Doom Noir (Doom 3 TC)

[NiGHTMARE]

I know I've said before that I won't start a project for Doom 3 as I wouldn't have thetime, but I've been thinking and I realised that I will. For one thing, I originally thought that in two years time (when hopefully Doom 3 will be released) I'd be out looking for a job, but since messing up my first year at university, I'll be in my final year, so that would give me more time than I originally thought.

Also, hopefully things like Mordeth E2, Twice Risen, Hellstorm, etc, along with my personal projects Paradox and Wrath, will be finished by then, so I won't be doing anything much creative-wise. Besides, unless Doom 3 level editing is significantly easier than the Quakes, I think all I'd be doing would be textures, ideas and moderating anyway.

Anyway, enough of that, this is my idea for a TC. You're a police detective, working in the homicide division. You're called out to investigate a rather gruesome murder in an alleyway in the downtown part of your city (which will go un-named throughout play, like in se7en), when all hell breaks lose. Literally.

Basically the dark rituals of a satanic cult have led to the hellspawn invading earth nowadays, through a serious of dimensional rifts that the hellspawn are beginning to learn to open at will.

The city wouldn't be much like the one in Duke 3D, it'd be kinda gritty and noir-ish (hence the name; see films things like Se7en and the last half of End of Days), so dark and spooky, maybe even raining the whole time, with locations including a seedy downtown district (see Kingpin), a prison, a docks area, a hospital, a cemetary (where they're digging up bodies to turn into an undead army), a factory, an abandoned subway system (Spectre central), sewers (Imp mania), and eventually the plush and hi-tech secret underground base of the cult, (where they've just discovered that they can open a rift so large that it'll suck all of earth into hell; in this area the ground starts shaking, walls and ceilings begin collapsing, etc). You then realise the only way to close the rift is to go through (sound familiar? :) ), and this final level, where you fight some big, incredibly though boss, is in hell.

You would occassionally come across other survivors, but they would all be killed in scripted sequences (maybe the ground crumbles beneath a group of guys as some huge demon claws its way up to the surface, and you then have to fight it, or a dimensional rip opens and a horde of demons leap out, tearing a couple of nearby survivors to shreds). You might also find dying people, who warn you of some particularly nasty trap or demon, or tell you where they've stashed some important item.

Regarding enemies, obviously the cybernetic hellspawn would be out (Arachnotron, Spider Boss, Cyber Demon, etc), but creatures like the Imp, Arch-Vile and more modern looking possessed humans would definately be in (bullet weapons will do slightly more realistic damage, so a level where there's just so many possessed guys that you have to sneak through dark alleys, up fire escapes and so on while they hunt you would be cool), along with several new hellspawn (Hell Hounds maybe, and perhaps an un-cybered Cyber? :) Cult Members will also be there, but not until late in the game; they use a combination of bullet weapons and demonic magic)

Weapons would be modern stuff. The player would just be a normal civilian, so it would be a bit unrealistic to have expensive US army weaponry in there. Weapons I was thinking of would be some type of pistol or revolver, a single barrelled shotgun, a double barelled shotgun, a uzi (I want one in an FPS!), some kind of home-made rocket launcher, firebombs/molotov cocktails, lead pipes, and a chainsaw (which needs gas to run - you can even cyphon it from abandoned cars and stuff). There would be a limited carrying capacity, meaning that some weapons might only appear in certain areas.

Power-ups include various types of medical kits, batteries for the flashlight (you start out with this), bullet proof vests (rather rare), a cult amulet (makes the hellspawn ignore you for a while, unless you attack them), steroids (makes you temporarily faster and stronger). As well as the odd key, you will also have to use tools such as spanners (shut off a burst water main) and crowbars (pull open a wooden door).

Half serious ideas: alcoholic drinks (which make you more resistant to pain, but worse at aiming), dustbin lids (which you can use as shields), a bible (which causes increased damage from your weapons).

Other cool ideas: you occassionally come across radios, where you hear reports of what's going on across the world (maybe the US government nuke some country which has been completely over-run by demons, or something :) ).

If there's new music, it would generally be spooky ambient/ industrial type stuff, with metal in the more action packed areas.

I'm curious as to what everyone thinks of these ideas, and am welcome to more suggestions for levels, enemies, weapons, power-ups or anything else. If someone wants to do some concept sketches or something, then that'd be REALLY cool :) I'll try to get a webpage for it up in the not too distant future.

[Disorder]

Hell yeah! you've got some great ideas there... I really liked the RADIO-idea... Alcoholic drinks? why not !! that's pretty funny... Wouldn't it be great if there were naked women in the game somehow too? You know, they lay on the floor, raped by those hellish bastards, naked, cold.... heheh... cool huh?

Keep up the good work !

[NiGHTMARE]

Heh, mate, this is Doom, not Duke :)

[Guest spacedog]

I hate to tell you this, but unless you are going to mickey mouse college for piss-easy exams, you will not have time for ANYTHING in your final year. if you have a job, you do that during the day and the rest of the time you have free, however at university you can only afford to take off half an hour a week to do your laundry in your final year.

sorry

[NiGHTMARE]

There are no exams on my course, only a dissertation that we do in the final two months.

[Guest Flamingsnotball]

Dude, if you had a bible and shit it would make the game to mystical and magical. you're an tough-assed army dude that has a lotta guns and wits. the alcohol idea is pretty good. but like after you drink so much, you would have to take a piss and if you dont your health will go down and you would eventually die.the radio is a great idea. i want some freaky-assed enmies *kinda* like kiss psycho circus . i would also like all he guns from the first 2 and some new ones . thats all for now

[NiGHTMARE]

Erm, this is stuff for a TC for the game (read: total
conversion), not the game itself. As I said you would be playing a police homicide detective. Imagine some relatively tough looking guy with a dark, flowing trenchcoat and fedora hat.

Besides, I said that the bible was a half serious idea anyway :)

[Guest JudgeDooM]

Good idea. I'll look forward for your mod as soon as you'll create a web page for it and, of course, official Doom 3 news arrive.

[Guest St Steven]

Considering your ideas,I can only say this: Doom was and is still thought of as military vs a direct threat to our planet and race,what in the hell is a homicide detective gonna do,arrest them? Look,this is not Duke Nukem,but a game that is deadly serious and made Doom what it was and will forever be. Doom is no joke,nor would I want it to be. I will say that you have some interesting ideas. I like the noir concept within the game,this would definitely lend to the atmosphere of dark and gritty overtones as a backdrop. As far as your locations are concerned,they'd be great as long as the grittiness is left intact. The constant rain would be fine as to lend to the mystery and seriousness of just how deadly this is. Although I wouldn't mind a little lightining and thunder at key points to heighten the effect of the enviroment. For instance: a deadly quiet night with the rain falling,you come from around the back of a building and make your way up an alley to the city street ahead. As you step out from the alley, the thunder roars and a bolt of lightining streaks across the heavens and to your left, half hidden in the shadows of a doorway; an imp! So it begins, again. With the proper handleling of material, listening to fans suggestions, putting the right teams together, enlisting the best technology out there and never forgetting the horrific overtones and underlying horror that made Doom what it was,than surely, Doom3 will put the final stamp on a game that will never,ever be forgotten!