I'm a big fan of oldschool FPP shooters like DOOM 1&2 or Duke Nukem 3D. Atmospheric pseudo-3D graphics, very arcade gameplay, almost no storyline - just perfect! :)

Being a passionate programmer interested in game development I have an idea for a project to create a truly oldschool FPP shooter:
- Raycasted graphics with limited color palette (engine similar to that of DOOM 1&2)
- Arcade gameplay with lots of enemies to shoot
- Minimal plot

The game would of course run on Windows and Linux (and probabbly a Mac) on modern computers but as a bonus to vintage hardware geeks among us (and for publicity) it would also have DOS version.

My question to you is: Would you play and enjoy such game? Do you think it's awesome or just pure-nonesense to release such game in 2012?

Please note, that I'm not talking about a mod to some existing oldie; I'm thinking about creating the whole new game with original levels and enemies but... keep it oldchool. :)

Let me know what you think!

P.S. I searched for existing game like this some time ago but didn't find anything quite like this.

Why not just do a total conversion mod? There are plenty of good engines that iD has given away over the years that would suit this project just fine.

And if you build the models and such for something for Doomsday, you would end up with an actual old school shooter without having to redo everything.

And yes, the more mindless the better. I hate how things started to get all complicated sometime after Quake 2.

Personally, I like arena shooters like Painkiller, the original good version. And I like corridor shooters like Wolf 3D and Doom.

To make a good FPS like Doom, map design really counts. Doom and Doom 2 had some neat designs. Final Doom, eh, not so much.

Anyway check out Wrack. It's from the ex-lead developer of Skulltag. It's an FPS very similar to Doom, though the map design doesn't really shout impressive.

Back on topic, yes I will buy a game like that, if it has solid shooter mechanics. Apart from iconic map designs, Doom 1 and 2 have stood the test of time because of how awesome it is to shoot stuff. Same with Duke 3D. The guns and movement just feel right in those games.

Vlambeer's newish game Gun Godz is almost exactly what you're describing. Of course it's only sold through the Venus Patrol subscription, but it's basically just a giant raycasted love letter to Doom.

Also what is the difference between an FPP shooter and an FPS?

I would like to see that kind of FPS Kickstarted with that graphic style.

I have 3 reasons for rolling out my own engine: it has educational value (coding for old platforms), I want to actually innovate and include some features not found in game engines at that time along with creating better mapping tools and well... it's fun! :)

Anyway - the technical side is not very important, I'm more interested in people's opinion from purely player perspective.

I tried to play Doom 1 and it didn't do much for me; and "retro" releases where "ugly graphics and primitive engine" are magically turned into positives via the magic of nostalgia don't interest me much. But I wish you luck if you go forward.

On the user end, that doesn't really matter one way or another, but it would take a huge amount of time and effort. Which to do an old school game doesn't entirely make sense as Wolf 3D, Doom, Quake and Unreal more or less nailed it for their particular generation.

But yeah, game play wise, it looks promising. And I guess if you're going more towards the Doom period of old school, that's a lot easier than if you're going more towards the Unreal era.

Does this also include mouse-free aiming? I liked those shooters that only cared about the X-axis. Good call on the Doomsday engine. I second this.

Nobody wants a faithful modern "Doomlike" more than me. But in this case, your game probably isn't going to end up being that dissimilar from the hundreds of Doom mods and TCs out there. You have to remember that in making a game exactly like the FPSs of old, you're setting yourself up to COMPETE with them. Improved graphics or some complimentary modern gameplay elements might be worth considering, just to give it a unique personality and give us a reason to play it rather than just firing up Doom again.

But you know, even if you decide to just do it completely oldschool, I'd still be interested. I love this type of game. Yes yes yes, and yes again. Doom was ALL about the map design.

How do modern devs not realize that? I mean, it's fairly obvious.

Because they care more about turning movie-goers into gamers than about the actual gamers.

Oldy but goody:

I think that's a lot harder than it was back during the period up to and including Unreal. Probably a bit further.

Technology allows a lot more than they could do back then. Even by Quake 2, you were starting to see people being allowed to move back and forth between levels if they wished to.

That being said, there is a ton to much focus on graphics these days which is not helping things out on the level design aspect. I think in some ways having all these apparently movable objects that don't, makes it worse than not having enough decoration.

Hexen (1995) introduced me to the hub level concept in a FPS, but I don't know if it was the first to do that.