just no slapstick humor, I cant imagine that pulled off very well with sprites...

EPIC BATTLES !!!1

Bucket said:

I think it would have a higher chance of success if it were:
1. episodic
2. funny

1. Definitely - if only to stay within YouTube's 10 minute limit.
2. YES - the movie's crying out for a parody - otherwise your just recreating mediocrity.

I liked the Doom movie

Some advice: try a simple 'movie construction' first.

Eg. Take an existing Doom level and monsters, make up a very simple 'storyline' ("Doomguy meets some resistance, but reaches objective only to find out he left the key at home") and try to create a movie from this.

This will help you identify problems early on and makes clear what works and what does not work before you embark on an epic undertaking. You may also want to lend your ear to machinima creators for other games. Like this.

In response to those who mentioned long scripting efforts, I actually intended the movie to use no scripting at all. In fact, the whole movie could be done with vanilla doom if we wanted to, and it would generally be the same. I just recommend we use a source port with Mouse Look and OpenGL so that it would look a little better. And as Vegeta said, Doom 3 would certainly look better for this, but Doom 3 doesnt have as much modding capabilities as Doom 2 does. Not to mention making new models for monsters and junk would definitely be a turn off.

I pictured many events that could have been recreated using simple editing techniques in doom 2.

I have a few examples.

1. In one scene, the Doom guy walks slowly and nervously (The actor playing first person doomguy quivers his wrist on the mouse to shake the screen a little, and makes quick glances when he hears a noise.) He wanders into a dark room with a keycard in it, and the door shuts behind him. I imagined a voice actor playing doom guys voice when that happens. A gasp and a "Shit! Let me out!" would suffice. Then I imagined the doom guy could pound on the door with a simple sprite edit. Replace the fist sprites with a sprite that looks like hands pounding on the wall in front. The Actor would simply have to walk up to the door, switch to fists, and punch the door a couple time to emphasize the effect.

2. A one on one with a new monster. Replace the Doom guy player sprite with a new monster sprite. Change the plasma gun projectiles sprites to look like fireballs (or something). Run a coop session with a buddy, and load the map. The buddy would hide in the room the actor is supposed to wander in to. Once the actor arrives, the coop buddy (dressed like a monster) will run out with a plasma gun and attempt to kill the actor playing first person doomguy. Of course the doomguy would have to not be allowed to use the plasma gun in the fight. But with a real player doing 'acting' for the monster, it would look like a realistic battle, and not a fight against AI.

3. A similar scene could be done except instead of the coop buddy being dressed up as a monster, it could be dressed up as a scientist, and maybe have two different voice actors have dialogue between each other. The scientist may be required to open a certain door that the first person doomguy actor "can't" open (When in reality he could have the entire time, the viewing audience wouldnt know that.)

4. Map design could have many hallways and caverns that lead to nowhere, but look like they might go somewhere unimportant, the first person doomguy actor would simply know not to go in there and make apparent the dead ends that are in there during recording. I'm not sure if many of you guys notice, but in most modern racing games, the background scenery doesnt have any backside to it, like for example if there are buildings that can be seen from the race track, they are well detailed on the front, but the back, which cant be seen from the race track, is completely untextured. I figured that same method could be used here.

The whole movie could be done with different wads being run at different times. This way the scene I mentioned in bullet 1 could be done at one point in the movie, and the doom guy could still use his fists at some other point in the movie (If you want the movie to end in a fist fight like the Doom Movie did)

Mordeth said:

Doomguy meets some resistance, but reaches objective only to find out he left the key at home

COMEDY GOLD!!!

What about a Doomworld movie, using actual players in multiplayer mode. But not just a demo, a compilation of scripted sequences, demo fragments, from a spectator, and what not.

Red vs. Blue: Doom Edition?

JohnnyRancid said:

Doom 3 would certainly look better for this, but Doom 3 doesnt have as much modding capabilities as Doom 2 does.

Not that I'm suggesting you use DOOM3 for this but... are you being serious?

Vegeta said:

What about a Doomworld movie, using actual players in multiplayer mode. But not just a demo, a compilation of scripted sequences, demo fragments, from a spectator, and what not.

Good luck splicing that with the old demo format that records strokes. A packet-based game would be more appropriate for non-linear machanima cutting.

DaniJ said:

Not that I'm suggesting you use DOOM3 for this but... are you being serious?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure, the only things Ive seen happen in the Doom 3 world were new maps, and new flash lights. Not to mention I think there are a lot more members who own copies of Doom 2 than Doom 3.