DOOM - dperry analysis

Written: December 2, 2025 at 12:39 AM
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INTRO

From turning on, to playing, including ease of navigation of options, how was the introduction or story? Do you feel like they got you in the mood, before giving you control?

  • What impressed you?

    • The shareware model and ending tease for the full game: "all right so this is the most incredible shareware thing ever like that experience in itself is great and that whole first thing was released for free hey if you guys want the full game why don't you buy the full game but that my friends is insane" (58:32).
    • The immediate dive into action and historical context: "this game was such a leap in technology like the immersion and smoothness of this game play is just so so much greater than anything else that was out at the time so this came out the end of 1993 so 19 94 was the year of of Doom people were playing it in their um college dorms and game Studio offices and anything where you could find a network like multiplayer was happening" (9:04).

  • What would you change?

    • (missing information here)

  • How could it be better?

    • (missing information here)

GETTING GOING

How easy was it to get going once in the gameplay? Was there a steep learning curve, was it intuitive, did you know where to go, what your goals are? How did they get the point across? What feedback systems did they employ that worked?

  • What impressed you?

    • Simplicity and intuitiveness: "as I'm playing this there's just a Simplicity and intuitiveness to these to the theme to the controls stuff it's already proven its test of time for what 30 years now now so what's a th000 in comparison to 30 right" (47:09).
    • Key-lock progression and hub design: "level design symmetry here kind of a hub Hub room right so we come in here we got this Hub room it's very iconic no idea that goes but over there's a blue key door so that's funneling us this way" (10:47); "gotcha right Blue Door a lot of this is just kind of panic running so I don't get shot" (52:04).
    • Feedback through enemy infighting and knockback: "the enemies have some infighting um which is done based on um hierarchy and so um like an imp will attack like a a normal zombie but um normal zombie guys won't attack normal zombie guys um um unless they're attacked" (4:30); "because these bullets come out so fast um it's really helpful to um to spray large rooms with this gun when you're doing dealing with mobol control cuz they uh they all get these little like knockback effects" (13:16).

  • What would you change?

    • Initial control bindings: "see input mouse and keyboard binding next toggle Auto map chat back where's space use there we go e set that to e um left shift yep that makes sense" (2:27).
    • Lack of clear switch effects: "it's often not clear oh that must be the door that I just opened what the effects of flipping some switches does" (53:01).

  • How could it be better?

    • More explicit goal direction in backtracking: "another interesting design thing about shooter games in particular is that the more you kill enemies the less fun the game gets and so this whole backtracking I see the Carnage that I created but it's now it's just like slow paced dungeon um which is different than you know when I first get into the room" (15:10).

FUN

Are you entertained, are you having fun, did you laugh, did you feel excited, did you sweat, did you make noises, did you stress? How did they get you there? What would have added to the fun?

  • What impressed you?

    • High excitement and stress from speed and traps: "this game is Just Stupid Fast" (3:26); "woo when you're about to die this game is very different the level of caution is very different" (23:13); "this is the kind of thing that make a man go insane years and years of this the Doom Slayer" (41:43).
    • Satisfaction from combat and progression: "woo" (3:55); "woo" (46:15); "the most satisfying ending ever" (57:28); "yay my chain gun" (54:53).
    • Entertainment from infighting and barrels: "let's get those imps to shoot each other yeah sorts of people coming out of the woodwork" (17:14); "I typically don't think of barrels as tools though I probably should" (5:30).

  • What would you change?

    • Technical lag and crashes interrupting flow: "my computer still continues to have that weird like lag that goes on hway" (19:27); "oh my lag come on this is brutal I'm still going to die because of this here for that to calm down" (21:38); "error bummer that happened" (39:23); "just got another crash bummer" (1:17:08); "did you seriously crash again oh my gosh this is brutal brutal" (1:23:21).

  • How could it be better?

    • Less instability to maintain momentum: "this lag is brutal this has not been my favorite experience playing a game just on a technical stability level" (1:36:02); "in light of the technical difficulties I think I'm going to call it quits today uh I've definitely played Doom enough" (1:37:13).

VISUALS

Is there anything clever going on with the visuals (beyond just looking cool), do they seem to have any tricks (like it looks like there are 500 soldiers coming, but you just fight the local ones)? What visual tricks are actually adding to the emotions you are feeling (like Fog to make you strain your view)?

  • What impressed you?

    • Optimization and speed: "the speed and optimization of these Graphics is just freaking off the charts um for the video that I make uh I want to make sure that I put in context like what other kinds of games were out at the time and there's definitely some John carac god tier level of Graphics optimization and stuff" (9:52).
    • Lighting and traps for intensity: "I can see why they played a lot with light in Doom 3 to make it so intense as intense as they did" (30:45); "seeing one of those specters not easy to see uh they can definitely be surprising" (29:16); "that trap was very well set I remember" (27:14).
    • Architecture and symmetry: "the architecture is so great like Unholy power something some" (1:08:44); "level design symmetry here kind of a hub Hub room right so we come in here we got this Hub room it's very iconic" (10:47).

  • What would you change?

    • No flashlight: "no flashlight mod in this game though" (14:40).
    • Z-fighting glitches: "some Z fighting right there that's interesting" (36:42).

  • How could it be better?

    • (missing information here)

INTELLIGENCE

Do you feel the game is playing against you well? Why? How? What's going on? Are the enemies or opponents really aware of you? Do they seem to have any personality? Are they dumb video game characters? What would you change?

  • What impressed you?

    • Predictable yet strategic enemies: "as far as enemy design goes I think uh they're really well done and every single enemy has an iconic thing they do they have very predictable strategies and so it allows you to not think about like oh what's the enemy going to do it's more like how do I how do I just navigate the environment knowing that they're going to act in a particular way" (35:46).
    • Infighting hierarchy: "the enemies have some infighting um which is done based on um hierarchy and so um like an imp will attack like a a normal zombie but um normal zombie guys won't attack normal zombie guys um um unless they're attacked so you kind of want to if when you get to the later levels" (4:30).
    • Trap-based awareness: "this game is very trap based which They Carried that design over to um Doom 3 and it worked to varying success" (14:17); "so many of the uh the level and enemy design is like walk past a trigger open up a trap behind behind you something like that just devious little little things" (37:23).

  • What would you change?

    • (missing information here)

  • How could it be better?

    • (missing information here)

IMMERSION

Do you feel like you are immersed in the experience? Did 60 minutes just fly by? Why? How? What stopped that feeling of immersion? How could they have kept you there and 100% focused? Did you feel freedom? Did you feel able to play on your terms? Was the game responding to you, or were you responding to it?

  • What impressed you?

    • Time flying by and historical immersion: "it took me an hour there's your hourong tutorial oh" (59:03); "this game was such a leap in technology like the immersion and smoothness of this game play is just so so much greater than anything else that was out at the time" (9:04).
    • Freedom in movement and strategy: "kind of just need to never stop moving" (11:19); "you kind of want to ... get the enemies to fight each other and you're running and strafing around them" (5:02); "it's like a brain teaser with the most like good versus evil shoot it with a projectile mechanics you can think of no more depth than that no more depth than that needed" (48:17).
    • Responsive environment: "it's interesting seeing doors like this open they open on on trigger events later so that when you come back through there's now enemies in here and they they were hidden away in some closet or something so it's kind of a way to combat what I was talking about earlier with the um in a first person shooter game how it's less fun the more you play because you're getting rid of the main conflict" (51:03).

  • What would you change?

    • Lag and crashes breaking focus: "stinkers stop with the lag" (25:02); "I'm not a fan of this periodic lag that my computer does pretty sure it's just like bloat wear taking up Cycles" (35:01); "whatever memory leak or whatever is going on there is just rough" (1:37:04).
    • Backtracking slowness: "this whole backtracking I see the Carnage that I created but it's now it's just like slow paced dungeon um which is different than you know when I first get into the room so I can expect a new room I'm going to just like slam on people but then if you get lost or confused or turned around or something then you just kind of have this slow paced version of the game that you have to navigate later" (15:10).

  • How could it be better?

    • Stable performance: "this has not been my favorite experience playing a game just on a technical stability level" (1:36:02); "uh honestly let's well let's play a little bit longer play some Doom too well no let's keep playing Doom let's get some Inferno and just get a broad idea of what these later levels are like the ones that I've never really played before" (1:31:20).

CAMERAS

What camera problems do you see? How would you have avoided them? What's good about their system? What don't they realize is kinda bugging you as you play?

  • What impressed you?

    • Fixed view enhancing Doom feel: "it's important to me that you can't look up and down uh that's what makes doom doom" (1:30).

  • What would you change?

    • Inability to look up/down in certain spots: "I was shooting directly down because you can't look up and down in this game um man you know what so much of this game" (8:40); "that verticality is a little awkward" (1:26:08).

  • How could it be better?

    • (missing information here)

CONTROLS

Is it frustrating to control? What would you change? What have they done that has worked well? Is it genre specific, what other games could learn from this? Did you feel 100% of any mistake was your fault and not the fault of the controls? How is the in-game interface?

  • What impressed you?

    • Modern WASD and mouse smoothness: "it's actually like this game controls so well with uh modern wasd controls and a mouse and strafing it's hard to imagine playing it the way that I had originally played it with you know the arrow keys and holding down a modifier to strafe stuff like that and not using a mouse at all because not all computers had mice back then" (16:09).
    • Intuitive strafing and speed: "running and strafing around them" (5:15); "a lot of this is just kind of panic running so I don't get shot" (52:04).

  • What would you change?

    • Weapon swap delay: "there is a lag between or not a lag um a delay between when you pick up weapons or when you swap weapons" (1:18:15).
    • Original input limitations: "holding down a modifier to strafe stuff like that and not using a mouse at all" (16:22).

  • How could it be better?

    • (missing information here)

IDEAS

What cool ideas were in this game, like hooks, or things you don't see in other games? What's fresh and why? Could you customize the game in any way that you cared about?

  • What impressed you?

    • Infighting and hierarchy: "the enemies have some infighting um which is done based on um hierarchy" (4:30).
    • Traps and dynamic doors: "this game is very trap based" (14:17); "doors like this open they open on on trigger events later so that when you come back through there's now enemies in here" (51:03).
    • Shareware model: "this is the most incredible shareware thing ever like that experience in itself is great and that whole first thing was released for free" (58:32).
    • Zelda-like dungeon parallels: "I find there to be a lot of parallels between how these levels are designed and Zelda dungeons there are two very different genres" (5:48); "it would be really interesting to to do a comparison between dungeon structures from a Zelda game versus in Doom where the whole point is that you're wandering around through these corridors and you have key locks key lock design" (6:37).
    • Modding history: "I modded this game a ton when I was a kid" (13:00).

  • What would you change?

    • (missing information here)

  • How could it be better?

    • (missing information here)

MEMORY

After turning the game off, how are you left feeling? Do you want to play more? If you only had 50 words to tell someone the high-point of the game what is it?

  • What impressed you?

    • Formative and timeless appeal: "this game is incredibly formative for me" (12:01); "I basically grew up playing three games um when I was old enough to you know like care about video games and stuff I grew up playing doom and um Ocarina of Time and Final Fantasy 7" (12:20); "I wonder if Doom might also be in that category" (46:43, re: games lasting a thousand years).
    • Desire to continue: "let's keep playing Doom let's get some Inferno and just get a broad idea of what these later levels are like the ones that I've never really played before" (1:31:20).
    • High-point summary: "there's just so much in context the the year that it came out what it did for the gaming industry um how simple the the controls are the the really good enemy makeup and their kind of chess piece strategy um and how I that that goes into the Clockwork game design concept pretty well strategy games so there are number of things about this game that uh I think are just going to be really easy it's very obvious why this one was on the on the main list" (1:37:26) (47 words).

  • What would you change?

    • Port stability: "just be bummed that this this particular Port official Port is as unstable as it is" (1:37:52).

  • How could it be better?

    • (missing information here)

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