Doom Unreleased Alphas & Betas | Nostalgia Nerd

The Original Doom Pre-Release Alpha and Betas, worked on by John Romero and John Carmack before Doom's original release in 1993. These demos are unmistakably Doom from the off, but there are various quirks and changes which were added and removed along the way, including the weapons, pickups, levels, gameplay and a whole lot more. Join me as I explore the maps on these Doom Alpha and Beta versions.

[@josephattwell1006]

1:16 "If you have a copy of this, you are naughty."

[@ireneparkin3360]

Didn't see until now.

[@rapappathepepper3996]

i have a copy of this build, so i am naughty.

[@ireneparkin3360]

@@rapappathepepper3996 not sure if id Software would notice.

[@rapappathepepper3996]

@@ireneparkin3360 ID software written that for say, dont play this game now

[@kayeplaguedoc9054]

Actually, Binary Space Partitioning was added later in Doom's development. Early versions of the renderer were closer in technique to Wolf 3D, but an area in the level of what would soon be E1M2 caused the game to absolutely shit the bed as far as framerate and all that. It was around that time that Carmack decided to implement BSP which fixed the issue (Rendering way too much all at one time) and also allowed for some more interesting tricks along the way.

[@will5459577]

2:05 Oh no, I hope they got their autographed Doom hintbooks

[@BasedBroad]

that alpa version bfg tho fuck

[@WilliamCrump-Celestia]

you want the pre-alpha release and the other ones? because i have them . i will prove it to you

[@IvanBoskovic808]

Better than Doom 4 BFG

[@TinchoX]

Yeah xD

[@fordprefect4728]

i believe they took it out b/c it would slow down pc's to much back then.

[@jjbussey]

That, and john romero thought the multicolored shots looked too christmas-y

[@FindecanorNotGmail]

We played the press-release version of Doom in the computer rooms in High School when I was a kid. It was date-limited, so we had to turn the PC clock back to make it run. It completely blew our minds away in its pure awesomeness and those three levels are my favourites to this day.

[@interlace84]

Got a doom 3 poster hanging behind me signed by both Johns in gold, never letting it go :) thank you for this,. brings back so many memories.

[@h0lx]

cattle prod? that's a bayonet, sir

[@sld26t]

It's now in doom eternal

[@czar225]

A double bayonet.

[@jjsmith7834]

I was about to say exactly that. OBVIOUSLY a longarm with fixed bayonets.

[@Dargonhuman]

SuperL33t My first thought was it looks like the Meat Hook shotgun attachment.

[@supahcomix]

But it doesn’t shoot

[@iisadragon]

Interesting how the “cattle prod” looks a lot like the new “meat hook” in Doom Eternal

[@frydemwingz]

I think they nerfed the weapons a bit, gave you a fist instead of a bayonet, took away other AI help, got a pistol instead of a rifle was to make the game scarier. You feel more defenseless early on and really sweat fighting a room of enemies with only a pistol. It forces you to feel desperate to get the shotgun and armor as soon as you can.

[@loganjorgensen]

Damn those detail settings would have been helpful for lowend PCs and that minimap would have been nice in the final version. :\ Don't really miss the AI buddies, can imagine them getting stuck in walls and other path finding problems lol.

[@Nostalgianerd]

Would have been like having a bunch of drunk buddies tagging along... Come on Steve.. this way... no, no... this way. OH fuck it.

[@Painocus]

They weren't going to be AI buddies. They were the spawn point for other players in Co-op Multiplier. The game's (skipable) into sequence would have ended with the four character's being attacked off-guard by an imp. When you started the game itself any characters who hadn't been chosen would spawn a corpse Thing instead of a player Thing. So if you played single-player only the character you choose would have survived and everyone else would be dead. In four-player everyone would be alive. etc.

[@loganjorgensen]

Painocus Well that sounds a lot better, maintains that low survival part of Doom's story. I'm all for Co-op, a lost art these days, I think the first gen 3D limitations basically killed off the 2 player game and it never came back much.

[@Painocus]

Logan Jorgensen: True. Doom was originally going to encourage (but not enforce) co-op with less linear map-progression (so players could explore different parts of the map at the same time), the characters having different strengths and weaknesses and there being different ending graphics based on how many players were around after the final boss. This is also why the intercom and map was integrated into the HUD in some of the alphas. When Carmack kicked Tom Hall off the team co-op got the shaft compared to single player and (eventually) death-match.

[@loganjorgensen]

That does sound like a lot of testing and design work in retrospect. Not all bad for Tom as most of his wild ideas would find root in Rise of the Triad. The intercom sounds interesting but it really diverts from the purity Doom arrived with.

[@JimGiant]

Would have been awesome if the BFG had rapid fire on mouse 1 and the big explosion on mouse 2.

[@JacobKinsley]

@@computergames1000 right ctrl.

[@JacobKinsley]

@@computergames1000 your right hand exists

[@2yoyoyo1Unplugged]

ItsPhob0s then you move it slightly over briefly to hit the alt fire button. It would be a fair tradeoff, and would basically require the player to commit to using the huge blast option and be more strategic about it

[@thewholeshebang___]

@@computergames1000 actually, doom was designed for play with mouse/keyboard

[@AnnieC.1993]

@@computergames1000 Would you really play keyboard only? I know you have the right to, but the only thing I would play with only one type of control is wolfenstein 3D, since strafing with your keyboard forces strafing with your mouse, and I can't deal with that. As for right ctrl key, on my computer the right ctrl key is right next to the arrow keys, so it wouldn't be hard anyway if you were keyboard only and had to use it. Can't say it's like that on all computers but it has on every one I've used as far as I can tell.

[@MrJ0mmy]

doom was my fave game when i was a kid i fist played it when i was 8 on a schools computer but i did not have a clue how to play it back then and then teacher found out what i was playing and was quite angry and got one of the other teachers to delete it off the computer :(

[@TinchoX]

Yeah, I played it at the age of 7 and the game gave me the chills back then, the good old days

[@eljaminlatour6633]

I play Doom, after 4 years old, I think.

[@GreyHulk2156]

Fascinating video. Lots of stuff I never knew about pre-release Doom.

[@RetroGamePlayers]

Great seeing the comparisons, the progress they made was pretty impressive.

[@chrisswizz7554]

I had a version from a diskette from a magazine in those days, only one level, no way to resize screen, the info bar looked very similar but not the same, items to pick up looked different. I could shoot monsters with a shot gun. Had a 386dx25 those days, so it was moving with probably 1/2 frame per second. I missed this early version of the game in your overview. But still a good video, reminds me of the good old times when we started playing Doom in a network against each other, whole nights passing in a bink of an eye.

[@TinchoX]

4:29 RIP the medkit xDD... 6:40 Holy shit! Now THAT was a BFG!

[@SuperFam12345]

just found your channel dude and loving it..... not many uk base youtubers out there glad I found your channel.

[@Nostalgianerd]

Gaming and Console Tech thanks buddy!

[@loneboy1237]

That bojonette looks like the meathook on the super shotgun of the DOOM Eternal. Makes me wonder, wether id had that idea this early on

[@dwartbg1]

Great video, subscribed immediately. Greetings from Bulgaria

[@BazookaTooth707]

Thanks for sharing this. Awesome

[@objectiveasylum]

bsp is not "simulated" 3d. it's a spacial partitioning algorithm used to sort faces to be drawn in a logical order to save on processing power. remember all calculations were done on the CPU no specialized hardware existed yet

[@gentuxable]

Wow, I had the same Belinea monitor and played the same doom nearly 20 years ago!

[@Xeotroid]

About the fake 3D aspect of the game, you're not entirely right. Actors indeed move in a 3D space in the game, just look at Cacodemons floating around and player jumping down from ledges. All the "fake 3D" happens in the rendering and level structure. All maps can be viewed from above, but they're not completely flat. It's just that there can't be multiple sectors over each other and they can't move other than up and down. You can't have multiple floored buildings or rotating / sliding doors. The renderer also doesn't render actual 3D space with polygons etc., it's just a really good illusion. It's why you can't look up and down. Later games use y-shearing that's basically like moving your face across a photo, causing distortion, but it works.

[@AgentAsh]

No, you're wrong. Actors' "3D" movement are just a simulation, just like with everything else. Not only you can't stack sectors over sectors; in original Doom OBJECTS can't stack either. You can't walk under a flying Cacodemon. Moreover, the Cacodemon, just like all other monsters, is actually moving over a flat area, with its simulated Z position being changed separately, and it actually just changes the position of the sprite, nothing else. All player and monster attacks are also automatically vertically adjusted, so standing close a high ledge you could be bitten by a pinky demon standing on the floor below. So all that 3D movement you're seeing is 3D only visually, while in fact all monsters and objects move, clip and attack over a flat plane.

[@richardg8376]

Agent_Ash The monsters in Doom do actually have a full Z axis position and a height, thus giving them a complete collision box. One of the famous bugs in Doom 2, the "ghost monster" bug is because when a corpse is crushed into a puddle, it's height and width is set to 0 (so it won't get crushed any more), but when an arch-vile resurrects it the height isn't reset, allowing it to walk through tiny gaps. However, for performance reasons, Doom does all of its movement collision detection in 2D. This is likely due to the fact that it would have to run calculations every frame for every active NPC in the game (and player). Most likely, it was decided that the gameplay benefits of full 3D collision wasn't worth the performance hit on 386 machines. However, it is still possible for projectiles to fly over your head, and the heads of enemies. Next time an imp launches a fireball from up high, try running forward: it will pass right over your head.

[@longhoacaophuc8293]

No, it's real 3D. Notice that you can not shoot an enemy standing on a higher platform.

[@ivanvenne]

You are wrong on why you can't look up. If you get Zdoom and keep the renderer on "software" you can look up and down, it is just really fucking distorted to the point where i didnt even want to look up and down, until i realized I could switch the renderer. ID didn't want people to see the severely distorted distortion of looking up and down

[@tling321]

Captain Obvious, He's a Hero🎶 Gonna Make the Viewers' IQ Down to Zero🎶

[@eljaminlatour6633]

6:40 the developers removed the red blast from the early BFG(big [censored] gun) 9000, because in their opinion "it looked like Christmas".

[@ValugaTheLord]

doom was supposed to be doom3 alll along, now that is a scary though.

[@WickedFamix]

I loved DOOM 3, but DOOM 4 is great. It's amazing how many different visions can come from one game

[@maxmustermann1455]

doom 3 confused me, as I never found the original doom to be scary.

[@fernandohood5657]

sure was always more "action" oriented than scary/horror, but it was quite scary at the time there was nothing like it, games weren't as dark has doom and for sure there was no other game at the time were you were killing literally "hell spawn" :P seeing those creatures up in close in first-person perspective (for many of us was the first time using that perspective in a game) was scary, well at-least to the younger and more impressionable ones

[@maxmustermann1455]

"well at-least to the younger and more impressionable ones" dude, I first played Doom II in 1995 being 5 years old.

[@analanus3131]

How was it like Doom 3?

[@Anomaly188]

I desperately want someone to dig into the alpha files and show off the early model of the zombieman because the description makes it sound hilarious. It's a Doomguy model with red eye spots behind the helmet to indicate possession by demonic spirits.

[@analanus3131]

Here it is: tcrf.net/images/b/bb/Doom-poss1_1.png

[@killerhertzmercedes]

Great video thanks.

[@garyhart6421]

Very Interesting !

[@akasickform]

Steak and Quake. The ultimate combination.

[@ralfvanbogaert3451]

Keep up the Doom goodness my good man :)

[@rustyshackelford7025]

You can even see some of the later Doom 2 levels in this. Pretty wild.

[@itzspencerr1403]

How did you find the versions? I've been looking high and low for a download, but I can't find it.

[@retrovideogamejunkie]

the only pre release version i knew was from that video where john romero play doom with wolfenstein sounds effects ...

[@planchetflaw]

That landscape. Much better.

[@Sephnroth]

hmm, you know I would of liked those collectables - also liked that text console when they picked stuff up!

[@carlpajak7578]

Great little walk back on the DOOM development! BTW the Raspberry PI SBC runs Chocolate DOOM fantastic! Or Heritic or Rise of the Triad... Check it out!

[@MRBrightside800]

The major reason for the massive, flat levels, as well as the other marines and more down to realism looking locations are mostly due to Tom Hall, who had a completely different vision for Doom. Tom Hall wanted the game to be more story based than than the action packed game we ended up with in the end. You can still find some of Tom Halls influence in the early levels of Doom and the Doom Bible.

[@ChaseMC215]

For those concepts for doom, that turned into Rise Of The Triad, most (if not all) of the Doom Bible went to Apogee after Tom Hall left ID Software to work for Apogee to make Rise Of The Triad after it waz supposed to be a sequel to Wolfenstine 3D called "Wolfenstine 3D part 2: Rise Of The Triad", but was canceled so it would not interfere with the then upcoming release of Doom (1993)

[@VividNation]

You really should look at the game: Breathless for he Amiga. Even though there are much better 3d Shoters for the Amiga Breathless has some kind of atmosphere that is really unique!

[@Nostalgianerd]

I have. It's a great game

[@VividNation]

jesus you certainly lag behind those comments ;)

[@Nostalgianerd]

Better late than never.

[@Yusuke_Denton]

Indeed.

[@wattosdeal]

is there a way to configure gzdoom to load and play the beta versions of doom and doom2? I have the wad files but gzdoom ignores them.

[@GreatFox42]

Surprised you didn't mention the existence of some Doom 2 levels appearing in the pre-release versions, such as the one that eventually became Refueling Base.

[@ldcgfx8710]

DooM is the greatest masterpiece of all time

[@someguy2302]

I played these they were so hype when whey first dropped

[@Ky0l]

Ohhh those Belina monitors, so cheap yet so tough!

[@Nostalgianerd]

This baby is one of the best I've got!

[@shmehfleh3115]

DOOM on a 14" VGA monitor... Man, there ain't nothing finer!

[@ericchamberlain9260]

That HUD was like having cataracts.

[@clivethereddevil3178]

wow.Belinea monitors were top of the range back in the day.

[@pferreira1983]

Cool video. A shame they didn't keep the POV HUD.

[@Architector_4]

Hey, man - if this gets out, you can all kiss your autographed DooM books goodbye. (c) 1993 id Software

[@jyefett6247]

Wait a minute. In doom eternal's trailer, remember that shotgun with the grappling hook at the end of it? Could that be a nod to the bayonet?

[@HY4CIN7H]

Dagoth Ur, The President of the enclave OH SHIT

[@racx_00]

That's what I thought when I saw this vid.

[@roadroller8851]

glad im not the only one

[@highboi870]

Nope 2 years later its meathook

[@antdude]

I remember the alpha. :)

[@DarkyEqualsTheMoon]

How do you enable cheats in the Pre-beta Pressrelease? (0.9)

[@Not-TheOne]

I wish I could experience the game fresh again, for the first time all over. Same with Quake, go to work red eyes and dead tired....

[@TheDurka]

Is there anywhere to download all the versions from 0.1-0.9?

[@2yoyoyo1Unplugged]

The cattle prod kinda looks like the meathook in Eternal. Maybe they got the inspiration from the Doom betas?

[@GuardYourFlanks]

That cattle prod you mentioned looks like a bayonet to me.

[@frydemwingz]

So this "Chen" guy is someone talking to you on the network or other AI players? Is there a list of stuff they say?

[@RobertSeeJen]

I wonder if the whole "shoot the med kit, and it disappears" takes inspiration from the Gauntlet series.

[@doomguypsx4471]

I was about to drink from my mountain dew can until I saw the BFG. when I saw that, I froze and dropped it then yelled "BIG FUCKIN GUN!"

[@s.ananthkarthikeyan4560]

That shotgun attachment is there in doom eternal!

[@Rhetorical346]

I know you figured it out later, but that weapon is very recognizable as a bayonet. It has rifle sights, forward furniture to hold on to, and a buttstock with buttplate.

[@paladinpv8460]

My question is, what's with the cover art SMG?

[@Curlyheart]

Cover art usually didn't portray the game well back then.

[@Philip550c]

Cattle prod? That's a gun with two bayonets ...and then I finished the video and you mention this.

[@Zestypanda]

Oops, guess I should of watched all the way through before commenting on the "cattle prod"

[@NackWeasel]

Based in that helmet hud it looks like they had more weapons planned originally. Wonder what they were...

[@Dj3ndo]

Subbed =)

[@tinfoilhatnews7489]

Doom the game that keeps revolutionizing gaming

[@ownpj]

I'm surprised you didn't network three machines with the -left and -right parameters for a 270° immersion

[@rameynoodles152]

You can do that???

[@ownpj]

Sean Ramey You could in the early versions doomwiki.org/wiki/Three_screen_mode

[@Bakamoichigei]

Oh my god. I've got a dozen old PS/2 machines sitting around in the back room... I'm so doing this. 😂

[@rudolfrieder186]

@@ownpj I've once tried that with 2 PCs and it worked, but was pretty slow. Guess you need more poweful 486 or pentium.

[@tjfergusonproject]

There's a doom mod that is kind of a combination of both alpha and beta versions called Doom Delta.

[@joshuajoestar5863]

That's not a cattle prod, it is a pair of bayonets on the end of the rifle

[@aceofhearts573]

BELINEA monitor. I always felt this guy was alright

[@handlessuck589]

I think its time we take a look at this guy's giant face without color.

[@oscarlobaton979]

I was expecting a little more detailed video about the developement but... Its me or the original BFG 9000 is more efficient than the final one?

[@Zestypanda]

The "cattle prod" is actually a bayonet from the rifle.

[@laurenhahn8569]

5:54 "Leave that shit to Lara Croft, there's killing to be done." That sounds like a John Romero quote

[@Tarles_X]

I see the minor sprites in marines but with the zombieman rifle.

[@johneygd]

Doom is the most addicting fps of all time and it will alway's be,no other fps game will & can ever top this off,

[@Zestypanda]

Where did you get that Compaq?

[@Nostalgianerd]

eBay I believe.

[@Zestypanda]

Nostalgia Nerd Thanks. :) I have a few retro pcs myself.

[@TheAskTrixieChannel]

You mean the F**king Awesome Big F**king Gun (aka the FABFG 9000)?! No way! :-D

[@granddad6689]

Pinky is lurking in the shadows BOM BOM...BOM BOM

[@kailomonkey]

"one of mankind's greatest achievements"

[@arcticdragon3565]

is there like a beta restoration mod?

[@analanus3131]

Any that are there are either shitty or stopped development.

[@evanstein3011]

The fork bayonet would've been fun

[@jgedutis]

BFG Shotgun ftw

[@UltimatePerfection]

Great video, but I think you can kiss your autographed doom hintbook goodbye ;).

[@Nostalgianerd]

Yeah, maybe. I'll get by ;)

[@mergemechanism]

Dat GZDoom Builder tho

[@Nostalgianerd]

I am a huge fan. Would have pissed my pants had it existed in the 90s

[@wesmatron]

I think that cattleprod is a rifle with a bayonet on either side

[@Kid-A2]

Weapons: 1.Assault Rifle 2.Shotgun 3.Bayonet 4.MP4

[@Ueberdoziz]

2:41 a cattle prod?`looks like a shotgun with 2 knifes attached

[@samcoupe4608]

doom8bit here we come...

[@Sinn0100]

I have always been a Doom fan; However, I will admit that I wish they would have given us a rifle in Doom. Someone should finish these and make them playable!

[@LinoshTheHaloGamer]

Alpha .5 would have lagged on a 386 badly as it was too huge for 386 to process

[@MaDdoGdaZ69]

Anyone else had to use floppy boot disk to load only drivers and files to run game lol. Think I had a couple of MB ram lol. It ran so bad but didn't stop me lol. I Remember Voodoo and ATI FX graphics cards around this time.

[@Xegethra]

They aren't irrelevant to the end user at all, there is still the mod scene.

[@TurboLazer007]

It's not a cattle prod it's rifle with two bayonets on either side

[@Nostalgianerd]

I do clarify that in the video.

[@12me91]

I wish we coulda kept the helmet hud..

[@wasteoftime5848]

I'm surprised and a little disappointed none of the many mods for doom ever brought back the bfg's original firing mode.

[@KnoxCarbon]

Beta rifle bayonet kinda looks like the SSG grapple from Eternal.

[@FEEDMEKITTENS]

The bayonet looks suspiciously like Boba Fett's rifle from the Holiday Special. Hmm..

[@aliencatcrew3336]

Blue plasma high heat burn. Green plasma chemical burn.

[@sexycavetroll2788]

didnt think that was a cattle prod. but two knifes mounted

[@Nostalgianerd]

Yah, I think I go in to that later in the video... possibly

[@xxking_of_dublinxx3185]

I wish someone would make a mod bringing back the rifle and machine gun that would be cool