SERIES MASTER! PART 6- DOOMS WITH MISTER BIG T

Welcome to the sixth issue of Series Master!

Today we’ll be exploring the Dooms series, a rather old series of games made by the notorious Mister Big T. If you haven’t experienced any of his games, well… you don’t know RM.

I played all four of the Dooms games, and I must admit, I was deeply disturbed. It was that very disturbed feeling that kept me coming back for more, however. Being able to make someone emotionally invested on any real level in an RM game is quite a feet, and MBT’s been playing the shock value card longer and better than anyone I know of in the community. So hold onto your hats, this is gonna get bumpy.


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Sbester: Can you briefly explain the origins of the series? How did it evolve into a whopping four games?

MBT: Before Dooms 1, I was making mostly comedy games when I found instructions how to make a shooting mechanics to a game. I was thinking about making another humor game but then thought what if I'd make a game that'd be like horror movies I've grown up with? I spread the idea at my school and one friend of mine told me the story of John Wayne Gacy. I loved the idea of a homicidal clown and so Jack, one of the most beloved icons of the series was born.

The story about Dooms is inspired by a nightmare I had as a child about an unknown entity being unleashed on earth and people trying to stop it. To be honest, the reason there were four games is because there was such a huge popularity to the games, had there not come such attention Dooms 2 I probably would have ended the series. But seeing as many people named Dooms 2 their favorite RPGmaker game of all time, of course I needed to make more.


An image from Dooms 1.

Sbester: What did you learn with each new entry in the series?

MBT: I was playing around with many mechanics during each entry of the games. Originally, Dooms 3 was supposed to have time travel mechanics and you were supposed to be able to at any time, jump between the modern world and the ancient world and that was used to access certain new areas and solve puzzles. The whole time travel thing was later scrapped and the hero was changed to be a female, with a complete overhaul of the story and a new "transformation" mechanic introduced.
In terms of making the games, Dooms 4 was the first game I was able to do exactly the way I wanted to. I didn't have any technical limitations as I had support from many people and I never ever used the censor stamp on the product, unlike the previous parts that had several segments removed when I thought they were crossing the line. Not here though, which is because it was supposed to end the series, I wanted no blows held back and to go out with a bang.


Images from Dooms 2.

Sbester: A couple years ago you started re-releasing the games with updates. Do you plan to do this with the 4th one as well?

MBT: I am thinking that I could fix few errors and bugs and maybe adding few graphics such as Rie punching when she punches and tweaking the gameplay. I am not sure if it's really worth it though, since it's generally the most hated one plus any tweaks wouldn't be all that big anyway.


Image from Dooms 3.

Sbester: You recently stated that you don’t care to revisit the series for a fifth outing, but then on your official site you said you may just go back to it after all. What’s going on there?

MBT: The fact is that I cannot escape the infamous nature of the series, even years later I get fan mail and fan art of the game. I have toyed with the idea of Dooms 5 for a long time and made a small demo even back in the GamingW days but honestly, it was never met with much interest and I scrapped everything about it.

You may still find one of the fight scenes I had in the demo in here.

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A total re write of all the issues was done but was ushered away with the release of RPGmaker VX and then I just never got back into it because honestly, there's no way to continue the story. Everything's told and anything more would be forced and beating on the dead horse. If 90% of cast are new, why not just make a new game independent from the rest of the series?


Sbester: What advice do you have to others who are trying to create their own series of games?

MBT: Do not attempt to make the perfect game on one go. Rather, work at your own pace and have fun creating the game. It's easier to update a finished project than have a forever project that you're constantly updating to meet up with your growing standards. If you were to work with that mentality, you'd never get anything done as there'd always be something new or an interesting technique you've learned.

You should also never make a game "series" for the sake of making them a series. If your game is popular, make a sequel, but remember that your games aren't like movies and having the player wait for "part 2" of the story is just a slap in the face of the person who played through your game. Tell the story first time around, the sequels may focus to other aspects that weren't told the first time or continue after the events.


Images from Dooms 4.

Sbester: You have a bunch of new games you’ve been working on lately. Any plans to form them into a series of their own?

MBT: I have toyed with the idea of a sequel to Child's Light or Save your mother, mostly because they only scratch the surface of their perspective character arcs. I am not going to promise any new series, though as again it's all up to how popular the first games are and how I feel about the new addition to their mythos.


Sbester: Any final thoughts?

MBT: Stay smart, read lots of books, watch movies and play games to get inspiration to make your very own dream game come true.

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Yep, you knew this one would be interesting. Go try these if you haven't already, and check out his site:

http://givemebeer.tk/