Freelook or not freelook?

Hello,

Although I think I already know the answer, I'm curious to assess the debate regarding modern ports freelook capabilities.

First of all, do you play Doom with freelook and do you think it enhances the game experience or on the contrary ruins it?

Regarding doom mapping now, do you think a well designed map should be playable both with and without freelook? Put in other words, if you were more of a non-freelook player, would you be tempted to play a map/mod that specifies it has been designed to be played with freelook (vertical-like design)?

tomatoKetchup said:

First of all, do you play Doom with freelook and do you think it enhances the game experience or on the contrary ruins it?

I play with a keyboard (without mouse) and my preferred port is Zandronum. I don't use freelook most of the time, but sometimes I do (keys W and S to look up and down) to deal with Cacodemons above me or monsters on high ledges etc. It's comfortable to have the option.

Regarding doom mapping now, do you think a well designed map should be playable both with and without freelook?

Vanilla / limit-removing / Boom maps should always be made to be well playable without freelook, because classic ports focusing on the vanilla / Boom format don't support freelook. On the other hand, I think they should be well playable with freelook too, that is, disallow exploits like shootable switches high above the floor that would normally have to be reached via a long path. Disabling freelook is also an option, but I guess it may annoy some people too much. In ZDoom-centric maps... Playing without freelook is still the most convenient way to play, as I see it. Mandatory freelook wouldn't hurt, but it should be clear that freelook is "officially" allowed.

In short - I answer "yes" to your question.

Put in other words, if you were more of a non-freelook player, would you be tempted to play a map/mod that specifies it has been designed to be played with freelook (vertical-like design)?

I wouldn't. I've tried to play Push with my keyboard setup and couldn't do any well, obviously. Vertical-like map design itself is absolutely OK with me, though - unless it's so much vertical that even freelook doesn't help.

Thanks for your feedback Scifista.

I personally rediscovered Doom a year ago, thank to (G)ZDoom. I find the game to be way funnier played like a modern FPS, with a keyboard/mouse combo. That because even though it certainly makes the game easier, it also allows me to manage at extra difficulty level.

I had always played vanilla Doom before, but now I find quite hard to play without freelook, which in turn affects the way I design my maps.

I used to play only with the keyboard, but some months ago I started to play with the mouse. I use it without freelook, only to "aim"/turn the view. If I want to look up or down I have 2 keys set for that, but I do that only to see some details, never in the fights. Freelook in Doom always looked weird to me. Overall I find it easier to move during the combats with the mouse but so many times I have the feel that I wouldn't have missed that shot if I were using only the keyboard.

make the map designed for freelook or not, that's your choice. If you intend one and not the other, just let people know.

If someone plays your map that you designed for freelook (and let people know) and they play it WITHOUT freelook and have a bad time, that's their fault.

I have nothing against freelook, but I mostly play vanilla/limit-removing/Boom wads, and I prefer to play those as intended, without freelook. If a wad requires it, I'll turn it on.

My only real complaint is when I'm intended to be using it, but the author just assumed I would be and never mentioned that it was required.

GZDoom and Zandronum I use freelook (and no autoaim), but with ZDoom I don't have it, though I still use keyboard and mouse.

I truly dont care for one second what others think about freelook in ports, i just use it. playing without it just feels awkward and greatly ruins the game for me.

Since about a year I usually play without freelook because it allows me to focus on movement/dodging.

When I'm playing 3DGE + Doom Forever I have it enabled though.

@VGA: Maybe you wanted to say "without" instead of "with"? Either that, or "disabled" instead of "enabled"? The context feels odd to me, but maybe it's just my poor English language sense.

Ok, from what I can read so far the answer's not balancing heavily on one side or another.

Though it'd be interesting to know a bit of the profile and gaming background of each of us, to see, for example, if the newer doom players tend to play more with freelook than the older
ones, which would make sense.

In any case, I think it's important for a map with a classic Doom feeling to be perfectly playable in both ways.

scifista42 said:

@VGA: Maybe you wanted to say "without" instead of "with"? Either that, or "disabled" instead of "enabled"? The context feels odd to me, but maybe it's just my poor English language sense.

Heh yes I screwed up, I meant without freelook because it makes moving/dodging easier. As well as snap shooting/turning.

Not to mention that I mostly play on Doom Retro nowadays which doesn't have freelook and I used to play primarily ZDoom where I only used lookspring sometimes. In software ports there is that viewport distortion when looking up/down, too.