Doom 0.5

This is a sub-page of Proto:Doom (PC, 1993).

Compiled on May 22nd, 1993, more changes were made from the previous alpha, and it is now somewhat playable. It is notable for being the last prototype compiled while Tom Hall was still working for id Software and the last available prototype with the "Evil Unleashed" subtitle.

Changes from Doom 0.4#

• The menu now functions very similar to the final game.
• The tick rate has been reduced to 35hz, from the 70hz used in earlier builds.
• Windows are now present, but parallax skies aren't yet implemented so the view looks very barren.
• Actor collision detection is now implemented; you can bump into monsters, rather than phasing through them.
• Monsters can be killed with weapons — they just vanish even though their death frames are present in the WAD data — though the Bayonet and the Rocket Launcher have no effect.
• You can be hurt and killed by damaging floors such as sludge.
• You can pick up items.
• The status bar is still different from the final, but it actually partially works.
• The high color mode from the previous alphas is still present, but changes within the code cause the game to crash when trying to use it.
• A 320x400 high resolution mode is added. This is very unfinished, however, with many lookup tables in the code still assuming a vertical resolution of 200 pixels, and as such the game will frequently crash when using it.
• The intermission screen is now implemented, although it is very incomplete.
• The Automap has returned!
• A debug Sprite Viewer has been implemented.
• The palette has been slightly lightened and now matches the final game's palette. The extra colors have not been added yet.
• The red/yellow palette flashes have been added, though the stronger red flashes do not match the final's. The radiation suit's green tint, one of the red flashes, and the strongest yellow flash do not exist yet.
• As with every alpha so far, there is no sound... at all. DMX has been linked into the executable, but this early version of DMX is reliant on external driver programs that aren't provided, so it doesn't work.

Controls#

Arrow keys; Numpad (2, 4, 6, and 8 keys) - Move
Control/Pause - Shoot
Right Shift - Run
1 - Use bayonet
2 - Use rifle
3 - Use shotgun
Alt - Use; Open doors
[ and ] keys - Decrease/Increase Resolution

Q - High Quality
W - Medium Quality
E - Low Quality
A - Use Automap
Pressing any key other than 'A' while on the automap - Stop Using Automap
M - Drop to ground perspective

Debug Keys#

A small amount of debug keys are present in the game.

~ and S - Take a screenshot in LBM format. The game menu must be visible for this to work.
~ and T - Causes the player to turn in order to measure the rendering frame rate. Due to the code not being updated to account for the smaller tick rate, the displayed FPS (labeled "ips") will be twice as high as it actually is.
L and ~ (In order) - Also takes a screenshot in LBM format, without the need to open the menu.
P and ~ (In order) - Takes a screenshot in PCX format.
S and ~ (In order) - Opens a sprite viewer. Right and left will increase and decrease respectively the frame for the current sprite, while up and down will change which sprite is being viewed. Esc will leave the sprite viewer.
D and ~ (In order) - Restarts the current level as if the player died.
C and ~ (In order) - Exits the current level as if the player used the exit switch.

Menu#

Alpha 0.4	Alpha 0.5	Final

The simple menu from the last two builds has been replaced with a menu that functions almost identically to the final game's menu.

Alpha 0.5	Final

Load Game and Save Game are both under options, and neither are selectable in this build. Sound Volume is non-functional, as there is no sound.
The Display menu was removed in the final game, with Screen Size and Graphic Detail just being on the Options page. The still non-functional Hi-Color mode and a Hi-Res mode which also crashes the game immediately are both available in this menu as well.

Alpha 0.5	Final

Difficulty selection is also in. The "I'm too young to die" skill is named "I just want to kill".
In the final game's WAD file, the graphic for the easiest difficulty's name is still called "M_JKILL".

HUD#

Alpha 0.4	Alpha 0.5	Final

The HUD from the last build has been expanded significantly, now with functioning health, ammo, weapon and key readouts.

Alpha 0.3	Alpha 0.5	Final

The reduced view mode from Alpha 0.3 returns, now bordering the game window in a texture like the final game, though the choice of texture is different.

Alpha 0.5	Final

The Automap also returns after being absent in the last build, now bound to a key like the final game rather than being an active HUD element.

Weapons#

You start with the bayonet and the rifle, and you can collect the shotgun and missile launcher from some levels. The machine gun, the chainsaw, the dark claw, and the BFG 2704 are implemented, but they can only be obtained by modifying the levels or game memory. Most of them, with the exception of the machine gun, reuse the shotgun view sprites in-game.

Bayonet

Alpha 0.5	Final

The bayonet is visually identical to the previous prototype. It still replaces the fists as your only melee weapon.

Chainsaw

Alpha 0.5	Final

Alpha 0.5	Final

Alpha 0.3	Alpha 0.5/Final

The chainsaw is graphically in the same state as in the last prototype, with its final pickup sprite and near-final view sprites, just missing some of the animation polish. Picking up the chainsaw in-game in this build uses the shotgun graphics.

Rifle

Alpha 0.4	Alpha 0.5	Final

The rifle has a new sprite in this version. It still replaces the pistol as your starting firearm.

Machine Gun

Alpha 0.4	Alpha 0.5	Final

Alpha 0.4	Alpha 0.5	Final

The Machine Gun also has a new view sprite, but still looks completely different. The pickup sprite has tweaked shading around the grip and action, but is largely the same. The weapon is implemented, and a pickup form is present, but it is not placed in any of the levels. The view sprite in-game is offset improperly, making it appear in the upper left corner. It fires at the same pace as the rifle, showing a muzzle flash in the center of the screen.

Shotgun

Alpha 0.5	Final

Alpha 0.3	Alpha 0.5	Final

The shotgun's view and pickup sprites remain the same as in the last build.

Missile Launcher

Prototype	Final

Alpha 0.4	Alpha 0.5	Final

The Missile Launcher's pickup sprite is now completed, but it still hasn't been redesigned into the final launcher. It also has a view sprite, which looks like a missile projecting outwards from the left of the screen, likely a temporary sprite. You can obtain it, but it just uses the shotgun's graphics in-game and it does not fit the HUD properly.

The rocket itself, while unused in this alpha, was also updated for the final game, giving it a longer thruster flame and making the front and back sprites completely straight.

Dark Claw
Its sprite is missing here, so it can't be obtained, but the weapon is implemented. It uses an ammo type internally known as "souls", which does have a pickup available in the form of the soul jar. As mentioned above the weapon simply recycles the shotgun sprites.

BFG 2704
Also functional, but without pickup forms and with shotgun sprites. Can only be obtained by editing the game's memory.

Items#

Stimpack

Alpha 0.4	Alpha 0.5	Final

The syringe is gone, and the stimpack uses the Wolfenstein 3D medkit sprite in 0.5; as a placeholder. When collected, it restores 2/3rds of your health.

Medkit

Alpha 0.4	Alpha 0.5	Final

The medkit is now a rectangle like the final game, but with a much more basic design. When collected, it fills your health to max.

Clip

Alpha 0.4	Alpha 0.5	Final

The clip graphic has been redrawn again, and this time is very similar to the final version, but with a bit of a slanted perspective to it. It gives 8 bullets in this game, compared to the final game's 10. You can carry 199 bullets in this alpha.

Multi-Clip

Alpha 0.5	Final

The large bullet pickup is still the three clip graphic from alpha 0.4. When picked up it gives 25 bullets, the final game would double this to 50.

Shells

Alpha 0.5	Spear of Destiny	Final

The graphic remains the same as the previous alpha, being an edited version of the ammo box sprite originally from Spear of Destiny. It gives 6 shells when picked up, the final game reduced this to 4. You can carry 99 shells in this alpha.

Lots of Shells

Alpha 0.5	Final

Also graphically unchanged, and it now gives 20 shells when picked up, the same as the final game.

Box of Rockets

Alpha 0.5	Final

Graphically unchanged from the previous alpha, and both the small and large pickups still use the same box sprite. The small pickup gives 1 rocket, while the large pickup gives 4 rockets. The final game added an extra rocket, bringing the large pickup to 5. You can only carry a limited 9 missiles in this alpha.

Light Amplification Visor

Alpha 0.5	Final

The light amplification visor looks the same as in the previous build, which is very different from the final design.

Keys

The graphics are very preliminary at this point in development, only having a gloss and a color scheme. Weirdly, the internal names for the key's sprites in this alpha are "BKEYA0" (Bronze Key), "SKEYA0" (Silver Key), and "GKEYA0" (Gold Key). However, the keys are already red, yellow, and blue, like the final version. The keys can be collected and doors can check for them as in the final game. The silver and gold keys previously appeared in Wolfenstein 3D.

Megaarmor

Alpha 0.5	Final

The sprite is still the same as the previous alpha, but it can now be picked up and will max out your armor, which is still not visible on the HUD.

Cells

Alpha 0.4	Alpha 0.5/Final

The large cell pack graphic now utilizes the same sprite as the final version (a graphic also present in the previous alpha, but unused), although it is not available in-game, and there is still no small cell pack.

Soul Jar

The soul jar in this version, despite being mentioned as an extra life item in the Doom Bible, instead functions as an ammo pickup! It gives 8 souls for the Dark Claw, and you can carry up to a maximum of 66 souls.

Armor
The sprite for the standard armor is the same as the final sprite, minus the animation. Though functional, it cannot normally be collected as the player starts with as much armor as it would give, but this isn't visible since the armor bar graphic on the HUD is identical to the bar's background. Armor is not functional in this version and won't be reduced if the player is damaged.

Powerups

Powerups are present with their sprites from the previous alpha, and can be collected, but none have any visible effect.

Treasure

Treasure items can be picked up, and are supposed to grant 100, 500, 1000, and 10000 points (despite an unused pickup label specifying 5000) respectively. However, the function to give points doesn't actually give any points to the player, so they have no function.

Monsters#

Zombieman#

The Zombieman is introduced in this prototype, but does not appear in any of the default levels. His walk cycle is complete, though the attack sequence only consists of the aiming frame. The gibbing animation is also missing.

Alpha 0.5	Final

The first death frame was tweaked for the final game, adding more blood and viscera to the back of the Zombieman.

Imp#

The Imp's animation set is nearly finished, though the pain and gibbing animations are missing.

Of note is that the Imp's attack animation has the full eight rotations for each frame, whereas the final game only has five and mirrors the equivalent angles. These (and other full rotations) can also be found in development assets released by John Romero

Demon#

Alpha 0.5	Final

The Demon's walk cycle has yet to be updated from Doom 0.4, though they now use the same naming format as the final sprites.

The attack and pain frames are now present. Apart from having dimmer eyes and pearly white teeth, they are the same as the final sprites.

There is also a death animation, though it's completely different to the final's. In it, the Demon has bits blown off of it before it explodes in a low-quality fireball.

Baron of Hell#

Alpha 0.5	Final

The Baron of Hell now has attack, pain, and death animations, though the first two only have their front-facing frames. The darker horns/hooves and shading tweaks have yet to be done.

Alpha 0.5	Final

For the death animation, the Baron's legs were made darker and an additional blood spurt was added to his right shoulder. The last two frames of the Baron's death animation do not exist in Alpha 0.5.

Alpha 0.5/Final	Hell Knight

Interestingly, the Baron's second attack frame wasn't corrected for the final game. It appears that id tried to fix this frame at some point, though, as the Hell Knight's equivalent frame contains the aforementioned shading tweaks and darker horns and hooves. For whatever reason, these fixes were never actually applied to the Baron's.

(Amusingly, this fix did result in the Hell Knight having the Baron's hoof colors for a single frame.)

Cacodemon#

The Cacodemon makes its first appearance in this prototype and has a finalized sprite set, though none of the frames have rotation sprites apart from the first one.

Alpha 0.5	Final

The pouring blood in this death frame was cropped down as it would clip into the ground.

Lost Soul#

The early Lost Soul sprites are not present in Alpha 0.5.

Unused Text#

The game has a complete symbol table for debugging purposes, much of which isn't interesting, but it reveals a few details on considered features.

it_lightamp
it_caphand
item_t

Enum of prototype items, not used in the alpha, including a light amp powerup and the captain's hand mentioned in the Doom Bible.

am_misl
am_soul
am_cell
am_shell
am_clip
ammotype_t

Enum of the ammo types, revealing the name of the fifth "soul" ammo type.

sk_deadlybaby
sk_deadly
sk_hard
sk_normal
sk_easy
sk_baby
skill_t

Skill level enum, including a "deadly" skill and a "deadly" version of the easiest skill. The traits these skill levels would possess is unknown.

DMX_Init failed.
KICKBUTG
Can't load song!
DSP_Service: Channel:%d DSP=NULL!

Signs of early DMX integration, which is linked into the game. The game attempts to start up DMX, and if it succeeds, attempts to load a song named KICKBUTG, which appears to be a General MIDI version of the Duke Nukem II music track "Duke Kicks Ass." However, this always fails. This can be observed by running the game with the novideo command line parameter to avoid going into graphics mode.

E1M1
E1M2
E1M7
E1M3
E1M4
E1M5
E1M6
*E1M9
E1M8
S3E1M10
E1M11
E1M12
E1M13

The episode sequence. Of note, E1M7 would be reached as the third map, and there are typos in E1M9 and E1M10 which make it impossible to complete the episode as-is. Normally, it is impossible to get this far, due to maps missing exits or having bugs preventing reaching the exit, but this can be demonstrated by using the 1-9 keys at the menu to constantly warp to an exitable map, which doesn't reset the episode progression.

Maps#

To do: Finish this section...and possibly more.

The first 9 maps can be accessed directly, and at any time during gameplay, by pressing 1-9 in the pause menu. Further maps can be obtained by pressing + or - in the game's menu.

E1M1#

Watch on YouTubeThis map appears to be some sort of demonstration map.

E1M2#

Watch on YouTube

E1M3#

Watch on YouTube

E1M4#

Watch on YouTube

E1M5#

Watch on YouTube

E1M6#

Watch on YouTubeThis level by Tom Hall was never quite finished for Doom, but it was revived and updated for use as level 10 (Refueling Base) of Doom II: Hell on Earth.

E1M7#

Watch on YouTubeIt is identical to the final's E1M4 (Command Control), except there is no exit.

E1M8#

Watch on YouTube

E1M9#

Watch on YouTube

E1M10#

Watch on YouTube

E1M11#

Watch on YouTube

E1M12#

Watch on YouTubeThis eventually became Phobos Anomaly. It's only a rough layout at this point.

E1M13#

Watch on YouTube

E2M1#

This is an early version of Limbo, but many of the textures required to play it are missing. You can hack the level into the Doom 0.4 Alpha, though it is barely playable, as only a small section has been worked on at this point.