Doom (1993 video game)
The ability for others to create custom levels and otherwise modify the game using WAD files turned out to be a popular aspect of "Doom". Gaining the first large mod-making community, "Doom" affected the culture surrounding first-person shooters, and also the industry. Several future professional game designers started their careers making "Doom" WADs as a hobby, among them Tim Willits, who later became the lead designer at id Software.
Development of Doom
At the start of 1993, id put out a press release by Hall, touting Buddy's story about fighting off demons while "knee-deep in the dead", trying to eliminate the demons and find out what caused them to appear. The press release proclaimed the new game features that John Carmack had created, as well as other features, including multiplayer gaming features, that had not yet been started on by the team or even designed. The company told "Computer Gaming World" that "Doom" would be ""Wolfenstein" times a million!" Early versions of the game were built to match the "Doom Bible"; a "pre-alpha" version of the first level included the other characters at a table and movable rolling chairs based on ones at the id office. Initial versions of the game also retained "arcade" elements present in "Wolfenstein 3D", like score points and score items, but those were removed early in development as they felt unrealistic and not in keeping with the tone of the game. Other elements, such as a complex user interface, an inventory system, a secondary shield protection, and lives were modified and slowly removed over the course of development.
Soon, however, the "Doom Bible" as a whole was rejected: Romero wanted a game even "more brutal and fast" than "Wolfenstein", which did not leave room for the character-driven plot Hall had created. Additionally, the team did not feel that they needed a design document at all, as they had not created one for prior games; the "Doom Bible" was discarded altogether. Several ideas were retained, including starting off in a military base, as well as some locations, items, and monsters, but the story was dropped and most of the game design was removed as the team felt it emphasized realism over entertaining gameplay. Some elements, such as weapons, a hub system of maps, and monorails later appeared in later "Doom" or id games. Work continued on the game, and a demo of the game was shown to "Computer Gaming World" in the spring of 1993, who raved about it. John Carmack and Romero, however, disliked Hall's military base-inspired level design. Romero especially felt that while John Carmack had originally asked for realistic levels as they would make the game engine run quickly, that Hall's level designs were uninspiring. He felt that the boxy, flat levels were too similar to "Wolfenstein"s design, and did not show off everything the engine could do. He began to create his own, more abstract levels for the game, beginning with a curving staircase into a large open area in what became the second level of the final game, which the rest of the team felt was much better.