Doom (1993 video game)
In November 1992, five people gathered in a dark office building they called Suite 666 to begin work on a new game. John Carmack started technical research on a 3D engine while Tom Hall wrote a design document he called the Doom Bible. The team included artists Adrian Carmack and Kevin Cloud alongside programmers John Romero and Dave Taylor. They moved operations from their previous location because they felt ready to outgrow their publisher Apogee Software. The working title was Green and Pissed before Carmack renamed it Doom based on a line from the 1986 film The Color of Money. Hall's initial concept involved scientists opening a portal to an alien invasion that turned out to be demons. Carmack dismissed the story entirely stating that story in a game is like story in a porn movie. He wanted to focus on technological innovation rather than character-driven plots. By early 1993 the team realized Carmack's vision for a seamless world would be impossible given hardware limitations. Hall spent weeks reworking his design document multiple times as the team shifted direction. In July the other founders fired Hall who went to work for Apogee. Sandy Petersen replaced him ten weeks before release. Romero created abstract levels that showed off the engine's capabilities better than Hall's boxy designs. The final product featured action-heavy gameplay with no complex narrative structure.
The player controls an unnamed space marine through military bases on the moons of Mars and in hell. Enemies appear as 2D sprites rendered at fixed angles within a 3D perspective known as 2.5D graphics. Five difficulty levels adjust enemy speed and damage output with harder settings making monsters move faster. Players must manage ammunition health and armor while collecting weapons including pistols shotguns plasma rifles and the BFG 9000. Levels contain toxic waste pits lowering ceilings locked doors requiring keycards or remote switches. Power-ups provide invulnerability radiation suits partial invisibility or berserker status. Cheat codes allow players to unlock all weapons walk through walls or become invulnerable. Two multiplayer modes exist: cooperative play for two to four teammates and deathmatch where players compete to kill each other. Deathmatch mode was initially only playable over local networks until DWANGO added online support one year after launch. The game features simple enemy behavior where creatures move toward opponents if they see or hear them. Monsters attack by biting clawing or using magic abilities like fireballs. Each level requires reaching a marked exit room or defeating a boss fight. The final level of each episode focuses on a boss encounter such as Barons of Hell or cyberdemons.
Id Software planned to self-publish Doom for DOS-based computers setting up a distribution system led by CEO Jay Wilbur. He decided to leverage the shareware market heavily giving retailers options to sell the first episode at any price. This strategy motivated customers to buy the full game directly from id rather than through third-party stores. By December 1993 the team worked non-stop with several employees sleeping at the office. At midnight on the 10th of December 1993, after thirty straight hours testing, they uploaded the first episode to the internet. The network administrator had to kick off all users to make room when ten thousand people attempted downloads simultaneously. Within hours university networks began banning Doom multiplayer games due to overwhelming traffic. John Carmack quickly released a patch in response to complaints about network congestion. By May 1994 Wilbur said the game had sold over 65,000 copies while the shareware version distributed over one million times. In 1995 PC Data declared it the country's fourth-best-selling computer game since 1993. By late 1995 Doom was estimated installed on more computers worldwide than Microsoft's Windows 95 operating system. All versions combined sold 3.5 million copies by the end of 1999. An estimated six million people played the shareware version by 2002 while other sources claimed twenty million players within two years.
Doom became notorious for its high levels of graphic violence and satanic imagery generating controversy from broad groups. It was one of the first video games given a Mature 17+ rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board. In Germany shortly after publication Doom was classified as harmful to minors by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons. This classification could not be sold to children or displayed where they could see it until rescinded in 2011. The game sparked renewed controversy in the United States when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were found to be avid players before committing the Columbine High School massacre on the 20th of April 1999. Harris said in his journal that the killing would be like playing Doom though no custom level matched the school layout. David Grossman dubbed Doom a mass murder simulator despite critics arguing against direct causation. Early release versions contained a swastika-shaped structure in level E1M4 removed later out of respect for a military veteran's request according to Romero. Reviews praised the single-player gameplay as skull-banging palm-sweating blood-pounding while others called it technically superb. Computer Gaming World named it the best computer game of all time in August 1994. PC Gamer UK ranked it third-best computer game of all time just months after release.
Doom has been termed inarguably the most important first-person shooter as well as the father of the genre. Dan Pinchbeck noted its design choices influenced first-person and third-person shooters two decades later. Historians like Tristan Donovan called it causing a paradigm shift prompting rise in popularity of 3D games and licensed technology. It helped spark online multiplayer games and player-driven content generation popularizing the business model of online distribution. Brad King and John Borland claimed Doom was one of the first widespread instances of an online collective virtual reality. In 2007 Doom listed among ten game canon video games selected for preservation by the Library of Congress. The Strong National Museum of Play inducted Doom into its World Video Game Hall of Fame in 2015. By 1998 PC Gamer declared it probably the most imitated game of all time with dozens of new first-person shooter games following. These clones ranged from close imitators to innovative takes including Heretic Hexen Strife Chex Quest Star Wars Dark Forces PowerSlave Duke Nukem 3D. Id Software licensed the Doom engine to several other companies resulting in similar games. The phrase first-person shooter only overtook Doom clone as the genre name after a few years.
The deathmatch mode attracted a community that persisted for decades since release. WAD files enabled user-generated levels and modifications allowing players to modify leaked alpha versions within weeks. On the 26th of January 1994, student Brendon Wyber led creation of the first full level editor called the Doom Editor Utility. Jeff Bird created the first custom level in March followed by countless others based on franchises like Aliens and Star Wars. Greg Lewis released DeHackEd patch editor in 1994 allowing editing of the game engine itself. CEO Wilbur posted legal terms allowing mod authors to charge money without fees while absolving id of responsibility. Thousands of user-created levels appeared in the first few years with over three thousand included in Master Levels for Doom II. Tim Willits later hired at id Software after creating mods. Romero created two new levels E1M4b and E1M8b in 2016 then Sigil unofficial fifth episode released the 22nd of May 2019. Sigil II arrived the 10th of December 2023 on the game's thirtieth anniversary. Demos allowed recording gameplay as lightweight files shareable via internet bulletin board systems. Doom credited with creating video game speedrunning community amplified by nascent Internet communities. Community members broke records originally set in 1998 as recently as 2019.
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Common questions
Who created the Doom 1993 video game and when did development start?
Five people including John Carmack, Tom Hall, Adrian Carmack, Kevin Cloud, John Romero, and Dave Taylor began work on Doom in November 1992 at Suite 666. The team developed the game under the working title Green and Pissed before renaming it to Doom based on a line from the 1986 film The Color of Money.
When was the first episode of Doom released to the public?
The first episode of Doom uploaded to the internet at midnight on the 10th of December 1993 after thirty straight hours of testing. Ten thousand people attempted downloads simultaneously causing network congestion that led university networks to ban multiplayer games within hours.
What controversy surrounded the release of Doom regarding violence and imagery?
Doom became notorious for its high levels of graphic violence and satanic imagery generating controversy from broad groups worldwide. In Germany the game was classified as harmful to minors by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons until rescinded in 2011. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were found to be avid players before committing the Columbine High School massacre on the 20th of April 1999 sparking renewed debate about causation.
How many copies of Doom had been sold by the end of 1999?
All versions combined sold 3.5 million copies by the end of 1999 while an estimated six million people played the shareware version by 2002. By late 1995 Doom was estimated installed on more computers worldwide than Microsoft's Windows 95 operating system.
When did the first custom level editor for Doom become available?
Student Brendon Wyber led creation of the first full level editor called the Doom Editor Utility on the 26th of January 1994. Greg Lewis released DeHackEd patch editor later in 1994 allowing editing of the game engine itself.