Story/theme of FreeDoom

First, I should say I'm new to the FreeDoom forums, though I've been a Doom fan since my family first got a computer when I was 3. I think the FreeDoom project is great as a free Doom II IWAD. For some reason, it actually works better for me as the IWAD for Hacx than the "real" Doom II IWAD. I was wondering though, since I plan on doing a few sprites, what's the story or the theme of FreeDoom? It may sound like a stupid question, but I think it's important so all of the graphics have a thematic cohesion. It wouldn't make much difference to gameplay, but I'd just like to know if I'm going to make a sprite for a demon, a mutant, or an alien :P

I always thought the absence of scientists in Doom 1 was a little odd, since the Phobos and Deimos facilities were set up for research. If FreeDoom follows the same story, or a similar one, I could make the regular possessed soldiers into possessed scientists with a sidearm, and the shotgun soldiers more like security or marines. This is all just speculative though. I haven't made any good looking sprites before. Just simple ones for an RPG I was working on years ago.

Moredhas said:

... what's the story or the theme of FreeDoom? ...

http://freedoom.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/freedoom/website/proposed_stories/

http://freedoom.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/freedoom/website/proposed_stories/bbg/bbg.txt?revision=1
http://freedoom.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/freedoom/website/proposed_stories/hyena/hyenastory.txt?revision=1
http://freedoom.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/freedoom/website/proposed_stories/jon/freedoom_episode_1.txt?revision=1
http://freedoom.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/freedoom/website/proposed_stories/julian/bts.html?revision=1
http://freedoom.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/freedoom/website/proposed_stories/julian/episodes.html?revision=1
http://freedoom.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/freedoom/website/proposed_stories/julian/index.html?revision=1
http://freedoom.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/freedoom/website/proposed_stories/julian/intro.html
http://freedoom.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/freedoom/website/proposed_stories/julian/story.txt?revision=1
http://freedoom.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/freedoom/website/proposed_stories/sir_fragsalot/sir_fragsalot.txt?revision=1

Greetings
Funduke

Does it need anything like that? The story belongs to the executable, not the iwad. No offence to the writer (I just saw the fiction now), but unfortunately Doom already has hardcoded "storylines" in it. Maybe if you could fill the help or credits screens?

After Freedoom for doom2.wad gets finished, are there any possibilities to make other freedooms, such as for doom.wad, heretic.wad, hexen.wad or strife1.wad?

printz said:
Does it need anything like that? The story belongs to the executable, not the iwad. No offence to the writer (I just saw the fiction now), but unfortunately Doom already has hardcoded "storylines" in it.

That's very easy to replace with a BEX patch, placed in the new IWAD.

funduke said:

http://freedoom.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/freedoom/website/proposed_stories/hyena/hyenastory.txt?revision=1

Win.

myk said:

That's very easy to replace with a BEX patch, placed in the new IWAD.

It's nice, but not necessary, as Freedoom is just meant to allow non-Doom-owners to still play pwads.

printz said:
Freedoom is just meant to allow non-Doom-owners to still play pwads.

That's its main flaw and why it'll never generate a good design. It doesn't have to be that way.

myk said:

That's its main flaw and why it'll never generate a good design. It doesn't have to be that way.

It wouldn't make sense for it to be called freedoom if it had nothing in common with doom besides the engine.

http://freedoom.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/*checkout*/freedoom/website/proposed_stories/bbg/bbg.txt?revision=1
I like this revision of the story the best.

myk said:

That's its main flaw and why it'll never generate a good design. It doesn't have to be that way.

Feel free to fork FreeDOOM to your ideal vision.

leileilol said:
Feel free to fork FreeDOOM to your ideal vision.

I'm quite aware it's delivered "as is" and I don't have to do that for my point to be valid. I brought that up because printz mentioned that (its purpose) as if it were important, when I'm convinced it's more of a problem, especially as far as the design is concerned.

Good god... I wrote this story ages ago and the english is just plain awful.

leileilol said:

Feel free to fork FreeDOOM to your ideal vision.

At least when I was co-maintaining the project, and I suspect this hasn't changed, we would have gladly accepted suggestions and help to make freedoom more coherent. There would be no need to fork.

Gez said:

Win.

oh, man, that was hilarious!