Let's talk about GZDoom · 4:53am Jul 5th, 2023
Exactly what it says on the tin.
For those not in the know, GZDoom is what is known as a "source port." Essentially, a software application that allows some other software application to run on a platform or operating system for which it was not originally made. The term was actually coined when id Software released the source code for the Linux version of Doom (because of copyright issues with the DOS source and not having the Windows source), which eventually led to a variety of source ports, including Chocolate Doom, Boom, Doomsday Engine, and perhaps most well known, ZDoom. ZDoom has been discontinued in favor of GZDoom, but the idea is still the same: An application capable of running basically any game built using the Doom Engine (retroactively "id Tech 1") either as it was built (including emulation for original sounds), or with modern features added (such as mouselook).
Besides porting the original games (including Doom, Doom II, Ultimate Doom, Final Doom, Heretic, and Hexen), it also allows users to easily play with mods, total conversions, or even completely new games built on id Tech 1. The most famous of these extras is undoubtedly Brutal Doom, which adds more gore and locational damage, and even includes new animations that are situationally aware (e.g a shotgun blast will send a Zombieman flying back, where he will flop on the ground, roll a short distance, or slump sitting up if he hits a wall), new gameplay mechanics (e.g. imps now have a lunging melee attack), and even new weapons that either replace or augment the old ones (e.g. the rifle now shares slot 4 with the chaingun), and in a lot of ways, set the bar for what people expect from modern mods.
What I want to talk about more specifically is a TC, or "total conversion"; a gameplay mod that effectively converts Doom into an entirely different game. The TC I want to talk about in particular is Space Cats Saga 2.0 (using Doom II as its foundation), which recently received its final development release. SCS is an episodic and, more importantly, absolutely complete adventure that follows one of three spacefaring catgirls; Aemi, Lux, and Yaeska. Do not go into this TC with expectations of adorable "nyaas" and fanservice; these cats are all bad bitches, and they need to be. They are, after all, facing down all the forces of Hell, all of which have received facelifts - these range from subtle (the Hell Knight has some minor changes to its palette) to extreme (the Baron of Hell is completely redesigned, bearing a large, hateful maw and wings befitting Hell's nobility) - and three of which are brand new (including a boss that is sufficiently terrifying). No levels from any Doom are used; they are all original, built by the WAD creator and matching the theme of "catgirls vs Hell" perfectly, accompanied by a headbanging metal soundtrack.
That's the fluffy sales part; here are you warnings:
- This TC is hard. Even on the included "Easy" mode, it's challenging, and playing on "Normal" reveals very quickly that this TC combines a full story playthrough with a slaughter WAD. A "slaughter WAD" is any map or map pack that includes a lot of monsters in each level. How many is "a lot," you might be asking? Well....
- This TC is violent. The sheer numbers of monsters per map (the lowest count I have seen so far is still over 100. On "Normal," which veterans will recognize as "Hurt Me Plenty") means there will be corpses galore, and it only gets violenter if you opt to use the optional nashgore pack; if Mortal Kombat makes your stomach turn, don't use nashgore.
- This TC is long. There are four episodes in total, with I don't know how many levels each; the after-level summary doesn't show how many you have remaining. All I know is that playing through Chapter 1, there were several instances where I thought, "Surely, this is the end," only for it to keep going. This will happen within levels too, some of which are absolutely gargantuan (despite this, there was only a single instance where I got "lost," and that was because I had walked past the red key and didn't see it. The level design was good enough, however, that I knew I had missed the red key, and even knew where in the level to backtrack to find it).
- There is a story, but not much of one (which, to be fair, there wasn't much story for Doom, either). Technically, you should play as Aemi for episode 1, either Lux or Yaeska for episode 2, any of them for episode 3, and the someone ludicrous Battle Queen Sill for episode 4, but there is nothing that forces you to play like that, so bear that in mind if that's a big deal for you.
I guess there's not much else to discuss; I just want you all to know you should consider playing this TC, if only for the fairly excellent sound design (Yaeska's auto shotgun thumps when fired) and the ridiculous weapons (Lux's 8-Barrel Beast, with one hit from its secondary fire at medium range, will kill absolutely everything except a Baron, Spidermind, Cyberdemon, and the new boss, the Arachnorb).
Need Space Cats Saga 2.0? You can find it here.
Need GZDoom? The most recent version is here. Just multiselect "doom2.wad" and "Space Cats Saga 2.0 (3.0 Final)" and drag them onto GZDoom.exe.
Need Doom II? Bethesda Softworks sells it on Steam, Epic, and their own storefront. On sale now for only $1.99 USD. (All you need is the iWAD, which will be in the game directory as "doom2.wad")
Looking for an even easier way to manage all the TCs, weapon packs, and other mods you're going to get, as well as all your different Doom Engine games? Check out ZDL. It'll take you a little bit to set everything up, but once you do, mod management is a breeze. Get ZDL here.
Using macOS? Doomsday Engine is going to be your best bet. The last stable release is from February of 2021, so I make no guarantees about its compatibility with more modern Macs, but I can assume you that it works well. You can get the Doomsday Engine here (editor's note: This application is unlikely to destroy the world, so if that's what you're interested in, you're out of luck).
I assume it's still an FPS, right? You don't have that much control over the game design?
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You can turn it into a third-person, but the player camera is still locked, so it will always be behind the player or over-the-shoulder. Just everything else is pretty mutable though.
Fire up Hearts of Demons and Reverse Doom to play as an average human who has been converted into a revenant but broken free of their programming and try to escape from Hell.
Slot in Total Chaos and switch from a high octane shooter to a gritty survival horror.
Or maybe try The Thing You Can't Defeat. I'm not going to describe that one; the only way to appreciate this piece of art is to experience it.
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This post only pinged my interest because I watched a couple videos about MyHouse.WAD recently. :B It's amazing what the software can do! I just can't watch first-person and many third-person games is all. XD
Hmm... as a longtime fan of all things Doom, I might need to check this out.
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I have a fair number of suggestions I could make as far as WADs. Some of them are just map packs (including one that reimagines Doom Ii into a larger, even more expansive adventure that maintains the feel of the actual game). Others replace or add to the weapons (High Plains Drifter) or give you a new character to play with (Guncaster: Vindicated, which actually works with Doom, Heretic, and Hexen and is completely over the top wacky fun. But then, it had better be, given that it kick-starts your power fantasy in the role of a wisecracking, dimension-hopping space dragon). Heck, I have one that weird literally turns Doom into a first-person Castlevania, whip, sub-weapons and all.
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Almost forgot: There is a golf WAD, so in addition to running on anything, Doom can be anything too.
Did I mention there's a space dragon?
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Yeah, I'm actually already familiar with some of those, having seen many of them showcased by IcarusLIVES mod madness series. Recently my favorite Doom mod has been the comparatively vanilla 64ifier, which gives Dooms 1&2 the visual and additory style of Doom 64. Although I'm currently on break from Doom while I work on other gaming projects.
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I'll have to check out the 64ifier. 64 was ok as an overall game (limits of the console), but I really liked the visual style and sound design. Great example of doing what you can with what you've got. (Contrasting sharply with Doom on SNES, 32X... Jaguar. 3DO gets a pass when you consider the conditions it was created under)
Admittedly, I only ever played Doom 64 on ports, so I can't really speak to the original console limitations. I really do love its aesthetic though, especially with enhancements like actual animations on the shotgun and SSG.
If you look up the 64ifier, however, be aware that most of its components are separate downloads for the monsters, weapons, environment, and music. There are also two options for the music, one which uses a random track from D64 and one that is a custom soundfont which turns the classic midis into D64 style ambient noise.
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The main limitations of the console are why it has the dark aesthetic, the ambient noise instead of music, and very limited animations for weapons and enemies; at the time D64 was released, the expansion pack was still about a year away, and while the CPU was up to snuff, the GPU was not so capable. That, combined with the storage limitations of cartridge ROM and only 4 MB of RAM meant Midway had to make compromises somewhere. If the choice was between looking exactly like Doom or having a playable frame rate....
(The ambient sound instead of music might honestly have more to do with copyright issues than anything else)
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Probably, considering the ambient soundtrack was more or less carried over from the PlayStation port of Doom, which likewise also had a somewhat darker aesthetic, if only because of the addition of colored lighting, which carried over to Doom 64 as well.
Otherwise, I'm aware that the limited animation on shotguns and also the removal of some monsters were both technical constraints. Although despite those restrictions D64 still does some innovative things as well, such its more dynamic scripting system that can not only allow certain stage elements to transform, but was also able to convincingly fake a room-over-room effect for bridges.
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I remain of the mind that game design has overall gotten worse as computing resources became more plentiful. At least half of the design elements in Doom simply didn't exist until John Carmack was forced to invent them.
But I guess that's how life goes when you're an Nth dimensional being cosplaying as a human.
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I don't know if I would say game design has gotten "worse". Certainly, we still get some new gems, even if they are rarely as revolutionarily groundbreaking, if only because things have gotten so advanced there's increasingly less to improve upon. I would, however, agree game design has gotten slopier. Harddrives and RAM are just so large now days that devs don't have to be as frugal with their code.
Ha!
You ever watch Civvie11? That's the first place I ever picked up on that gag.
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That's where I first heard that particular style of phrasing for it, but I've known that Carmack is something not quite human for longer.