Got a question about Doom 64?

[elbryan42]

Well, it so happens that FirebrandX is emailing back and forth with the designers of Doom 64. They've given us the oppertunity to ask our burning questions about the game. Ask anything. Now's your chance to get your questions answered by the gods themselves...

[elbryan42]

Me first. ;D

1) The music from Doom 64 (and PSX Doom) are awesome! Has Aubrey Hodges (the ambient music god he is) ever considered releasing it as a soundtrack cd? I'd gladly pick it up.

2) I remember when the preview shots were shown in magazines, there were some egyptian-type levels that were scrapped. What happened with the old levels and textures? Did any get carried over to the final product?

3) Why, oh why, was deathmatch not included?

4) Was there anything you wanted to add to the game that never made it to the final product?

5) What happened to the missing enemies, the Revenant, Arch-Vile, and Chaingunner?

[Kaiser]

I remember when the preview shots were shown in magazines, there were some egyptian-type levels that were scrapped. What happened with the old levels and textures? Did any get carried over to the final product?

wtf?



btw, I am trying to come up with some questions but for some reason I am drawing a blank...and I had a lot of stuff to ask too.

[elbryan42]

I heard that the first version of Doom 64 was too egyptian themed (I have a screenshot in a Gamefan magazine somewhere in the basement) so the style had to be completely reworked. It was a 2 page article. I should find the mag and scan the interview one of these days...

BTW, that screenshot was the first time I saw the new Demon. Once I saw that huge fucker compared to the small Demon from PC Doom, I HAD to get the game.

[Darkhaven3]

I'D LIKE TO SEE SOME GOD FRICKIN DM AND COOP.

I mean, Duke Nukem, Quake, Quake 2, Turok, Turok 2, and countless other N64 games have one thing in common : THEY HAVE MULTIPLAYER.Plus, they are much more advanced than DooM 64, therefore probably would be more space-consuming.I guess Midway was lazy

By the way, Elby, if you give me the screenshots I can rip all the textures and sprites and crud for a "collectors item" if you want

[elbryan42]

Just tore through my boxes and boxes of gaming magazines. Gamepro, Gamefan, EGM, Ultra Game Players, Nintendo Power, SWAT Pro and more. And I CAN'T FIND THE FUCKING THING! In fact, I can't find any Gamefans before Volume 6! I HAD all of them since Volume 4 or so, when Mario 64 was on the cover. The damn thing is missing! UGH, this pisses me off more than losing THE ONE GAMEPRO I WANTED to read again, with NBA Jam on the cover with the Castlevania Bloodlines review in it! IT PISSES ME OFF! Someone must've thrown out my old Gamefans! Ugh, I need to move out before someone "cleans house" again.

There were about 3 or 4 screenshots. The one I remember was in a golden level with a Demon biting. I can see it now.

Oh, and the first Turok didn't have multiplayer. The first multiplayer FPS game for the N64 was Duke Nukem 64.

[FirebrandX]

Hello all!

Actually, I already know that answer about Dm and Coop not being in D64 from my previous talks with Aaron Seeler. He said they were purists about PC Doom deathmatch and didn't want to deal with split-screen ruining what they felt was the coolest aspect of deathmatch. He laughs about it now and said that Goldeneye blasted Doom64 out of the water in sales, and he wishes he had gone ahead with split-screen.

He and I talked about how we had both firgured out how to keep split-screen DM pure by getting multiple monitors and painting out the other quadrants (or halves) of the screen black. This brought back the element of the unknown fear and I thought it was cool he came to the same idea I had.

Also, Aaron had told me before that getting Doom 64 done was a major ordeal. Midway kept shifting personel and the original intention of Doom 64's storyline and theme had to be truncated. He admits they wanted to do too much at once and ended up struggling as a result.

BTW Tim Heydelaar takes credit for Dark Citadel. He was shocked to find out people generally liked it so much and was actually asking me what the appeal was. I gave him several reasons why I liked it, which included the texture theme, design, and how well the music fit in with the gameplay for that particular level.

They've been telling me some interesting stuff about the "fun" secret levels, where they each made one and that's why you see three of them in the stage list. They also each made their own room for Hectic and then combined them. Naturally, they were blown away by the speed times Martin and myself set for it :-)

One extra tidbit: They are giving me some info to the best of their memory about a secret in one of the levels that was NEVER revealed or found on the net! Their memory is cloudy, but I'm saving all the text on it so I might can figure it out as they explain.

[submerge]

I have only 1 questoin: why does the shotgun sprites seem so lifeless? I like the doom ones, where he visibly pumps it.

[Darkhaven3]

I guess it might be that he cocks it by pulling the handle out and back again.....

But, yeah, the D64 shotgun is totally lifeless... :/

And, dude, it IS DOOM 64 we're talking about here

Hmm....I need to freshen up on my Turok

[FirebrandX]

I got the okay from Tim to do a sort of official interview for the news page here on the Depot. Elby, could you make a final list of questions for me to pass along? I'll just email them directly to him for the answers.

Time did say there was a slight possibility he can't answer certain questions that might be sensitive to Midway. But I don't think we'll asking anything that taxing.

[elbryan42]

Groovy! ;D

I'm extatic! This sort of thing will bring people to the Depot and raise the awareness and anticipation of the TC. Think of it, people will be coming to the Depot for INFO, not just free Doom music.

At least give us a few days to collect the questions to ask.

BTW, did they say if they liked the Doom Depot or not, or any suggestions? I think their opinions on a site that was inspired by their game would kick ass.

[Kaiser]

okay, here are some of my questions..

brace yourself...

since I am a hardcore level editor, most of them deals with the level's structure and how things were done.


1. So which authors did which of the maps in doom64.
(meaning who did map01, who did map02 etc.)

2. were the unused sprites (revenant, chainguy etc) used for other purposes? like the darts, motherdemon etc?

3. (curious question ) did the level design team used their own tools for creating the maps, or did they used known doom2 wad editors like DCK and DEU?

4. how were the colored sectors implented? did each sector in a map were given a specific color property?

5. (another question thats bothering me ;D) whats the story behind the texture from doom64 that has the message "I suck at making maps"

6. How come the revenant, chainguy, spider mastermind and archvile were cut from doom64?

7. Did doom64 used the Hexen scripting method (some areas like Main Engineering had multible actions that can't be done under one trigger in Doom2)

8. Was there any levels cut from the final version of doom64?

9. did you guys ever mapped normal doom2 wads before? ;D (another curious question)

[Melfice Darkmage]

Questions:

1. Since there more than likely won't be a sequel to Doom64, is there a possibility that there might be a re-release of it for the X-Box or Gamecube?

2. Were there other ideas regarding the Laser Rifle? If so, what were some of them?

3. Same as #2, except regarding the Mother Demon.

4. Overall, what was Your favorite level in Doom64? (directed at Tim).

[FirebrandX]

This is a pretty good core of questions. Some of those scripting questions may be off limits as Midway owns the rights to proprietary technology of the game. I'll pass them along anyway just in case.

I'll also be adding a few of my own q's too, and I'll add in Elb's request for their comments on his site.

[elbryan42]

Just thought that I'd let everyone know that the questions have been submitted and the interview is being conducted.