Doom:Seven Sons or how I imagined Doom 4 would be like

This is an idea I have for a Doom game. Basically they are concepts of gameplay mechanics, weapons, and enemies to make the game feel like the original Doom while having a completely new feel aswell. Most importantly is the focus on depth and technique, which made the old Doom games so good to begin with. Depth is the emotional feeling the game gives players while technique how the game is set up to regulate the nature in which players fight enemies. Because of the focus on the old school gameplay of the original Doom the game has a very energetic and offbeat tone to itself. While there is alot of disturbing imagery like in the original Doom the game focuses entirely on action instead of the horror focus from Doom 3. The idea is too big to post in one thread, but posted the download link for the idea below.


Basic principles of the game are as followed:

3 factors make technique in a first person shooter. The 1st are the weapons along with their stats and abilities. The 2nd are the enemies along with their stats and abilities. And finally the 3rd is the level design to suit the abilities for the weapons and enemies. All 3 must function together to create as much technique as possible. Regulating the order in which players kill each monster per encounter is also important for technique(For example:in Doom 2 the player had to kill the Pain Elemental 1st during each enounter that lack cover).

The meat of my ideas are A:a variety of abilities to dodge enemy attacks, B:A balanced set of weapons with their own unique abilities for different situations, and C:A variety of unique enemies, each requiring different takedown tactics.




Gameplay mechanics:
Players are given a variety of special abilties to assist them in avoiding enemy attacks thanks to the H.A.R.D. Gear suit that the player wears throughout the game.

It's is essencial for players to use these abilities to avoid getting hit, as enemies will constantly throw wave upon wave of various particles that must be dodge, ducked under, and jumped over depending on how the enemy attack. In other words enemies have a variety of abilities that can cover the entire combat field. Enemies in Doom:Seven Sons attack at a faster rate than they do in the originals to balance out the doding ablities the player has.

The techniques that players will use depends on A:The enemies position as being attacked from multiple sides highly effects technique, B:the types of enemies your up against since the combination of enemies highly effects the tactics players use(enemy combinations was everything in Doom 2), C:the position of the player, and finally D:the weapons and ammo players have.

These features highly effect the combat tactics and techniques players use throughout the game as they dodge stream through stream of enemy particles. They are as followed:

Exhaust dodge:Pressing the dodge button before moving into a stream of enemy fire will cause the player to slide under enemy fire, dodging quickly unless the attack is aimed too low.

Double jump:Allows the player to jump in midair. This is useful for jumping over enemy attacks.

Magnetic Wall Kick:Allows the player to jump off walls for extra height(higher than double jump). Can be used to avoid attacks depending on where each shot is fired.

Exhaust run:Allows the player to run at massive speed of up to 60 miles an hour. Players can allow use their weapons while using this.

Note:Don't let the exhaust punch fool you. You'll still be using firearms as your main method of attack.

Exhaust punch/kick:pressing the melee buttom while jumping, Exhaust running, or falling, before colliding with an enemy will cause the player to do an Exhaust punch(or kick if the player is in the air). Exhaust punches(and kicks) are powerful melee attacks that cause a fair amount of damage to enemies. The damage done depends on the speed that the player is traveling before colliding with the enemy. Enemies can also be knocked down from these attacks(depending on the enemy and the speed the player is traveling). Players can also preform an Exhaust Punch counter attack by dodging an enemy and then punching them.

Targeted landing:While in the air players can aim towards the ground or a wall and land in that spot provided that it isn't too high or far.

Magnetic wall ski(only in special levels):Dr.Elizabeth McNeil installs a Magnetic wall ski that allows players to grap onto walls or ceilings and ski accross them in certain levels. Sometimes this is used in first person rail levels.

Exhaust fly(only in special levels):Dr.Elizabeth McNeil installs a special battery for the exhaust boosters allowing the player to fly in the air, which is used in first person rail levels.

Bullet Spong(only in special levels):Dr.Elizabeth McNeil installs a special Bullet Spong emitter that create an orb for the player to fire into. The player can fire a large amount of bullet into into this orb and release the shots fired only an enemy all at once. This is used in a few levels against enemies that require the player to take cover often such as the Archviles.




Weapon types:
These are the weapons used throughout the game. Weapons are place into 5 catigories. Long range, high caliber, full auto, explosive, and special. Players can only carry one weapon per catigory as doing so balances out the gameplay by making players switch weapons constantly(like in the original Doom) and prevents players from relaying on certian types of weapons untill they run out of ammo.
Ammo for each weapon is balanced out so that each player recieve the bare minimum needed to fight enemies(adjusting the placement of ammo greatly affects the combat method players use), forcing the player to drop weapons for new ones(ammo placement is essencial for balancement in first person shooters).

I tried to make the weapons as balanced out as possible, though weapons that are unbalanced can be balanced with proper ammo placement(in the original Doom each ammo type came in two different sizes. Small and large), enemy placement, and level design. The balancement of weapons is also dictated by the enemies, the enemies abilities, the level design, ammo placement, and enemy placement. The more layers have to switch weapons out for different situations the better.

An example of this in another first person shooter:In Bungies Marathon series the Fusion pistol would cause Pfhor Hunters to explode causing players to switch to the Fusion pistol whenever Hunters are encountered. Another example would be the Revenants from Doom 2 which could be taken out in 2 hits with a rocket launcher. Because the rocket launcher fires quicker than the double barrel shotgun this was the better method of taking them out.



Enemies:
The abilities and stats of enemies highly effect the gameplay and techniques players will use. Depending on their speed, attack delay, damage(damage motivates players. The cyberdemon is an example of this), speed of particles, Artifical Intelligance, and abilities. Each enemy will require their own takedown tactics.

Unlike other first person shooters a large aspect of the game is based on using dodge moves to avoid attacks. This is done either by dodging under or jumping over. Many enemies can also time their shots when the player is facing them to hit the player while he is moving. However when they do this the shot that is made will be slower to balance things out.

There are 6 main catigories of enemy attacks. Chest based attacks which must by either dodged or ducked under. Ground based attacks that must be either dodged or jumped over. Wall attacks that can only be avoided by dodging or wall kicking(wall kicking grants extra height). Heat seeking attacks which must either by ducked under or wall kicked over. Wave based attacks that move either up and down, left and right, or diagonally(dodging those requires timing). And hitscan attacks which can not be dodged. In addition to chest and ground based attacks some enemies have attacks that can't be jumped over or dodged under and simply must be manuvered around.

Like in Halo the A.I. for the enemies will be adjusted to position themselves for the best attack patterns possible. This way enemies will try to create a variety of waves of particles for the player to dodge, forcing the player to adjust their manuvering techniques endlessly. Many enemies have a limited ability to dodge attacks, but their ability to do so varies. Some enemies are capible of evading the players crosshair to the best of their ability(like in Resident Evil 4 and Rage), some can only dodge particle attacks, and others can't dodge attacks at all.

The A.I. for the enemies aswell as the speed and rate in which they attack is affected by how many enemies there are. The smaller number of enemies there are, the faster the enemy will attack(depending on the difficulty). This allows for a variety of situations throughout the game.

One thing I haven't thought of is what to do about enemies off screen and how they attack you. One solution is to include an indicator that shows incoming attacks from enemies off screen, but I think a better one would be to limit the attacks of enemies off screen to single shots rather than allowing them to use multiple particles at a time.

I tried to balance the enemies as best I could. Even when an enemy is unbalanced, it can still be balanced out by either attacking in groups or being placed in a location that suits it's combat abilities. Enemies are further balanced out by resistances and damage bonuses from the players weapons. When the player points a weapon at an enemy, the game will display the enemy's name, health bar, and resistances to show the player what weapons they should use on each enemy. This further encourages the player to switchout weapons more often.

Keep in mind that some of the enemies are based on demonology(demon mythology) as the plot of the game is highly connected to the various mythologies of hell itself, so you'll find some of their appearances rather weird. Of course the game won't referance religion at all so don't worry.



Plot:
Keep in mind that since i'm trying to make the game closer to it's roots the story won't take itself very seriously(the original Doom wasn't known for being serious). There's quite a few stabs at humor. Keep in mind that while demons and zombies are your main enemies throughout the game, the 10% of the game takes place before hell takes over and merges with earth.

I would like point out that the plot involved the demons successfully merging time and space of hell with earth. Both places merge as one. Hell would be divided into various countries, based on different forms of demonology, religious views of what hell is like without referancing religion altogether(I thought that would allow us to create areas based on actual places in hell. Sounds smarter in my opinion. You remember how effective the mythological referances in the game Dantes Inferno worked). One based on Christian demonology while another being based on Satanic demonology. As a result the player finds himself traveling the world visiting various versions of hell and as a result the apperance of hell would variety to make the game more epic(one version of hell consists of floating islands of rock while another consists of cities flooded with liquid nitrogen). And no, like I said the game won't mention god or religion itself(it wouldn't be Doom if it did. Any needed referance to religion would have to be as brief as possible, otherwise it would come off as out of place). In addition referances to demonalogy there also exists many referances to other Doom games such as Doom 3, Doom 2, and Final Doom.

However while this would make the game more epic, should ID software by some twist of fate accept my idea they'd likely ask me to rewrite the story(which i'll do if need be). The reason why is that the story is written in a way in which the main character has to talk. ID software is known for having silent protagonists, however those kinds of protagonists only work in games were there are no cutscenes save for the opening, ending, or first person cut scenes(Half Life, Bioshock 1 and 2, Rage, and original Doom being examples), otherwise they come off as weak shells of a man. One reason why the main character in Doom 1, 2, Final Doom, and Doom 64 never talked was due to technological limitations back then(few games had voice acting at that time).

If I must rewrite the story, i'd at least like to make the game self aware by having the characters mentioning that Doomguy is suffering from Laryngitis. As for the personality Doomguy would have would be based on the expressions he makes. He could even try to talk, when someone asks him a question he tries to answer, but can't. However, if given the permission I could however make a talking character charismatic. Whether or not I do is up to you.

As i've said the idea is far too big to fit on this thread. I just wanted to explain some of the idea's i've given you.

Download for the idea can be found here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/zzv1fpfivzaspyh/Doom-Seven+Sons.rtf

If anyone is interested in making a game out of this let me know. I'm sure I can expand this idea even further. Perhaps it could start as a gameplay mod before expanding into a total conversion.

Wait, what? What is this? I mean, all the talks about wavy projectiles and liquid nitrogen sounds pretty cool, but is this some kind of a design document?

And what does it have to do with Doom 3?

Jaxxoon R said:

Wait, what? What is this? I mean, all the talks about wavy projectiles
and liquid nitrogen sounds pretty cool, but is this some kind of a design document?

And what does it have to do with Doom 3?

The reason why I posted it here is because I thought that ID Software isn't likely to accept any idea's(esspeically this far into Doom 4's deveopment. Game developers aren't known to take idea's from fans). So yes. This is a design document containing all my idea's that I have for the ultimate Doom fangame. As for what this has to do with Doom 3, the reason I posted this idea here instead of the "WADS and mods" section of the forum is because I don't think the Zdoom engine is capible of handling the game design idea's that I have in store for Doom Seven Sons. As a result, this is more of mod concept best suited for the Doom 3 engine. I may not have any programming skills, but I worked quite alot on the concept design for Doom Seven Sons, and i'm willing to expand it for anyone interested in making it. That is if anyone is willing to put their time into such a lengthy project.