doom
The single-player intermission screen. Here,  has just completed  in the  style. This intermission screen is also used in .

The single-player intermission screen. Here, Drew "stx-Vile" DeVore has just completed MAP18: Neurosphere in the UV Tyson style. This intermission screen is also used in The Plutonia Experiment.

A  intermission screen. The brown player has won by recording the most  (100).

A deathmatch intermission screen. The brown player has won by recording the most frags (100).

The final phase of the intermission screen following . Four blood splats means four levels completed.

The final phase of the intermission screen following E3M4: House of Pain. Four blood splats means four levels completed.

 's intermission screen.

Doom v0.5's intermission screen.

The intermission screen is displayed between levels in the Doom series (and also in Heretic). It looks different in each level set, but has the same basic elements:

  1. Name of the level just completed.
  2. Percentage of kills made in the level.
  3. Percentage of items collected in the level.
  4. Percentage of secrets found in the level.
  5. Time taken to finish the level.
  6. Par time to finish the level.

Scoring details in Doom

Variations

In the first three episodes of Doom, while the scores are displayed, a perspective of the episode is shown, with a building (or, in episode III, possibly a terrain feature) representing each level. A press of the USE or ATTACK key (<space> or <Ctrl> by default) causes the following changes:

  1. The shotgun-cock sound is played.
  2. The message "<level name> FINISHED" is replaced with "ENTERING <new level name>".
  3. A blood splat is placed over each completed level.
  4. A blinking arrow (with the legend YOU ARE HERE) is shown at the level being entered.
  5. After a four-second delay, the player automatically enters the next level via a screen melt.

Note that if USE is pressed to cancel the delay between steps 4 and 5, the marine will execute that command upon entering the new level, which may have unwelcome consequences should that level happen to present a switch or door directly in front of the start point.

Thy Flesh Consumed (the fourth episode of The Ultimate Doom), Doom II, Final Doom, and the final two episodes of Heretic do not display an episode perspective during the intermission, only a background image, excluding Doom95's erroneous intermissions for Thy Flesh Consumed (see the trivia section below). Pressing a key omits changes 3 and 4 listed above and enters the next level after a much shorter delay (ten tics, about a quarter of a second).

Doom II and Final Doom occasionally contain textual interludes between the intermission screen of one level and the start of the next. Pressing a key interrupts the text, after a slight delay, and play proceeds to the next level.

In (The Ultimate) Doom, the final level of each episode generates no intermission screen. (This has sometimes caused adjudication problems for Compet-n submissions.) Doom II-based games do display intermission screens after MAP30, and some source ports (such as PrBoom) also include them at the end of each Doom episode.

Deathmatch games in the Doom series omit most of the items in the above list, displaying only the map name and the number of times each player has been fragged by each player (including themselves).

The intermission screen in Heretic resembles that of Doom in most respects, and differ mainly in cosmetic details. Unlike Doom, though, rather than percentages, the actual number of kills, items, and secrets are shown as a fraction (like, for example, 95/117 kills). Also, certain monsters in Heretic drop items which count toward the item count, causing a higher-than-normal amount of items gained. The three original episodes have screenshots showing a map of the area Corvus is fighting through, with crosses rather than bullet holes showing completed levels.

Chainsaw sound effect

If the player's selected weapon is the chainsaw, the chainsaw is heard revving up when the level starts. This effect is not actually deliberately coded into the game; it is a natural consequence of the implementation of the screen melt effect.

The chainsaw "rev up" sound (DSSAWUP) is played when the player switches weapons to the chainsaw. Normally it is not played in its entirety, as the sound is cut off by the normal sound effect made by the chainsaw while selected (DSSAWIDL). When the screen melt effect occurs, the current screen (showing the intermission screen) is saved to an internal buffer; the first tic of the new level is then run and the player's view rendered. The game is then paused while the intermission screen "melts" into the level view.

While the screen melt effect runs, the sound code continues to play sound effects. When the first tic of the level is run in order to render the screen for the melt effect, the chainsaw "rev up" sound is played. The pause due to the screen melt then gives sufficient time for the sound effect to play in its entirety.

A similar effect can be demonstrated by switching weapons to the chainsaw from any other weapon, and immediately pausing the game.

Music

In the original Doom/The Ultimate Doom, the music used for the intermission screen (D_INTER) is shared with E2M3 (D_E2M3).

Doom II has its own "unique" intermission screen music (D_DM2INT), which is also used for the intermission in The Plutonia Experiment.

TNT: Evilution shares its intermission music with its MAP31 (D_EVIL).

Trivia

See also