What if Doom had been released with a polygon engine?

[Xegethra]

Yeah, they did the best they could with Doom at the time, and I'm glad it came out the way it did.

But not all 3D games were slow....take a look at i'Robot....I suppose because it was an arcade game it was able to run faster than the computers at the time. Yeah it's also not as fast as the other arcade games...but it is quite cool for 1983. but the again, it also isn't an FPS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoFn4_TMfgs

I think though that Doom if full 3D would look similar to these games because of the time they came out, and you are quite right it would be a totally different feel and experience than what we have. If Doom were to imitate these graphics then we'd have an early Killer 7 game on our hands....kind of

[Aaron Blain]

Fascinating question!

How long did it take us to start really appreciating Doom for the timeless thing it is? It was famous initially for being the, whatever, "Crysis" of its day, the sexiest thing ever. I don't think this hypothetical polydoom would have grabbed the imagination of the gaming population in the same way.

I think the thematic and narrative dimension created through Doom's texture mapping, the compelling goat-demons and the impaled bodies, were a crucial component of its success.

I think it would have been a cult classic, probably played and described in reverent language to the modern day, but it would not have shaped the gaming world in the same cataclysmic way.

Clean, colorful geometry can indeed be timeless. I would love to play this game we are talking about.

[Xegethra]

Perhaps somebody could make a good fan game based on that premise, it would be pretty cool to have that around.

[scifista42]

Xegethra said:

Perhaps somebody could make a good fan game based on that premise, it would be pretty cool to have that around.

I'd imagine such a Doom mod. In that case, idea number one: All pillars and borderline textures must be pitch BLACK and at least 32 units wide, and must be frequent enough. Normal walls to be colorful and angles/shapes to show a lot of variation. All of that to distinguish our game from something like Tron-styled environment an also from top obvious 3D arcade-y colorfest.

[Da Werecat]

We did something similar in Monochrome Mapping Project. But not quite. Nobody touched the sprites, for example.

[joe-ilya]

Da Werecat said:

We did something similar in Monochrome Mapping Project. But not quite. Nobody touched the sprites, for example.

But you inserted a wad that does that, but it wasn't official.

[scifista42]

I've quickly created a texture resource and a stupid sample map, to see how it would work: http://filesmelt.com/dl/uniclrtx.zip

With a proper approach to mapping, I believe a good game could be created. Feel free to use this resource if you'd like to try something similar. It contains all unicolored textures, flats, animated textures, animated flats and switches. Relatively lot of them.

[Doominator2]

I wonder if there where any FPS made using a polygon engine. (not counting Starfox's cockpit view of course)

[Aaron Blain]

MMP is kickass.

I think this experimental texture set looks beautiful.

Now we just need some matching actors. What's the doomy equivalent of a pac-man ghost?

And what sort of weapons would look good with this?

[printz]

Wasn't Carnevil's Project: Vega initially an untextured polygon gun/robot fest? If so, Doom would have looked like that. I wonder if Maes was actually inspired by Project: Vega when he thought this thread.

And isn't all this just an opaque evolution of the wireframe games that already existed?

[scifista42]

Macblain said:

I think this experimental texture set looks beautiful.

Now we just need some matching actors. What's the doomy equivalent of a pac-man ghost?

And what sort of weapons would look good with this?

Thanks. By the way, I thought sprites and weapons could be let as they are, couldn't they? They'd not be necessarily out of place, and I thought they aren't literally against the rules of polygon based engine (Maes had implied so in the OP). If nothing else, it simplifies our possible work and keeps at least something remarkable from Doom, as opposed to a para-3D arcade.

Probably unnecessary worries, since this is just a hypothetical discussion, but I think practically, don't I? :)

[Da Werecat]

Perhaps the sprites could be redrawn in more stylized pixel-arty style.

[Maes]

I actually imagined just the walls and floors being polygonal -the sprites would still be 2D -perhaps simpler, with not as many as 8 angles due to lower memory constraints in 1990-. In other words, a mixed 2D/3D engine, as it was quite common for non-simulation 3D titles at the time and for years to come.

This would allow e.g. true 3D perspective freelook and maybe slightly better gameplay with full aiming.

Which brought another point to mind: noticed how Doom was one of the first -if not THE first- action 3D title to actually exploit HEIGHT VARIATIONS in levels? Even games like Terminator that had a conventional 3D polygonal engine, look quite flat with virtually no height variation, as if it was just a driving game on foot.

[MajorRawne]

The only "games" of that type in that era that I recall were crappy point and click adventures that were as slow as shit and looked awful. I cannot honestly see how a Doom game with sluggish performance and crap, quickly-dated graphics would sell (well, apart from on the 3DO).

The 3D monsters from JDoom are horrible... just horrible. Doom was the first of its generation and it was damn near perfect for the day. The fact we''re still playing it (mostly with necessary tweaks and fixes provided by source ports) suggests that id nailed it, and if anything in the original mix had been different, Doom might not have been so successful.

And why are "what if Doom..." topics still appearing for after mine went to hell? My topic was thoughtful and inspirational. It took me at least several seconds to develop the concept.

[Da Werecat]

MajorRawne said:

The only "games" of that type in that era that I recall were crappy point and click adventures that were as slow as shit and looked awful.

Such as?

[Maes]

My point was precisely that because most 3D games of that era were boring and slow (and not always due to hardware), or at least very limited in gameplay and replayability, a game with Doom's gameplay and level design would blow everything out of the water, concept-wise and execution-wise, even without its trademark textures.

C'mon, can you think of a game with a polygon engine where you run around smoothly, with head bobbing, 7-8 weapons to choose from, levels with height variations and hordes of infighting baddies out there to get you? Or even one with AT LEAST ONE of those features? No? Figured out so.

[Xegethra]

If it had 3d models I imagine it would look something like this.



But perhaps a tad simpler.

[Aaron Blain]

Another thought:

It would be easy to create a good-looking free standalone game in this style. Gameplay innovation and refinement could take priority.

It would be an interesting foil to the somewhat novelty-oriented zdoom scene. (Which I love, don't get me wrong.)