STACK #139 May 2016

GAMES FEATURE

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DOOM Developer: id Software YEAR: 1993

PART 1

By John Roebuck

H ow do you quantify the legacy of a videogame? In an era in which games as revered as Mortal Kombat 2 , Starfox and Myst were redefining the gaming industry, id Software’s 1993 release, DOOM , heralded a new age of popularity in the fledgling first-person shooter, raised the bar for realism in graphics, and pioneered network multiplayer gaming. It spawned a string of sequels, a series of comic books, a board game and a live-action film adaptation. 23 years on, DOOM remains inventive and unique, surviving not solely on nostalgia but also on the fundamental quality of experience that id Software achieved in the original development process. DOOM is still played online, and still modded. The legacy is still being measured. Before DOOM , there was Wolfenstein 3D . Rough examples of the first-person shooter genre litter the video game industry from as far back as the early 1970s, but Wolfenstein 3D set the standard upon which subsequent FPS titles would be grounded. Wolfenstein 3D was a commercial and critical success, and so id Software set their sights on the production of a sequel. This sequel, which became the prequel, Spear of Destiny , utilised the same game engine as Wolfenstein . This meant that the company’s lead programmer, a man named John D. Carmack, had free time to develop the company’s next-generation graphics engine. Working in isolation from the rest of the company, Carmack constructed an engine that would allow for significant graphical reappraisal for id Software’s next title. DOOM went into production in September 1992. The idea was to combine the aesthetics of James Cameron’s film Aliens with the id Software team’s favourite horror B-movies. The company announced to the press that DOOM would be “ Wolfenstein times a million.” Creative director Tom Hall came on board, outlining the game design in a document he dubbed the ‘DOOM Bible’. Unlike the

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final game and many of Hall’s concepts showed up not only in later DOOM titles, but also in other id Software games such as Quake, and games designed by Hall for other gaming companies. The third crucial figure in the production of DOOM , level designer John Romero, commented that "You don’t need much of a story if the game is good." After Hall’s departure, id Software cemented its design ideology. The task was to employ cutting-edge technology and mould it into an extremely playable game. Eager to showcase the new engine’s capabilities, Romero designed abstract levels, to distinguish the game from Wolfenstein ’s more flat and square aesthetics. With a deadline looming, an extra level designer, Sandy Peterson, was brought on board to help alleviate the workload. Peterson took an even less realistic approach to the level design than Romero, drawing on the work of Giger and Lovecraft for inspiration. Much of the death- metal imagery in the game is the result of Peterson’s work; a critical addition to the team with the release date rapidly approaching. To be continued...

Developers, id Software

You don’t need much of a story if the game is good.

plotless Wolfenstein , Hall’s intention for the new title was to create a dense world and an elaborate story. Carmack rejected Hall’s narrative ambition, commenting that a ‘story in a game is like the story in a porn movie. It’s expected to be there but it’s not that important.’ Creative conflict between these two key figures in the development of DOOM escalated, leading to Hall’s resignation in August 1993. The DOOM Bible was abandoned, though several crucial ideas were retained for the

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