Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Open Source, iPhone
Doom on the iPhone... almost
After the NES emulator, you knew it was just a matter of time, and now Doom is running (though not playable yet) on the iPhone.stepwhite is behind this one, too, and he worked it up because he'd promised a friend he would (not to mention that he was prominent requests for it on Waxy.org, and some other little Apple site you might know). Unfortunately, he hasn't implemented a controller system yet (all you can do right now is watch the demo scenes), but that's the beauty of open source-- no doubt some intrepid programmer out there has an idea on how to do it. Also, you gotta turn that thing sideways, man! This isn't the iPod; let's use the whole screen space.
Geez, after Doom, what's left? Quake III Arena? I stand in awe of what you programmers have been able to do with the iPhone.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
h8rain said 8:08PM on 8-10-2007
I guess that answers the question, Will it run Doom? :)
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Aaron Gyes said 10:15PM on 8-10-2007
If you're going to link to a Quake III project, ioquake3 is probably more likely, if anything ever does.
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Taylor said 10:45PM on 8-10-2007
How about a gesture area on the side of the screen when in landscape? So you could, say, flick your finger up for up, and so on. For the function buttons, you could flick up with 2 fingers for a, flick down with 2 fingers for b, and left and right with two fingers for the trigger buttons.
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d8thstar said 12:27AM on 8-11-2007
what apple needs to release if they want to make any kind of dent in the games market is a cradle that the iPhone slips into. holding the phone horizontally, you'd have an analogue stick to the left and buttons on the right. to make it compact, the center where the iPhone would actually sit, would slide in on itself so that the two ends would come together and fit easily in a pocket. pull it apart, slide the phone in and you have essentially a PSP.
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Steve White said 2:19AM on 8-11-2007
Taylor: Please post your ideas on the wiki (http://code.google.com/p/iphonedoom/wiki/ControllerIdeas ) All ideas are being entertained, and (being the one most likely to implement something) something will be implemented this weekend, most likely some perverse hybrid that'll please nobody.
I have no objection to gestures, but please mind your fingers when re-enacting a fierce Doom game. I want to be experimental, but I also want people to beat the second level...
I think we all have bits and pieces of the ideal solution, and the best we can do is share our ideas and develop from there. Maybe it's take a bit of you, a bit of and a bit of whomever else. But so long as we share and collaborate, we'll be in a great position.
So please post any ideas you have on the wiki.
(Ignoring all of that, you certainly have a better idea than me, so post it to the wiki for all of posterity's sake)
Cheers,
Steve
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Steve White said 2:34AM on 8-11-2007
d8thstar: When the original Macintosh 128k came out, there were no arrow keys on the keyboard (this held true for a number of generations). The rationale was, to force people to use the mouse. No up-key to go up a line, you've gotta click.
Likewise, right now, we're being forced to use touch interactions.
This doesn't mean it's better than any hand held device, or anything we could in-vision (if only the on-screen keyboard had arrows!). It's just to make us use our wildest imagination, and find something suitable for the medium.
Without the extra hardware (and trust me how much I've thought about bluetooth pairing just for the d-pad. and I'm not a hardware guy), what can we do with what has been given?
I think RPS is great right now. You tap to make the guy move, maybe a pie menu pops up giving you options to fight/flee. You do whatever, so much easier than UP/UP/DOWN SHOOT STRAFE.
But given the limitations, please draw out what you think can be done.
And I don't think this is an easy question. But this is why Doom was, back before there were any controls and with half the screen black. But I know people like you will contribute to the end goal. Gaming, no matter the UI.
Cheers,
Steve
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tom said 10:57AM on 8-11-2007
That's pretty great. Sounds like something really fun to play on the ride to work. :)
tom
my political forum
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james said 2:35PM on 8-11-2007
Hello, Mr Jobs, take a look. Open this thing up, it will only get bigger.
The home button should have been a multidirectional button. It could have been the same size, but really helped with navigation on the phone.. oh, and games.
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