Why is ZDOOM called "Z"DOOM?

[Anonymous]

JDOOM has the J because Jaakko made it, but what does the Z stand for? Sorry just curious.

[Chilvence]

I like to imagine it as Zen and the art of Doom

Thats totally made up though.

[SargeBaldy]

<Nanami> ZDoom, it's as far from Doom as you can get.

[Chilvence]

Why for you say this?

[Cyb]

maybe randy modeled zdoom with with the Z specification language (pronounced 'zed', no matter what country you live in) before he coded everything...

[Kappes Buur]

.
http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=290
.

[HotWax]

maybe randy modeled zdoom with with the Z specification language (pronounced 'zed', no matter what country you live in) before he coded everything...

Um... No, Z is pronounced "Zee" in several countries, whatever you'd like to believe. Embrace differences.

To answer the original question, Randy has never come forward and said why ZDoom is called that. I don't think the Z stands for anything in particular, I think he chose it just because it sounded cool and was something different. But, like I said, he's silent on the matter, so who knows...

[Graf Zahl]

<Nanami> ZDoom, it's as far from Doom as you can get.

Not true! EDGE is much further from the original (but then, of the word Doom only a 'D' remains) I prefer a source port that honestly tells me what game it is so ZDoom is definitely much better.

[SargeBaldy]

well at the time we were talking about how randy planned to drop bsp entirely and add a true 3d environment to zdoom. which might indeed make it the least doomish doom port.. with the exception of vavoom of course :P zdoom is pretty up there already though, if you think about it zdoom mapping is really a more advanced form of hexen mapping and not doom.

[Graf Zahl]

The only real difference between Doom and Hexen mapping is that Hexen's format offers a lot more flexibility. It's more like Doom with 1000000 linedef types. 90% of it is the same. Scripting is another matter but then, every *real* Doom source port does include some form of scripting. I can't think of a single one that doesn't have it or at least doesn't have it planned in some way.

[Hirogen2]

Hm "Doom" ports have risen from Doom and Hexen source... but none did from Heretic?
How could you drop BSP? Even modern games still have it, and you certainly need it if you do not want to get a slowdown.

[Graf Zahl]

The only reason that there is no port derived from Heretic is that its code didn't bring sufficient enhancements. It was normally easier to incorporate the added features in the existing Doom code. The same is true for Hexen. ZDoom, for example, was based on the original Doom source and the Hexen stuff was added afterwards. Much of it even before Hexen's source was released. Of course Randy added a lot of Hexen code later.

AFAIK Zdoom remains the only port that supports most of Hexen's features in Doom mode. Ports like Doomsday and Vavoom don't count because they strictly separate the games from each other

[Enjay]

Z because it adds more support for stuff in the Z axis?

[Ty Halderman]

maybe randy modeled zdoom with with the Z specification language (pronounced 'zed', no matter what country you live in) before he coded everything...

Um... No, Z is pronounced "Zee" in several countries, whatever you'd like to believe. Embrace differences.

The Zed (spelled "Z") specification language is pronounced Zed, though. It's not about how you pronounce the letter Zed is spelled with, but how you spell the name of the language
http://dict.die.net/z/

[Doom]

Sophisticated Phonetics, that would be my bet.

There's a load of apps out there showing "Z", "X" or even "J". This is usually used as a symbol of "enhancement" which suggests a difference between the original and the modified app. "Z" and "X" are 2 of the latest in the abc so it could be taken as something "ultimate" too.

Dunno...