25 Years Later…

So I was clean for about seven months — but I relapsed into one of my addictions this week.

Doom.

Doom: Kicking it old school.
Kicking it old school.

Don’t worry, I’m just playing a few WADs. I can quit whenever I want to.

It never ceases to amaze me how the fan community for this game just never seem to fade away. Every time I revisit this game, I think to myself, “I bet Doom World is completely dead now”.

I’m always wrong, of course.

There’s something kind of refreshing about this. The game industry as a whole seems to be centered around constantly improving graphics capabilities with every new title that is released. I speak for myself here, but the graphics, while nice, are not what keeps me playing a game.

The Doom fan approach is completely different: “Let’s take the same game, and find ways to constantly improve it and supplant it with fresh content.”

There’s something kind of refreshing about that mindset.

I’m at the point where I’ve stopped playing new games. I’ve got plenty to occupy my time as the director of an indie film, and the newer game titles generally fail to interest me. But it’s always nice to know that when I do want to kill some time, the Doom fan community is still there cranking out fresh content.

My Current Jams

I’m working my way through a couple of titles from Doom World’s 2017 Cacowards.

Shadows of the Nightmare Realm by Alexa “YukiRaven” Jones-Gonzales

These maps are absolutely gorgeous. It feels a lot like Quake, but it has a very juicy color palette, while still remaining eerie. The textures and enemies seem to pull from Doom, Heretic, and Hexen. I’m loving this one.

Get sotnr.pk3

dead.air by Xaser

Wow. What the heck is going on here?

I don’t know, but I love it. The story revolves around a cable news station, and the level seems to alternate between traveling through a ruined city and the RGB channels of a television.

I’m not going to look too deeply into it, however, it makes for a cool aesthetic and a refreshingly interesting environment.

Get dead-air_v2.pk3