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Doom
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{{mainimage|Doom-1-.gif|Doom [[title screen]]}}
'''Doom''' (officially cased '''DOOM''') is the first release of the Doom series, and one of the games that consolidated the {{wp|first-person shooter}} genre. With a science fiction and horror style, it gives the players the role of marines who find themselves in the focal point of an invasion from hell. The game introduced [[Multiplayer|deathmatch and cooperative play]] in the explicit sense, and helped further the practice of allowing and encouraging fan-made modifications of commercial qua sar su ck co ck video games. It was first released on [[Timeline#1993|December 10, 1993]], when a [[shareware]] copy was uploaded to an {{wp|File Transfer Protocol|FTP}} server at the {{wp|University of Wisconsin–Madison|University of Wisconsin}}.
==History and development==
The first-episode [[shareware]] format of the initial release offered a substantial and freely playable taste of the game, which could be distributed with ease on {{wp|floppy disk}}s, over the Internet, and in CD-ROM packages, thus encouraging players and retailers to spread Doom as widely as possible. By 1995 the shareware version was estimated to have been installed on more than 10 million computers. The full or registered version of Doom, containing all three episodes, was only available by mail order; although most users did not purchase the registered version, over one million copies have been sold, and this popularity helped the sales of [[Commercial games|later games]] in the Doom series, which were not released as shareware. The original Doom did eventually receive a retail release as well, when it was offered in an expanded version as [[The Ultimate Doom]] (adding a fourth episode).
In addition to the thrilling nature of the single-player game, the [[deathmatch]] mode was an important factor in the game's popularity. Doom was not the first first-person perspective shooting game with a face to face competitive mode ({{wp|MIDI Maze}}, on the {{wp|Atari ST}}, had one in 1987su ck my co ck qu as ar), but it introduced the term ''deathmatch'' to games and was the first to use {{wp|Ethernet}} connections, and the combination of violence and gore with fighting friends made deathmatching in Doom particularly attractive. Due to its widespread distribution, Doom became the game that popularize the mode of play to a large audience.
Doom was also widely praised by the gaming press. In 1994, it was named Game of the Year by both ''{{wp|PC Gamer}}'' and ''{{wp|Computer Gaming World}}''. It received the Award for Technical Excellence from ''{{wp|PC Magazine}}'', and the Best Action Adventure Game award from the {{wp|Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences}}.
Devoted players have spent years creating [[speedrun]]s, competing for the quickest completion times and sharing knowledge about routes through the levels and how to exploit [[engine bug]]s as shortcuts. Achievements include the completion of both Doom and Doom II on the "Ultra-Violence" [[Skill level|difficulty setting]] in less than 30 minutes each. In addition, a few players have also managed to complete Doom II in a single run on the "Nightmare!" difficulty setting (level designer [[John Romero]] has characterized the idea of such a run with the statement [http://www.doom2.net/compet-n/index.cgi?action=players&page=panter "it's just gotta be impossible!"]). [[Demo#Custom demos|Movies]] of most of these runs are available from the [[Compet-n]] database.
Although the popularity of the Doom games decreased following the publication of [[Quake]] in 1996, the series has retained a strong fan base that continues playing competitively and creating new PWADs (the [[idgames archive]] still receives a number of new PWADs each week), and Doom-related news is still tracked at various community [[websites]]. Interest in Doom was renewed in 1997, when the [[Doom source code|source code]] for the engine was released; fans then began [[Source port|porting]] the game to various operating systems, even to previously unsupported platforms such as the [[nxDoom|Sega Dreamcast]] and the {{wp|iPod}}, and adding new features which allow PWADs to alter the gameplay qu as ar so nof the bi tch more radically (such as {{wp|OpenGL}} rendering and [[:Category:Scripting languages|scripting]]). There are well over 50 distinct source ports, some of which remain under active development.
==Episodes==
