How would you 'Frankenstein' all the Doom games together?

[SPG]

How would you piece together all of the official main Doom games together to make what you consider the 'best' Doom experience?

To make things more interesting, aim to include something from ALL of the main games (or as many as you can at least). By "all", I'm defining it as what's listed on the doomwiki.org's main page:

Note that "and others..." is other commercial ports akin to PS1 Doom, Jaguar Doom, etc. and don't expect every commercial port to be referenced, but one would be nice.

Feel free to suggest one as the "primary" and then mention others you're taking pieces from to add, or don't have a primary and just talk about things from each game you like best over the others -- whatever works!

My hot take:

• Doom Eternal as the "primary"
• The spirit enemy and cursed prowler enemies from The Ancient Gods parts 1 and 2 respectively
• Ammo maximums closer to Doom 2016, include Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind
• I don't know which did the VR better, so I don't know if it should be more like 2016's or Doom 3's
• Doom 3's use of level lighting, include its version of the plasma rifle
• The Bruiser from Resurrection of Evil
• I suppose the version of the Guardian of Hell from The Lost Mission?
• Doom 64's Unmaker/Demon Keys and the Mother Demon/Resurrector
• PS1 Doom's visual aesthetic as the "default"
• No Rest for the Living's general level design philosophy
• Master Levels...uh....oh geez....The Black Tower was a cool level design concept I guess
• Final Doom's use of devious traps for later in the game (Plutonia) and music (TNT)
• Doom 2's Archvile, Revenants, and Chaingunners
• Ultimate Doom's backpack pickup and approach to having a 'shareware'/demo

[Kappes Buur]

WadSmoosh

https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=52757

Edited January 3, 2024 by Kappes Buur

[Murdoch]

Uh... I wouldn't. Sounds like a lot of work for little gain. Each game has it's own identity and feel. Any attempt to merge them would result in, ironically, a Frankenstein's monster a game with ideas and styles that simply do not work well. You would be better designing a brand new Doom game incorporating the ideas you want to bring together at a base level rather than trying to smash the existing bits together.

 

[Monocled]

Something like The Tale of Two Wastelands for Fallout 3 and New Vegas, But those games use the same engine and are already practically the same game, How would you even do that across different engines, But if you are asking which games content would take higher priority i'd say Doom 64's visuals and Doom Eternals gunplay at the top

 

Edited January 3, 2024 by Monocled

[SPG]

I didn't mean to suggest a literal mashup, just what parts would you wish were all together in one game.

[D4NUK1]

One of the best answers would be @Kinsie MetaDoom mod https://thekinsie.com/play/metadoom/

Have a lot of stuff of all Doom Games, even including the RPG Games.

[aRottenKomquat]

Funny enough, I'm doing some modding work to prepare for a Hexen mapset for GZDoom that mashes up both Heretic and Hexen resources into a single game.

[Splatter]

29 minutes ago, SPG said:

I didn't mean to suggest a literal mashup, just what parts would you wish were all together in one game.

Classic Doom already has everything I want

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

It's an interesting question and concept, but I can't really come up with anything in my head. The first thing I thought of was something like MetaDoom, which was already said.

 

I'd probably use 2016 as the "base", but without the glory kills and whatnot, and re-imagine the best maps from the classic games while adding more of a DOOM 3 horror vibe when appropriate. You could definitely work in the Unmaker/keys somewhere there. I'd get rid of the Mick Gordon music and feature more dark ambience for a stronger focus on sinister atmosphere. I don't think it's worth discussing ammo amounts and all that, since we're talking about a whole new game that would need to be made from the ground up and balanced appropriately.

[Fonze]

I'd take the maps from the new dooms, as well as their vertical movement, and replace everything else with classic doom stuffs. I suppose with heavy inspiration from slaughtermap encounters since all of new doom is lock-ins anyway.

 

Oh also I'd include the chickens from heretic 🐔😍

[Noiser]

I would like to see more of the maze-like and interconnected maps from Classic Doom on the new games, so yeah... I think that's it, Doom 2016\Eternal with Classic's level design. Sounds good enough.

Edited January 4, 2024 by Noiser

[OpenRift]

Like this:

[ReaperAA]

7 hours ago, aRottenKomquat said:

Funny enough, I'm doing some modding work to prepare for a Hexen mapset for GZDoom that mashes up both Heretic and Hexen resources into a single game.

 

Offtopic, but in case if you are looking for inspiration for merging Heretic/Hexen in a good way, I would recommend to check out Faithless Trilogy made by Jimmy.

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

5 hours ago, Fonze said:

Oh also I'd include the chickens from heretic 🐔😍

Come on, it's already bad enough that they showed Doomguy's face in Eternal. We don't need to see his cock as well!

[Mystic 256]

Levels and Format

- Episode Format like Classic Doom (maybe even Minisodes of 5-6 levels like Scythe 2 / Eviternity 2)

- A Hub Between Maps (Episodes in our case) like Doom Eternal

- Levels lengths are generally longer than Classic Doom but shorter than Eternal

- Levels are more open to exploring like Classic Doom

- Keys, Switches, Mazes, and Puzzles like Classic Doom

- Platforming Elements like Doom Eternal (I love levels like Mars Core because of all the Platformyness)

- a nice mix of classic doom style encounters and kill em all monster arenas like 2016 / eternal for variety

 

Story and Characters

- Doom 2016 had the best balance of Story and Gameplay, there was story bits/scenes but it was very much just Doomguy, UAC, and Hell

like the classic doom games, the story didn't get weird and mess like Doom Eternal and the DLCs

- though It would be cool if Crash and Phobos from Quake 3 could be involved in a Doom Story somehow, maybe even

throw in some Doom Bible characters into the mix too

 

Demons and Hazards

- Contains a nice selection of enemies from all games (Classic Doom, Doom 64, Doom RPGs, Doom 3, Doom 2016, Doom Eternal, ect)

- Icon of Sin will be like the one from Eternal

- Archvile will revive enemies like Classic Doom

- Newer Hell Knight Design (Doom 3 onwards) because its not a recolor of the baron

- Low HP but Aggressive Lost Souls like Doom 64

- Buff Totems like Eternal you gotta break

- Turret Hazards like Doom 64

 

Weapons and Items

- Weapons Mods like Doom 2016/Eternal

- Doom 64 Upgradable Unmaker

- SSG Meathook like Doom Eternal

- Power Ups in the levels like Classic Doom (plus some new ones like Quake Quad Damage)

 

Secrets and Collectibles

- Lots of Secrets to find like Classic Doom

- Secret Levels like Classic Doom

- Collectibles like Doom 2016/Eternal

 

Graphics and Visuals and Styles

- The colorfulness of Classic Doom and Doom wads

- Hell should still have a degree of abstractness to it like the classic doom

- Doom 64 Colored Lighting in places

- Most Designs of Things will be Classicish

- Status Bar with Doom Guy Face

 

Modes

- ITTYD, HMP, UV, and Classic Nightmare

- Co-op Support

- Horde Mode (but make it closer to Skulltag Invasion and have it support Co-op)

- Classic Style Deathmatch (Classic Doom / Quake Style)

- Demons vs Humans (sort of a mix of Ghouls vs Humans and Eternal Battlemode)

- Pistol Start Mode (Might be tricky to implement because of upgrades and such being a thing but I think there could be a way to implement it somehow)

- Dozens more modes inspired by various mods

- Would have Flags and Parameters and Options for sort of custom difficulties like Classic Doom (like stuff like UV Fast)

 

Misc

- Save state anywhere you want like classic doom

- Super Moddable like Classic Doom (or as close as possible)

- I think in general there will be things from all games for mappers/modders to use their custom levels

- Music would be kind of a variety like Classic Doom and Doom Wad Midis

(mix of Speed/Thrash Metal Tracks, Ominous/Suspenseful Tracks, Electonicish Tracks, ect)

- Intermission Map

 

Non-Doom Things I'm throwing in for fun

- Bunny Chao Gardenlike Feature in the hub between levels (Silly >W<)

- Carryable/Moveable and Breakable Boxes and Objects kinda like Gold Src / Source

- Some Interactible Objects likes Build Engine and Gold Src / Source Games

- Reverse Gravity Sections like Serious Sam

- Vehicle and Mech sections in certain levels to mix things up

 

Theres probably more but I would need some time to think

Edited January 4, 2024 by Mystic 256

[Aaron Blain]

+1 to "Classic Doom is Perfect"

 

However, I don't mind:

 

- Realtime shadows/ colored lighting

- Platforming/ mantling/ hookshot

- Glory kills

- Doom 3's emphasis on light/shadow