Learning the history of video games: How one student used quarantine to rebuild a 25-year old game

by: J'Von Cooper

​Ever since the technological break in the late 80’s and early 90’s, many have turned to the virtual world in order to escape the stresses of the real one. Some binge watch their Netflix backlog, some finally start their New Year’s resolution four months into the year and start getting in shape.

And some research the minutiae of an over twenty-five year old game engine in order to create their very own game, just for kicks.

...Just me?

In all seriousness, I wanted to learn what it takes to create an enjoyable virtual experience. It’s one thing to play your backlog of seldom played classics, impulse bought titles, and viral mobile games, but I wanted to do something more productive than that. 

Doom (Or doom, or DooM, or DOOM, can’t quite tell) has been a game near and dear to my heart ever since I started high school. If it wasn’t for it’s fast, kinetic gameplay, or it’s welcoming community of talented content creators, it’s the many available tools one can use to create their own content. 

And I did create my own content three years ago, and it was bad. 

So, with a pandemic that’s projected to take months to pass, I decided to go at it one more time. This time, with a plan. 

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One of my original DOOM map designs.

Floor plans, for one, but also in what I want out of these levels. When playing a game like Candy Crush Saga, while simple from the outset, every level is handmade to increasingly challenge the player.

and perhaps make you buy a few extra lives in the process. 

My point being I’m going into this project expecting to spend hours on the level layouts alone. If not a day or two on how the player will traverse and navigate it.
By the end of this project, I want something that I can share with my peers and be proud to share. If for nothing else, I was to prove to myself that I’ve grown as a game designer. 

Pride’s not something I tend to gamble with, but I’ve sat myself at the Poker table, and I’ve got chips to move. 

And, who knows, maybe I’ll make the right people proud and end up at Microsoft. A guy can dream. 

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