Doom 3: Phobos

[Caffeine Freak]

@Boilers! we haven't tested on any source ports, so I couldn't vouch for any of their compatibility with our mod. We've always run Phobos on the vanilla D3 engine.

[DooM_RO]

Ok so the first part is coming out this year. What stage of completion are the other parts in? Can we expect to get part 2 and even 3 next year?

[Touchdown]

On 11/28/2018 at 9:43 AM, Shaviro said:

The first episode includes a prologue and is roughly 50/50 introduction/narration and action. The following episodes will have more of a 20/80 split I guess.

 

 

Look, I've always considered DOOM to be capable of being deeper experience so I'm perfectly fine with the prominent story. In fact, that's one of the things I'm the most excited about when it comes to Phobos. But you do realize that once the mod is released the most common comments you'll get will be "whaaaa? Story in mah DOOM?! NO!! DOOM IS ALL ABOUT ACTION AND NOTHING ELSE! RIP&TEAAARR!!!"

 

I mean that's just a guess but still.

[Shaviro]

@DooM_RO

Not going to throw a date out there right now, but part of the plan behind the episodic approach is that they can't be too far spaced out. It's not like we're going to start up ep2 now and hope for a speedy development. The entire mod is extremely far along and all episodes are very close to release-able. That doesn't mean Ep2 comes out a month after or anything like that, but we're not going to wait years in between releases.

 

@Touchdown

Yeah, probably is. And more over, our story isn't really focused on the demon invasion. We feel that part has been kinda played out in Doom3, ROE and the Lost Missions. Don't get me wrong, it still occurs and it's a driver of the action and in part also the narrative, but we're not going to be exploring Betruger or the UAC all that much. It's a different take on a story and not something I've seen in Doom. There may be a mod out there of course, but I haven't played it.

 

The thing is. This project is about as sincere as it gets. I don't mean that in a braggy, holier-than-thou look-at-us kind of way. Some of us have been at this for half of our lives. It started out as a project for a high-profile game and is today incredibly niche. We're not on a popular game/engine platform trying to impress people, get jobs or earn money. We have evolved with the project and Phobos is what we wanted to make at the time we made/are making it. It's not so much a conscious choice as it is what it's changed into over the years. We recently posted an article about this over on Moddb

 

As for people not wanting story in their Doom, well those people aren't wrong per say, but they can go play Doom 2016 and Eternal. Plenty of options for them and Phobos isn't "their" Doom it's "our" Doom :)

[DooM_RO]

@Shaviro

 

But is it still Doom if it isn't about the demon invasion? Is it still even a continuation of Doom 3? What does "Doom" mean to you guys exactly and what is the kind of story that makes sense in Doom?

[Arl]

Will NPCs have full fingered hands? (I'm joking...)

 

 

Interestring reading in the Moddb page, basicaly this mod have survived not only the strugles of time but the transition from the creative minds of teenages to the ones of young adults, most projects would not survive that if you know what I mean (I guess you do).

 

I'm eager to play what you guys had created from all of that experience, and to add full fingered hand models in case they are missing... :P

 

 

[Shaviro]

@DooM_RO

 

I don't know. What Doom is is different from person to person. Some people think the essence of Doom is what Doom3 represents. Other people lean more towards Doom 2016. Personally I think it lies somewhere in between. Phobos isn't it though. It's not the Doomiest Doom that could ever exist. Phobos is not a Doom game, it's a game set in the Doom3 corner of the Doom "universe". It's not a continuation of Doom3 though as the game takes place during the same time as Doom3. It's more like the Opposing Force expansion for Half-Life really.

 

@Arl

Hehe I do believe our new models have all their fingers instead of the Doom3 mittens. Can't check right now though :D

Edited December 3, 2018 by Shaviro

[DooM_RO]

@Shaviro

 

That's all pretty confusing. The environments look like Doom, it plays like Doom (arguably more than Doom 3 did), it has demons but it has more story. Also Opposing Force felt a lot like Half Life so I'm not sure what you're getting at.

[Shaviro]

Apparently it isn't confusing at all because this

 

"The environments look like Doom, it plays like Doom (arguably more than Doom 3 did), it has demons but it has more story."

 

is pretty much exactly what it is ;)

 

Quote

Also Opposing Force felt a lot like Half Life so I'm not sure what you're getting at.

 

The mention of OpFor was just in reference to the sequel question.

Edited December 3, 2018 by Shaviro

[MFG38]

Still waiting (im)patiently for the 1st episode.

[DooM_RO]

3 hours ago, Shaviro said:

Apparently it isn't confusing at all because this

 

"The environments look like Doom, it plays like Doom (arguably more than Doom 3 did), it has demons but it has more story."

 

is pretty much exactly what it is ;)

 

 

The mention of OpFor was just in reference to the sequel question.

 

Well yes but at the same time Phobos is not a Doom game, it's a game set in the Doom3 corner of the Doom "universe". So why say it is not a Doom game?

[Shaviro]

Well there is a huge difference between making a Doom game and making something that spins off from a Doom game. We are not as focused on making something that checks all the "Doom" boxes as id software would be because our stuff isn't a Doom game, it's a spin-off. This isn't a "Doom3 the way it should be" or "Down with Doom 2016, this is how Doom should be" project. We're merely using Doom3 as a base to tell a new story :)

[Shaviro]

Doom 3: Phobos

Episode 1: Overdue

 

In the first episode, you wake up inside a repurposed apartment in Mars City. You do not recall how you got there or any specifics about your person. You soon meet Samantha Miles, an agent of a sketchy world-wide conglomerate, who claims to know you. While she helps you with your identity, you aide her in the quest to find a long lost friend and missing agent. When the original events of Doom 3 unfold, the two of you must scramble for safety while still tracking down the missing agent and your identity.

 

The episode will be released today.

Edited December 3, 2018 by Shaviro

[Shaviro]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand it's out.

[snapshot]

Welp, Time to re-install Doom 3 :)

[Shaviro]

...and Resurrection of Evil :)

[Doommarine_maxi]

dbsl1nfownep n2p!!, I mean, amazing!!

[⇛Marnetmar⇛]

Woot! It feels like a chapter of my own life has come to a close.

 

You guys might do good to have a dedicated release thread for this, it'd get a lot more attention.

[Arl]

Oh my, It's here...

[Doommarine_maxi]

Cacoward 2018. THIS MUST BE THE FIRST DOOM 3 CACOWARD.

[Scuba Steve]

Holy fucking shit.

[DMPhobos]

Been waiting for this project, it feels so good to have another doom 3 mod to play :)

[DooM_RO]

Been waiting for this since 2009! Gonna play it tommorow when I wake up. I can't wait. I can't believe it's out!!!

[hardcore_gamer]

Not going to lie. My first impressions are pretty mixed. I played up until the part where I got the shotgun and machinegun.

 

Anyway, my first impressions:

 

The good:

 

-Fantastic level design, you guys did a great job here. Though I do feel some of it is a bit too non-linear and confusing.

-The mod automatically makes the game run at modern resolution, which was a pleasant surprise.
 

The bad:

 

-The intro drags on for WAY too long. I was almost falling asleep by the time the invasion started, though I admit the invasion scene was pretty cool.

-Voice acting is pretty bad, though I understand that you could not hire pro voice actors

-I don't really care for the early attempt at deep story/characters at all. It just feels forced and I don't care about these characters.

-Too much time spent with just the pistol and grabber

-Combat doesn't feel very fair at times. The moment I got the shotgun I got swarmed by tons of enemies and was completely destroyed. And am I pretty good at vanilla Doom 3.

 

Overall I will preserve judgement until I have played the rest of it. But so far my opinion is pretty evenly split between the good and the bad.

 

[Tea Monster]

Does this work with the Steam version of Doom 3?

 

[Doommarine_maxi]

5 minutes ago, Tea Monster said:

Does this work with the Steam version of Doom 3?

 

Yes it does (Not the doom 3 bfg edition)

[Archi]

Congratulations on release! Was waiting since 2008. Not gonna lie, hype for this burnt out years ago, but will still play it soon.

[Arl]

I'm having my @#$ handed to me just after getting the shotgun.

 

 

52 minutes ago, hardcore_gamer said:

-Voice acting is pretty bad, though I understand that you could not hire pro voice actors

 

Really? I think they are fine.

 

I'm not a native english speaker but I've experience bad voice acting before, and in published games no less.

[Tea Monster]

Voice is OK. I can't understand why you went with the artwork icons on the comms screen. 

[Doommarine_maxi]

I played until the invasion start and IT'S FANTASTIC!

I can understand why some people don't like the slow introduction to the action (this is a Doom community after all, people are here to only shoot a shotgun) but in my case I feel this is a better version of Doom 3 intro, I always wished to explore a bit more Mars city, know a little bit more about people at the UAC and what was happening. 

The level design is superb, the voice fine to me, and the ambient music IS FANTASTIC. Really liked the transition between UAC's Mars city and Earth parts. It is fantastic for me, I feel I'm playing some kind of Doom 3 fused with Blade Runner and a bit of, Silent hill?, anyway this is fantastic and I really love it.

Just a few bugs but nothing that serious.

Edited December 4, 2018 by Doommarine_maxi