DoomDash – launcher for a quick start

[skorphil]

Screenshot 2025-12-19 at 13.46.21.jpg

At the moment I built a tiny dirty prototype which demonstrates only on-boarding scenario and you can play freedoom with it:
Youtube demo (30s)
Download(win + mac)

About
Hi, I'm thinking to build a doom launcher. But I do not want to build it solo, because classic doom landscape is about community-driven projects. I’d like to put my ideas to the test within the community and i'm looking for buddies, who find this project worthy. I'm in need of feedback, suggestions and contributions.

Proposal
DoomDash(name is not final, but has a rationale) is a launcher, inspired by SSGL and GZDeck launchers. It's goal is to provide entertaining vibe and be accessible to the players who are new to "wad territory".

Relation with other launchers
I see the majority of launchers out there built around the idea of "configuring things". And I believe, they have steep learning curve for newbies. Also I think they lost the vibe of entertainment, which is one of the core value for gaming project. There are SSGL and GZDeck launchers, which I like and which are focused on ease-of-use and gaming vibe. But they are old and abandoned. I see my idea as a refined continuation of them. Also I want to mention arachnotron launcher which has nice retro visuals.

Deep dive
If you want to know more, you can check those:
- My initial idea description in more detail (it's a bit outdated) https://gist.github.com/skorphil/51e6ea ... 7ff74c8c92
- Tech stack https://github.com/doomdash/doomdash/wi ... tech-stack
- My thoughts on UX principles for this project and how they were followed in a prototype https://github.com/doomdash/doomdash/wi ... s-proposal


I’d love to hear your thoughts, as I think your input is essential to getting this right.

[Enjay]

Looks like a nice clear, clean and attractive interface. It'll be interesting to see how it comes along.

I tried to add a screenshot, but forum keeps telling me that even 400px image is too large. You can see screenshot on github page

You are managing to find all the forum restrictions aren't you?
The forum has very small attachment limits - a deliberate decision.
Also. much like the other restrictions, some users took advantage of the system to post really large images (which the forum couldn't handle elegantly) so as well as an attachment limit, there is also a dimensions limit for linked images.

If people want to post pictures, they usually host them somewhere that can create thumbnails, and then link to them that way.
The imgur code on the forum allows you to link to auto-create thumbnails from images uploaded to imgur. However, we have a lot of users in the UK (me included) and imgur's owners have decided that rather than give the UK government reassurances about what they do with user's data, they have just banned any users with UK ip addresses from seeing any content on imgur.
An alternative I've been using since that happened is https://imgbb.com/ which allows you to upload images and then give you a choice of linking codes, including thumbnailed versions.

If you have access to the img tags (I don't recall if everyone does) then you can link to any image that is hosted elsewhere, but please keep it to a sensible size of you do that.

[skorphil]

If you have access to the img tags (I don't recall if everyone does)

I dont have one And imgur tag not showing image - only link. It's too complicated for me - i will probably try imgbb later. I guess if no img, then [imgur] doesn't work either

[Enjay]

I dont have one

That's interesting. Normally if I edit a post, I have access to the same tags as the user who made the post. If I press edit on your post, I have the img tag button. It looks like this:

[skorphil]

I dont have one

That's interesting. Normally if I edit a post, I have access to the same tags as the user who made the post. If I press edit on your post, I have the img tag button. It looks like this:

IDK. I have

Code: Select all

BBCode is ON
[img is OFF
[url] is ON
Smilies are ON

and error

Code: Select all

You cannot use certain BBCodes: [img.

[Enjay]

Have you read the image posting guidelines? Until you do that, you can't use the img tags.

viewtopic.php?t=60595

[skorphil]

Have you read the image posting guidelines? Until you do that, you can't use the img tags.

viewtopic.php?t=60595

Ok, I became certified img user and somehow managed to add image with attachment tag. I guess it will do ) .png is too large. Needed to convert to jpg. Its overengineered

[Enjay]

Its overengineered

Not so much over engineered as a very tight attachment limit for bandwidth reasons. The expectation is that images will be usually hosted elsewhere and linked.

[skorphil]

Looks like a nice clear, clean and attractive interface. It'll be interesting to see how it comes along.

Among all those discussions about forum limits i overlooked your feedback

Thank you for support! At the moment I guess I will wait if idea will get any traction and responses. I have only a few conversations here and there and still not sure if it worth it. If i will build it alone without critique I would probably end up with another project no one needs