Doom At 30: The developers of your favourite boomer shooters share their favourite things about Doom

To celebrate Doom's 30th birthday we had a discussion about the (understandably) vaunted FPS's influence, and what games would look like without it. It seems particularly interesting today in light of the recent resurgence of Doom-style shooters, often known as "boomer shooters" because of their deliberately retro style and singular focus on shootin' stuff and bein' cool, much like Doom. And then the obvious solution was to just ask the devs making these games about what they think of Doom and its impact on their work.

I reached out to developers who've worked on Turbo Overkill, Prodeus, Forgive Me Father (and Forgive Me Father 2) and almost the whole stable working at New Blood Interactive to ask them some annoyingly specific questions about Doom in the hope of getting the sort of idiosyncratic answers you get from interesting devs - and they delivered! In fact, they delivered in such quantity and quality that I've elected to just present their answers to you, rather than try to weave them together as if we were all sitting together at dinner exchanging bon mots, both for clarity and to include as much as possible in their own words. It's a fascinating and entertaining collection of thoughts.

What is your favourite enemy in Doom, and why?

My all-time favorite enemy from Doom is Cyberdemon. Its monumental size makes you feel fear just by looking at it, and when you add the rocket launcher arm to the equation, this opponent becomes a challenging yet fun and rewarding foe to fight. There's no doubt as to why the Cyberdemon has become one of the most iconic enemies in Doom. Enemies like the Cyberdemon are the perfect examples of engaging opponents in an FPS game. When we work on enemies in Forgive Me Father, our goal is to create unique and fun opponents that can not only challenge players but also linger in their memories for a long, long time. One of them is the head-reloading zombie, for instance.
- Ernest Krystian, Forgive Me Father technical director, and CEO of Byte Barrell

Cyberdemon - not because they're fun to fight (personally, I like fighting the Cacodemon the most), but because they dramatically change how a map feels if used right. They can be used in a cat-and-mouse sort of way, where the player has to carve out areas of safety from potential rocket sightlines. The Cyberdemon can also be used to destroy your enemies if used cleverly, creating a new strategy to take out other powerful foes like Barons and Cacodemons.
- Dillon Rogers, Dusk and Gloomwood co-creator, New Blood Interactive

I enjoy fighting the fodder enemies (the Zombieman and Sergeant) the most, because of the rapid-paced positive feedback you get from mowing through a bunch of them with the chaingun or killing several at once with the shotgun. But in terms of design, it's gotta be the Cacodemon. They're just hilarious. Giant grinning red meatballs.
- David Szymanski, Dusk and Gloomwood co-creator, New Blood Interactive

From the first Doom, The Cyberdemon without question. That guy scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. Not only does he spell certain death with the rockets he fires, but his height is extremely daunting.
- Sam Prebble, Turbo Overkill co-creator, Trigger Happy Interactive

If we only count Doom 1 enemies, then probably The Cyberdemon because he's the most over-the-top visual design, or the Pinky because dancing in-and-out of their attack range to bait attacks is fun, though I do feel in terms of enemy design id really hit their stride in Doom 2.
- Arsi "Hakita" Patala, Ultrakill creator, New Blood Interactive

Baron Of Hell.
- Andrew Hulshult, composer and sound designer for Dusk, Amid Evil, Prodeus, Doom Eternal, Quake Champions (to name but a few)

I think the Imp? I love exploding them to bits.
- Leon Zawada, Amid Evil co-creator, New Blood Interactive

Imp. It’s the perfect enemy type. It pushes the player around the playspace while also being squishy and fun to kill. Want to increase the fun? Just sprinkle some more Imp in.
- Jason Mojica, Prodeus co-creator, Bounding Box

Cacodemon. Because he chonky.
- Dave Oshry, CEO of New Blood Interactive

What would you change about Doom?

I would not change a single thing, everything about the game is perfect to me.
- Sam Prebble

There is no real perfection, but Doom is good enough.
- Leon Zawada

The only thing I ever wanted from Doom was more Romero levels and we have that now with Sigil (and soon Sigil 2).
- Dillon Rogers

I'd lower the volume of the fire sound for the plasma gun by about 50%.
- David Szymanski

What's the best noise in Doom?

Well, not the plasma gun fire sound! There are a lot of iconic ones but the shotgun fire sound is just immaculate. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better shotgun sound in any other game of the early-mid 90s.
- David Szymanski

BOOM, CHICK-CHICK
- Leon Zawada

My favorite sound from Doom is the shot of the Super Shotgun. The powerful and satisfying shotgun is one of the key ingredients that make a good FPS game, and Doom executes this one exceptionally well. Its distinctive sound fully immerses you in the heart of the battle and simply makes you want to run around and blast enemies for hours. The idea of a satisfying shotgun that is basically your best friend throughout the entire game inspired us to create the Spitter shotgun from the first installment of Forgive Me Father or the pump-action shotgun from the sequel.
- Ernest Krystian

The sound Imps make while they idly hunt the player. That sound effect is burned into my brain.
- Sam Prebble

If I had to pick one sound, it would be Doomguy’s "umph" noise. Feels like the precursor to everyone’s favorite jumping noises.
- Jason Mojica

I've always been fond of the enemy death sounds, especially the Cacodemon and Baron.
- Dillon Rogers

Tough one. I'd say the doors opening and closing. Or the BFG. Or the Pinky piggy noises.
- Dave Oshry

Just in terms of pure visceral enjoyment, my favorite is probably the odd "flump" rocket launcher firing sound, though Doom's use of stock sounds in general always makes it fun to recognise the sounds in other media.
- Arsi "Hakita" Patala

Imp.
- Andrew Hulshult

What's something from Doom you wish you'd come up with?

The song Dark Halls.
- Andrew Hulshult

All of it? The strength of Doom comes from how every facet of the game - the art, sounds, mechanics, level design, technology - all aim at one central concept with perfect precision. It is a master work.
- Dillon Rogers

If I was making games back in the early 90s? It's hard to think of anything in Doom I wouldn't have wished I'd come up with!
- David Szymanski

The shotgun.
- Dave Oshry

Or, if you prefer, what's something from Doom you just sort of stole?

The shotgun.
- Dave Oshry

Like most boomer shooter devs, I pretty much stole everything, but especially some of the enemy behaviors/roles. The most obvious one is probably the wizards who are essentially just Imps, or the Leathernecks who are essentially Pinkies.
- David Szymanski

Doom taught me that enemies should all function uniquely from each other. The zombie soldiers are weak, but they can instantly hitscan damage you. The Imps are stronger, but their projectile is slower and can be dodged. The Pinkies are beefy, but can only melee. They all serve to make it so an encounter can have thousands of different enemy variations and still feel fresh. Also I added a pump shotgun to my game because Doom's one is perfect.
- Dillon Rogers

One of the things that influenced Forgive Me Father tremendously was the fast-paced combat present in Doom. When developing the game, we aimed to fully embrace the spirit of Doom, from the game's pace to satisfying gunplay and engaging combat. On the other hand, we wanted to add our own perspective to the gameplay and create an unforgettable experience that only playing Forgive Me Father would provide.
- Ernest Krystian

When I started Turbo Overkill, I wanted to follow the core gameplay loop of Doom as closely as possible. I would say a lot of the foundations of Turbo were 'stolen' from Doom, right down to the episodic structure from the first game. The weapon line-up was also borrowed, although one could say most first person shooters take that from Doom these days (there's always a shotgun, a double-barrel, a rocket launcher etc.).
- Sam Prebble

Amid Evil has a similar weapon roster if you think about it.
- Leon Zawada

How would gaming today be different without Doom? Are there other games, design approaches, or types of technology that might have become more popular if Doom hadn't existed?

Doom is one of those games that's so set in stone and has had such wide reaching roots in not just the entirety of the FPS genre but all of video games that it's difficult to separate any individual part as one thing I wish I'd come up with or stolen. The only answer I can imagine to either question is "everything", because all FPS that came after it owe their entire lifeblood to Doom. It's so fundamental and everpresent that it's hard to imagine what games would be like without it.
- Arsi "Hakita" Patala

It would be a vastly different industry. The advent of immersive first person games like Quake, Half-Life, Blood, Thief and Unreal would have looked vastly different or not have happened at all. Doom is the keystone to the arch of 3D games, and we only build upon its legacy.
- Dillon Rogers

Without Doom most of what is popular today in shooters would not exist. Nearly every FPS developer references Doom in their work at least once. It is a guiding tool or a blueprint.
- Andrew Hulshult

Doom pioneered the FPS as we know it, so it's hard to imagine the gaming landscape without Doom, or without something else filling that role eventually.
- David Szymanski

Wolfenstien 3D was very impressive and only came out one year before Doom. Think about how big of a jump that was. Even after Doom came out we had Wolf3D-like games. Rise Of The Triad falls in that category. I think we would have just more iteration on that type of thing till it reached doom parity. So maybe much the same but a year or so behind. Doom was very inspirational to many many game devs.
- Leon Zawada

Doom has unquestionably influenced and continues to impact not only the first-person shooter genre but the game industry as a whole. The developers of Doom pushed technological boundaries, by taking 3D graphics to an extent that other games wouldn't at the time. Another thing is that the level creation tools provided in Doom had a significant impact on the way that the modding community developed later on. I’m sure that without Doom, games wouldn’t be the same as they are today. Doom is one of the classic FPS from the 90s that, all these years later, has inspired many amazing throwback shooters, allowing people to once again experience that nostalgic feeling.
- Ernest Krystian

The tech definitely propelled gaming forward, especially with Quake after it, laying the foundations for 3D acceleration. I'd say though eventually someone would have popularised the first person shooter genre if it weren't for Doom, it was a matter of time. I imagine a lot of the Doom clones that defined the 90s for me wouldn't be around (or, they would have been very different games), but that's just my opinion.
- Sam Prebble

When Mike and I started Prodeus, Doom had just celebrated its 25th anniversary. How fast does the time fly when we are already celebrating its 30th? We've learned so much from Doom and the team that worked on it. All of them were pioneers and set new standards for our entire genre. Without them... sho knows where we'd be?
- Jason Mojica

We owe everything to Doom. Without Doom there is nothing else. We'd all still be banging rocks together in the sand like damn dirty apes.
- Dave Oshry