"DOOM is the new Hello World"

The first thought on everyone's mind once Adobe released Alchemy: "Time for Doom in the web browser!"

Naturally, it's only the demo. id Software still actively sells Doom -- on both Xbox LIVE and Steam -- so if you've never played it, you should pick up the full version.

There are a few things missing in the port:

- No music. Doom's music files are MIDI, and Flash can't natively play MIDI files. I was tempted to include OCRemix's Doom soundtrack as MP3, but even a few of the songs would be bigger than 2.5 meg Flash file!

- No mouse control. Flash has no way of "locking" the mouse to the game area, so it's impossible to do true Quake-style mouselook. I'll be ranting about this more in a future post.

- Bad keyboard controls. Doom's original keyboard controls (ALT, CTRL, etc.) don't get along with Flash and caused odd behavior on different platforms. I changed them around, but what I really need to add is configurable controls.

- Yea, the secret is missing in E1M1 and the BFG isn't there. These weren't in the shareware version! :)

As per the GPL license, the source code for the port is publicly available! Feel free to play around with it here:
http://github.com/Herschel/flash-doom/
tree/master

Also, check out Max's AS3 Doom engine. He actually reprogrammed the DOOM-style raycasting engine in AS3, before Alchemy was even announced! Wow!

Comments

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Hades 2008-12-04 08:45:42

It has it's flaws, but still, it's really a nice piece of work. Really brought back some good memories.

araskin500 2008-12-04 09:35:38

It's very interesting that you can bring old games like Doom into flash. I wonder if you can edit those games, maybe make new enemies or levels entirely?

mike 2008-12-04 09:35:38

there's 15 years worth of Doom levels and mods out there that could potentially plugged in!

rockyace42 2008-12-04 15:16:13

I love DOOM and have favorited your game, but don't you think you're getting a little bit too much credit for this??? Technically, all you did was put it in alchemy and change it a teeny bit, but then again, no one else did. Can we expect to see another alchemy-created flash in the future from you??? PLEASE???!!!

mike 2008-12-04 15:16:13

I don't presume any credit -- the folks at id Software are the ones who made the game awesome. :)

RobThanatos 2008-12-04 15:55:53

Looks like you beat him

igott 2008-12-04 17:57:03

I liked Arena or Street Fighter.

Fatmanpez 2008-12-04 23:01:19

thanks for releasing it,Im no scripter but I will try to get some wads working

cHunter 2008-12-04 23:21:59

Do Shadow Warrior or Duke Nukem next. :P

Stickmaster200 2008-12-05 02:29:56

Coulden't you just try simply just plane old action scripting in so the screen stays locked to your mouse? The only problem I could see is where you drag your moues off screen but hey a least you can use it!

mike 2008-12-05 02:29:56

Dragging the mouse out of the screen is really the crux of the problem. Then you get people clicking outside the window on accident, and it all goes to hell from there!

I could make it scroll depending on how far away from the center of the screen the mouse is, but it's really not the same as true mouselook.

ShortStackSutin 2008-12-05 12:31:10

want sex now.

Atgod88 2008-12-05 16:04:30

what are the odds of you porting the full version since I my credit card is maxed out therefore steam will bend me over a chair if I try to purchase anything

gnome42 2008-12-06 00:21:51

nothing can replace Hello World.

fuck-fuck-fuck 2008-12-06 14:37:26

oh snack

mikew114 2008-12-06 16:36:41

DOOM SONG! DOOM DOOMY DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DOOM DA DOOM!

Cyberdevil 2008-12-07 16:12:38

Wow. Best flash game I've ever played, not only because of my neverdying devotion towards the original series, heh, everything is great, I havn't seen any other seemingly threedimensional shooters with this much gameplay involved.

Will you be porting Doom 2 too? Maybe the Plutonium special? TNT? A few open source WADs packed together as one game? Now that it's possible, there is so much you can do with this . . .

HolyPeanuts 2008-12-09 23:22:00

Why do I have your page bookmarked....

Oh well. Hi Mike!

RionHunter 2008-12-10 01:37:02

Supposedly you can port most music sorts.
I would've thought that midi would've been capable with C++ ...?

RionHunter 2008-12-10 01:38:40

oh, and can you do duke nukem next? :D

Torrunt 2008-12-11 20:08:54

<a href="http://www.actionscriptarchitect.com/2007/10/03/first-person-3d-engine/">http://www.actionscriptarchitect.com/
2007/10/03/first-person-3d-engine/</a>
That guy made some 3D first person shooters for Flash, and it has mouselook :O It works pretty well actually, you should try out the Demo's if you haven't already.

mike 2008-12-11 20:08:54 (Updated 2008-12-11 21:48:45)

Sweet engine!

Unfortunately, the mouse-look requires clicking inside the Flash and dragging with the button held down. Keeping the button held down like this is the only way Flash can be 'aware' of the mouse's position once it leaves the Flash area. Sadly, it's the best Flash can do. :( Flash also only keeps track of movement to the edge of the browser screen. What we really need is a way to 'lock' the mouse pointer within the Flash area, and to grab the relative movement of the mouse, NOT just the cursor position.

xellon 2008-12-14 02:03:41

DOOOOOOOOOOM...

Staticreator 2008-12-14 18:03:00

Hey, I'm Max. I appreciate the link. Good job on the game.

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