Amsterdoom

Developer	Daviles Games B.V.
Publisher	Daviles Games B.V.
Platforms	PC (Microsoft Windows)
Date	2000
Links	Wikipedia MobyGames

AmsterDoom is a first person shooter developed by Davilex and published on March 14th, 2000. Davilex was a developer of video games, computer games and computer software from the Netherlands. The game is set in the city of Amsterdam, which has been invaded by alien creatures. It takes place in several well known locations like the central station, red light district and Schiphol Airport. The game was only released officially in the Netherlands.

The concept of the game that guided its design and development was described by the lead technical director of the game:

• Localized for the Dutch market: recognizable locations and ingredients from Amsterdam
• No gore (no blood & limbs flying)
• Simple entry-level gameplay for casual, non-hardcore gamers.
• Interesting opponents (Grøbbers) with enough marketing potential.

The game was developed for over a year. It used a modified Genesis3D engine, an existing open 3d engine that could also be licensed for commercial usage. It also used a game engine that was developed in house.

Alternative box art

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  Big box version with sticker attached to it stating the lowered retail price for the game. Also describes the game more, presumably to make it more appealable to its intended audience. Unknown when this version started retailing.

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  Box with new name and artwork for the renamed version of the game, now called Amsterdam Monster Madness. Presumed to have started using this name and art around October of 2001.

Manual

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  Manual. Viewable in full here

News

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  Article that discusses a computer game that caused some controversy, and Amsterdoom is brought up as an example case.

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  News article describing controversy about a new upcoming game called AmsterDoom, where the writer states that you can supposedly kill parking attendants in a virtual re-creation of Amsterdam

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  Commentary about AmsterDoom and the controversy that happened in the press in the weeks before release. Places the game in a more realistic context of what actually happens in the game, and the developers intent.

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  Announcement of the availability of several AmsterDoom related music tracks that could be downloaded from the game's website. Also mentions an upcoming version of the game made for the German market.

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  Article from Webwereld discussing the launch of the game, the intentions of its creator behind the game and the decision to not include multiplayer game play modes.

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  Article from CTW Benelux (april 1999), discussing the upcoming game AmsterDoom. Mentions a november 1999 launch date which was not met, and some content that did not end up in the finale game.

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  Article from CTW Benelux (may 1999), interviewing some of the founders of Davilex. Mention of AmsterDoom's intended strategy, and arguments they will use against ideas that this game could incite violence.

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  Article from CTW Benelux (january 2000). An overview of upcoming Davilex titles, including AmsterDoom

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  Information in CTW Benelux (march 2000) about the upcoming release of AmsterDoom and the marketing that will be done surrounding the game.

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  Article from CTW Benelux (march 2000) about the parking attendant controversy. Mentions that the parking attendants are angry about being used as a marketing tool by Davilex.

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  Article from CTW Benelux (may 2000) about violence in commercial video games. Information about the impact of the parking attendant controversy on sales from Davilex.

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  Article from DTN (april 2000) about retail and in store marketing of games. Shows AmsterDoom POS materials and the game in a store.

Interviews

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  Interview with Ellen van Meerendonk, at that time marketing manager Games at Davilex, published in November of 2002. Goes into the retail performance of the game and the failure of the game to reach its intended mass market audience instead of hardcore gamers. Also states that this was the driving force behind the decision to change the name of the game to Amsterdam Monster Madness. Also mentions that no sequels of this type of game are to be expected.

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  Interview with Davilex. Includes details about a concept, Amsterdam IRT, that was abandoned but led into the development of AmsterDoom.

• Podcast: BeeldBreak Podcast #18 - Milan Pollé over Davilex, RedCat en A2 Racer Interview with Milan Pollé, who was a graphical artist for AmsterDoom. In the interview the controversy regarding parking attendants is mentioned. According to Pollé the monsters that wore parking attendants outfits were put into the game two weeks before development was completed. Pollé states that the reason the parking attendants were put in as an enemy was because nobody likes parking attendants and it would be fun to shoot them.

• Interview with Milan Pollé Interview with Milan Pollé with tweakers.net, who was a graphical artist for AmsterDoom. Pollé talks about the development of AmsterDoom and the parking attendant controversy. Pollé made the parking attendant model

Reviews

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  Review in PC Gamer UK #84. Surprisingly, because the game was not officially released outside of the Netherlands.

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  Review in Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant, March 2000

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  Review by newspaper Trouw discussing the game and has reactions from the department of Amsterdam concerning parking attendants and the Rijksmuseum, which is one of the locations used in the game, March 2000

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  Review in Power Unlimited, a multi-format games magazine from the Netherlands. Year 8, number 5, may 2000.

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  Review in Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, 8 March 2000.

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  Review in Belgian newspaper De Morgen, 6 March 2000.

• Gamersnet.nl review from May 2000
• Gamers.nl review from March 2000, including comments from readers and a developer of the game
• Game Place website review from March 2000
• Gamez.nl review from March 2000
• Gamesen.nl review from March 2000
• Gamelife.nl review from 2000
• Gamermagazine.com review from 2000
• Classicgaming.nl review from 2002. Incorrectly states that the game uses the Quake 2 engine
• Review from November 2020 in the retro shooter focused publication E1M1, issue #2. Publication still in circulation.

Television

• Program: NOVA. Broadcast date: February 29, 2000

Item in the news program NOVA with interviews discussing the slight uproar at the idea that a player would be able to shoot parking attendants in the game. Interviews include the CEO of creator Davilex and a parking attendant.

• Program: Middag Editie. Broadcast date: 1st of March 2000

Item in the afternoon program Middag Editie with interviews discussing the slight uproar at the idea that a player would be able to shoot parking attendants in the game.

• TV commercial

TV commercial of the game. Unknown broadcast period.

• Program: Space-bar. Broadcast date: 16-04-2000 Includes an interview with David Brons, one of the Davilex founders. Includes footage from the development of AmsterDoom.

Technical information

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  Paper called "Ray tracing as the future of computer games" by Juri A. Oudshoorn. Oudshoorn was one of the programmers of the game. Discusses several aspects of the game engine, rendering techniques, workflow and editors used for the creation of AmsterDoom.

• https://web.archive.org/web/20041010152833/http://www.wirehub.nl/~dav-lwm/Amsterdoom%20Technical%20Overview.htm

Technical overview of the game and its development, documented by lead technical designer Lambert Wolterbeek Muller. It describes the engines used, modifications made, rendering techniques and level editor implementations. It even documents levels should be compiled. Published in March of 2000, right around the time the game was launched.

Forum threads

Thread on tweakers.net from March 2000, with people discussing the game. Hardcore gaming oriented

Another thread on tweakers.net from March 2000, with people discussing the game. Hardcore gaming oriented

Website

• https://web.archive.org/web/20000517151812/http://www.davilex.nl/cgi-davilex/frames/produkt_inlog.cgi?set=amsterdoom

Website of the game as it was in April of 2000. Redirects to this page when you visited amsterdoom.nl

• https://web.archive.org/web/20011003210314/http://www.davilex.nl:80/informatie/amsterdoom/index.asp

Information page on the Davilex website from October of 2001 showing the box art of the Amsterdam Monster Madness version of the game for the first time. The title of the game has not been updated yet on the page. Price of the game is Hfl. 29,95.

• https://web.archive.org/web/20011202151315/http://www.davilex.nl:80/informatie/amsterdoom/index.asp

Information page on the Davilex website from November of 2001 showing the box art of the Amsterdam Monster Madness and the new title. The text describing the game has been updated as well. Price of the game lowered to Hfl. 14,95.

• https://web.archive.org/web/20020305075056/http://www.davilex.nl:80/informatie/Amsterdoom/index.asp

Updated information page with new price: the game is now € 6,95 as the Netherlands has now moved over to the Euro as its currency.

Scans

• Scans of Amsterdam Monster Madness including cover, media, registration card and manual.

Miscellaneous

Screensaver of the game included on a pack-in disc included with Eigen PC magazine

Game credits

Source: help file included with the game, with some corrections applied.

Productidee

Rudolf Wolterbeek Muller

Projectleiding

Edwin van Dessel
Vincent Beek

Productontwerp

Peter Cossee
Richard Duijnstee

Technisch ontwerp

Lambert Wolterbeek Muller

Programmering

Arjan van den Boogaard
Frits Broekhuis
Jacco Bikker
Juri Oudshoorn
Mike van der Voort
Paul de Feyter

Grafische vormgeving

Alejandro Gasch Kuhne
Anko Elzes
Arjan Ubert
Camiel Feij
Jan-Pieter van Seventer
Marc van den Boom
Mathijs Mahon
Milan Pollé
Peter van Dranen
Remi van Loenen
Rudy Seedorf
Shawn Burnam

Documentatie

Marleen Overduin

Muziek en geluid

Marwijn Mommersteeg
Nico Verrips

Intro animatie

Bumblebee Studios

Kwaliteitscontrole

Didier Pippel
Jan Molenaar

Marketing

Ellen van Meerendonk