Gaming Flashback: DOOM

DOOM is a PC game titlat that wasn’t initially released in stores. It was uploaded to an FTP server in the University of Wisconsin-Madison and on the Software Creations BBS on the 10th of December; released as a shareware game, people were encouraged to download and spread the game around to all their friends.

In days before social networks and the wildfire of the Internet (or high speed networking) this game still managed to spread around to everyone in the gaming community. From1993 to 1995 the title had an estimated install base of 10 million computers. We were one of them.

Granted, ten million copies were installed but most were not registered and simply remained as shareware. However, over one million copies were sold for the registered version of DOOM and this brought momentum to their next non-shareware copy of the DOOM series. The Ultimate Doom (version 1.9, including episode IV) was released, making this the first time that Doom was sold commercially in stores.

In a press release dated January 1, 1993, id Software had written that they expected Doom to be “the number one cause of decreased productivity in businesses around the world”. This prediction came true at least in part: Doom became a major problem at workplaces, both occupying the time of employees and clogging computer networks with traffic caused by deathmatches. Intel, Lotus Development and Carnegie Mellon University are among many organizations reported to form policies specifically disallowing Doom-playing during work hours. At the Microsoft campus, Doom was by one account equal to a “religious phenomenon”. (wikipedia)

The history to DOOM is very deep, involved and most people know of some of the basics. It’s an early First-Person-Shooter (FPS) game where you experience the world in the eyes of the character. The objective of each level is “simply to locate the exit room that leads to the next area” (usually labeled with an inviting red EXIT sign or a special kind of door), while surviving all hazards on the way. You’ll find monsters, pits of radioactive slime, ceilings that come down and crush the player, and locked doors for which a keycard, Skeleton key, or remote switch need to be located. The levels are sometimes labyrinthine (the automap is a crucial aid in navigating them), and feature plenty of hidden secret areas that hold power-ups as a reward for players who explore.

Development started for DOOM by John Carmack in 1992 while the rest of the team was finishing Wolfenstein 3D’s sequel Spear of Destiny. The game was a hit, inspired companies to start working on competitive FPS titles and pretty much created the landscape in US gaming that we have today. Although Japan and other regions may not be as crazy about FPS titles as we are, there is no doubt DOOM impacted the world in terms of raising the bar in graphics, 3D design and level creation… oh, and graphic violence.

Although DOOM‘s name dropped from the charts when Duke Nukem 3D and Quake arrived it is still regarded as the “Elvis of Gaming” or the “Beatles of the Game Industry” – the number one video game of all time.

To hear all of our thoughts, checkout TD Gaming Podcast Episode 48.

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Gaming Flashback: Secret of the Silver BladesGaming Flashback: Secret of the Silver Blades

I miss old SSI games and all the beauty and wonder they brought me as a child. Perhaps it’s more of the feeling of playing old MS-DOS games and that no worries feeling of playing games all summer long when your parents are out working; no cares in the world but that of the evil dragons and goblins of an RPG world. Secret of the Silver Blades arrived in May of 1990, developed and published by Strategic Simulations Inc (SSI), a company we covered in our gaming history back in TD Gaming Podcast Episode 9.

Secret of the Silver Blades is actually the third in a four-part game series which was eventually packaged in the Gold Box editing of the SSI games. It was a continuation of the game Curse of the Azure Bonds and the first in the series: Pool of Radiance. The cool part of the series was the leveling system where each would let you level to a certain limit just like most modules in D&D games, this game let you get to level seven which means a Mage could use the cool Delayed Blast Fireball spell which was one of my favorite magic spells in D&D (yeah, I’m a dork.)

The graphics were a whopping 16-colors, with slight graphical improvements over the other two prior games. This game didn’t have an overworld map like the others, going full first person for the length of the game. Another great enhancement was the ability to use the arrow keys to navigate menu’s without the need for “hot keys” like older SSI titles, given the game is very much menu-based for combat, equipment and inventory management it was very handy to have the use of those nice little arrow keys.

You create your party and start adventuring in a game engine very similar to all the games before it, so introduction to game mechanics was minimal, you could advance your characters further in level and, most importantly, import characters from previous games. The D&D world is really a character-driven game environment and you grow fond of your characters and understand the best ways to battle with them, importing is key and still, today, is a big part in well done RPG expansions (Guild Wars is a great example). Unfortunately, many games fall short of character import and it kind of blows away some of the magic of an RPG.

One of the frustrating issues with Secret of the Silver blade is the limitation on levels for the Cleric, because they can’t level up past 7 they can’t get the good ressurection spell, only allowed to use Raise Dead which lowers your characters constitution by 1 (much like the traditional D&D rules). However, given its a video game and not a paper-dice based game, the raise dead penalty is annoying, so it was easier to save often and re-load when you died to try again and avoid the penalty. I do recall their being some scrolls or something to get back your constitution penalty… but it’s been awhile I might be making that up.

Anyway, a well done series, classic RPG and helped build a foundation for games like Morrow Wind and Oblivion in my opinion.

Episode 264: This Podcast is DRM-FreeEpisode 264: This Podcast is DRM-Free

This week is full of gaming goodness as E3 slowly creeps up like kudzu, but there’s still plenty to talk about this week. For one, the Gaming Flashback is the classic Infocom game Planetfall.

The news for the week:

  • DICE has Frostbite-powered titles for 2013 that “will require a 64-bit OS”
  • Actors confirm return to recording booth for Mass Effect 3
  • CD Projekt RED: The truth is DRM does not work
  • Potential $1 billion suit against EA by former student-athletes moves forward

All that and Reader Feedback. This week’s Question of the Week, “Have you ever wanted a game but didn’t buy it due to DRM?”