Doom Game
Doom (stylized as DOOM) is a video game series and media franchise created by John Carmack, John Romero, Adrian Carmack, Kevin Cloud, and Tom Hall.[1] The series usually focuses on the exploits of an unnamed space marine (often referred to as Doomguy or Doom Slayer) operating under the auspices of the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC), who fights hordes of demons and the undead in order to save Earth from an apocalyptic invasion.
Doom Game
The original Doom is considered one of the first pioneering first-person shooter games, introducing to IBM-compatible computers features such as 3D graphics, third-dimension spatiality, networked multiplayer gameplay, and support for player-created modifications with the Doom WAD format. Over 10 million copies of games in the Doom series have been sold; the series has spawned numerous sequels, novels, comic books, board games, and film adaptations.
The Doom video games consist of first-person shooters in which the player controls an unnamed space marine commonly referred to as Doomguy; in the 2016 series, the protagonist is called the "Doom Slayer" or just "Slayer". The player battles the forces of Hell, consisting of demons and the undead. The games are usually set within sprawling bases on Mars or its moons, while some parts take place in Hell itself. The classic series had only a limited focus on the story, much of which was present in the manuals rather than the games themselves.[2] More recent titles, particularly the 2016 series, would feature a heavier focus on narrative.[3]
The development of the original Doom started in 1992, when John Carmack developed a new game engine, the Doom engine, while the rest of the id Software team finished the Wolfenstein 3D prequel, Spear of Destiny. The game launched in an episodic format in 1993, with the first episode available as shareware and two more episodes available by mail order. The first episode was largely designed by John Romero.[8] The title proved extremely popular, with the full version of the game selling one million copies. The term "Doom clone" became the name for new genre now known as first-person shooters for several years.[9]
Doom II: Hell on Earth was released in 1994 in a commercial format. Only minor changes were made at a technical level; the game featured new enemies, a new "Super Shotgun" weapon, and more complex levels.[10] The game was followed by an expansion in 1995, titled Master Levels for Doom II, which added 20 additional levels. A fourth episode was added to the original game by the 1995 re-release.[11]
From 1995 id Software were focused on the development of the new Quake series, which would be developed by the company throughout the late 1990s.[12] Two additional games would be released over the following years, largely created by third-party developers under id's supervision. The first of these was Final Doom, which featured 64 levels based on the Doom II engine, organised into two episodes. TNT: Evilution was developed by the modding group TeamTNT and completed in November 1995, while the second episode The Plutonia Experiment was developed by TNT's Dario and Milo Casali and completed in January 1996.[citation needed]
The troubled development of Quake had resulted in major staffing changes at id by 2000, with a number of key figures from the development of Doom having departed. This included the original designer John Romero, who was fired in 1996.[8] In the interim, the company had hired former Doom modder Tim Willits.[12] By 2000 a new non-Doom game was being designed, but id staff had a "lack of enthusiasm" for the project, and strongly desired to remake the original Doom instead. John Carmack, among others, announced internally that they were working on a Doom game- and would continue to do so unless the company fired them. While Paul Steed was indeed fired, work on the game did continue.[15]
The title was unveiled later that year as Doom 3. The design of the title would be led by Willits.[16] Using the new id Tech 4 engine, numerous technical improvements were made over the classic series, allowing greater realism and interactivity. The game used voice acting and featured a greater focus on narrative than earlier titles. A demo of the game was shown at E3 2002 and was subsequently leaked online, well ahead of the 2004 release date. At the time, it was the first Doom title in seven years, and helped renew interest in the franchise.[17] An expansion, Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil was released in 2005. Unlike the base game, the expansion was developed by Nerve Software. A 2012 "BFG Edition" featured both previous releases along with a new expansion entitled The Lost Mission.
Doom 4 entered development in the mid 2000s alongside Rage, with the new Doom title initially planned as a rework of Doom II. Hints were present in 2007 at QuakeCon, and the game was formally announced in 2008. Response to preview material was negative, with fans nicknaming the project "Call of Doom", after a perceived similarity to the Call of Duty franchise. Bethesda marketing vice president Pete Hines stated in retrospect that "it wasn't Doom enough". After Rage was not as successful as hoped, publisher ZeniMax requested a reboot of Doom 4 and moved the Rage staff over to the new project. This version was built using Rage's code base and suffered from disputes among staff, particularly among managers of the two projects.[18] The game was cancelled in 2013. John Carmack, one of the few remaining veterans from the development of the classic series still present at id, left the studio that November.[19]
After the 2013 scrapping of the Doom 4 project, Willits stated that the next game in the Doom series was still the team's focus.[22] Hugo Martin was hired as creative director on the project in 2013.[23] The project was announced as Doom in 2014, and was released to generally positive reception in 2016. A glory kill mechanic and additional platforming manoeuvres were among the main gameplay additions.[24] The game's multiplayer mode received three small downloadable content releases over the course of the first year, and all three were then released for free with the 6.66 update on July 19, 2017.[25]
The 2016 series was not originally described as a continuation or origin story of earlier games, however plot details in the sequel Doom Eternal and commentary from Martin would later describe it as a continuation of the classic series.[26][27] The 2020 re-release of Doom 64 included an expansion entitled The Lost Levels, intended "to connect 'old' Doom to 'new' Doom".[28]
A VR spinoff entitled Doom VFR was released in 2017 to generally positive reception, with reviewers discussing the movement controls in particular- which were well made albeit hidden behind menus.[clarification needed] The game features a single-player campaign, and reused enemies and other assets from the 2016 game.[29] The game would be the last Doom title under Willits' leadership, ahead of his departure in 2019.[30] 2018 marked the 25th anniversary of the franchise, and saw the Doom Slayer included as a playable character in id Software's Quake Champions. That year, John Romero announced Sigil, an unofficial "fifth episode" of the original 1993 game. The episode was released for free via Romero's website in 2019, with a paid version available that included a soundtrack by guitarist Buckethead.[31] While Sigil was developed independently, Bethesda added the episode to the console ports of Doom as a free patch in October, alongside the two chapters of Final Doom.[32][33]
The next main entry in the franchise, Doom Eternal, was directed by Hugo Martin and released in 2020.[34] The title sold very well, generating $450 million in revenue over the first year; double the launch revenue of the previous title. Some commentators cited the timing of the release, which coincided with a wave of interest in gaming worldwide amid restrictions on social gathering during the coronavirus pandemic.[35][36] The game was made in id Tech 7, which afforded numerous technical improvements over the id Tech 6 engine used by its predecessor.[37] An expansion of the game, The Ancient Gods, was released in two parts, one in October 2020 and the other in March 2021.
In March 2021, Hugo Martin discussed some directions future Doom titles could take, discussing time travel or a game set in the time span between Doom 64 and Doom (2016), when the Doom Slayer "first came to that place with the Sentinels, almost like a more medieval setting".[40][27] Romero confirmed in August 2021 that a second Sigil expansion using the Doom II engine was in development.[41]
A set of four novels based on Doom were written by Dafydd ab Hugh and Brad Linaweaver, and were published between June 1995 and January 1996 by Pocket Books. The books, listed in order, are titled Knee Deep in the Dead, Hell on Earth, Infernal Sky and Endgame. The unnamed Marine is called "Flynn Taggart" or "Fly" in the novels. The first two books feature recognizable locations and situations from the first two games.
A one-shot comic book written by Steve Behling and Michael Stewart with art by Tom Grindberg was released in May 1996 by Marvel Comics as a giveaway for a video game convention.[citation needed]
In 2020, Critical Role published a fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons module entitled Doom Eternal: Assault on Amaros Station. The game was written by Christopher Lockey and Matthew Mercer, and received a digital release via the Critical Role store on December 16, 2020.[49][50] 041b061a72