DOOM
The first person shooter Doom launched in 1993 and quickly secured its place in popular culture. The game’s creators were unusually mod-friendly, and they set the game up so it was easy and legal for fans to create their own Doom level packs (known as WADs) and distribute them online. Players took full advantage of this aspect of the game, and BBSes were soon flooded with custom Doom levels.
27 years later, Doom still has a thriving modding community. We spoke with writer, musician, and game designer Liz Ryerson, who gave us her historical and critical perspective on player-created Doom maps.
Resources
- GZDoom is currently the most popular source port of Doom 1 and 2. It runs well on most modern operating systems, it modernizes the original games in useful ways, and it makes it easy to play player-created Doom WADs. Here is a tutorial on how to get it running.
- DoomWorld is a pillar of the Doom community, and hosts a popular set of forums, as well as the /idgames Archive, the most complete repository for Doom-related files, including player-created WADs.
- The Doom Wiki is a great source of information about all things Doom, including detailed pages on particularly significant Doom fan WADs.
- Zandronum is a Doom source port that specializes in multiplayer matches.
- Doomseeker is an application you can use to browse, host, and connect to multiplayer Doom servers.
- The Sentinel's Playground is a free, automated server host for Zandronum. If you create an account with them, you can easily host your own Doom multiplayer servers.
- To play Doom fan maps with Liz and record her gameplay, we hosted a server via The Sentinel's Playground, connected to it using Doomseeker, and played the game using Zandronum.
- For more of Liz's thoughts on fan-created Doom maps, check out her excellent Doom Mixtape video series.
Featured Doom Maps
This is a complete list of all Doom maps we featured in this episode (and what WAD they're from), in order of first appearance.
- E3M2: Slough of Despair by Sandy Peterson, from Doom (1993)
- E1M2: Nuclear Plant by John Romero, from Doom (1993)
- Welcome To The Alfonzone by Pinchy, from The Alfonzone (2017)
- Culture Shock by Christopher Daniel Kassap, from Ancient Aliens (2016)
- Map01 by Didy, from Bauhaus (2014)
- Knee-Deep in Waste by Azamael, from A.L.T. (2012)
- hazmat hazama by Toooooasty, from Japanese Community Project (2016)
- Thermal disposal place by Guna, from Japanese Community Project (2016)
- The Silos by Paul Noble, from Memento Mori II (1996)
- Ratamahatta by Florian Helmberger, from Memento Mori II (1996)
- Nemesis by Martin Aalan Hunsagre, from Alien Vendetta (2001)
- Misri Halek by Kim André Malde, from Alien Vendetta (2001)
- Dark Dome by Anders Johnsen, from Alien Vendetta (2001)
- Window Hopping by Pinchy, from The Alfonzone (2017)
- NMDL2 by BeeWen, from Voyager (unreleased, 2013)
- Reposa in Pace by Slavius, from Sacrament (2011)
- Doxylamine Moon by Lainos, from Sacrament (2011)
- The Given by Darryl Steffen, from The Given (2017)
- My Fav by Nanka Kurashiki, from Japanese Community Project (2016)
- A resplendent emerald green by burabojunior, from Japanese Community Project (2016)
- Going Up by Cyriak Harris, from Going Down (2014)
- Gladiator by Cyriak Harris, from Going Down (2014)
- Insanity by Cyriak Harris, from Going Down (2014)
- Necropolis by Cyriak Harris, from Going Down (2014)
- Roof Rage by Cyriak Harris, from Going Down (2014)
- Indigestion by Cyriak Harris, from Going Down (2014)
- Game Over by Cyriak Harris, from Going Down (2014)
- NMDL1 by BeeWen, from Voyager (unreleased, 2013)
- Thanks by Jaakko "Jaska" Impola, from Lost Civilization (2019)
- Sendenium 3 by BeeWen, from Voyager (unreleased, 2013)
- Hard Poison by Pinchy, from The Alfonzone (2017)
- Leave Your Sol Behind by skillsaw, from Ancient Aliens (2016)
- Nightmare by Jaakko "Jaska" Impola, from Lost Civilization (2019)
- Black Mass by Cyriak Harris, from Going Down (2014)
- Seele by Azamael, from A.L.T. (2012)
- Dead by the Down by Azamael, from A.L.T. (2012)
- Memoris Spiritus by Falcor, from A.L.T. (2012)
- Fracture by ChaingunPredator, from A.L.T. (2012)
- Gehirn by Azamael, from A.L.T. (2012)
- River Valley by Jaakko "Jaska" Impola, from Lost Civilization (2019)
- Mansion by Jaakko "Jaska" Impola, from Lost Civilization (2019)
- Nightfall by Jaakko "Jaska" Impola, from Lost Civilization (2019)
- Downtown by Jaakko "Jaska" Impola, from Lost Civilization (2019)
- Voyager_1 by BeeWen, from Voyager (unreleased, 2013)
- National Videogame Museum by Christopher Baracani, from NVMDoom (2020)
- Suburb by Jaakko “Jaska” Impola, from Lost Civilization (2019)
- Recall by Maddzi, from A.L.T. (2012)
- Ending by Jaakko "Jaska" Impola, from Lost Civilization (2019)
- Market Anarchy by Pinchy, from The Alfonzone (2017)
- Fort by Jaakko "Jaska" Impola, from Lost Civilization (2019)
- Crimson Tide by Anders Johnsen, from Alien Vendetta (2001)
Music from this Episode
For this episode, whenever possible we soundtracked each map's footage with that map's original music.
