This interview is with a personal friend of mine, JagDogger. He is a DOOM mod creator, and I had the chance to play “Hell’s Train Station.” Full interview is below.
JagDogger: [Referring to his “Hell’s Train Station” mod] I really want to ask what you thought yet I don’t know if it should wait until during the interview or before
blimps: The title told me to prepare for a train station, […] in the game, I totally got it. The bar, the boarding platform. I loved recognizing those things
Actually, it looked like there were two boarding platforms.
JagDogger: There [were]. Two on the lower and a single “trolley” Transport up top
The whole thing is like an early stage of modding – you have the Beta Shotgun and Pinky Demons Exploding, which was a Beta thing
The map pack I am planning on releasing will have Pinky Demons gibbing like the Zombieman and Shotgun guys
Actually – Hell’s Train Station is the middle since it integrates quite a lot of modding capabilities whereas Office Building is the beginning
blimps: Tell us more about the new map pack
JagDogger: Garrison of the Unholy is the name. 3 episodes – 10 regular levels and a hidden level in each. So pretty much Doom 1 for Doom 2.Weapons are the same, but just different sprites
blimps: Do you find the Doom modding tools easy to work with? If you could improve the mod tools, what would you change?
JagDogger: I find the tools very easy
I wouldn’t really change anything as Doom Builder, and the off shoots (Doom Builder 2 and GZDoom Builder) are the primary level makers/editors and Slade is where it would be used to insert or change the game data files such as inserting new monsters, change level/difficulty names, what each level/difficulty or the mod itself can do (prevent jumping/crouching, have the game end on level 3 after defeating the Cyberdemon, or give the map a certain color)
blimps: Makes me want to give the mod tools a try.
There’s a story that Richard Garriott distributed floppy disks and manuals for Ultima in Ziploc bags in his early years. Is there any desire to distribute in a similar manner?
JagDogger: There is – mainly at the PSU LAN party – Ultimate DeathMatch was supposed to be 128 levels for said Party but when I finished the first, my tenure was pretty much over (2011)
4 32-map DeathMatch maps
Wads
blimps: Those LAN parties were pretty special. File sharing was rampant but transer speeds were slow. Good reason for a small file size WAD!
Do you have a favorite Doom mod that isn’t your own?
JogDogger: Would be one of three – Doom 2 Reloaded, [Ultimate] Doom the way id Did, or Sigil – with Heretic and Hexen, it would be the Brutal RPG Heretic and Hexen mods respectively
blimps: Thank you for your time.
Blimps Go 180 