Rocket jumping
From DoomWiki.org
Rocket jumping is the act of using the rocket launcher's splash damage to horizontally propel a player, boosting player speed.
Despite the term "jumping", in the classic Doom engine, this provides no vertical lift. It merely adds to horizontal momentum. As a result, it increases the length of a floor gap the player can successfully cross while platforming. It will not let the player reach a position higher than the stair height, which is 24 vertical units. This is in contrast to an arch-vile jump, which does raise the player up vertically.
In modern source ports featuring vertical aiming, one can also rocket jump upwards, by firing down at the floor. This is similar to Quake. Some Doom engine games feature free look but not vertical aiming; these are still limited to horizontal-only boosts. This includes Strife and Heretic.
This technique is not typical for Doom gameplay, and causes a large amount of damage to the player. As such, it is generally only used for optional challenges, such as speedruns and obtaining secrets. Rocket jumps planned into a map's design often have an invulnerability sphere to aid this, an example being the secret exit in E3M6: Mt. Erebus.
Rocket jumping PWADs[edit]
The behavior introduced by source ports such as ZDoom and its derivates has allowed the proliferation of rocket jumping-themed PWADs, popular mostly within the multiplayer scene. These typically consist of platforming-oriented challenges with little to no combat.
Notable rocket jumping PWADs include:
- RJumpq (DSDA) by HC-Marine and Dessico
- RJSpace9f (DSDA) by Josh Simpson (EarthQuake), with finishing touches by TimeOfDeath
- RJSpace31 (The Sentinel's Playground) by EarthQuake, a sequel and remake to the above
- Master Jumps (DSDA) by Morrison and TimeOfDeath
- RJSloth (DSDA) by TimeOfDeath
- A slab of Rocket Jumping levels (DSDA) by DeathArrow
- Rocket Jump Extreme (The Sentinel's Playground) by James Esquibel (Cyber)
