DOOM 3

'''Doom 3''' is a science fiction horror first-person shooter computer game. It was developed and published by id Software, and was released on August 3, 2004. ''Doom 3'', despite its name, is not a direct continuation of the original ''Doom'' series storyline, but rather a reimagining of the first game in the series, with the addition of a completely new game engine and graphics.
Set in the year 2145 in a fictional Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) research center on Mars, ''Doom 3'' has the player take control of an anonymous marine as he fights to survive a mysterious invasion of inter-dimensional demons. In the process, the marine learns more about the nature of the shadowy research being conducted within the massive base and its main instigator, Dr. Malcolm Betruger.
''Doom 3'' was developed for Windows and ported to Linux in 2004; seven months later, it was also released for Mac OS X (ported by Aspyr) and Xbox (co-developed by Vicarious Visions). The Xbox version is graphically similar to the original, although less detailed. It also features an additional two-player online co-operation mode. An expansion, '', developed by Nerve Software and co-developed by id Software, was released on April 4, 2005. The Xbox version of ''Doom 3'' is an Xbox 360-compatible title, and the Xbox version of ''Resurrection of Evil'' is also backwards compatible as of July 2007. A ''Doom'' movie, loosely based on the franchise, was released roughly one year later on October 21, 2005.

Contents

Gameplay

Weapons

Lighting

Multiplayer

Story

Premise

Presentation

Plot

Allusions and cameo roles

Reception

Criticism

Rebuttals

Development

Promotion and versions

Technical

References

External links

Gameplay

The gameplay of ''Doom 3'' is broadly similar to the original ''Doom'', which itself helped establish the conventions of the first-person shooter genre. The main objective of the player is to navigate his or her way through the hostile game environment to the relative safety at the end of each level. The basic gameplay mechanic lies in a run and gun mantra, requiring the player to, essentially, "shoot anything that moves". Movement in ''Doom 3'' is relatively simplistic for an FPS released in 2004: the player is able to move in the four cardinal directions, crouch, jump, and sprint, but can't go prone or lean around corners. Level layout and design architecture are basically linear. There are frequent instances, however, in which the player, in order to travel from point A to point B, must sidetrack to a point C. To access a desired destination and complete an objective, a number of tasks may have to be completed: total enemy destruction, item collection, basic puzzle solving, etc.

Weapons

There are numerous weapons available in ''Doom 3''. The game inherits a number of weapons from its predecessors ''Doom'' and ''Doom II'', while adding several new weapons and modifying several of the old standbys. The iconic chainsaw and BFG 9000 return, as do the pistol, shotgun, chain gun, rocket launcher, and plasma gun. New additions include the flashlight (vital as a light source), hand grenades, a hand-held assault rifle (incorrectly called a machine gun in game), which vaguely resembles a P90 and an alien artifact known as the Soul Cube.

Lighting

An important element in the gameplay and action of ''Doom 3'' is light. Most levels in the game have a variety of moody lighting effects and are quite dark overall. This design choice is not only meant to foster feelings of apprehension and fear within the player, but also to create a more threatening game environment, as the player is much less likely to see attacking enemies.
This aspect is further enhanced by the fact that the player can hold either a weapon, or the flashlight, but not both simultaneously. This forces the player to choose between wielding their light or weapon upon entering a room, which consequently leads to a more deliberate pace for the player. This aspect is more conducive to a horror game, and has been criticized by some players as being an artificial constraint that should have been avoided. The flashlight, they argue, could have been held by a second free hand or strapped directly onto the player's weapon.
A third-party modification known as a "duct tape mod" provides the capability to mount a flashlight on the shotgun and machine gun weapons, thus providing illumination while the weapon is in use. The tongue-in-cheek rationale for this mod is that a roll of duct tape must exist ''somewhere'' on Mars (which would allow the player to tape his flashlight to a weapon).

Multiplayer

''Doom 3'' was released with a four-player deathmatch multiplayer component only. However, computer game modders released an eight-player support patch soon after release, and this aspect was included in the '' expansion.
As with most deathmatch multiplayer components, the objective of the game is to kill other players as many times as possible within an allotted amount of time, or to reach a specified number of kills before the opposition does. The player begins each game and respawn with a basic set of weapons (flashlight, pistol with four spare magazines, and two grenades; ''RoE'' adds a machine gun with 30 bullets), and may acquire power-ups and most of the weapons featured in the single-player campaign during the course of each match. There is also a new twist, as players can steal other players' weapons by attacking them with the fist. When a player is punched, they forfeit the current weapon they are holding to the attacker.
In addition to deathmatch, three similar gametypes exist. In team deathmatch, players are placed on either the Red team or the Blue team, and the opposing teams fight. In tourney mode, two players duel while the others wait in line; at the end of the match, the victor faces the next challenger and the loser is put at the end of the waiting line. In last man standing, players are each allotted a specified number of lives; when a player loses all their lives, they are forced to spectate until the end of the match.
Three power-ups exist in multiplayer: berserk, mega health, and invisibility (the latter two do not appear in the single-player campaign). Berserk lasts for 30 seconds, enhancing the player's speed by a factor of 1.5 and tripling their damage given. Mega health boosts the player's health to 200, exceeding the health limit of 100. Invisibility lasts for 30 seconds, and renders the player ''nearly'' invisible; the power-up emits a subtle green glow, and does not conceal wounds.
The Xbox version of ''Doom 3'' included four-player deathmatch over Xbox Live and system link, as well as two-player co-op on Xbox Live and system link.Price, Tom. "Doom 3." ''Official Xbox Magazine'' April 2005: 82–83.

Story

Premise

Similar to the story of the original ''Doom'', the game focuses on an anonymous marine who is transferred to an extraterrestrial base on a routine mission. Following the unexpected arrival of demons via experimental teleportation gates, the marine is forced to fight his way through a variety of demonic monsters to reach safety. Also in both cases the protagonist visits Hell, though in the original Doom, it is the third episode ''Inferno'' (Ultimate Doom adds a fourth, ''Thy Flesh Consumed''), whereas in ''Doom 3'' it is only one level.
Although ''Doom 3'' retains the rather basic premise of the first game, it also makes a number of changes, most notably a much more detailed plot which introduces an alien aspect to the story. Other differences include the game taking place on the planet Mars itself, rather than its moons Phobos and Deimos, and the heightened realism of the environment; while the original ''Doom'' gives the two moonlets breathable atmospheres, ''Doom 3'' takes place in Mars, with its atmosphere depicted accurately as unbreathable.

Presentation

For ''Doom 3'', id Software employed professional science fiction writer Matthew Costello, who had worked on the games ''The 7th Guest'' and ''The 11th Hour'', to write the script and assist in story-boarding the entire game. id focused on retelling the story and creating a tense horror atmosphere. The game's events and atmosphere show a great deal of influence from George Romero's ''Living Dead'' series and James Cameron's ''Aliens'', as well as Valve Software's ''Half-Life'' and Irrational Games' ''System Shock 2''.
Cut scenes give purpose and context for the player's actions and introduction to new enemies. Similar to other science fiction action/horror games such as ''System Shock'', ''System Shock 2'', and ''Aliens versus Predator 2'', hundreds of text, voice, and video messages are scattered throughout the base. These messages appear as internal e-mails and audio reports sent between lab workers, administrators, maintenance staff, and security personnel at the Mars base. They serve to help explain the background story to the player, show the feelings and concern of the people on the Mars base, build atmosphere, and reveal information related to plot and gameplay. Augmenting these are video booths and televisions which give planetary news, corporate propaganda, visitor information, and technical data about the base.
''Doom 3'' also uses a number of other classic horror elements, the most prominent of which is darkness. The great majority of the levels in the game have little or even no strong lighting. Also, power outages are occasionally simulated (especially in earlier levels) which bathe the player in near-complete darkness. These aesthetics are explained by the game as due to the Delta Labs diverting power for sustained teleportation experiments.
Frequent radio transmissions through the player's communications device also add to the atmosphere, by broadcasting certain sounds and messages from non-player characters meant to unsettle the player. Early in the game, surrounding the time of the event that plunges the base into chaos, the player often hears the sounds of fighting, screaming and dying coming through his radio transmitter. The ambient sound is extended to the base itself through such things as hissing pipes, footsteps, and occasional jarringly loud noises from machinery or other sources. Often ambience can be heard that resembles deep breathing.

Plot

The story of ''Doom 3'' surrounds the discovery of ancient ruins underneath Martian soil. Tablets found at these sites record how an ancient Martian race developed a form of teleporter technology. They realized an important fact all too late, however; the route the teleporter took passed through Hell. Quickly invaded by demons, this alien race created and sacrificed themselves to a weapon known as the Soul Cube. This cube, powered by the souls of almost every being of this alien race, was used by their strongest warrior to defeat and contain the demons in Hell.
Having done so, the remainder of the alien race constructed warnings to any who visited Mars, warning them ''not'' to recreate this technology; to avoid opening another gate to Hell. They then teleported to an unknown location, fleeing Mars; there are hints that at least some of them fled to Earth, and that humans are descended from them. It is also stated that the demons once inhabited Earth in an unknown context, but lost possession of it due to an unknown cause.
The UAC, discovering the Soul Cube and the warnings, used them to develop the same teleporter technology. Discovering that they opened a gate to Hell, scientists decided to explore further (encouraged by the head scientist, Malcolm Betruger), sending teams in and even capturing living specimens from the realm at great loss of life. The portal experiments also had strange and disturbing effects on the Mars City research facility where the experiments were conducted. Scientists and workers, unaware of the nature of the work being performed by Dr. Betruger and his team, frequently reported strange phenomena and unlikely industrial accidents. A general sense of paranoia and fear spread throughout the facility, leading many workers to request a greater marine presence and/or weaponry accessible by themselves.
In response to numerous industrial accidents, complaints, and requests for transfers off Mars, the UAC on Earth sends Counselor Elliot Swann to investigate these problems. Accompanying Swann are his personal bodyguard Jack Campbell (with attaché case) and a single marine (the player). Upon checking in, the marine is called to Marine HQ to meet Master Sergeant Thomas Kelly, the marine commander of the facility. He sends the marine to track down a missing member of the science team. On the way, he overhears a tense meeting between Swann and Betruger.
The marine finds the scientist in a decommissioned communications facility, preparing to send out a warning message about Betruger's extreme portal experiments. The message warns that Betruger's tests are threatening to overload the portal's containment fields, which would create a catastrophic scenario. The scientist was unable to finish and send his message before the next portal experiment.
As soon as the portal opens, Betruger takes the Soul Cube into Hell and apparently made an unknown kind of deal with the creatures there. Under his direction, the demons again invade Mars, confident that the only key to their defeat lies safely in their hands. The marine and scientist watch on the monitors and radio as chaos erupts throughout the base. The marine watches as a fellow marine in the Delta Labs is possessed by a demon, as another flies through the screen to possess the scientist. Under Sergeant Kelly's orders to all units, the marine returns to Marine HQ. Along the way, the marine overhears radio chatter as various teams attempt to coordinate their efforts or give their last screams for help.
Returning to Marine HQ, the marine is sent by Kelly to assist Bravo Team (one of the few surviving squads) in reaching the Communications Tower to send a distress signal to the fleet. Bravo Team is carrying a military transmission card which contains the encoded message. The path to the tower leads through the Alpha Labs and Energy Production plant, both of which are heavily infested with demons. The attack has left most of the Mars base population either dead or as zombified slaves. Most marines who had survived the first attack were wiped out by the demons and the undead Mars security forces in a matter of minutes.
After entering the Administration sector, the marine overhears another conversation between Swann and Betruger. Insisting on taking over command of the situation, Swann is rebuffed by Betruger, who informs him that it is Swann who is out of control and not the situation. Swann deduces correctly that Betruger is in control and that matters are proceeding according to his plan. At this point Campbell opens his case to commence "Plan B."
As the marine enters the EnPro facility, Bravo Team is ambushed at the nearby motor pool. Before the marine can reach them, he learns that Swann is also heading for the communications tower. However, Swann wishes to prevent the transmission to the fleet. Unable to find Bravo Team's communications card, he and Campbell grab a vehicle and drive to the tower. The marine later obtains the card from the last member of Bravo Team, who was hiding from Swann. The marine is catching up, but was not able to get to the tower's control room before Campbell destroys the computers with his BFG9000.
Believing they have succeeded in stopping the transmission, they head off towards the Delta Labs, where the main portal (and source of the invasion) is located. However, the marine is able to find a way into the satellite control room and access the transmitter directly. The transmission calls for a full ground engagement with no orbital bombardment. Swann contacts the marine and tells him to abort the transmission, arguing that until they understand what they are up against, the base must remain cut off from the outside world. Kelly presses the marine to send it. The marine makes the final choice whether or not to send the transmission but, aside from immediate comments by the other protagonists, this has no influence on the plot in the remainder of the game.
After leaving the communications tower, the skyway to the monorail station is crushed by an invisible power, forcing the marine to find an alternate route through the waste treatment plant. In the plant, he learns that Betruger plans to wipe out the reinforcements that are on their way, and then use their ships to take the demons to Earth in order to conquer it. If the marine aborted the transmission at the tower, Betruger announces that he will send the distress signal himself. Betruger then attempts to trap the marine in the plant, which is filling up with toxic gas.
Surviving the attack and fighting his way out of the plant and through the monorail station, the marine ultimately reaches the Delta Labs, where the main portal is located. The marine also learns of the Soul Cube and the portal to Hell where it is held.
The marine, pursuing the Soul Cube, is sent into Hell by Betruger via the main portal in the Delta Labs. After losing all his weapons during the teleportation, he rigorously picks up the scattered weapons while fighting his way through the demons. Finally reaching the Soul Cube which calls out to the marine, "Save us," he is confronted by The Guardian of Hell — a gigantic, near-blind demon who uses smaller creatures, named Seekers, to "see." With the Guardian of Hell defeated, the marine takes the Soul Cube back through the teleporter to Mars, where he learns that his actions have made Betruger unable to use the teleporter technology.
Resurfacing at the Delta Complex, the marine must again find his weapons, and battle the remaining demons in the base. Betruger, upset by his loss of the teleporter and the Soul Cube, vengefully tells the marine of a natural portal to Hell which could transport millions of his minions from Hell. On the way to the new portal, the marine encounters Counselor Swann, who is found wounded and unable to move. Swann, who is unwilling to allow the invasion of Earth, grants his PDA to the marine, and directs him to go through Central Processing and then to the caverns, where the portal is located. Swann warns that Sarge is no longer human and that Campbell has gone after him.
In Central Processing, Campbell is found dying on the floor without a weapon; he utters "Sarge, he's got my gun," as his last words. After his final breath, a demonic voice begins to taunt the marine, who is approaching the mortifying monster. Once the arena is treaded on, the BFG-wielding Sabaoth reveals himself as a mutated hybrid of Sarge and a military tank. After the battle is over, the spoils — the BFG9000 — is seized by the marine as he advances to Site 3 and transfers to the caverns.
At the Primary Excavation site of the caverns, the portal to Hell has been opened at the site of the alien ruins. There, the marine uses the Soul Cube to defeat "Hell's mightiest warrior", the horrific Cyberdemon, and seal the portal. The ending scene shows the marine (revealed in ''Doom 3'''s expansion pack, '', to be the only survivor) being rescued by the fleet, who also ask about Swann and Betruger. When asked about Swann they say,"He's dead", and when they ask about Betruger they say,"He's nowhere to be found", cut to Hell, where it shows Betruger reincarnated as a dragon-like demon called the Maledict.

Allusions and cameo roles

Being in effect a remake of the original ''Doom'', ''Doom 3'' makes a number of references to its pioneering forbearer.
An example of this is the fictional arcade game ''Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3'' found at the beginning of ''Doom 3''. Though the goal of the game is to punch cartoon turkeys into mush, both the HUD for ''Turkey Puncher'' as well as the fist used in the game are taken from the original ''Doom'' while the logo used on the cabinet is a copy of the ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'' logo and the company name "Nabcon" is written the same as the logo for Capcom.
Another example occurs in Site 3 of the Artifact Research area, the last of the four tablets has a picture of the alien warrior using the Soul Cube. The picture is identical to the original cover of ''Doom'', save that the warrior is holding the Soul Cube and a portion of the Tablet is broken, so his head is not visible. Additionally, entering ''iddqd'', ''idkfa'', ''idspispopd'' and similar codes into the console will display a message saying: 'Your memory serves you well!'. These are cheat codes from the original ''Doom'' games.
References to other id games are evident as well, for instance in Site 3 of the Artifact Research area, (last level before excavation), The man who lets you in gives you his PDA. Inside the PDA, one of the emails contains a message from his nephew who claims his new "''Quake 43'' game blows his mind" and is better than ''Super Turbo Turkey Puncher''.
Many id employees also make cameo appearances within the game, with most of the id Software staff doing voice overs. When recovering the first key card in administration, Specialist Wilson, played by John Carmack, asks for orders on radio. Sergeant Kelly responds with "stay sharp marine". More than half the PDAs in the game are also named after id Software staff members. In addition, there is a hidden id Software PDA before the final fight. If the player turns left at the very end before the bricks open up, there is a branch-off hallway with the id logo on a brick at the end.
Steven Blum, a popular American voice actor who is best known for voicing anime characters (including Spike Spiegel on the anime series ''Cowboy Bebop'' and Orochimaru from ''Naruto'') in their English dubs, appears in ''Doom 3'' playing various marines, technicians and zombies.
In the Common Area, near the ''Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3'' cabinet, the IPN newscaster on the television is voiced by Cam Clarke, a voice actor known for providing the voices to (among others) Leonardo from ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', Die Fledermaus from the original cartoon version of ''The Tick'', and Liquid Snake. The screen's captions mention the winner of Quakecon.
The player character in the game is also modeled after id lead artist and co-owner Kevin Cloud.

Reception

''Doom 3'' was mostly well-received by critics, with an average score of 88% for both the Xbox and PC version at Game Rankings.^[1] This made it one of the top 10 PC games of 2004.
The game won several awards for that year as well as nominated.

★ E3 2002 Game Critics Awards: Best of Show, Best PC Game, Best Action Game, Special Commendation for Sound, Special Commendation for Graphics

★ GameSpot's Best and Worst 2004: Best Graphics (Technical)

★ GameSpot: '8.5/10'^[2]

★ IGN: '8.9/10'^[3]

★ GameSpy: '4.5/5'^[4]

★ Eurogamer: '9/10'^[5]

★ PC Gamer: '94%'^[6]

★ 1UP.com: '10/10'^[7]

Criticism

According to some critics, some common shortcomings of the game are:

★ Reliance on traditionally overused horror techniques such as pitch black darkness, limited use of the flashlight and stock horror movie clichés, which may make the game frustrating to play rather than scary or atmospheric.

★
★ In particular, implausible restriction from using the flashlight and any other weapon simultaneously (known as "No duct tape on Mars" problem),^[8] whereas today many real-life weapons have hands-free light attachments.
★ Repetitive gameplay, similar linear levels during parts of the game.

★ Slow player movement, compared to ''Doom'', ''Doom II'' and the ''Quake'' series.

★ Unlike contemporary first-person shooters, movement is simple; the player can move, jump, crouch and sprint, but can't go prone or lean around corners.

★ Somewhat stale storytelling techniques, forcing the player to read or listen to messages by hiding access codes in them, and a shortage of cut-scenes providing story exposition, with one reviewer saying that adding clumsy storytelling to the game ended up weakening the experience.

★ Very different gameplay compared to Doom and Doom 2 (Instead of fighting 20 enemies in one room the player usually fights only a few )

★ Poor monster AI, over-reliance on scripted sequences.^[9]

★ Somewhat limited use of physics (improved significantly in the expansion).^[10]

★ All weapons are direct-fire, point-and-shoot weapons with no alternate firing modes without any variation or innovation.

★ A small multiplayer deathmatch mode of only a few people, stemming from ''Doom 3'''s focus on the single player experience.

★ No official cooperative gameplay in the PC version whereas a cooperative mode was integrated into the original ''Doom''. However, a two-player cooperative mode is included in the Xbox version.

★ Flashlight is more powerful than the pistol
Some critical reviewers consider that the technological level of ''Doom 3'' is similar to that of other games of 2004, and that features such as bump mapping had already become industry standard. For example, an often mentioned feature of ''Doom 3'', per-pixel lighting and stencil shadowing, had already been implemented in many games released in 2003, Far Cry in 2004 and even a budget title from Activision Value called ''.
Lastly, fans of the original series also criticize ''Doom 3'' for having the demons and the main characters look radically different from their original counterparts.

Rebuttals

Many gamers argue the apparent shortcomings are not shortcomings at all, but are integral to the gameplay id determined to display for ''Doom 3''.
Since ''Doom 3'' is a remake of the original ''Doom'' — a game which did not have high-end concepts common in today's more complex games — remaking ''Doom'' with too much complexity would remove a key component that made ''Doom'' popular in the first place.
The flashlight is a key element of ''Doom 3's gameplay: the player must balance between seeing the enemy, and defeating it. In the vanilla game, almost every monster has glowing eyes, or some aspect of bioluminescence which offers a target for the player. Modifying the weapons to project light, results in the mystery of "the unknown" to be less potent and frightening. Additionally, muzzle flashes can be enabled for marginally better visibility while firing.
Another rebuttal concerns the story of ''Doom 3,'' which is done through the use of audio and video logs. The use of logs in this way is similar to the use of logs in ''System Shock 2''. Ken Levine, lead designer of ''System Shock 2'' said of the logs in ''Doom 3'' "It amazed me when I played ''Doom 3'' that they didn't mix their recordings into the ambient space of the world. The people sound like they're in a recording booth."^[11] A reason for "not mixing ambient sound into the sound file" is because the PDA can be lowered while the audio log is playing, making it so the player can continue playing while listening to the audio log. Adding too much ambient sound into the sound file would make it inaudible when the PDA is lowered.
With regards to a minimal multiplayer mode, the designers intended that ''Doom 3'' would be played and remembered primarily for its single-player story experience, as opposed to id Software's previous titles which were known far better for multiplayer deathmatch (in particular ''Quake 3'', which didn't feature a 'true' single player mode).
The Xbox port of ''Doom 3'' did implement co-op mode, which was engineered to work with single-player levels augmented with multi-player spawn-points (to accommodate both players); but, in the end, new co-op levels were created anyway.
Despite its apparent flaws, the game was still a commercial and critical success for id Software, with the Xbox version of the game selling over one million copies[1]. The financial success was bolstered by the near-record number of pre-orders placed for the game. id Software also typically benefits from licensing the engine to other developers. Several games have already been developed using a modified id Tech 4 (''Doom 3'') engine, including ''Quake 4'', '', ''Castle Wolfenstein (tentative title)'' and ''Prey''.
While the character designs are radically different in comparison to the original game's characters, it can be said that most of the old monster designs are not as fear-instilling as the new ones, and that the new designs were necessary to shock the player.

Development

In June 2000, John Carmack posted a plan^[12] announcing the start to a remake of ''Doom'' using next generation technology. This plan revealed controversy had been brewing within id over the decision.
Kevin Cloud and Adrian Carmack, two of id Software's owners, were always strongly opposed to remaking ''Doom''. They thought that id was going back to the same old formulas and properties too often. However, after the warm reception of ''Return to Castle Wolfenstein'' and the latest improvements in rendering technology, most of the employees agreed that a remake was the right idea and confronted Kevin and Adrian with an ultimatum: "Allow us to remake ''Doom'' or fire us" (including John Carmack). After the reasonably painless confrontation (although artist Paul Steed, one of the instigators, was fired in retaliation), the agreement to work on ''Doom 3'' was made.
id Software began development on ''Doom 3'' in late 2000, immediately after finishing .^[13] In 2001, it was first shown to the public at Macworld Conference & Expo in Tokyo^[14] and was later demonstrated at E3 in 2002, where a 15-minute gameplay demo was shown in a small theater. It won five awards at E3 that year.
Early in Doom 3's development, Trent Reznor of the band Nine Inch Nails, who is a fan of the Doom games, was set to compose the music and sound effects to ''Doom 3''. This later fell through, and none of Trent Reznor's sound effects or music made the final product. However, his early sound effects are available for download on various web sites and are considered by many to be superior to the game's final sound effects. Eventually, Nine Inch Nails' drummer at the time, Chris Vrenna, did the game's theme song. Numerous ogg files in the retail version of "Doom 3" are still labeled under Reznor's name.
Some speculated that id software was targeting the 2002 holiday season, although others believed a 2003 release date would be more realistic. After E3, there was no further press release from id Software regarding the project; the company's website only had ''Return to Castle Wolfenstein'' as the latest game. Late in 2002, a couple of employees at ATI Technologies leaked a development version of ''Doom 3'' onto the Internet.^[15]
Next year, a new trailer was shown at E3 2003 and soon afterwards the id Software homepage was updated to showcase ''Doom 3'' as an upcoming project but it was also announced that ''Doom 3'' would not be ready for the 2003 holiday season. According to some comments by John Carmack, the development took longer than expected. Originally, the game was planned for release around the same time as another highly anticipated game, ''Half-Life 2'', in Christmas 2003. ''Doom 3'', ''Half-Life 2'', and ''Halo 2'' were considered among the most anticipated games since their announcements in 2001/2002, though all three of them would not make the planned 2003 holiday season.
''Doom 3'' achieved gold status on July 14, 2004, and a Mac OS X release was confirmed the next day on July 15, 2004. ''Doom 3'' was released in the U.S. on August 3, 2004. Additionally, a Linux version was released on October 4, 2004. The Mac OS X version was released on March 14, 2005 and on February 20, 2006 the patch 1.3 Rev A included a universal binary, adding support for Mac OS X on the x86 architecture. Finally, the modified Xbox conversion was released on April 3, 2005. Due to high demand, the game was made available at select outlets at midnight on the date of release. The game was released to the rest of the world on August 13, 2004 (except for Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union, where official localisation was delayed and caused the game to be released about four months later, on December 10, 2004).
A week before the game's release, it became known that an agreement to include EAX audio technology in ''Doom 3'' reached by id Software and Creative Labs was heavily influenced by a software patent owned by the latter company. The patent dealt with a technique for rendering shadows called Carmack's Reverse, which was developed independently by both John Carmack and programmers at Creative Labs. id Software would have been putting themselves under legal liability if they used the technique in the finished game, so to defuse the issue, id Software agreed to license Creative Labs sound technologies in exchange for indemnification against lawsuits.^[16]
Two days before its official release, ''Doom 3'' was released by pirate groups onto the Internet. As the game's focus is its single player mode, the need for a valid retail serial number for online multiplayer gaming was a weak deterrent against piracy.

Promotion and versions

Shortly following the announcement of ''Doom 3's development, a promotional website(www.ua-corp.com) was released that serves as the homepage of the fictional corporation operating on Mars in the game. Until the announcement of gold status, the site served as a teaser; later a countdown to the release date was added. The website for Martian Buddy, a fictional corporation prominently featured in the game, was also revealed before the game launch.
''Doom 3'' was announced at E3 2001, and the gameplay demo was shown in both E3 2001, Quakecon 2002, and E3 2002. At E3 2002 and Quakecon id showed an interactive demo. This version, known as the alpha version, was leaked on the Internet; speculation indicated that it may have been leaked by ATI. id Software developers were extremely concerned by the quality of the leaked product, as it was still a bug-ridden, experimental stage of the product's evolution. Despite fears of poorer sales, the game went on to sell well.
A Limited Collector's Edition of ''Doom 3'' was released for Xbox in tin packaging containing ports of Ultimate Doom and Doom II (including full multi-player splitscreen support), G4's ''Icons'' making-of documentary, developer interviews, and concept art.
''Doom 3'' also continued id's long track record of creating games that were Linux compatible. This was primarily a result of id's decision to use the OpenGL standard for the graphics engine as opposed to Microsoft's proprietary Direct3D API which is only available for the Windows line of operating systems. The executable for the Linux version can be found on id's FTP.^[17]

Technical

The shadowing effects of the Unified lighting and shadowing engine are shown on the face and body of the zombies in this screenshot

According to John Carmack, the lead graphics engine developer at id, the "tripod of features" in ''Doom 3'' technology is:

★ Unified lighting and shadowing

★ Complex animations and scripting that show off real-time, fully dynamic per-pixel lighting and stencil shadowing.

★ GUI surfaces that add extra interactivity to the game
The key advance of the ''Doom 3'' graphics engine is the unified lighting and shadowing. Rather than computing or rendering lightmaps during map creation and saving that information in the map data, most light sources are computed on the fly. This allows lights to cast shadows even on non-static objects such as monsters or machinery, which was impossible with static lightmaps. A shortcoming of this approach is the engine's inability to render soft shadows and global illumination.
To increase the interactivity with the game-world, id designed hundreds of high-resolution animated screens for in-game computers. Rather than using a simple "use key", the crosshair acts as a mouse cursor over the screens allowing the player to use a computer in the game world. This allowed an in-game computer terminal to perform more than one function, such as a readily apparent door-unlocking button, combined with a more obscure function allowing an astute player to unlock a nearby weapons locker. A notable extension of this feature is shown in the ''Terminal Doom'' modification^[18] which allows the player to play the original ''Doom'' game from 1993 on a computer inside ''Doom 3'' as a demonstration.
According to the ''Doom 3'' manual, the GUI designer Patrick Duffy wrote over 500,000 lines of script code, and generated more than 25,000 image files to create all of the graphical interfaces, computer screens, and displays throughout Doom 3.
Other important features of ''Doom 3'' engine are normal mapping and specular highlighting of textures, realistic handling of object physics, dynamic, ambient soundtrack, and multi-channel sound. ''Doom 3'' on Xbox supports 480p video display resolution and Dolby 5.1 surround sound.

References

1. ''Doom 3'' for PC
2. Doom 3 for PC Review
3. DOOM 3 Review
4. DOOM 3 Review
5. Review - Doom III: Single-Player
6. Game Reviewer Information for PC Gamer
7. DOOM 3 PC Review Index
8. Macworld: Review: Doom 3
9. IGN: DOOM 3 Review
10. http://www.dailygame.net/news/archives/004787.php
11. "The Vault: System Shock 2". ''PC PowerPlay'' (January 2006), p.108.
12. 6/1/00 .plan document for Doom 3
13. Smith, Rob. "Doom 3: Hell comes to Xbox." ''Official Xbox Magazine'' Holiday 2004: 32
14. MacWorld Tokyo: iMac, GeForce3, price cuts
15. Doom III leak sparks witch hunt for mole
16. Creative Labs Patent & DOOM 3
17. [ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/doom3/ ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/doom3/] ''ftp.idsoftware.com'' Retrieved on 04-13-07
18. [2] ''Terminal DOOM at Battleteam.Net'' Retrieved on 07-05-30

External links

★ Official ''Doom 3'' website

★

★ Doom 3 World Doom 3 technology knowledge database

★ Doom Wiki

★

★ PlanetDOOM

★ doom3.ca
; Mods

★ Doom 3 Mods

★ idDevNet Official MOD support website for the Doom 3 engine

★ modwiki.net — Doom 3 engine reference material

★ ''Doom 3'' Cooperative Modification "OpenCoop" — Specifically adds full Co-op functionality to the Single-player experience

★ ''Doom 3'' Cooperative Modification "Last Man Standing Coop" — Co-op support and scenarios for the PC Version

★ DungeonDoom — Roguelike single player total Conversion

★ Into Cerberon: Descent into Doom 3 — Descent gameplay in Doom 3

★ Monkeys of Doom — Celshading Mod