What excactly is Par Time?

[Ezxariarch]

I've been wondering about the "Par time" in the doom games since i've been playing doom 8 years ago. Is Par time the time it takes the person that made the map to beat his own map by getting 100% everything?

[Technician]

Ezxariarch said:

Is Par time the time it takes the person that made the map to beat his own map by getting 100% everything?

Pretty much what you said. Although I don't think there score was 100% everything. I think John actually posted he sped ran for the par time and then added 30 seconds. I can't remember.

[Ezxariarch]

Technician said:

Pretty much what you said. Although I don't think there score was 100% everything. I think John actually posted he sped ran for the par time and then added 30 seconds. I can't remember.

What difficulty is the Par time ran in?

[Grazza]

http://5years.doomworld.com/interviews/johnromero/page3.shtml

He didn't mention a skill level:

I set all the par times for DOOM 1 by starting the level, running to the exit as fast as possible, rounding off the resulting time, then adding 30 seconds for padding. I actually got those levels done faster than the par times.

[Technician]

Wow I said 30 seconds from the top of my head. I'm assuming some maps he didn't even kill a monster.

[Grazza]

Probably. Though some of the par times have been beaten in Max demos.

[Kristian Ronge]

What strikes me as odd about that common explanation from John, though, is the par times for e.g. Doom E2M6 (6:00), and Doom 2 map 28 (7:00). I find it hard to believe someone who was involved in the design of those maps couldn't finish them quicker, even if we take the 30-second padding into account... Did he give them a serious go? Considering his demos of E1 (those recorded in Legacy) he doesn't look like a poor player skill-wise.

[Technician]

Maybe he didn't do the demo himself. Maube he just played it and said this is a good time to write as a par time.

[myk]

Kristian Ronge said:
Considering his demos of E1 (those recorded in Legacy) he doesn't look like a poor player skill-wise.

Hed also recorded all the DEMO demos. But maybe he didn't pay as much attention to some of Petersen's maps and made guesses, but was more accurate with the maps he made or worked on.

[Bank]

I always assumed "Par" in Doom meant the same as "Par" anywhere else, it's the amount of time you're trying to get, or get under, compareable to the amount of strokes you're trying to get, or get under.

[Koko Ricky]

Comiclez said:

I always assumed "Par" in Doom meant the same as "Par" anywhere else, it's the amount of time you're trying to get, or get under, compareable to the amount of strokes you're trying to get, or get under.

That's pretty much what I figured.

[AndrewB]

Holy crap, now I know what "par" means.

[jute]

If I recall correctly, the par time for Doom 2 MAP01 is 30 seconds. Does that mean that he beat it in 0 seconds?

[Grazza]

Note the bit where Romero said about rounding the time off before adding 30 seconds. Presumably he rounded it down to the nearest quarter-minute.

He also wasn't too clear in that interview about how the par times for Doom2 were arrived at. But if the same method had been used, Doom2 map01's par time would clearly have been 30 seconds.

[Ezxariarch]

jute gyte said:

If I recall correctly, the par time for Doom 2 MAP01 is 30 seconds. Does that mean that he beat it in 0 seconds?

I can beat that in like 5 seconds probably, just run to the end and hit the swtich.