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Some very clever folks have put together a web browser version of Doom that does a decent job of recreating the original via Flash. The turn speed isn’t quite right and you can’t adjust the controls, but they still managed to put the entire first episode of the game online. Any doubts people may have about the inevitability of players streaming their games online in the future only need to give this a swing to realize the potential. Keep in mind that this technology is improving at an exponential rate.
Playing Doom again is a fairly interesting experience. Design-wise, we now have a huge variety of FPS titles to contrast it with. Since the game does not typically rely on aiming with a reticle, it automatically adjusts your shots to go up and down in conjunction with where an enemy is located. The lack of control is a bit stifling at first but eventually you start to recognize that the design essentially removes one of the essential skills we come to associate with an FPS: aiming. You still have to point your gun in the general direction of the opponent but the game will handle the rest. The level design handles this by generally focusing on corridors and large rooms, but the spatial limitation becomes a perk rather than a handicap. Maintaining health, ammo, and effectively strafing is all you really need to excel at to play the game. Ducking, aiming, or jumping are not even options. The end result feels decidedly minimalist but obviously still has a lot of appeal. It isn’t quite appropriate to call Doom a casual FPS but by today’s standards it qualifies. As outlined by the success of Wii Sports minimalist design, all you’re really doing in a casual game is taking out chunks of game design so that a beginner can grasp it. You take baseball and you trim it down to batting and pitching. You take boxing and trim it down to waving you arms in vague coordination. You don’t expect them to do fifty things at once, you start them off with five. Adopting that presumption, it seems reasonable to presume any genre of game could find ways to stay interesting while cutting down their game design to simplified but elegant levels.
Which is why having Doom in Flash, a place where many simple games find a home, is actually quite appropriate. I don’t think this version is quite there yet and the lack of multiplayer is going to keep most players restricted to nostalgia and brief distraction. The lack of music and some side effects also keeps this from becoming a definitive Flash version of the game. But given enough time, games like this could be the beginning of something very interesting for video games.
