Doom Update

As today is the last day of February, I'm a little bit surprised that my SIGIL box hasn't come in the mail yet. (According to this update, production has been pushed back to April). I haven't been terribly concerned by the delay, not because I'm not eager to play these new levels, but because it's taken me this long just to go back through all the original levels again - from Ultimate Doom's four 9-level episodes, to Doom II's 32 levels, and including Final Doom (which consists of two separate Doom II-size mission packs [two of the most memorable and inspired levels being Wormhole, and Hunted]) - which I'd wanted to do before I played the new ones. Now I guess I still have twenty-five years of the best fan-produced levels according to Doomworld's Cacowards (for which I've been toying with the idea of writing some reviews) to keep me company until that time comes. In between working on my own level, of course - because playing other people's levels is always good for inspiration.

And I have been working on that level. Although constantly cursing my overambition (why couldn't I start with a simple "space base" level?), I've made a lot of progress over the last month and a half, though the level isn't quite nearing completion just yet. I'm realizing that there is one element in particular that's holding me back, and that's this idea I have in my head of constructing a city block (which is an integral part of the level I decided to work on). In addition to the question of where to position all the different elements of the level, there is the challenge of building a 3D-looking and feeling landscape in what is essentially a 2D engine. Since you can't put rooms on top of rooms, the trick with buildings is that you can either have an interior, or a roof, but not both. You can create the appearance of a roof, looking up from below, but you can't walk on it, nor can you view it from above - and I intend the player to rise above street level in the course of navigating this level (working his way up from the sewers to the rooftops).

Now, that doesn't mean there aren't workarounds - some of the most memorable levels, including in Doom II, simulate city blocks (particularly Downtown, and Industrial Zone). You can mix false facades with accessible roofs and the like, but depending on where you put what, it may or may not look good, and I want to create a sense of immersion in this level. Adding to the difficulty is the fact that I have underground sections too. So, that's the thing that's tripping me up and slowing me down. On the topic of what I have accomplished, I have a cell block where the level begins, a tunnel leading into a sewer infrastructure that can be shaped as necessary when I get the overall layout of the level worked out, a bath house that I'm quite excited about, and the latest monstrosity I've been working on: a courtyard flanked on three sides by an apartment building, complete with a reception area, several rooms, working elevators, and fire escapes.

I look forward to taking all kinds of screenshots later, when things are a little more settled (one of the unexpectedly harder elements to level building for me is interior design - not furniture, necessarily, but matching floor, ceiling, and wall textures). There are a lot of good pieces in my level, but it has yet to come together as a whole. Another thing I need is a title. The working title is "sexxxydoom", but as the original idea was for a total conversion, and this iteration of the level removes everything "sexxxy" about it, I don't think that's going to work. I'm thinking something along the lines of "demon beast invasion", if that's not too generic, because that's the general idea behind this level.

Resurrecting Doom

So far, I've only used this blog to talk about my RPG Maker projects. But I recently learned that original Doom titan John Romero is set to release (in February) an all-new chapter to the original Doom in celebration of the game's 25th anniversary. It's titled SIGIL, and will be considered episode 5, to take place between Ultimate Doom's episode 4, and Doom II. I've been going back and playing through all the old Doom levels in anticipation.

Romero mentions in an official interview that he used Doom Builder 2 to create these new levels - the same level generator fans can use to create their own custom Doom levels. It's a perfect example of how, ever since id Software released Doom's source code, the game has been placed into the hands of its fan community, which has kept it alive with continually new user-generated content over the past 25 years and counting.

SIGIL isn't even an official product by the company helming the modern Doom franchise (which I must admit, I do not keep track of). The levels will be released as freeware - like the first episode of Doom originally was - and can be loaded onto your favorite Doom source port (GZDoom seems to be the favored one at this time). It's essentially another fan-made product, except that the fan in this case is none other than one of the masterminds behind the original game itself!

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Naturally, in all of this, my mind has wandered back to level editing for Doom. I've dabbled in the past, but it had always been a chore wrestling with level editors which tend to be finicky about how you build lines and sectors and such, often producing frustrating errors. But technology tends to improve over time, and Doom Builder 2 looks to be as user-friendly and foolproof an editor as I've ever seen. So I've downloaded it and already gone through some basic tutorials. It's worth giving this level editing thing another try.

Sadly, from what I can gather, all of my old files and folders related to custom Doom levels I've worked on have been lost, probably in hard drive crashes over the years. All I've got is what little I've held onto in my own memory, and an unfinished project I fortunately had the foresight to publish to the 'net at some point. It's my magnum opus - it's called Realms of the Berserk, and merges three of my favorite fandoms, with a story inspired by dark fantasy manga Berserk, and levels drawing on environments from the cult PC adventure horror game Realms of the Haunting.

I re-downloaded and played through the two levels (out of nine planned total) I have posted in semi-complete form, and I have to say, I'm very impressed with what I'd managed to accomplish. The levels are imaginative, even more complex than I'd remembered, and actually quite challenging (I say as a veteran Doomguy who only ever plays on the Ultra-Violence difficulty). And seeing some of these environments from Realms of the Haunting rendered in Doom is a sheer delight! I feel inspired, and disappointed that I'd never completed this project.

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If I am to work on this project some more, however, I feel like I should warm up by building a "dummy" level in Doom Builder 2 first, to get familiar with the program and make sure I'm confident using it. I've decided to try putting together a stand-alone level I have in mind from a separate unfinished project. Once upon a time, it was intended to be part of a total conversion (where even the names and sound effects and graphics are changed), replacing the violence that is intrinsic to this game with sex, instead.

The whole idea is that there is this demon beast invasion (think Urotsukidoji/Legend of the Overfiend), and rather than killing, their goal is to mate with the human population (with a nod to Duke Nukem, which I enjoyed playing immensely as an adolescent). Your only recourse is to stimulate the demons to exhaustion before they have a chance to push you over the edge to orgasm.

Instead of health, your life meter is replaced with sexual stamina. Your armor is just clothing - a buffer against the ministrations of the damned. Punching becomes stroking, the chainsaw a vibrator. Instead of rockets you can launch dildos at your enemies. All bodily fluids would.be changed from red to white. Chaingunners are re-envisioned as trenchcoat flashers; Barons of Hell become satyrs. You run around collecting panties (clothing boosts), and gulping down Red Bulls (stamina boosts). Secret sectors consist of hidden naked virgins that must be found before the demons do!

I'm pulling this all from memory. I'm sure it sounds silly, but I had it all worked out. In lieu of the total conversion, however, I think it would still make a fun straightforward Doom level. You start out in a holding cell in a police station, break through the wall into the sewers, climb up to street level, then explore some high-rise buildings. I'm gonna try to put the level together and see how it turns out. I know - it's pretty ambitious for a "dummy level", but as you've probably figured out by now, I'm nothing if not overambitious...