EDGE

EDGE (Enhanced Doom Gaming Engine) is a collaborative Open Source project based upon the Doom source code. EDGE derived from an earlier project called DOSDOOM. The latest version of EDGE is 1.29 Release Canidate 1, released on March 14, 2005.

The most attractive feature of EDGE is its DDF system. DDF describes all game behaviour inside text files external to the executable file. As a result, it is popular among modders who use the extensibility to add many new weapons and features with many fewer of the limits present in other source ports. With DDF, for example, it is possible to create monsters which can possess multiple missile and melee attacks, or create custom pain and death states for monsters when hit by specific weapons or projectiles.

EDGE includes ports to many popular Operating Systems, including MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux, BeOS and Mac OS X. It has both software-rendered and OpenGL hardware-accelerated versions, however as of 1.29 Beta 1 and beyond, it no longer updates support for Software mode, as the team decided that working on two separate versions of the same port was too time consuming.

The current EDGE teams consists of Andrew Apted and Andy "darkknight" Baker as the primary developers, and Marc A. "Fanatic" Pullen and Luke "lobo_eire" Brennan as Distributors/Promoters.

Features

 * Support for up to as many as 64 defined weapons at once
 * 16 Ammo types: BULLETS, SHELLS, ROCKETS, CELLS, and AMMO5 to AMMO16.
 * Extrafloors feature allows modders to create submergable liquids, Room-over-Room, or catwalks, as well as vertically moving platforms not embedded into the floor.
 * Four armor types: GREEN(33% Reduction), BLUE(50% Reduction), YELLOW(75% Reduction) and RED(90% Reduction)
 * GL Nodes allow better 3D Rendering on existing Doom levels and newer levels
 * Weapons can have Secondary Attacks, or can be even used as healing items.
 * Support for MUS, MIDI, CD and Ogg Vorbis tracks in game
 * DDF files allow editing of several features, such as monsters, attacks, levels, and more
 * Sprites can have 16 angles, 1, 9, 2, A, 3, B, 4, C, 5, D, 6, E, 7, F, 8, and G.

Popular Add-ons
EDGE also brings its own unique set of popular add-ons to the Doom community. Although some dislike EDGE for its perceived instability, the following mods have in one way or another made their mark in the community.


 * Don's Challenge - Created by Cory Whittle, Don's Challenge is a 3-episode modification based around the supernatural adventures of Don P. Tello, a veteran cop who is summoned into Hell by Mortis, the incarnation of Death, to challenge thousands of hellspawned creatures, for his soul to be deemed worthy by her as a vessel. At the end of episode one, Don transforms Mortis into a cat. However, her brother Fate summons Mortis to Hell and takes Don with her. In the third episode, Don and Mortis return to Earth, only to find it overrun by Demons, and Don's own family dead. Don and Mortis attempt to take vengeance for their deaths. This mod was considered popular due to the use of monsters, new weapons, and levels. One weapon (cigarettes) could even be used to heal the player. Another weapon (Booze) can be used to increase armor value, but takes away a small portion of health as well. As of now, only one part is fully released, and Part 2 is supposedly on the way.
 * Immoral Conduct - Created by Cory Whittle, Immoral Conduct is a weapons modification for both EDGE and ZDoom (although the ZDoom version does not have as many features as its EDGE counterpart). The EDGE version contains the following: Knife, .45 Pistols, Stock 12g Pump Shotgun, Customized Pump Shotgun (fires 'slasher rounds'), 12g Hand Cannon, 9mm Uzi SMG, Fragment Hand Grenades, 40mm Grenade/Tear Gas Gun, Assault Rifle with M203, Infantry Rifle with Bayonet, Minigun, 12g Sawed-off Shotgun, Beretta 9mm Pistol, Chrome Magnum Revolver, Sentry Turret Kit(summoned helper turrets to attack enemies), Gas-Powered Chainsaw, Remote/Proximity Satchel Charges, and Marking/Visiblity Flares. New items included a 50% medikit, and Nightvision goggles. New helper monsters included the Marine Corporal and Marine Private. Monsters also have more modifications; for example, the Baron of Hell bloodsplats are green, and shells are ejected. It is a partial conversion, sometimes mistaken as a total conversion, and in Whittle's words, "With my stuff, you have all the millions of user made Doom and Doom II levels at your disposal to be enhanced with new weapons and items."


 * Covert Ops - an EDGE version of Twilight Warrior. It has many features, such as new weapons and interesting scripts.


 * QDoom (Quake Doom) - This modification uses graphics and enemies from Quake.


 * EBDoom (Earthbound Doom) - Created by Baron of Sigma, this is one of the modifications that people have mixed opinions on as of now. It is not a completed game, and many consider it more of a "monsters modification" since roughly 100+ different species of monsters exist, most of them imported and emulated from Heretic, Hexen, Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, and even a couple out of Blood, and 'evolved' versions of existing game monsters, like Chainsaw Zombies, Gold Liches, or Elder Mancubi. The game also appears to use a near perfect emulation of the Sigil from Strife as an easter egg weapon. In addition, the player runs upon an HP system instead of a % health system, and can take much more damage than the common version of Doomguy. There are also several 'helper' characters based on the heroes of many of the Doom-engine games, including Doomguy, Corvus, and the player classes in Hexen. The bosses are also among the few in many modifications to have over 50,000 HP depending on the boss, and some are believed to reach 700,000 or more HP. The weapons are more mystic and energy based, with few traditional Doom-style weapons, and like Don's Challenge, a healing weapon, and even a barrier-like weapon exist. Another unique feature in EBDoom is that all melee attacks used by either the player or other monsters/allies can inflict "critical hits" up to 4x damage at times, much akin to RPGs. Despite the community's mixed opinions of the mod, it is used often as a resource wad by other modders who want to quickly import foreign monsters into their own mods, as the author appears to not mind this. The mod has not been updated in almost a full year. It is also one of the three games in the Doom community to use Hissy as a central plot player, and makes many references to another EDGE mod known as Cacodemon Squad.