DOOM Fans Are Playing The 1993 Classic On Twitter
It's hard to believe it's been 28 years since id Software took us to the barren surface of Mars and tasked us with blasting Pinkies, Cyberdemons, and Barons of Hell. DOOM is rightly considered the seminal shooter, and without the 1993 classic, we arguably wouldn't have the likes of GoldenEye 007, Call of Duty, and Halo.
All these years later, we've seen the franchise continue through the 90s and enjoy a whole new fan base thanks to the reboot series that started in 2016. Still, it's the OG DOOM that holds a special place in our hearts. After nearly three decades, we've seen DOOM ported to everything from an iPod Nano to an ATM, and even a potato. What about on Twitter, though?
How can you play DOOM on Twitter?
Playing DOOM on Twitter might sound pretty simple, but trust us, it's not. By sending a series of commands, you can traipse Doomguy across the surface of Marsh to blast alien scum. The Tweet2Doom bot account lets you play through social media. Considering the DOOM code is pretty basic by modern standards, you can use basic scripting language to move your character via tweets sent to a bot.
Valid tweets create a "new game state", which is then tweeted back to see where you're up to. You can go back to your normal day or tweet a reply to keep the game going. The Tweet2Doom account also tweets records for weekly stats. Last week, there was a record-breaking command chain of 54 tweets.
Be warned though, this isn't for the casual gamer. If you can get your head around scripting and the syntax rules, tweet "/play x,,e,,e,,e,,50-,50-u,15-f," to start your game. Although most of it is an expected sh*t show, it is possible to actually progress through this gaming classic. Bot author @ggerganov and @ASPIRINmoe shot their way through E1M1 and made it to E1M2 - proving that it can work.
What else is going on with DOOM?
Elsewhere, someone recently modded 1994's DOOM II into a beat 'em up that made it feel like Streets of Rage. The aptly named "Doom Fighters" flips the series on its head and gives us a third-person view of Doomguy. Here, he punches his way through the various demons and minions of the beloved game. We guess it'll do now that we know he won't be jumping into Super Smash Bros.
Even though the honour of being the first FPS should arguably go id's Wolfenstein 3D from the year before, DOOM is what brought the genre to the mainstream. There's still a lot of love for DOOM. Only recently, we were blown away by a downloadable DLC that let you blast Margaret Thatcher with a shotgun. Thatcher's Techbase was an indie hit that reminded us why DOOM was so great. Let's see how far you get with DOOM on Twitter.
