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Todd Hollenshead of id Software talks out on Doom III

A few more tantalising words on you know what...

With a notable silence of late surrounding the progress of id’s seminal Doom III, we thought it best to query head-honcho Todd Hollenshead, to extract the latest on the biggest first-person shooter of next year.

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Ferrago: Is it a challenge returning to a primarily single-player game, aftermultiplayer became the focus in your most recent projects?

TH: Actually, the designers have really enjoyed it. It's always nice to do something fresh from a creative standpoint.

Ferrago: What are aims with Doom III with regard to the first-person genre as awhole?

TH: Quite simply, we want Doom III to be the scariest game ever.

Ferrago: From what we've seen of Doom III so far, it looks like it's going to have adecidedly chilling ambience. What devices of graphics, sound and storylineare you using to create this experience?

TH: The technology is an entirely new paradigm, which is why it stands alone among games with it's visual quality. Dynamic lighting, bump-mapping, real-time 5.1 sound mixing, and realistic physics are what drive the technology. We've hired a professional science fiction novelist to help us with the story. And we've taken a cue from the film industry and story-boarded out the entire game.

Ferrago: Can you reveal any of the game's plot to us? Will it evolve via cut-scenesor in-game sequences?

TH: I won't go into in detail at this time, but people should think of it as a re-telling of the original Doom. Scripted sequences will be used at certain points (as people who saw the E3 presentation realized with the now famous bathroom scene), and the gameplay itself will be story driven.

Ferrago: Will the Doom III experience be a linear one, or more open-ended and free?

TH: There is a set story that drives the game, but choices are open to the player which will be critical to playing the game.

Ferrago: Tell us a little about the detail of the environments (and the power of thetechnology as a whole) possible thanks to the new game engine, also, whatkind of locales will we be exploring?

TH: The environments are really hyper-realistic. The designers are now only limited by their imagination in terms of what they can build within the game. The game is set on Mars itself, and players will see what the UAC looks like before and after the invasion by Hell. Plus we'll have more surprises in store.

Ferrago: What provision are you making for multiplayer in the game?

TH: The focus is on a terrifying single-player experience. The multiplayer will be a simple, but fun, deathmatch-style game.

Ferrago: Any word on the weapons we’ll be using, and what vile beasties we'll be usingthem against?

TH: The E3 presentation shows a pistol, shotgun, and machine gun with Zombies, Commandos, Imps and the Hell Knight. We're still working on the rest and I don't want to talk about anything until we're ready to show it.

Ferrago: How large will the game, and it's individual maps be?

TH: Number of maps is no longer a relevant question because the number of maps will depend upon how we have to break apart the game to fit into the RAM that we will specify for the minimum system. If everyone had limitless RAM, we would just make the game a single level. The size of the game itself is basically what we need to build to tell the story.

Ferrago: Finally, any word on the games possible release date?

TH: We hope to be able to have the game done sometime next year.

Ferrago: Thanks for your time, Todd, best of luck with the continued development.

1. Another load of garbage from ID i dont no why people bother interviewing ID. Any news on weapons.... cant tell u that right now... any idea or release date... cant tell ya whens its released sometime next year.... what type of new monsters ... cant say ect ect, interviewer may as well said are you gonna tell me anything then? Todd Hollenshead could of said "no" and then no ones time would have been wasted.

   Dan Sunday, 11 August 2002, 09:45:12

2. Aw, c'mon Dan - be nice to id for bringing you the FPS genre. Without them we'd probably still be playing Oregan Trail.

   Boolean Sunday, 11 August 2002, 11:48:12

3. Doom seems to be a totaly new way of playing fps games...

   SAYURi Sunday, 11 August 2002, 13:28:41

4. Compared to Ion Storm's PR department, this interview with id is huge. Ion Storm is just clueless when it comes to reaching out to the fan community and telling people what's going on with Thief3 and Deus Ex2.

   p.s. DoomIII will be teh rule.

   You think that's bad? Sunday, 11 August 2002, 14:06:42

5. Duh there are reasons we don't tell you things. What fun would it be without suprises?

   Ajax Sunday, 11 August 2002, 15:14:13

6. i dunno why people think that DIII will be tha game...

   If i see the screens it is worser than UT2003 and just almost the same like quakeIII.

   but people who love this game hf with it...

   scottie Sunday, 11 August 2002, 15:17:38

7. Really? Because when I see screenshots from UT2003 it looks just as good as the SoF2 colombian levels. And DooM III will be the game because quite simply, it is DOOM. And DooM is my god. Repent sinner, and you shall yet be forgiven!

   Vern Sunday, 11 August 2002, 15:45:36

8. Yeaahh!!! DoomIII will rule, at least for a while till new games with

   even more advanced effects comes along... Reason why is that

   graphics will be astonishing compared to other games!!!

   Jaguar Sunday, 11 August 2002, 16:47:36

9. The one question/fear that I would love to have answered is in doom3 would all the monsters come from the same point? I can understand this happening for a "boss". but for other in game monsters I personally think it would be great if every time I played thou the game the monsters came from different area's, as there's nothing that quite takes the gleam off playing a single player based game as much as after running past the same point in the game once or twice knowing that the enemy will pop out from behind a corner every time u go past it,

   Be scary as hell if the first time u walked past the "trigger" the enemy popped out, so the second time u think to you ok I’ll be ready for him this time...

   1...

   2...

   3....

   "what?" he aint there???

   Then the enemy attacks from a totally different area...

   Well just my 2c...

   losteh Sunday, 11 August 2002, 17:02:47

10. Agreed, boolean, and plus, they don't want to ruin the experience for us by giving anything away. They're probably under orders from the producer to keep quiet, and the media don't seem to catch on that there's no news, and so keeps reporting the same things over and over again.

    Meh.

    Tonail of Steel Sunday, 11 August 2002, 19:13:13

11. Amen bruvva

    Jason Sunday, 11 August 2002, 19:29:2

12. I kinda like Oregan Trail...but i like DooM better.

    Chenko Sunday, 11 August 2002, 21:03:17

13. (EAX2/3 is a total ripoff of the A3D, some would say even less advanced. A3D didn't fail they were killed.)

    FYI, EPIC is using OpenAL, get with the times boys, it's the way to do things now! Support OpenAL like you would support OpenGL. BTW, OpenAL supports EAX2 at least, and a couple of other things, but it is very young and still evolving.

    Nevyn Monday, 12 August 2002, 00:02:32

14. Dan, by the way, its not "ID" its "id" - "id" is a word not a bloody acronym!

    Fear Monday, 12 August 2002, 00:47:27

16. the characters look like plastic toys

    Namae wa Monday, 12 August 2002, 05:50:11

17. anyone remember duke nukem forever, cant see doom iii coming out until 2004 min

    nh3com Monday, 12 August 2002, 06:17:29

18. I just hope id get their sequel weapons right. DooM II's addition of a double barrelled shotgun was just sad.

    Perhaps they're not telling us anything about the weapons because they're not sure if we'll like the double barrelled chaingun...

    B Monday, 12 August 2002, 07:11:58

19. Most of the game developers these days don't want to divulge to much about the games they have in development. I agree it is a bit frustrating for us gamers who eagerly await the release of said games, but I understand why they are so secretive. They don't want to give too much away before the game's release. They have lots of money invested in these productions now. Anyone who thinks this version of DOOM looks like UT2k3, or any other game, must be high on something.....

    Wakt_ONE Monday, 12 August 2002, 08:33:32

20. i want to know waht spec you need to play this game, if it its to high then what the point of makin it if most people can't efford to get a new comp! i want this game. is it going to be released on the xbox? if so when

    virus Monday, 12 August 2002, 09:26:55

21. Carmak is a god, UT2k3 is just catching up to quakeiii, all you fools betta recognize! DooMIII will eat you for breakfast!

    mj Monday, 12 August 2002, 09:38:38

22. Well said. But you spelled your god wrong--it's "Carmack" ;-)

    Halo Monday, 12 August 2002, 13:05:26

23. opps... I will say a 100 "Hail Carmack's"

    mj Monday, 12 August 2002, 15:39:16

24. son of a...

    TIM Monday, 12 August 2002, 16:31:14

25. that's a simple idea, but so clever. This would make a game scary and increase its lifetime.

    poi Monday, 12 August 2002, 19:48:9

26. well ,i really cant wait to see it !!

    get on with it pls :))all theese screens are makin me bloodthirsty !!

    respects

    Movarr Monday, 12 August 2002, 20:14:1

27. I don't know what's worse, seeing people kiss Carmack's ass, or seeing how id doesn't care about gamers feedback. They give us very little info about upcoming games, and their web site is just awful. Dan's right, there is no reason to bother interviewing id folks. If the game is good, I'll play it. If not, who really cares.

    hazindu Tuesday, 13 August 2002, 02:12:33

28. dude... don't even TRY to compare id to those guys... how many successful sequels has id made? how many times have they released new, innovative technology? look at the track record and you know what to expect. d3 will be release either late 2003 or early 2004. i'm hoping for 2003 but realistically who knows.

    Some people argue that their games suck or that their story lines aren't that good (which i totally disagree with, btw)... but one thing they've NEVER let us down on is actually RELEASING product.

    rogue Tuesday, 13 August 2002, 21:39:23

29. I considered posting about the psychoanalytical description of the id as well... but then I realized that would make me an internet geek.

    And it was pronounced the phonetic equivalent of "eye-dee" back in the day, and at e3, the team at the booth was speaking of "eye dee".

    I thank you, internet geek.

    Exmortis Wednesday, 14 August 2002, 04:33:11

30. I considered posting about the psychoanalytical description of the id as well... but then I realized that would make me an internet geek.

    And it was pronounced the phonetic equivalent of "eye-dee" back in the day, and at e3, the team at the booth was speaking of "eye dee".

    I thank you, internet geek.

    Predictable. Wrong. And there's nothing bad about being a geek.

    There's a darn good reason why I know about this particular subject but I get the impression that doesn't count for much here.

    DOOM3 - back on topic - looks awesome. Nice work guys.

    W Wednesday, 14 August 2002, 16:11:17

32. Dan's right, there is no reason to bother interviewing id folks

    About 55,000 people have read this story since it was published. Do they all not care?

    They don't give out much info in order to build up speculation and hype.

    Jason Thursday, 15 August 2002, 11:24:35

33. Any thoughts as to Doom III driving an entirely new upgrade cycle for PC users everywhere? Would this game force everyone to buy a new box with the latest graphics cards? Id could save the global economy with this release! You go John Carmack!

    J-Man Thursday, 15 August 2002, 13:48:42

34. Actually, id games are always best in the FPS genre. Without DOOM and Wolf3D(who remember, he know) FPS might be a suxx. If Carmack said, what that game will be a really revolution, it will be. Ecxuse me, coz I am Russian man from Latvia,and I don`t know English so good, but i will say this: Mr. Hollenshead and Co is trying to do surprise. Grafics will be revolutionary, like Quake 3 technology. Even without multiplayer, single will be really cool! Hail id forever! hail Carmack FOREVER!

    Jake Crusher Saturday, 17 August 2002, 10:03:28

35. i love the net, but its so full of c**p, please can someone tell me once and for all if this 'darkseed' of a game is coming to x box. I need something official... please.

    feverkane Thursday, 22 August 2002, 13:24:21

36. The interview really didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know.

    Luke please be more aggressive when interviewing these people, you've got to break them mentally and bully them!

    He's just telling you what he wants to say not what you want hear.

    Mark Thursday, 22 August 2002, 18:40:35

37. The only way they could possibly ruin it now from a multiplayer standpoint is maintaining that "death-match sport " style gameplay seen in every FPS since Doom's original inception. I mean all that ambience and hyper-realistic physics would be utterly ruined IMO by seeing two badass UAC soldiers circle-strafing like fairies emptying fiftly million bullets into one another.

    It would complement the atmosphere perfectly if they added the same level of detail to multiplayer games as well. I personnaly don't see why they shouldn't

    Flapjack Wednesday, 25 September 2002, 23:18:44

38. I'm already wetting my pants! These meager screen shots bring back memories of 4am deathmatches in my dorm room, and playing doom 2 untill I was afraid of the dark again. Thankyou id, for starting this project... please hurry <*twitch*>

    Nick Thursday, 14 November 2002, 21:59:36

39. Um, you sure you were looking at Doom 3 not Doom 2? LOL Get some new glasses otherwise.

    StreetHawk Monday, 1 September 2003, 04:27:27

40. nice screen shots

    bryan Tuesday, 28 January 2003, 21:05:4

41. i know u wouldnt notice but it would be tite if u oculd do some sort of random skin grafic. i was looking at one of the screens with the 2 bloated guys and they both have the smae claw marks

    i know i would never notice i wuld shoot them so fats i would never noticei t but i think it would be cool to have dandom mobie textures

    bryan Tuesday, 28 January 2003, 21:09:22

42. Will there be a Quake 4?

    xxx Saturday, 15 February 2003, 17:25:11

43. hasn't anyone here actually PLAYED the alpha?? I got it pretty soon after it appeared on a few sites and trust me it ROCKS! The static screens really don't show the game off at all. The movement of the enemies, the bump mapping, lightin etc is WAY better than UT2003, and i love UT. Believe me this is gonna scare the crap outta you ppl.

    bub Monday, 17 February 2003, 07:05:22

44. /bYou all sound likea bunch of Newbies, Youre all transitional from CS. Quake, and Unreal It seems... Go down load Legacy and get D95 or D2 wads and play, it's a Halfelife engine, but plays the Original Doom.wads, which none of you probably know the Orginal was made in 93... I want to see some more HARDCORE Doomers, Ive been waiting for D3 Ever since I can remember, now its coming, finally, the GAPING MAW left in the gaming world will be filled to the brim and oozing with ID's Newest creation to take over the Gaming Industy once again in a new and entirely revolutionary way... There never was a first person shooter until ID sprouted out of the pits of hell like a viper lapping your Ankles. Pinkies Rule! (The Pink Demons, mind you)

    UAC contains you, Flynn Taggart Exects awesome power, Calimaw will Own you all...

    Calimaw Wednesday, 3 September 2003, 01:46:22

45. its the best game ever seen doom ai gone buy this game his website is.www.doomworld.com

    dirar Monday, 26 May 2003, 12:35:54

46. I think Doom 3 gonna be great, if they say it beta tha the first few doom episodes then its got to be good !

    Ollie (www.freewebs.com/ollies) Sunday, 8 June 2003, 16:13:10

48. i wonder... it will run on cpu like this: 2ghz,256RAM,ge force 3 128mb? :-( i think it wont work properly...

    MuciukaS Sunday, 3 August 2003, 13:33:41

49. To be quite honest Doom 3 and the ID piss me off. This could of been a good game. If you could see anything!!! Any game that relys on basing its challenge level on deprivation of light is either lacking any true challenge or hiding the fact that the company failed to develop any new graphic design or technology that could live up to their press releases and marketing ads. They claimed they were shooting for the scariest game....Its scary alright....Scary that anybody would pay 50+ dollars to see glowing lights

    because thats about all you see. I give this game a 2 out of ten... I sorry I wasted my money on it. To anybody wanting to try this game dont waste your money. Just take any fps game you got now and boot it up then turn your screen off and try to play it. Its as much fun as Doom 3. Its a pisser.

    Jon Ewen Sunday, 8 August 2004, 09:45:41

50. Mhhh interesting but dont understand why we interview him for no answers.....

    i rather go to sleep instead of listinning to him

    DOOM4 Monday, 24 October 2005, 16:33:59

51. doom 3 is the best game ever we have played it lots of times and it still makes me jump

    hope there will be a doom 4

    jake Wednesday, 23 May 2007, 14:33:1