20 years of GZDoom!

[R4L]

Today marks the 20 year anniversary of GZDoom!

Over GZDoom's lifespan I have seen so many projects that made my jaw drop and say, "this is *Doom*?". The same game I used to play on a crusty old Compaq PC? Growing up in the 90s and 2000s I used to make "games" with Adventure Game Studio and one of the coolest things for me was seeing projects that weren't actually adventure games. For example, I remember a top-down action RPG similar to Secret of Mana that was really impressive. Another person had made a top-down 2D golf game reminicent of the NES golf games I used to play and I had the same thoughts then that I do now: *How is this possible?!*

For me, that is the greatest strength about GZDoom: seeing others push *what is possible* in this engine. Playing Golden Souls 1 and 2 by Batandy and admiring the amazing maps, or playing Doom 64: Retribution by Nevander and remarking at how close it was to Doom 64's fantastic atmosphere while offering optional upgrades, or maybe playing Lithium by Marrub and seeing the sheer scale of the gameplay options and the cool menus to manage upgrades. Then something like myhouse.wad by Veddge comes along and blows me away like its the first time again.

Seeing the crazy amount of work modders put into their projects, the creative directions... then finally playing them to experience what they come up with has changed how I play Doom forever. I am still blown away at the work some of ya'll post here and on the forums and it inspires me to pick up my own mods and dust them off once in a while to see if I can make something even remotely as good.

I'm excited for GZDoom 5.0 and what lies ahead. What are some of your favorite GZDoom mods or experiences with GZDoom over the years?

[Someonewhoplaysdoom]

Damm, reading this is so beautiful, Im really glad I just checked this page today.

Theres sooo much I enjoyed from the GZDoom Community that It would take me just too much time, but definitely the Ashes saga, La Tailor Girl, the Captain J works, Scavvers Paradise and Dusted Pandemonia have become my favorite mods of all time, wish some of them had still some updates honestly. And also I have found extremely good megawads maps here that are hella worth it.

[Nash]

Was there from the beginning. We all flocked to the DRDTeam forum where Graf posted the earliest GZDoom builds for us to try. Dynamic lights, true color and fast hardware rendering with OpenGL totally blew my mind.

[Enjay]

Twenty years.
TWENTY YEARS!

Wow. I had no idea it had been that long. I suppose it makes sense when I think about it but two decades... it just doesn't seem to have been as long as that.

Many, many happy years spent playing and modding for GZDoom (and of course ZDoom before that). I am genuinely grateful to everyone who has made this source port possible and what it is today. It has been my hobby for such a long time and been a huge part of my life.

These forums (plus the old notgod site) have been a great part of fuelling my hobby. Even though it's less busy than it was, there is still a lot going on and there are always people willing to help, listen to suggestions and share their work.

I've had so much fun, and learned so much too. I still play and edit most days and it's because of this source port. I'm not sure that any other would have held my attention in that way. It's a combination of the quality of the source port and its features plus the equally high quality nature of the people involved with it that makes it so valuable to me.

Obviously huge thanks go out to Randy/Randi/Marissa (not sure which name is current, sorry) for kicking everything off and making ZDoom the wonderful, well-featured, stable port that allowed it to evolve into GZDoom (plus continuing to host the site) and of course Graf's massive effort in bringing the OpenGL renderer to ZDoom and continuing to take development to higher and higher levels. And in recent years, all the contributions from other developers. GZDoom is just so feature rich because of the valuable, and valued, contributions by so many people these days. Please don't take a lack of a name check as any kind of a snub.

Thank you all.

[Valherran]

Damn, time flies. I was there in the beginning too, but didn't create an account till way later. It's crazy looking back on how much Doom has evolved since then.

[Tormentor667]

We are getting old

[Dr_Cosmobyte]

I've just recently (two months ago or so) completed 10 years since i first joined this forum, and decided to take a brief hiatus after 30 mods and not much horizons to walk to. When i saw this today i spent some time thinking "it can't be really this much time". But it was.

I'm still amazed that i could pull off something in my life by being a part of this, somehow.

Here's to more 20 years. I hope to be here again, even if as a visitor.

[Proydoha]

I think I've joined the forums at around GZDoom v3.2.5 to ask a question about ACS. Since then interacting with engine and community around it built confidence in me that allowed me to shoot for a job way outside my comfort zone and triple my income. I don't have any big releases to my name but I've participated here and there a little. I can confidently say that my life would be so much worse without GZDoom Community.

[Ihavequestions]

Thank you guys for all those happy years!

And @Enjay, the name's Marisa.

[Enjay]

And @Enjay, the name's Marisa.

Thanks, I thought it was, but I think they are "currently" using randi on the forum, so I wasn't sure.

[scalliano]

Bloody hell, has it really been that long?