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Let me tell you the story of a kid who got frustrated with a gaming situation, and instead of going on the 'net and finding cheat codes… he programmed his way out of the quandary! Nate Herman is a Harvard sophomore and in June he released the app Gameception, which provides a playing platform for Doom for iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touch. Although the app was mainly intended for iPhones, my kids play-tested Gameception's Doom module on our iPad, because we are iPhone-less. I also interviewed Nate to find out more about his experience and motivations in creating Gameception.
When you start up Gameception, you see the default game, Freedoom, but the app actually includes links to download several other games, such as the quirky and non-violent Chex Quest (yes, Chex cereal). Doom itself is a first-person shooter vs. zombies, serpent men, cyborgs, and demons. No human targets bleed but the player is shooting from a first-person perspective, and the player can die. There are many mods (modifications) for Doom that populate the world with characters and quirks from other fictional universes, such as Aliens, Star Wars, The X-Files, The Simpsons, Dragon Ball Z, Pokémon and Batman, and many, many more.
To be playable with Gameception, any mod must operate via PrBoom-compatible .WAD file: a form of compatible data file, allowing imports of a played game (including earned levels, users, etc.) or games distributed on the web using this format – prBoom-compatibly built .WAD ("Where's All the Data"). The app's Help explains what is compatible and the how you can import using Dropbox or iTunes.
I don’t play video games, but my college-age kids make up for my shortcomings in this area. They did the testing for this review. Although we don’t have any iPhones, they tested on an iPad. They had fun, giving high marks for authentic Doomness. They particularly liked the graphics and environment. My son said waiting in lines and riding the train would be more entertaining with Gameception on a phone. He suspected that the controls might be a little easier to use on a phone's keypad rather than the iPad. I was sitting near him during much of the testing and heard his typical threats and celebrations uttered towards the screen, so it definitely sounded like successful gaming.
Like many geek parents, we faced the prospect of offspring who went to college determined to create video games. Fortunately, ours had the revelatory college experience of discovering that video games are for playing and true academic love could lie elsewhere. On the other hand, Nate Herman started creating apps while still in high school; he starts his sophomore year in computer science at Harvard this fall. Gameception was released in the App Store in June 2012, at the end of his freshman year. He has several other apps available as well. I asked him a few questions about app development.
GM: Why did you decide to make Doom available as an iPhone app?
NH: I'm not a big video gamer but I saw my cousins playing Doom about 5 years ago, and then it was ported to the iPhone and I started to play but lots of mods [user-modified versions, often based on popular movies or TV shows] were missing from that. When Doom II arrived, that was even better! Basically, I wanted the mods, for myself and everyone else, on the phone, too. I started work about 2 years ago, and Gameception became available in June.
GM: What was the most challenging? Did you need much help?
NH: Just reading and understanding such a huge accumulation of code from a variety of user-coders. Mostly it was very well written but a lot of people, just programming for their own purposes, favored speed over comprehension so some of it was a little cryptic. Sometimes I just had to read a section over and over again before I figured out what it was supposed to do. My dad helped by making the buttons.
GM: Lots of geek parents have kids with similar interests or ambitions. What would you recommend for them?
NH: I never got to play with them, but I always wanted to mess around with Lego Mindstorms, these programmable robot kits. They're great for learning how to put things together. And for a start with programming, check out Scratch at MIT. Graphics programming, like OpenGL, is a challenging part of full-scale game programming, but you can start with one of the simplified languages like cocos2D.
GM: Do you balance all this intellectual accomplishment with some physical activity?
NH: Yes, I love rock climbing. I usually go about once week, alternating in the gym and outdoors. A few years ago my dad, sister, and I first went to the rock climbing gym; we liked it and kept on going. My dad and I got a membership and started climbing outside, too. My ideal climb is someplace like Yosemite with ambitious accessible climbs and beauty all around you.
GM: What's next for you?
NH: Well, before I return to Harvard I plan to release another app – one for creating programs on an iPhone.
Good luck to Nate and good luck to all the players trying to beat levels on games loaded into Gameception! Gameception is currently available from the App Store at a special sale price of 99 cents.
