In a recent interview with VG247, id Software's Tim Willits said that Doom 3 BFG Edition isn't merely a re-release of something old with added content: it's a complete overhaul of the 2004 slow-paced survival horror shooter. Willits said the studio has returned to its roots with this release, cranking up the action so it's not such a gloomy crawl-fest.
Of course, there's more to the BFG Edition than cranking up the action. Levels have been re-designed to match the pace, and the team has thrown in new textures to bring the game up to speed on current consoles. Other goodies include new lighting mechanics, the new eight-mission chapter called "Lost Mission," and bits of Rage tech thrown into the mix.
"It’s not just Doom 3 – that’s what we’re keen to make sure everybody knows," Willits said. "We’re doing more with Doom 3 BFG than just re-releasing the original. We’ve actually put a heck of a lot of Rage tech into the Doom 3 engine to kind of modernize the game."
As an example, the team tossed in the Rage input control and checkpoints. They also updated the lighting so it's brighter throughout the game, changed the annoying flashlight, tweaked the ammo, and even implemented the Rage network layer to make it run faster at low latency. There's also 3D support, and multi-display support for the PC platform.
"We went through every single level of the original and things that were really frustrating or not fun, we made them more enjoyable. So it is really kind of cool for us – especially as we all love the Doom franchise – to go back and rework the game in such a way," he added.
Doom 3 BFG Edition has enough small changes to essentially re-introduce the franchise to old and new fans alike. "Everyone’s heard of Doom, but you’d be surprised at just how many people haven’t actually played it," he said.
As for the specs needed to run the PC version, they'll obviously need to be higher than what was required in 2004. Willits said the biggest change with the PC version is that it now runs at 120 Hz. The team also revamped the HUD elements, the PD elements, and made map modifications. Overall the biggest glaring change will be for console junkies who purchased Doom 3 for the original Xbox eight years ago.
That said, the interview went on to talk about tweaking the map designs. He pointed out one section in the Alpha Labs that simply had to go because it was incredibly... not fun. "There was this part where you walk up these stairs, and the stairs fall apart behind you and Imps spawn in front of you," he said. "When we were playing through that earlier this year we were like, 'this is not fun right here…this was a bad idea.'"
"We grabbed our young designers and said, 'young designer, this is a bad design right here. How do you think we can fix it?’ and so we fixed it," he added. "You know it’s kind of funny, because most of the guys who worked on Doom 3 originally, they still work there."
"One of the guys wanted to go back and up-rez and make the characters look better, and a texture artist said, ‘you know, I never liked those textures, can I go back and fix them?’ and we said ‘sure, go ahead, knock yourself out and fix them up,'" he said.
Sounds like Doom 3 BFG Edition will be an entirely new experience when it launches on October 16. To read the full interview with Willits, head here.
