> Doom Stadium: What It Is So Far
08.28.2026
Doom Stadium is my attempt to turn classic Doom II deathmatch into a persistent arcade/RPG-style multiplayer experience.
It is being built for Zandronum 3.2.x and is designed for long-running deathmatch sessions. Doom Stadium is the overall game experience rather than a single arena: it can discover maps from loaded WADs and PK3s and use them in a randomized rotation.
Every frag contributes to a persistent player profile. Players earn XP and Credits, level from 1 to 100, advance through 100 Prestige ranks, and can eventually enter repeating Immortal cycles. Progress is stored in a server-side SQLite database, so it survives map changes and restarts.
The scoring system currently rewards normal frags, rapid multikills, life streaks, match placement, and positive end-of-round frag totals. The Halo-style multikill chain includes Double Kill, Triple Kill, Overkill, Killtacular, Killtrocity, Killamanjaro, Killtastrophe, Killpocalypse, and Killionaire.
Credits can be spent in the Armory, an interactive shop that does not pause the match. There are currently 40 catalog items divided between Attack, Defense, and Utility categories. A player can equip six different items at once and combine their effects into a custom build.
Item effects include extra damage, ammo capacity, health, armor, movement speed, damage resistance, lifesteal, regeneration, Double Shot attacks, kill-triggered bonuses, a reusable railgun attack, lethal-hit protection, target telemetry, pickup rewards, and more. Jumping is disabled under the basic rules and becomes an item-granted ability through the Phase Relay.
There are also persistent challenge ladders for every Doom II weapon, plus health, armor, backpacks, career kills, and completed games. Each ladder has seven milestones with XP rewards. Finishing a weapon ladder unlocks its Golden Gun status, while the other long-term ladders end in Legend status. These statuses are already saved, although some of their cosmetic presentation is still planned for later.
The HUD shows your level, XP progress, Prestige, Credits, active item effects, and combat bonuses. Level-ups, challenge completions, multikills, streaks, purchases, and item activations all receive their own messages or sound cues.
Doom Stadium is still a work in progress. The core progression, database saving, Armory, item builds, combat effects, challenges, match rewards, map rotation, and music system are functioning now. Balance, presentation, cosmetics, and the overall collection of content will continue to evolve.
> 69 ROCKIN' TRACKS!
Featuring MIDI renditions of:
Rooster | Them Bones | Smooth Criminal | Children of the Grave | Personal Jesus | Bodies | Painkiller | Holy Wars | Hangar 18 | Battery | Creeping Death | For Whom the Bell Tolls | Ride the Lightning | Seek & Destroy | Whiplash | The Only Thing They Fear Is You | Cowboys From Hell | Walk | Bulls on Parade | Angel of Death | South of Heaven | Zero | Rusty Cage | Chop Suey! | Headstrong — and many more!