Throughout the years you can see a lot of mods that aims to be callbacks of old games. We could spend hours talking about amazing mods in the past that ported (partially or not) games like Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior, Blood or even the likes of Quake through the sheer power of (G)ZDoom. Doomed Redneck is the most recent mod to follow this trend, bringing back the old Redneck Rampage - sometimes referred as an underapreciated Build Engine game from the 90's - into the scene again.

When it comes to mapping, I consider Paul Corfiatis as one of the community's rockstars. He is already around for ages and a guarant for quality projects, no matter if he does them on his own or if he is spearheading larger-scale concepts. His latest one-man-show Doomed Space Wars is currently under construction and takes advantage of textures mostly taken from Dark Forces and therefore giving the mod a very Starwars-ish feeling. The story is quite simple and to the point: A huge Space Station is heading for Earth. You are sent there to wipe it out to prevent the second coming of hellspawn on Earth - sounds familiar, doesn't it? Anyway, a 3rd demo has already been released and is waiting for you.

Back in the days, a WAD set called Eternal Doom existed which had an additional minigame: Cybersweeper, where DoomGuy has to figure out its ways on what squares are deadly and which square were not. A neat idea, and something that is fondly remembered to this day. Newcomer Roebloz brings his take on this underrated classic not only to the PC as a GZDoom (and derivatives) mod, but also as a ROM Hack for the Sega 32x. Welcome to Cacosweeper!

Cacosweeper takes what made Cybersweeper so fun and adds some subtle tweaks to it. In 15 maps, you have to figure out which switches to flick before the exit can be reached. Every now and then, a boss will appear that as to be beat. But beware! If you flick the wrong switch, you will see the error of your ways very, very quickly. Like the original, Cacosweeper transforms the run-and-gun gameplay of Doom to a game of tactics, where puzzle solving is the grunt of the gameplay.

The PC release includes enhanced textures and custom music and a secret level at MAP03. And there are even easter eggs to be found... can you find them? ;)

With Cacosweeper, a little classic from the oldskool Doom days is revived and its just as fun as back then. An absolute must to play.

The PC version is found here as a megawad.

After going on a trip towards the plains of Eternal Evilness and back, fai1025 got tired of huge adventures with a hidden treasure deep into far-far away shores of Hell. The Fai Slayer realised that travelling wide, desolated bits of Hell just to retrieve a random MacGuffin wasn't for them anymore. That's why they decided to gather a team of Science Slayers to exploit a chaotic and demonic radioactive matter known as DOOMium. Their research team has two months, until the 10th of December, to test and find out how DOOMium will benefit the future of mankind and other thriving people that have to deal with demons and alike on a daily basis.

This community project is a collection of 32 short maps using OTEX 1.1 as their only texture set and are interconnected using the exact same teleports for entering and exiting the level. It started on the 16th of October and there's only less than one month left now.

Prior to this community project, fai1025 also did a 20 maps MegaWAD named Unternity in an attempt to move on from Eviternity as a too big maps MegaWAD. Check the links provided for the community project and Unternity MegaWAD if you want to learn more about this DOOM mapper's past projects.

For all of you who have followed and participated in our Doomjá-vu - It's never the same contest: 5 days are left until the deadline and we have a already total of 4 awesome submissions yet. If you are still working on your map, make sure to submit it before the 1st of April or we can't take it into account. If you haven't started yet - time to hurry, chances are good for everyone to win one of the awesome prizes that we have prepared for your contestants. Get it on, and good luck!

Good news to all those control freaks (as I am): hobomaster has finally updated his library frontend DoomLauncher coming with a lot of new and useful improvements to you and going up to version 2.0.0 now. So what can be expected? Next to many bugfixes and improvments, you will find this:

• Ability to drag and drop .zdl files to add to Doom Launcher library
• Update metadata feature. Right click file to get data from id games (title, description, author, etc).
• Added filename to search
• Better error checking with more descriptive messages
• Fixed library sync check that would cause files not to add to the Doom Launcher library
• Added ability to select individual files from the the 'Additional Files' that are added when launching
• Added ability to add demos that were not created by Doom Launcher as well as edit details

So what are you waiting for? Get DoomLauncher from the Realm667 page just here.

Good news to all those control freaks (as I am): hobomaster has finally updated his library frontend DoomLauncher coming with a lot of new and useful improvements to you and going up to version 2.1.0 now - consider this as a small christmas present. So what can be expected?

• Features
  Now keeps track of time played.
  Screenshots can be ordered to set main display image.
  Text file generator that will generate an id games style text file.
  
  
• Bug Fixes
  Fix for save game file checking. Previously overwriting a save game
  not associated with the file would not be detected.
  Fix for seemingly random crash that was casued by an AppendText
  call to the description text box when selected a file.
  Fix for exception that caused by adding additional files.
  Fix for deleting IWADS.

So what are you waiting for? Get DoomLauncher from the Realm667 page just here.

And it goes on, and on, and on! hobomaster22 has just released the latest version of DoomLauncher, the number one doom frontend for organizing and playing all your favorit wads and projects (which are currently 563 pieces in my archive to give you an idea how useful this can be). The author has fixed various issues and added a load of different new features, including

New Features

• Default global settings. Select a default source port, IWAD, and skill to be applied when launching a game for the first time.  (Settings -> Launch Settings)
• Ability to order the files when selecting additional files.
• Pressing enter now defaults to selecting the search button. Check box option next to search box to search while you type.
• Ability to rename a file that is already in the database.
• Typing while in the wad collection area will jump to the appropriate file, similar to when typing in a Windows folder view.
• Added ability to view cumulative statistics. Will add up all statistics for all files in the view. (Settings -> Cumulative Statistics)
• Added option to automatically resolve sync status descrepencies. (Settings -> Sync Status)

Bugfixes

• Fixed bug for statistics in ZDoom based port that would duplicate statistics.
• Fixed bug that created a superficial error based on GameFiles directory settings.
• Cleaner startup. Duplicate change events on startup caused for a slower startup with some random flickering.

Just download the new version from the official project page on the Realm667 and extract the new files into the program's directory by overwriting the old ones and you are ready to go. Have fun!

And it goes on, and on, and on! hobomaster22 has just released the latest version of DoomLauncher, the number one doom frontend for organizing and playing all your favorit wads and projects (which are currently 563 pieces in my archive to give you an idea how useful this can be). The author has fixed various issues and added a load of different new features, including

New Features

• Additional files can now be linked to Source Ports and IWADs so those files will automatically be loaded when the Source Port or IWAD is selected for play.
• Added progress bars for the overall statistics tracking of a file.
• Updated to check for mapinfo.txt to parse maps.
• Added a 'Save Settings' button to the launch dialog so the settings can be saved without having to actually launch the game.
• Automatic daily backups of the database are created when the launcher is run.

Bugfixes

• Fixed bug for file loading order that would cause files to load incorrectly in certain ports.
• Fixed issue that would not rename a file properly.
• Resolved IWAD issue that could cause the launcher to load an empty IWAD list and show error dialog on startup.
• Fixed issue that would stop a file from being added if it contained a map lump without numbers.
• Fixed issue that was caused by a zip containing folders that would stop the user from being able to select individual files for play.

Just download the new version from the official project page on the Realm667 and extract the new files into the program's directory by overwriting the old ones and you are ready to go. Have fun!

And it goes on, and on, and on! hobomaster22 has just released the latest version of DoomLauncher, the number one doom frontend for organizing and playing all your favorit wads and projects (which are currently 563 pieces in my archive to give you an idea how useful this can be). The author has fixed various issues and added a load of different new features, including

Bugfixes

• Update to parse statistics from new ZDoom save game format
• Fix for error when deleting a source port
• Duplicating IWads in two places is no longer required. IWads are now used from the GameFiles directory.
• IWads will now only show in the IWads tab.
• Better date/time parsing from text files.
• Fixed bug that would cause files associated with a deleted game file to be associated with a new one when added (Screenshots, save games etc).

Just download the new version from the official project page on the Realm667 and extract the new files into the program's directory by overwriting the old ones and you are ready to go. Have fun!

hobomaster22 has just released the latest version of DoomLauncher, the number one doom frontend for organizing and playing all your favorit wads and projects (which are currently 563 pieces in my archive to give you an idea how useful this can be). The author has fixed various issues and added a load of different new features, including

Bugfixes

• Fixes for searching that could cause a crash.
• Fix for query that could cause syntax error for 'Additional Files'.
• Fix for remembering user set column order in tabs.

Just download the new version from the official project page on the Realm667 and extract the new files into the program's directory by overwriting the old ones and you are ready to go. Have fun!

hobomaster22 has just released the latest version of DoomLauncher, the number one doom frontend for organizing and playing all your favorit wads and projects (which are currently 563 pieces in my archive to give you an idea how useful this can be). The author has fixed various issues and added a load of different new features, including

hobomaster22 has just released the latest version of DoomLauncher, the number one doom frontend for organizing and playing all your favorit wads and projects (which are currently 563 pieces in my archive to give you an idea how useful this can be). The author has fixed various issues and added a load of different new features, including

hobomaster22 has just released the latest version of DoomLauncher, the number one doom frontend for organizing and playing all your favorit wads and projects (which are currently 563 pieces in my archive to give you an idea how useful this can be). The author has fixed various issues and added a load of different new features, including

hobomaster22 has just released the latest version of DoomLauncher, the number one doom frontend for organizing and playing all your favorit wads and projects (which are currently 563 pieces in my archive to give you an idea how useful this can be). The author has fixed various issues and added a load of different new features, including

hobomaster22 has just released the latest version of DoomLauncher, the number one doom frontend for organizing and playing all your favorit wads and projects (which are currently 563 pieces in my archive to give you an idea how useful this can be). The author has fixed various issues and added a load of different new features, including

hobomaster22 has just released the latest version of DoomLauncher, the number one doom frontend for organizing and playing all your favorit wads and projects (which are currently 563 pieces in my archive to give you an idea how useful this can be). The author has fixed various issues and added a load of different new features, including

hobomaster22 has just released the latest version of DoomLauncher, the number one doom frontend for organizing and playing all your favorit wads and projects (which are currently 563 pieces in my archive to give you an idea how useful this can be). The author has fixed various issues and added a load of different new features, including

hobomaster22 has just released the latest version of DoomLauncher, the number one doom frontend for organizing and playing all your favorit wads and projects (which are currently 563 pieces in my archive to give you an idea how useful this can be). The author has fixed various issues and added a load of different new features, including

17 years ago Russel_P released a map called Doom Raider which somehow managed to scrape into DoomWorlds top 100. It's safe to say the map is looking somewhat dated these days. It was his first non vanilla map and he only really achieved part of what he was aiming for. Over many ZDoom (and subsequently GZDoom) updates, many of the maps features have become diminished or broken. The original map is now unplayble due to GZDoom changes which leave the poison clouds in the level with infinite height, which makes it almost impossible to survive without cheats.

So here's an unpdate/new version/reimagining/reboot/whatever. This started out as an exercise in updating his doom mapping knowledge, but ended up becoming a complete obsession. Russel_P has undoubtedly spent more time on this new version than he ever spent on the original and, if he was to produce a list of changes, it would be quicker to list the things he hasn't tinkered with. If it wasn't for the cuurrent lockdown, which has given him a large amount of free time, he doubts this map would have been released this year. But hey, here it is, the remaster of Doom Raider and it definitely was worth the wait.

Another year passed by. A different one, with a lot of challenges, a lot of changes, a lot of differences. Still, there are durable and stable traditions that keep you pleasant. And so is Doom's birthday and the Annual Cacowards that have just been posted over at Doomworld. Congratulations to the winners, congratulations to the nominees and also congratulations to the authors who wrote that article again this year. It was a pleasure to read and I can only say that everyone, who has been mentioned, totally deserved the praise. I am glad that this community is so much alive! Thank you all, and keep doomin' - stay save!

PS: Thanks kindly for mentioning my remasters of 2020, glad that they were that well received!

And so 2020, the year of stunning new releases like Ar Luminae and Bastion of Chaos, has also been a year of remasters for many of the classics. Tormentor667 has been working on a wave of renovations that includes City of the Damned and its sequel as well as Sapphire and Austerity. These updates take advantage of more modern port additions like brightmaps, dynamic lights, and widescreen graphics, but they also make bigger improvements under the hood: new palettes, improved scenery and textures, a new gun for Sapphire, new boss monsters in the original CotD, and even new areas in some maps. 

Some of the more frequent visitors to the major Doom community sites might have already noticed that one of their favorite pages Doomworld.com got a modern facelift - not only visually but also technically. To be honest, the page has alaready seen better days as the layou and technique was already 20 years old. The site staff must have been aware of this for a while now and out of nothing the new system and layout has been made public a few days ago.

At first it's a bit confusing as the landing page directly leads to the forum but overall I have to admit that I really like what people have done there. It's intuitive, it looks modern, it works on tablets and smartphones and a lot of work seems to be involved with the improvements. From what I can see so far it's not perfectly done yet and the team is still working on it but it's a very good start. Congratulations to the effort, you've done a very good job!

Here it is, my present for the 1st Advent: Tango has released his second release candidate of his mapset Drought. 3 short, Boom compatible maps built with the excellent D4V mod and using the wonderful OTEX texture pack. Each map is originally a ~1 hour speedmap that has received tweaks and refinement over the last month since their initial version. Should work in any Boom compatible port - tested in PrBoom+ and GZDoom, might be bugs in other ports still. Truecolor hardware rendering recommended, if only for the sake of color quality in MAP03. Also skill levels have been implemented but not extensively tested outside of UV, so most settings probably still need balance adjustments. For more information just read on and give Tango some feedback for finetuning.

Dust Devil is a single player mission for GZDoom spread across two intertwined maps by CaptainToenail. You have been sent to a UAC outpost on a desert world to recover a mysterious artefact. Expect heavy resistance and some new surprises. Featuring new textures by Ukiro and music by Jimmy, jumping and crouching are disabled. There is an experimental optional checkpoint mode that adds several checkpoint items to the map. Simply pick them up to save the game.

Good news for all those classic Doom lovers: Guardsoul has finally released his E1M3 Toxin Refinery Remake and it's a blast! This is a map he planned to remake a couple of years ago when he played KDiZD for the first time. As he was playing Z1M3 and admiring the detail in there, he also started to become aware that the map had a navigation problem with the underground area in addition of some other problems that we all know very well. So his task here is to recreate, once again, E1M3 in UDMF format, avoiding the issues that Z1M3 had back in the day, with some GZDoom features that can enhance the player experience for the better. In he made a good job on that! A video, screenshots and the download can be found here.

Graf Zahl, for almost 15 years already known as the author of GZDoom and Rachael, hoster extraordinaire at DRDTeam and ZDoom forums and QZDoom developer among other things, have revealed Raze, a source port of EDuke32 implementing several systems as found in the GZDoom source port. It combines  EDuke32, PCExhumed, NBlood, and RedNukem  in a single package, delivered as 5 seperate game modules, amongst various stability and renderer improvements. The main features of Raze are:

Features:

• Polymost is used as the primary renderer, significantly rewritten and seperated from OpenGL, utilizing a new texture manager. Polymost is used in this capacity to generate polygons and sending them off to the backend, which is OpenGL 3.3 with the option to use OpenGL 4.5 features. This ensures that new renderer features can be added to the same backend, but where a different renderer other than Polymost can be used
• GZDoom's post-processing effects framework is incorporated, allowing effects such as bloom and faking increased color ranges with dithering to be possible
• A replaced and revamped file system, based on the WAD manager used in GZDoom
• ZMusic from GZDoom is used as music system
• The menu code from GZDoom is used as a generic system across all supported games
• Games are in in their own modules and do not interact with eachother. Renderer, sound system and input are used universally across the titles
• Controller support is included, using the existing ZDoom controller code
• Multiplayer and networking however have a different implementation per game, and thus this was left as-is
• OSD and configuration maintenance replaced with ZDoom's console and config code

Head over to the linked thread to find a list of supported games and downloads, and join in on the discussion!

Yes baby! Reinforcements have arrived... well, only literally. ravage is still working on his project Hocus Pocus Doom and instead of releasing it, he teases us with further screenshots directly from the game. What you can see is simply admirable and every person who has been born in the 80's and played all the Apogee classics must have an errection when looking at these pieces of art. The bad thing about it: Still no release in sight. Let's just hope that ravage doesn't get the goerge-r-r-martin-flue... by the way, any news about Winds of Winter?

GZDoom is for some of us the most powerful Doom engine available. Though, mappers don't seem to try to push it to its limits - until now: Elementalism finally seems to be one of those projects that fully take the advantage of all the capabilities, GZDoom has. It takes classic Doom gameplay and combines it with cutting-edge enhanced graphical features for an explosive new six-episode Megawad.  Confront and conquer the power of the elements, wield the powerful Elementium-powered wand and take charge through six awe-inspiring locations of elemental carnage! None lesser than Dragonfly, Dreadopp, Remmirath and other skilled mappers are working on the project atm with a planned release date in 2019. It's still a long way to go but the screenshots are already promising. Check the thread at ZDoom.org now.

At nearly 5 years in the making, this has been a labor of love for everyone involved, and it is amazing (and slightly surreal) to have it finally released! The first phase of Elementalism has been released and it's a celebration of both advanced UDMF mapping and classic Doom gameplay, the aim of the mapset is to bring together the classic Doom experience we love with ambitious, high-concept modern mapping techniques. And it absolutely succeeds at that. Screenshots and details can be found at the official development thread - enjoy!

Don't worry - this is can also be viewed under 18, even though it's very sexy. Remmirath has posted an update about his spearheaeded project Elementalism that is in development for a while now with a lot of promising screenshots and some information about the development in general:

Back in October last year, GZDoom v3.2.0 introduced 'per pixel lighting' for models, meaning different parts of a model could be lit separately, compared to all-at-once like with sprites. This meant that, for the first time, models could be used as stand-ins for proper level geometry, opening up a possibility of vastly more interesting shapes and constructs than Sectors and Linedefs would allow. Unfortunately for the Elementalism team, we lacked any kind of real modeling skill, so we've been limited to simple shapes or pre-fabs. That is, until now.

What that means can be seen in the teaser for this news item. So what has changed? Read the rest of the post at the ZDoom forums. I really recommend checking out the rest and I wish the best of luck and dedication to the team finishing the project. It's simply amazing what you are doing here - keep up the good work!

Just spotted a new project in progress over at ZDoom.org with the title Evil Ideology by Lexus Alyus. Some of you might have never heard of him before but for me it's a well-known name and you might already have the chance to listen to his music in Stronghold. Exactly, he prepared some of the original tracks for the mod, and that's about almost 10 years now since that happened. He is still working on music but also a project where the music fits in well. The style of this is going to be a mixture of Ultimate Doom classic episode 2, 3, 4 and some Doom 2 styles, all with hiw own little twists. He's not aiming to make super detailed maps here, just maps that are fun to play and quite doomy. Lexus has already got the concepts for all 33 maps sorted so the project is pretty deep in development now. Wanna see some screenshots and music? Check the thread and give him a bit feedback.

A few days ago Dragonfly has finally released his long-awaited megawad Eviternity. It is a megawad comprised of six 5-map episodes (called Chapters) plus two secret maps. This project exclusively uses OTEX, a brand new high quality texture pack by ukiro. Eviternity's six chapters explore a series of unique and varied themes, each featuring classic gameplay with an interest in making each map hold its own unique identity and personality. The themes are "Medieval", "Techbase", "Icy Castles", "Industrial / Brutalism", "Hell / Gore / Alien" and "Heaven". This project was created as a birthday gift to Doom, which is celebrating its 25th birthday on the day this was released. The texture pack used in this project, OTEX, was also released on the same day - so please do not use Eviternity as a base for your wads & mods. While mostly being a "Dragonfly project", with 24 maps being made or heavily worked on by himself, he presents to you a mighty lineup of well-known guest mappers who have crafted beautiful and fun levels. Get it now!

A few days ago DragonFly has released the first RC of his new masterpiece Eviternity, a megawad comprised of six 5-map episodes (called Chapters) plus two secret maps. This project exclusively uses OTEX, a brand new high quality texture pack by ukiro. Eviternity’s six chapters explore a series of unique and varied themes, each featuring classic gameplay with an interest in making each map hold its own unique identity and personality. The themes are “Medieval”, “Techbase”, “Icy Castles”, “Industrial / Brutalism”, “Hell / Gore / Alien” and “Heaven”.

This project was created as a birthday gift to Doom, which is celebrating its 25th birthday on the day this was released. The texture pack used in this project, OTEX, was also released on the same day. While mostly being a “Dragonfly project”, with 24 maps being made or heavily worked on by myself, he presents to you a mighty lineup of well-known guest mappers who have crafted beautiful and fun levels. Check the official page for more information.

Exorcist is a Total Conversion mod for Hexen: Beyond Heretic, set in the land of Kimberline where you play as the Exorcist. Travel to different places and fight tainted warriors and horrific beasts from a hellish dimension. Make sure to read the manual in the zip file and the Story section in the main menu.

"The hellish minions left to wander in the aftermath of Korax's defeat during the battle of Cronos have now scattered across Parthoris looking for fresh meat, and a new realm to call their own. Beings of chaos roam freely, causing disarray in the realm. The citizens of Parthoris have barely had time to rebuild their lives in the wake of D'Sparil's reign of chaos, which was put to an end by a yet-unidentified outsider."

Faithless is a 9-map hub for Heretic with new textures, classic gameplay but ready for GZDoom 4.0.0 with a lot of nice surprises. It currently can be downloaded as releasre candidate but it's very close of being finishd, so give it a shot and help Jimmy polishing his work to the max.

The devil is in the details, is what people used to say. This also rings true for Doom.  For such an old game it is no wonder that shadow generation is not one of its strongest suits, especially when it comes to monsters. For some time for (G)ZDoom users an alternative existed for quite some time, called GShadow, originally made by sonic_HD87. This gave every actor (monster) in the game its own dynamic ''blob'' shadow. Because it consisted of pure DECORATE and ACS code, it didn't break the bank on your graphics hardware and it was also available for ZDoom. Other ZDoom based implementations however fell short, however.

Modder TDRR,  who you may know of the TDBots project picked this up and has now released GShadow Resurrected. A significantly refined implementation of the original that can now also run on the Zandronum port. But there is more. You can stick with the regular ''blob'' shadow, or you use one of the socalled ''shadowpacks''. These packs change the shape of the shadow to be more realistic - So far all vanilla actors, including DoomGuy, are properly shadowed. And it runs both on the software and hardware renderers.

Do note that not all gameplay mods are supported, only those that leave monsters and decorations intact. Only exceptions include DUBG, if you enable Dehacked Compatibility, and possibly MetaDoom. You can disable it mid-game by setting the gs_enable CVAR to 0 or FALSE. You can also disable shadows being casted outdoors without any nearby light source with the gs_outdoorshadow CVAR.

All in all, GShadow Resurrected gives modders and level designers an easy but powerful tool to add shadows to their works, without impacting your hardware too much. Head over to the thread to read how to implement GShadow support in your works!

It looks like I am not the only person in the community considering remasters of previously released work. The modder Daniel released his new version of Final NeoDoom just a few days ago with numerous fixes, improvements and changes to his awesome mod that has been initially released 2015 if I can remember this correctly. So what can you expect from one of the coolest releases of the 2010's? It's a mod with 17 new maps for GZDoom source port, including new music, weapons, monsters, inventory, textures, graphics and hud. It uses special features such as 3D floors, jumping and crouching, dynamic lights, 3D objects (MD2 and MD3 models) and extended DECORATE definitions. Gameplay is quite varied: monsters have different personalities, and some of them requires specific weapons to be beaten. Inventory items also play an important role on specific situations. So what are you waiting for?

Shame on me that I noticed it yesterday and not earlier: Hobomaster22 has released something that I have requested almost a year ago in the Doomworld forums, a comprehensive Doom frontend which also serves as a database for all the mods and maps in the style of D-Fend Reloaded (a DOSBOX frontend) or ECC2 (a frontend for any kind of emulators). The very impressive result which is currently still in development phase can be found here, and in the name of all those other doomers who love to have a sorted archive I suggest you take a look at the frontend, test it and give feedback so the author can do further improvements. It's a real great piece of work and a lot of things are already working quite well, but it still has some issues which need to sorted out. So go, help and support this brilliant piece of program!

The mapper Ribbick has recently released his Finely Crafted Fetish Film which is a set of 7 boom-compatible maps for Doom2 with a focus on puzzles and unusual layouts, created with anotak's lua functionality that is now part of Doombuilder X - without which this mapset wouldn't exist. The maps themselves feature a mixture of puzzle and combat elements: block pushing, switch/elevator setups, monster manipulation, platforming, and some normal slaughter fights here and there. Screenshots, further information and a download can be found here at Doomworld.

The community has already proven to be very creative when it comes to restrictions. Not only in the early beginnings of Vanilla but also in later days, just remember the 10 Sectors Contest of Doomworld in the late 90's. Keeper of Jericho had another interesting idea, that sets the boundaries of a Doom map to 5 sectors. Who thinks that this is boring might be more wrong than expected as the contest results prove in a very impressive way. But what do I talk, try it yourself.

This is more of a development blog entry and less actually news, but I think some people might be interested in how the development of Blade of Agony is currently proceeding. First of all, after turning the development and testing more private and less focused on sharing unfinished material with the community, things got a bit calmer. This doesn't mean that we weren't making progress at all. At the moment I am working on the third mission of chapter 3 which will focus on a small town setting heavily inspired by Medal of Honor's Snipercity with a few more surprises, twists and turns in the plot and a very interesting final battle towards the end of this mission.

Being in contact a lot lately with Graf Zahl were I finally have the feeling that I reached the limits of GZDoom as a port to create semi-modern projects like this. The screenshot to the right has been made by Nash who has actually a pretty decent machine but still, the FPS counter drops to 15 - 15 frames on a modern machine that runs a game more than 20 years old. Sounds crazy? Well, it's obviously possible. The main problem here is the wide open area, the town with all its houses, trees, actors, lines, sectors - the GPU and CPU have a lot to do each single cicle and that's what happens if the engine isn't made for settings like this.

With the help of Graf Zahl, improvements have already been made but it is already clear now that Blade of Agony won't work well with older rigs... or at least not fast. Sure, in our development team we discussed already a few times what to do: Reducing the amount of sectors, changing the setting, aiming for something smaller to make it also available for people with older systems. But in the end, we are not doing this primarily for everyone else, we are doing this mostly because it's fun for us.

When drafting new maps for the project, I don't imagine "What runs well" but I imagine "What plays and looks cool". Sure, if it would slow down my system as well, it would be different, but that's another story ;) Anyway, stay tuned, follow the development thread over at ZDoom.org where you will still find interesting replies from time to time.