Abstract: This is a post on my humble deconstruction of gameplay systems and gameplay loop of a beloved game Doom (2016).
High Concept
Doom (2016) is a fast-paced, first person shooter game that takes place on fictional Mars, where the Player plays a heavily armored soldier killing demonic monsters overrunning a Mars Space Station while searching for a way to close the gates between supernatural dimension and the human world.
Gameplay Loops
Core (Primary) Gameplay Loop
The Core Gameplay Loop consists of the player walking or running in the level and traverse the map towards current targets. The player can also climb up building or terrain structures to reach higher places. The player then uses available weapons to destroy present monsters while moving around in the area.
Secondary Gameplay Loop
The Secondary Gameplay Loop consists of the player using “Glory Kill” to get extra loot drops from monsters when they are killed, in order to restore health or ammo, or pick up currency for upgrade purchases. These upgrades are spent on weapons and armors, which allow the player to kill more monsters more efficiently and complete the current mission.
Tertiary Gameplay Loop
The game has a lot of expandable contents after the main plot is completed. The player can continue to re-start the campaign to collect different collectible items and upgrades scattered throughout the game, including Bubblehead Secrets, Weapons Mods, Runes, and Codex Entries. The players can also strive to complete optional challenges within every chapter/mission. Besides the Single Player campaign mode, player can also choose to play the multi-player mode, community published SnapMaps and a retro Arcade mode that are all built-in the game.
While collectibles and in-game weapon mod collections are connected by in-game association. Multi-player, SnapMaps, and Arcade Mode are game modes that form their own stand-alone game loops.
Gameplay Styles / Systems
DOOM (2016) stresses heavily on weapon combat and character movement. The core systems identified in this section contributes greatly to its core gameplay loop. Note this is not an exhaustive list of all the systems available in the game, only the ones that are important to the core gameplay. The mind map below shows an overview of the Gameplay Systems that will be discussed in this section.
Gameplay Systems
Weapons
Weapon system is an essential system to the core gameplay of DOOM (2016). It offers a wide variety of weaponry in increasing power throughout the campaign.
Every weapon (except for the Pistol and the Super Shotgun) comes with two available Mods that can be upgraded when a Field Drone is located.
Mods can be activated by holding Mouse Right, some Mods need time to charge up and some do not; all Mods have a cool-down time after one use, the cool-down time can be reduced by further upgrading the Mods.
The weapons system comes with three different types of weapons: Ranged, Melee and Hand-held items, corresponding with different monsters and playstyles.
To better show power scaling of weaponry, I created this table based on the Skill Progression Chart, comparing the difficulty of Enemies based on the time when each weapon is introduced in the game.
Weapons are introduced in relation to the difficulties of each enemy as the enemies become more and more challenging. However, as shown in Figure 8, weapons introduced later in the game contains longer Power-up time and cooldown time when Mods are installed.
Different types of weapons are created to accommodate different playstyle, but it is also to accommodate new challenges posed by new enemies as the game progresses. For example, Gauss Cannon was introduced at the beginning of Chapter 6, where most of the Hell demons are being introduced. Hell Demons such as the Lost Souls and Cacodemon create a different type of charging long-range attack that is new to the players. The introduction of Gauss Cannon – a long range powerful single-shot weapon – is a good counter to these demons.
Power-ups
Power-ups in DOOM (2016) acts as an extra boost of buff for 27 seconds in-game time. These Power-ups will not reset once it is picked up.
The boosts are a temporary enhancement of a certain property/game system in the game. For example, Berserk is an extreme enhancement of Glory Kill, Haste is an enhancement of movement, Quad Damage is an enhancement of all weaponry damages, Invulnerability is an enhancement to player armors.
These Power-ups adds flavor and excitement to battles in the game and some give temporary new gameplay style to the game, for example, Berserk unlocks Fists for players to use as weapons. The player kills monsters by fists with only one hit.
Mission
Mission system pushes the player to progress in the level and the main plot of the game. The mission system consists of three big sections: Main Mission, Mission Challenges and Explorations.
Main mission consists of the main plot progression of the game, each mission is broken down into sub-objectives. Most mission does not exceed the count of more than 3 sub-objectives throughout the entire mission.
Exploration is associated with Level Maps because Level Map is a UI presentation of element involved in Exploration section. Exploration includes finding the Secrets, Argent Cells, Rune Trials, Field Drones and defeating Elite Guards within each mission. Level Maps is the in-game tool that assists players to complete those explorations as well as marking out the current main mission.
Gameplay Styles
Exploration Style
Players like to explore the map for all the possible areas and encounters in the game. They enjoy finding nooks and crannies of each designed map and searching for secrets and hidden levels in the game.
This kind of playstyle is supported by the designers by putting a lot of collectibles that will not affect the main gameplay. Some hidden Classic levels are put in the map to pay tribute to the original game.
The game’s exploration is supported by the 3 basic character skills of the main character – run, jump, climb. The jump skill can later be upgraded to a double jump with a new equipment.
The maps are designed in different levels to create verticality and to support the jumping/climbing gameplay. The Argent Energy Tower area is a great example of designed verticality to support the parkour gameplay and satisfying players who like to explore and “parkour” in the game.
Hand-to-Hand Combat Style
The game created a strong game feel for players who enjoy melee combat more than ranged combat.
This playstyle is supported by the mechanics of “Glory Kill” and the power-up “Berserk”. The option of melee is built-in for the moment-to-moment gameplay, but these two mechanics encouraged player to perform close-up melee combat during enemy encounters. It is also supported by the weapon Chainsaw in the game. It is a counted weapon that encourages the player to walk up to enemies and saw them open by a simple hit.
These actions are also hinted during gameplay with conveyance UI. The enemy will flash white and yellow lights as they are available for the “Glory Kill”. When the player gained the “Berserk” power-up, the player’s weapon will disappear and be replaced with the character’s bare fists, therefore encouraging the players to encounter the enemy close-up.
Ranged Combat Style
The game supported medium range to long range combat during encounters with a variety of weapons (See Figure 9). In Figure 9, it shows that most weapons are fired in long range, with two exceptions. These weapons are utilized in most gameplay during enemy encounters.
The Ranged Combat Style is also encouraged through the design of enemies. Enemies such as the Imp, Hell Razer, and Revenant are long-range attack enemies that will fire at the player from a distance. These enemies are hard to get up-close, therefore, encouraging the players to attack from afar.
Narrative/Quest Design
Story Overview
DOOM (2016) tells the story of a revived Doom Marine combating demonic presence on a Mars Station called Argent Research Facility, because of a failed experiment of a group of mad scientists. Each chapter consists of a new map with new enemy encounters and spawns. The story takes place in the Argent Facility and in Hell, but each chapter takes place in different sections of these two locations.
Plot Progression
This game is not heavily driven by narrative or plot, it is mostly driven by core mechanics of the game. Whenever the plot is progressing, the narrative is pressed forward through the following techniques:
CG Cinematics – large cinematic clips and scenes that are mostly placed at the beginning and the end of the game
Cinematic – in-engine rendered cinematics that shows character dialogues and actions, usually at the end or the beginning of each mission
Character Dialogues – usually in the form of voice overs via voice comm, hinting at the progression of the mission
Mission Objectives – overlay at the UI HUD of the main panel guiding the player through each map
Environmental Storytelling Elements
While Doom (2016) is not a narrative-driven game, the environmental storytelling aspect is rich. The environment of the game progresses as the main plot moves forward. The design team designed different set pieces as the main plot advances and when the player visits a different location. For example, when the player comes back from Hell for the first time, the Argent Research Facility becomes a destroyed version. The destroyed facility is overrun with demons and most things are on fire.
The game delivered the idea of narrative through these set pieces, environmental ambience, different set props and textured decorations throughout the areas.
Set Pieces
Hell Set
Argent Research Facility Set
Mars Terrain Set
Pre-destruction Facility
Post-destruction Facility
Demonic Hell (Red and Green)
Winter Environment (Facility covered in snow)
Set Props
Dead bodies
Skulls
Broken facility structures
Functional Areas (Labs, Factory, Argent Energy Tower etc.)
Texture Decorations
Blood stains
Pentagrams/Demonic Symbols
References
[Cover Image] E. Zhang, “Doom,” PlayStation, 13-May-2016. [Online]. Available: https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/doom/. [Accessed: 21-Sep-2022].
[1] Zhang, Emily, Table Created by Microsoft Excel, Created 9/20/2022.
[2] Zhang, Emily, Graph Created by Microsoft Word, Created 9/20/2022.
[3] Zhang, Emily, Image Created by Miro, Created 9/20/2022.
[4] Zhang, Emily, Table Created by Microsoft Word, Created 9/20/2022.
コメント