Doom 3

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Since my last few posts have had zero to nil to do with Doom 3 I figured I needed a captivating title. It's not misleading either, there's plenty about Doom 3 I'm about to discuss. So go ahead, crack a cold one and get a fresh pack. If nature's ringin' pick up the phone. Here we go.

          • Graphics Direction
There are always several directions to take when considering graphics. Quake 3 took the techno and industrial/goth look quite far, while Unreal stuck with the earth and futuristic techno look. Doom initiated several genres instantly, such as motifs per level. I suspect Doom 3 will have texture usage similar to Soldier of Fortune, with more techno and goth of course. Very realistic textures but looking futuristically Satanic is the target. Browse pak0.pk3 with WinZip; you'll have no doubts that the textures in Doom 3 will fit quite nicely with the established feel of Doom.
The next point to ponder is what direction will the graphics take with the models? Has anyone here been to the official site for Parasite Eve 2 and looked at the FMV snapshots? As far as I'm concerned, video game graphics have peaked: all that remains is higher resolutions for display and textures as well as higher color depths. Perfect curvatures within a 3D game are longer just a wet dream of developers, they're real. The real question now is how to texture them. PE2 uses anime-ish textures, so the game really, really, really feels like you're playing an anime. From the screenshots of DNF you can see that they're using photographic texture sources to give the game an incredibly realistic feet to it. Doom 3 will probably follow that example, making it truly feel like you're playing a movie. After all, Doom 3 just won't be what we expect with cartoony graphics.
The rest of the thought is waiting in your head. If it were up to you to create realistic, photo-based textures for Doom 3... what would you have them look like?
FMV is, unfortunately, probably going to be in Doom 3. The last two games iD Software released both contained FMV scenes. I prefer the clearer graphics of the engine, but FMV still has the advantage of near-zero load time and the ability to display whatever they want because it's not limited to the engine. Resident Evil: Code Veronica for Dreamcast is a perfect example of why FMV is necessary. The in-game graphics are much clearer, but when it cuts to an FMV it displays animations and actions that would simply drive the framerate in the engine to a halt. The first real example is in the graveyard. When the FMV hits you see character animations, large close-ups of enemy groups, and camera angles that would really hammer the game engine driving up the performance hit and loading time. By using FMV, the graphics are a little blurrier but at least they're POSSIBLE. FMV is not a necessity in all situations however. In game training scenarios, introductions, and plot advancement scenes are all best handled by the engine. Things that would bog down the engine too much, such as the intro to Q3A, should be instead used for FMV.
The real point of that paragraph?
Don't overdo the FMV, iD. Use it wisely as you have before.

          • Gameplay Direction
Physics have become a serious part of gameplay nowadays. iD has always been a company to suspend them when necessary to aid gameplay, and they should be recognized for this fact. After all, if any of you ever get a real rocket launcher and you see some spinning red armor up top of a nearby house... don't try it. :)
Hit detection has also become a serious inclusion. Whether or not it's simplified such as Half-Life or Blood 2 or explicitly detailed such as Soldier Of Fortune or Turok 2, it simply needs to be there. iD has never really used hit detection properly so how well they handle it in D3 could lead them down a long, long road of praise or hate. The amount of detail it has is always negotiable, however. Simply make head shots do more damage and armor shots do less damage and the point is taken. Make bodies dismemberable and give weapons the ability to take your victims apart, piece by piece, and you'll add hours upon hours of bloody good fun.
In DNF if someone flips you off you can literally blow his finger off with a well-placed shot. That being said, there will certianly be one helluva high standard at the time D3 is released. Just remember that a head can't be decapitated... a head becomes disembodied, the body becomes decapitated. :)
There are also several other things that you should run though your head. Will there be a 'use' button? I hope so. Will there be a seconary fire button? I hope so. Will the game have clipping control so meshes can't penetrate architecture? God I hope so. Utilizing that, will every part of your victim collapse as truly dead and each be affected by it's own gravity? Well, the back hits a wall, the legs give as they slide forward, the fingers become limp causing the gun to fall and tip. The zombie's head, finally free, tilts forward as blood runs from it's lips. Gee, I probably need help. I broke down my last psychiatrist to tears, though, so I guess I'm on my own. ;)
As for weapon physics will they be right? A 9mm round is quite similar to a .45 ACP round, and they're both more deadly than people give them credit for in the gaming world. The grenade launcher, assuming there is one, should send the grenades a tremendous distance and being within 50 of the blast should be instant death. No more of this 5 foot explosion crap, it's just too fake to be enjoyable now.
Will ammunition be placed correctly? I'm sick of a 40 by 48 wooden crate only holding a single 1 by 8 clip of bullets. I'm sick of finding deady high explosives scattered across the floor in a clean room. A box of shotgun shells the size of the one in Doom would hold 50 shells. A rocket the size of one in Doom would weigh around 30 pounds. 100 of them? 3000 pounds? A ton and a half? Gee, that guy really is strong, isn't he? He must be to punch an Imp and render it to a sloppy pile of organs and blood.
This brings up another question... will video games EVER get gibbing correctly? A rocket blast would destroy 90% of the body's content and throw the rest in the opposite direction of the blast, not up and all over. A railgun in the Quake sense would not gib someone with a headshot, it would blow roughly 70% of their head clean off. A double barrelled shotgun would never gib anyone but it would throw them back five feet and tear a hole through them maybe a foot wide.
Someone please explain to me how a 'Quad Damage' is supposed to work, or is that just 100% video game fantasy? Note that I said fantasy as opposed to sci-fi, because sci-fi has it's feet planted within physics while fantasy does not.

          • Sound Direction
Well, it seems iD got themselves a sound programmer. So, audio is going to be present as it should be instead of just being an afterthought that was thrown together (aside from paying someone a lot of money to do the musical score)? Wow, I'm shocked.
Does this mean EAX and Aureal support, finally?
On an unrelated side note of audio, I started that Moonspell album when I started typing this and it's over. 57 minutes. Damn, Lüt, you're right... their creativity has taken a sharp nosedive. So, you like Ocean Machine? I've gotta funny story about that if you'll ask me for it. :)

          • Cinemax Direction
Okay, I just had to add this. Since the CD is over I just did a little channel surfing and a chick on Cinemax just attacked her sink, throwing hundreds of apples in it. The sink fought back and spewed icky sewer water all over the place. She screamed, and ran upstairs to her computer.
"You think you can scare me you sick f--k?" She screamed at it. "Paul, he's in the computer now!"
Paul Riser just showed up... oh boy, this movie is going to suck. What the Hell is it, anyway?
My little point here? As long as this scene is NOT in Doom 3 I'll be quite pleased. =)



Actually, I think these are all the points that I felt needed to be discussed again. We're always talking about content matter (amongst other things :), so let's open up the conversation a little bit.



Everything expressed here is my opinion and you're entitled to yours. If you disagree with me, kindly say so in a reply and I'll flame you until you say you're wrong. Heheh. :)

Hmm, my deadnail.gif is still unactivated. Well, it's the weekend, I guess Linguica gets messed up like the rest of us.

Feel free to reply to any of this.

[Psyonisis]

Whoa... doomworld is gonna run out of webspace if you keep on posting long things like this. :)

There is nothing in there I don't agree with. This is like reading a plan created by iD itself. I'm sure they will put advances in the engine like you mentioned. I don't think Carmack will be copying and pasting Q3 code in and changing it a bit. I wouldn't be surprised if they really DID look at Doom 3 posts to see what people think should be in. I would tell them to read your posts. lol

[Zaldron]

I agree completely with your post. That´s the kind of stuff that we must take as a standard. Anything less can´t stand as a single-player experience for a game shipping in 2002/2003.

[Bad Luck Ranger]

Psyonisis said:

Whoa... doomworld is gonna run out of webspace if you keep on posting long things like this. :)

There is nothing in there I don't agree with. This is like reading a plan created by iD itself. I'm sure they will put advances in the engine like you mentioned. I don't think Carmack will be copying and pasting Q3 code in and changing it a bit. I wouldn't be surprised if they really DID look at Doom 3 posts to see what people think should be in. I would tell them to read your posts. lol

Id should take a look at these posts... it's better to get feedback for something that isn't even released yet!

[Tetzlaff]

"Very realistic textures but looking futuristically Satanic is the target." You couldn´t have said it better!

[sirgalahadwizar]

If a shoulder-hit from a 7.62mm NATO round will blow off your arm (and a few small pieces of your torso), then what do you think a rail-gun would do bub?

Yes, it would gib you, but not with a head-shot. A head-shot would destroy your head, neck, and would eat a few pieces of your torso away too.

[Guest JudgeDooM]

I just hope that I won't be stuck with a .22 LR caliber pistol against a Cyberdemon...

[Guest Relajo]

sirgalahadwizar said:

If a shoulder-hit from a 7.62mm NATO round will blow off your arm (and a few small pieces of your torso), then what do you think a rail-gun would do bub?

Yes, it would gib you, but not with a head-shot. A head-shot would destroy your head, neck, and would eat a few pieces of your torso away too.

Forget railguns, they don't belong on DooM!!!

What I'll really want to see is a .40 pistol instead of the .22 crap the DooM guy had, also a 7.26 VULCAN that would slice enemies on 2.
And a single, not fancy techno dildo, chainsaw!!!

[Guest JudgeDooM]

The pistol that the DooMguy used was a Beretta. It's caliber are 9mm Parabellum or 9*21 IMI, not .22LR. In Doom 64 he uses a Desert Eagle .44 magnum or .357 magnum. But its firepower is so weak that I still wonder if it's really a DE that he uses...