What does the exit switch at the end of a DOOM level do?

[NaturalTvventy]

In my mind, it was always a base self-destruct button. Of course.

[Gez]

NaturalTvventy said:

In my mind, it was always a base self-destruct button. Of course.

Did you play Duke Nukem 3D before Doom?


Given that the room is clearly labeled "exit", I imagine it activates an elevator, opens an airlock, or whatever else provides access to the next level.

[NaturalTvventy]

Gez said:

Did you play Duke Nukem 3D before Doom?

Hells no. I didn't even know that is what it is in Duke. Really, I'm pretty sure I've seen very little of Duke beyond the first level.

[Lila Feuer]

It brings up the intermission screen.

[printz]

Gez said:

opens an airlock, or whatever else provides access to the next level.

Given how Phobos looks, it opens the way to the great outdoors, which would bring me to another point if the moon wasn't so small: you'd need a car.

[Maes]

printz said:

Given how Phobos looks, it opens the way to the great outdoors, which would bring me to another point if the moon wasn't so small: you'd need a car.

That's not a problem, since it has been scientifically ascertained that Doomguy is actually riding a moped/enduro bike.

[darkreaver]

Hmmm this thread made me realize...I dont think I`ve used an exit switch in any of the...20 or so maps I`ve made. I always use "walk over exit level" :O

Weird, I never thought about this.

[_bruce_]

Maybe some shitty stargate technology beams him around.
Due to the astounding gayness of such a thing id cut straight to the intermission screen.

[DoomUK]

_bruce_ said:

Maybe some shitty stargate technology beams him around.

You mean like the teleporters?

[Porsche Monty]

If I were to try to make sense out of a video game...well, the interpic in TNT suggests he could be waiting for someone to come pick him up in a helicopter or something. Maybe that's just what the button does, alert his colleagues that mission's been accomplished aka "get me out of here"

[Phobus]

It's a switch that opens the exit. Only problem I have is that most of the time the "exit" that the switch opens is never visible... so we assume it was a lift or something.

Self-destruct is a nice idea for some maps though. Another potential idea is that it actually opens up the door that the player has come through to start the level (visible in most Doom maps at least), so the assumption would then be that Doomguy then just walks back through the level to the exit/entrance, ignorning everything that's been done so far and then proceeds to the next map in the obvious way. That line of thought falls apart around about the time you start thinking of secret exits though :P


I think the lack of a clear continuity within the levels themselves is what works best for the "arcade-y" feel of Doom though. If you add a clear continuity it's a bit more story oriented by design.

[Dragonsbrethren]

I'm pretty sure most of the exits were originally envisioned as airlocks, since the alphas/pre-beta usually had another exit door opposite the one you entered:

They didn't even really try to explain them in Doom 2; I always figured they were supposed to be elevators like in Wolfy.

[NaturalTvventy]

My belief that the exit switch is a self-destruct button stems from my initial impression of what the doomguy's primary motivation was. When I first saw DOOM as a kid it was at my friend's house, as I didn't have the means to own/play it myself. He was always obsessed with getting 100% kills (as most of us still are today I am sure), so I assumed that the plot of the game revolved around the annihilation of all the zombies and demons. What other purpose would all the base hopping serve? The bases are clearly, as depicted in the intermission screen, scattered around a vast open space and easily avoidable if desired. The doom guy was going to each for some purpose. It only made sense that the final switch would blow up the base and wipe out whatever the source of the infestation within it was. Of course, this idea actually contradicts the need to get 100% kills, but it still made sense in my mind as a general theme.

The whole 'exit' switch as a literal exit to the base never made that much sense, as there are several areas reachable outside the base as it is (SS/chaingun e1m2 secret). Also, the doomguy, as I have said above, was actively seeking out each base and ultimately the 'exit' switch. It must serve some larger purpose besides just leaving the base, for why voluntarily enter a base with the only goal being to exit it? The only reason the signs literally said 'exit' was to make it clear to the player that the switch exited the level, and was a necessity for coherent gameplay.

My belief might have also been influenced by the game's resemblance to the movie Aliens, which I also saw for the first time at my friend's house about the same time. I remember the line 'nuke 'em from space. It's the only way to be sure' (or whatever it is) firmly stuck in my brain.

[Kappes Buur]

Instead of prescribing a fixed situation, it is/was just a clever ploy by idSoftware to involve the player with his/her own imagination.

Just the same way that a book is always better than the movie recreation.

[PRIMEVAL]

To me, it depends on the level. E1M1 may have been an elevator at the end to take you down to the exit door or it drops you down into the outside area (Sorta like the first lift in UAC Ultra Map01). Same with E1M2 and E1M3.

Also, perhaps he was going to each base to see if that's where the source of the problem was. Obviously, he doesn't find the source there or even on the moons.

[Nomad]

Dragonsbrethren said:

I'm pretty sure most of the exits were originally envisioned as airlocks, since the alphas/pre-beta usually had another exit door opposite the one you entered:

I'm going to start using this idea. It makes sense.

[Marnetmar]

Now that I think of it, perhaps they open underground tunnels that lead to the entrance of each level. It would make sense considering that some of the levels have areas directly behind the starting doors.

[GreyGhost]

Each press of the exit switch adds 666 years to the time you'll spend in Purgatory for playing such a sinful game.

[Xaser]

Dragonsbrethren said:

I'm pretty sure most of the exits were originally envisioned as airlocks, since the alphas/pre-beta usually had another exit door opposite the one you entered:

This is more or less the reason, IMO. They just quickly removed 'em later when the hub idea was dropped and didn't think anything of it.

Creatively, though? An elevator, I guess. :P

GreyGhost said:

Each press of the exit switch adds 666 years to the time you'll spend in Purgatory for playing such a sinful game.

Will I spend all that time in Purgatory playing more Doom? 'Cause I'm totally cool with that.

[PRIMEVAL]

I guess Purgatory is better than Hell!

[GreyGhost]

Xaser said:

Will I spend all that time in Purgatory playing more Doom? 'Cause I'm totally cool with that.

I doubt they'd have anything more hardcore than FarmVille. Enjoy your stay. :P

[Chris Hansen]

Dragonsbrethren said:

I'm pretty sure most of the exits were originally envisioned as airlocks, since the alphas/pre-beta usually had another exit door opposite the one you entered:

Definitely this. I think that almost every level in Doom 3 ends with the player entering an airlock. And I would imagine that id software realized some of the ideas in Doom 3 that they could not do in Doom due to technical limitations... or something :)

[Technician]

Chris Hansen said:

Definitely this. I think that almost every level in Doom 3 ends with the player entering an airlock. And I would imagine that id software realized some of the ideas in Doom 3 that they could not do in Doom due to technical limitations... or something :)

I'm sure you could make Doom 3's start game/end game airlock gimmick in Doom easily.

[Chris Hansen]

Sure you could, today. My point is - and I admit it wasn't perfectly clear at first - that maybe they envisioned something really cool, but could not come up with a way to do it. And then maybe they were running out of time and had to just stick with what they had. Hence, the weird switch that is sort of an airlock but isn't quite that.

[Maes]

What about those sky-textured holes you fall in? The really weird thing is that they don't really start appearing regularly until Doom 2 (and E4 of Ultimate Doom).

[Mr. T]

Maes said:

What about those sky-textured holes you fall in? The really weird thing is that they don't really start appearing regularly until Doom 2 (and E4 of Ultimate Doom).

Doesn't every "hell" map in Doom2 end with one of them?

[Maes]

Mr. T said:

Doesn't every "hell" map in Doom2 end with one of them?

They appear also in some pretty urban-looking like levels, and actually I think they are the norm rather than the exception after level 14 (?). Too lazy to verify though.

[_bruce_]

Maes said:

They appear also in some pretty urban-looking like levels, and actually I think they are the norm rather than the exception after level 14 (?). Too lazy to verify though.

The floor sky level ends are legendary. Demonized urban areas use them to cut back on traveling expenses.

[hervoheebo]

The Catacombs ends with a switch. Part 1 ends in switches, part 2 ends in teleporters and part 3 ends in skies. There are some exceptions of course. I thought the "Sky Drop" was just a cheap way to make a cool portal to the next level. The normal level end switches can do a variety of things: activate the airlock, activate an elevator, open a door to the next level, open a door to an underground rapid transit system that sends you to the next level, self-destruct button, etc.

[ASD]

I've had quite a similar question in my mind that what's behind the gray door at the start of the E1M1? I'm talking about the game story, not technical stuff.