Dec 28, 2007

Behold the DOOM Bible

DOOMTom Hall, a member of the team responsible for the original DOOM game and author of the DOOM Bible, was the designer that tried to improve the storytelling and thus subtler bits of the game. His DOOM Bible, a 79-pages long document containing all the original ideas, details and plans for DOOM can be downloaded in its entirety here, courtesy of 5 years of Doom.

Read it (the PDF makes a far more interesting read than this clumsy post) and see how DOOM could have turned out a better game. Not a masterpiece, nor more influential mind you, but definitely a better, more interesting game. Sadly Tom Hall's ideas were never fully implemented, though one could say the have lived on to influence later id games.

Related @ Gnome's Lair: Jet Set Willy: the patch, 1700 arcade manuals, Classic DOOM, more free PDFs & ebooks

Posted by at 28.12.07
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21 comments:

  2. the subject of Doom, any suggestions for getting doom t ruin on a modern XP machine. More specifically, Doom 2. I've had little luck though the only install I have is a set of 5 3.5 disks from eons ago.
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  3. Think I've already read this.

    It is interesting to compare Tom Hall's equal opportunity Mars with the almost all-male city in Doom 3...
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  4. Reading all that information sounds cumbersome. Can you send me a DVD with the sound of someone reading it aloud?
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  5. Well, then do help yourself david dear... Care for a beer too?

    Josh, I'd say you could try Final Doom or give DOSbox a try. I do have a feeling though there was a dedicated DOOM emulator somewhere...

    Indeed Pacian. And, really, it was interesting to see how unappreciative tech-heads can be of anything besides polygons. Bah!

    Sure. Just let me burn the audiobook cd and mail it to you funnyman..
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  6. Doom, doom, doom... I've never experienced it though I have played half a dozen wannabes...

    Give me time though, I only played the first Resident Evil this year...

    I'm just SO that guy who states at the water fountain in work...

    "What? The Clash? Who are they then? What songs would I know? Were they any good? Ooh?! Did they do that "Rock The Casbah?" That was alright..."
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  7. BOY I FEEL OLD NOW.

    I remember when we got Wolfenstein and we'd stay up all night playing it on the 286 PC.

    That was gaming I tell yas.

    Hell, I can go back farther than that if you'd like.

    WIPPERSNAPPERS!
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  8. Ah, dont worry Father, dear. Doom isn't half as important as the Clash.

    Besides, as josh would no doubt agree, both Wolf3D and Wing Commander were so much more interesting...
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  9. Oh man, Wing Commander. I finally got really awesome at that.

    Awesome to the point that anytime I got a "new wingman", I'd assassinate them to prevent them from getting my kills.
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  10. Wow... Never gotten that good, I must admit, but at least I did manage to finish both games (well, wc 1 & 2 for all I care) with a bare minimum of cheats...
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  11. For the record, I am also bad ass at TIE =Fighter. Another game I wish I could run in XP.
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  12. Josh Miller: use a source port. ZDoom is simple enough to use,and Doomsday is a little fancier.
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  13. zDoom, that was the one indeed.

    Now, haven't tried a source port, but if you googled a bit around you'd find some solutions. I remember giving it a try last year, thouhg it's not the same without a joystick.
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  14. I read a book that dealt with the delvelopment of Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake.

    I think it was "Masters of Doom".

    In any case I think that Tom Hall got a raw deal.

    If I remember correctly he was let go because of creative differences.

    He wanted to make the game more story driven.

    It's debatable if his ideas could have been put in the game though. There were techinical issues and the game engine was more suited to action.
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  15. Masers of Doom, yes, I'll definitely get around to reading it. Must be quite the look behind the scenes I'd like...

    Happy 2008!
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  16. It is a damn shame that the movie wasn't as great as the game.
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  17. Still, it was mildly fun. Well, for its kind...
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  18. By the Golden Throne this brings back memories.

    I'm almost certain that I've seen some of this before, but never the entire thing.

    Thanks so much for the link!
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  19. By Slaanesh, I'm glad you appreciated it oh Dane of War. Now, let me just link to your most brutal blog...
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  20. You are far too kind for the link! And, much like my wife, you consider me an un-sortable creature. :)
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  21. Kind? Not at all.. It's a fantastic blog you got there oh most unsortable one :)
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