Well, it was inevitable really. Here I sit, a day before Hytale’s early access release, to tell you that a modder has already managed to get a blocky version of classic Doom running in it.
Add it to the list of weird places to play the shooter, which already included (inhales) human test, lawnmower, electric toothbrush, tractor, the bad social media place, pregancy test, and gut bacteria.
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According to modder Tr7zw, getting a version of Vanilla Mocha Doom running in Hytale before it’s even out took two or three relatively sleepless nights of work. For that sacrifice, their character can stand in the sky above the landscape and Doom away on a monitor made of blocks.
As with a lot of the more wacky places to play Doom, I’m not sure it’s one I’d pick for an extended shooty run, since its visuals do a bit of a number on your eyes at times. Its creator’s endorsement comes with some extra caveats, with them noting: “[It] controls a bit like a broken keyboard, the code doesn’t follow best practice at all, but it works enough to play the game somewhat.” That said, as weird Doom ports always are, it’s undeniably impressive.
This showcase has Doom running on an 80×60 block screen at 20 frames per second, with Tr7zw explaining that the Doom port runs in its own thread, generating a screenshot per frame. “I take the screenshot, downsample it to a size Hytale can handle 20 times per second to place, convert it to blocks with the nearest colour, place them,” the modder continued. “And the other way, check for player movement/item interactions to provide input into the engine. Basically the same way logic-wise as you would do it in Minecraft. Just that the code works a lot [differently].”
They’re hardly the only modder set loose in Hytale to show its modding potential ahead of early access release. Thus far, Hypixel co-founder Simon Collins-Laflamme and co have shown off in-house creations which let you command a skeleton army, be followed by a floating lantern, and build a claw-based factory conveyor belt. That’s in addition to one of team’s devs putting togther a prototype of a custom side-scrolling adventure using Hytale’s toolset.
With mod site CurseForge set to support Hytale works from day one and Collins-Laflamme having already announced plans to deliver an in-game mod browser at some point down the line, it’s looking like there’ll at least be the means for the game to hit the sorts of modding heights enjoyed by Minecraft over the years. That’s assuming mod-makers settle in for the long run and don’t run into too many technical hurdles.