Doom Eternal Mod
Concept
I started this project with the goal of learning a new tool and working within an existing system. This allowed me to focus more on the design itself rather than setting up enemy behaviors from scratch. My primary focus was on combat design, and I used the Encounter Manager to create a dynamic and well-paced encounter.
2025
Solo project
1 week
Playthrough of Encounter
Key Highlight - Encounter Manager
Learning the Tool: Experimented in the editor to understand the full capabilities of the Encounter Manager.
Pacing: Designed enemy spawns to create a well-paced encounter, ensuring that enemies complemented each other’s abilities and challenges.
Iteration: Repeatedly tested the combat to evaluate enemy interactions and refine balancing.
Learning idStudio
Unlike something like Unreal Engine, idStudio(released six months ago) has very little documentation or tutorials. Because of this, I had to rely heavily on trial and error. Even the simplest tasks sometimes took hours to figure out.
To structure my learning, I made a list of key features needed for my encounter:
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Level blockout
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Orchestrated enemy spawns
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Lockable doors
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Adaptive music
I tackled each element in isolation, and once I felt comfortable with the systems, I began integrating them into a full encounter.
Encounter Design
After playing and studying how the combat unfolds in the game, I began writing down how I wanted the encounter to play out. Since I had already tested the system, I was now familiar with some of its available features. For example, I could maintain a fixed number of a specific enemy type and use encounter gates that only open when certain conditions are met.
Guiding Principles:
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Enemy types spawned together should complement each other.
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Boss enemies should have distinct phases.
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The encounter should ramp up in intensity over time.
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No enemy should ever be entirely alone.
Designing the Arena
Since encounter design is often closely tied to level design, I wanted to create a layout that complemented the flow of combat. My goal was to ensure that the level never hindered movement or clashed with the fast-paced playstyle that DOOM is known for.
I designed a simple arena inspired by the game's levels, focusing on movement and choice. Players should always be able to keep moving and have at least two viable paths available at any given moment.
Reflections
This project was a valuable learning experience, both in using a new engine and working within an existing game. It gave me hands-on experience in adapting my design to fit within a larger project.
A major challenge was figuring out how to use the engine. As with any new tool, the learning curve was steep, but the reward of becoming proficient made it worthwhile.
This was my first time creating a mod for an existing game, and I’ll definitely continue doing it as a hobby. Not only was it fun, but it’s also a great way to stay familiar with different tools and practice designing for games with unique challenges. After this project, I have a much deeper understanding of how Doom Eternal structures its combat encounters, from enemy roles to spawn systems and level design.