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| New Doom Interviews |
| Vavoom Interview | By Jason 'FACE.UK' Sloan |
Page 1 of 1
8/25/01 - We hope you will enjoy our interview with Janis Legzdinish, who puts the Vavoom in Doom! The Vavoom engine is not only a 3-D source port enhancement for Doom, but also makes Doom II, Heretic and Hexen all purr like a kitty and look twice as sweet. So, with your collective interest no doubt properly tweaked, read on gentle Doomer, for Janis' answers to our questions are definitely worth your rapt attention...
What was it that made you decide to make Vavoom?
I knew that Doom sources are available, but only in September of 1999 I decided to look at them. I downloaded original sources and also sources of some other ports (DosDoom, Doom Legacy and Boom) and started to play with them. It was purely educational and also because I love programming. And this playing turned out into what Vavoom is now.
Why is it called Vavoom?
When I started to play with Doom sources, I called it jlDoom. Later I got Heretic and Hexen sources and started to merge them. Then I felt that I need a name for all this and Vavoom seemed to be the best choice, possibly because, like Boom, Vavoom also sounds similar to Doom. The source of the title itself is music. I'm a techno fan and especially I love trance and goa-trance. And one of my favourite artists is Man With No Name, and one of his tracks is called "Vavoom". And with this Vavoom also haves it's own song.
What was the first thing you wanted to make Vavoom do that the original Doom/DoomII could not?
Like most of ports, the first things that I implemented was higher resolutions, translucency and freelook.
 What is going to be the next big addition to Vavoom?
For the next version the biggest addition that I have implemented is support for md2 models. After this version I plan to do another big change - make VavoomC scripting language object-oriented. I'm also thinking about implementing bots, but I want to do this in object-oriented enviroment.
Have you ever made any Heretic/Hexen/Doom levels yourself?
Yes, before Vavoom I created some levels, but only one I can call finished. Vavoom demo levels also are my own creation. I also started a new level, but I don't know when it will be finished.
If you have when do we get to see them?
Currently only Vavoom demo levels are available. When I will find time, I will release some other levels.
Do you look at other Doom/heretic/Hexen ports and sometimes think "I wish I had thought of that"?
Yes, there are multiple features, that I saw in other ports and then implemented them in Vavoom. I also see what they are doing wrong and I'm trying to do this right. For example client/server. When I saw how csDoom does this, I had a feeling that author with term client/server understands possibility to join a game in progress. And when I implemented client/server in Vavoom, I implemented it in it's purest form. And that's why in Vavoom you will never see the miracles that csDoom haves.
 Do you think that making so many changes to the original Doom engine destroys the feeling of the original?
Of course after so many changes it's a completely different engine with completely different feeling. Maby someone will not like that feeling, but in Vavoom I'm making changes like I want them to be. And I love the feel of Quake, Half-Life e.t.c., and having something of that in Doom/Heretic/Hexen is great.
What features would you like Vavoom to have when you do finally finish programming on it?
Vavoom is the most featured source port, but there still are some features, that I want to have. First I want to make VavoomC scripting language object-oriented, something similar to UnrealScript. Also some of the existing features needs impreovement - better client/server, more optimized rendering. Maby with time some other ideas will pop up.
What were the hardest and the easiest changes in coding the Vavoom port?
Implementing a 3D software engine wasn't hard, but - it was slow. And making it run fast was one of the hardest things. But 3D engine was worth it, because with it and vector math 3D floors were wery easy to implement (I realy didn't thougt that it will be so easy).
 When did you first start Programming?
It was at school when it got it's first computers. A friend of mine Khrishjans introduced me into computers (big thanks to him for this) and since then I'm programming. I don't remember exactly when it was, somewhere at the beginning of nineties.
What was your first computer and what are the specs of your current machine?
When I started programming, our school had russian computers called "BK-0010" ;-). Currently I'm still working on Celeron 300MHz with 32Mb RAM and Creative Labs Sound Blaster AudioPCI 64V. I used to have S3 Trio3D, but it's now replaced with GeForce2. Mostly I'm working in Windows'98 SE, but I also have SuSE LINUX 6.2 which needs an upgrade, because it doesn't support GeForce2 and drivers are only for SuSE LINUX 7.x.
Do you think that once the New Doom arrives that interst in the first two will just dissapear?
No, Doom is something special, and thanks to it's easy modifiability and source ports it will live for a long time. And also there's a lots of people who simply doesn't have a hardware to run New Doom.
If the source for the New Doom gets released do you think you will start Vavoom II?
One of the main reasons why I'm still working on Vavoom is that there are a plenty of things that can be done. And if then there will be something cool to implement and I will have time for this, then - why not.
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