Doom Dev Update – Thy Dark Rooms of Finals: Creating the City Map Illusion
7Hi everyone!
Just wanted to share a small update on my Doom WAD project Thy Dark Rooms of Finals – which you can find here: https://www.moddb.com/mods/thy-dark-rooms-of-finals
Lately, I’ve been deep in the weeds building something I’ve never really done before: a city-themed map. It’s turning out to be quite the challenge. The Doom engine (as many of you know) is technically 2.5D, meaning it doesn’t natively support room-over-room geometry or true vertical layering. That makes city design – especially the illusion of building height and vertical depth – tricky.
But here's where it gets fun.
I’ve been experimenting with a technique that gives players the feeling they’re standing on top of a building, looking down at an earlier area they’ve already passed through. In reality, what they're seeing isn’t the actual previous area – it’s a copy placed strategically to simulate continuity and height. It’s a kind of “illusionary architecture” that I’m proud to say seems to work really well so far.
Of course, this means a bit more work in terms of asset duplication and keeping visual consistency, but it really sells the idea of a more vertical world. I’m also playing with lighting and perspective to help reinforce the effect.
The city map is still in progress, but I wanted to give a sneak peek at the process, since I know other mappers might be facing the same hurdles.
Thanks for following the project!
#DOOM #DoomBuilder #Hell