5 Things Every DOOM Modder Needs – 4: Content Editors

*One of the most revolutionary things about the original DOOM was its customizability.

Built from the ground-up to be easily modified, DOOM (1993) and DOOM II may not have created the PC modding scene, but they sure kicked it into high gear, and to this day, DOOM is one of the most frequently and passionately modded games. Looking to dip your toe into that vast ocean? Here’s something you’ll need to get started.*

4: Content Editors

If you want to really get your hands dirty with modding the game top-to-bottom, you’re going to need tools beyond a map editor. If you’re introducing new monsters, weapons or items, for example, you’ll need visual representations of those things.

For that you’ll want a graphic design and editing program like Photoshop or GIMP – the latter being an open-source alternative to Photoshop – to create, adjust, resize and/or otherwise edit your textures and sprites. (If you expect to create a lot of creatures and items from scratch, you might also want a tool that focuses more on creating pixel art, like GraphicsGale.)

Perhaps you want to add new sound effects and/or music? If you have the time and skill to create your own, chances are you already have the tools you need for that – but if you want to find premade sound effects, it’s hard to go wrong with Freesound, a database of Creative Commons-licensed sound effects and the Free Music Archive is a similar site for music tracks.

Regardless of how deep you want to go, though, you’re going to want software to corral your maps, images, sounds and everything else into an actually playable format. For that, SLADE3 is the go-to resource. While this software includes some basic map- and image-editing tools, its real strength is in getting all the different elements of a DOOM mod working together.