LINUXGAMES

Ten years ago last week, id Softwarereleased version 1.0 of DOOM Episode 1: Knee Deep in the Dead (shareware,which is still available to thisday).Not too long afterthe initial release (which you can read abouthere inthis excerpt from Mastersof Doom), I had a chance to install it on my already aging PC. The lack ofa sound card relegated the various hellspawn to uttering beeps and bloopsinstead of grunts and screams, but I was no less impressed with the gameplayand design.

Then, just one year later (Dec 9, 1994), id’s Dave Taylorannouncedthe first official DOOM Linux port:

I did this ’cause Linux gives me a woody. It doesn’t generaterevenue.

I doubt I can improve upon that statement, so I’ll refrain from trying. At anyrate, nascent Linux gamers were now able to match wits (and HE ordnance) withhellspawn on the open source platform.

Flash forward four years: id makes the source code to DOOM available(and, eventually, under the GPL), allowing fans to developnew features such as TCP/IP client-server support, and starting what’s becomea gratifying industry trend: releasing commercial game source code once the licensingrevenue stream is no longer viable.Many revolutions around the sun later, the second full sequel,DOOM 3, is on the verge of release, and the original’sprogeny have come to dominate the PC gaming action genre.

I thought I had more to say here, like how much of an influence DOOMwas for me, crazy multiplayer anecdotes, how I nearly soiled my chair fightingthe Cyberdemon the first time, that sort of thing, but none of it isparticularly interesting or compelling entertainment in and of itself, so you get nothing!

Ok, I lied. Here’s a blurb from an ancient Wired magazinearticlethat I think does a fair job of summarizing the mark the game made on ourcollective hobby:

But for most fans, there’s nothing academic about id’s games. Several Doomdiehards who came to id one afternoon to perform beta testing demanded thatTim Willits customize their mouse and keypad configurations in accordance withhighly specific instructions. Willits complied, commenting, “You know, none ofus use these weird configurations.”

“Are you a Doom fan?” one beta-tester asked.

Tim stared at him. “Uh, I work here, remember?”

“No, man, you don’t understand. Doom is my life!”

Some of you out there may have missed out on DOOM. If so, I’m here to help. Ifyou lack the retail versions of DOOM or DOOM II, you can still grab theshareware WAD linked above (the game data: maps, monsters, level textures, and soforth) and one of the myriad of DOOM code forks (usually referred to somewhatconfusingly as “source ports”), such as PrBoom (or, if enhanced multiplayeris what you want, DOOM Legacy).

DOOM 1 Episode 1 Shareware WAD: [3ddownloads.com]
PrBoom 2.2.4: [SourceForge.net]

Here’s a few commemorative articles of note:

• Doomworld – Discussionabout thedivergenceof the DOOM source tree, the best WADs from previousyears, a DOOM comicthat’s really something awful, and start to crateratings. Doomworld’s 5thanniversary section is still up also, and includes features such as theDOOM Bible.
• Gamespy -catching up with the originaldevelopers,recollections,a timeline,and an interviewcomparing development in 1993 to 2003.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 15th, 2003 at 11:21 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.