HacX

Hacx (pronounced "hacks" and commonly written as HacX) is a total conversion for Doom II. It was created by Banjo Software in 1997, and featured an entirely new set of graphics. Hacx uses a DeHackEd modified version of the Doom engine and the authors of Hacx paid id Software $5,000 for the rights to market Hacx as a commercial add-on for Doom II.

Hacx itself was generally unsuccessful; by the time it was released, the superior Quake engine that had just come out made the Doom engine pale in comparison. Public interest for Doom and games derived from it was, effectively, dead; even though Hacx was considered a decent TC, it arrived on the market too late to become a success.

Hacx was originally priced at $14.95 on a CD-ROM, and $20.95 on diskettes. The sprites and other graphics from Hacx have been reused in many other TCs/PCs since, although Banjo Software has forbidden the use of its graphics in other WADs.

Development started on a sequel, but it failed due to a number of problems.

Hacx is now being distributed for free on its website kept online by Rich Johnston (Nostromo), one of the developers. The Hacx CD and disks are considered to be extremely rare.

Notable figures

Despite the game's commercial failure, some of its creators have since become successful and relatively well-known professional game developers. Iikka "Fingers" Keränen went on to work at Looking Glass, ION Storm, Ritual Entertainment, Rogue Entertainment and most recently, Valve Software. Kenneth Scott has since worked as an artist at Xatrix Entertainment, Croteam, ION and id Software, and currently works for Microsoft Game Studios. Zack Quarels went on to work at Raven software, and now id Software. Kevin Johnstone is currently employed at Epic Games.

Other versions

Hacx 1.2

As a platform upon which to build Hacx 2.0, a 1.2 update of the original Hacx was released on October 9, 2010. The changes included making it as a stand-alone IWAD recognized by Chocolate Doom, Doomsday, EDGE, Eternity, GZDoom and ZDoom, but still compatible with other source ports (and even vanilla Doomif the DeHackEd lump is extracted and used for patching). A 1.3 update is planned to fix a few bugs.

Hacx 2.0

In November 2008, Nostromo declared on the Hacx homepage that a new version of Hacx is being made. The comment stated:

Believe or not, after nearly 10 years since Hacx has been released, a version 2.0 is currently in production! As many of you may have noticed, the original game was released as, shall we say, a not quite complete product. This was due to the fact that we had to rush it to the market before the Quake engine came out ...not that it made any difference, unfortunately. Recently, I was contacted by an individual that goes by the online name of Xaser who was real excited about making a complete version for the ZDoom engine. He provided an updated script for all the maps and, based on his awesome enthusiasm and remarkable reworking of the script, I gave him the go ahead to build away. He is currently workin on some maps and building a team.

iPhone/iPad

Hacx has been ported to these platforms, based on the Doom Classic code, by the same company that also did one of the commercial Freedoom ports. Contrarily to "Doomsday: Hellraiser", however, "Hacx Classic" is available for free, as the license for the Hacx content does not allow commercial distribution.

Weapons

Kick
Reznator
Pistol
Tazer
Cryogun
Uzi
Photon 'zooka
Anti-gun
Nuker

Monsters

Android
Buzzer
D-Man
GENIE
ICE
Majong 7
Mechamaniac
Monstruct
Phage
Roaming Mine
Stealth
Terminatrix
Thorn Thing
Thug

Ammunition

Rounds
Cartridges
Torpedo
Molecule module
Case of Rounds
Case of Cartridges
Case of Torpedoes
Tank of Moleclues
Valise

Items and powerups

Inhaler
Hypo
MicroKit
Dampener
Regular Kelvar Vest
Super Kelvar Vest
KeyCard
Password
Gold Key
Z-Keys
Centrophenoxine
007 Microtel
Force Field
EnK Blind
Vulcan Rubber Boots
Infrared Visor
SI Array Mapping
Body Armor

Levels

Palo Alto:

MAP01: GenEmp Corp by Mike Reed and John Herndon
MAP02: Tunnel Town by Stephen Watson
MAP03: Lava Annex by Marc Pullen
MAP04: Alcatraz by John Herndon
MAP05: Cyber City by Xaser Acheron

Hong Kong:

MAP06: Digi-Ota by Stephen Watson and Cage
MAP07: The Great Wall by Adam Williamson
MAP08: Garden of Delight by Ryan Rapsys
MAP09: Hidden Palace by Anthony Czerwonka
MAP10: Anarchist Dream by Ryan Rapsys

Paris:

MAP11: Notus Us! by Michael Mesko and Grymmoire
MAP12: Gothik Gauntlet by Rich Johnston
MAP13: The Catacombs by Anthony Czerwonka
MAP14: Notre Damned by unknown
MAP15: Twilight of EnKs by Jeremy

Egypt:

MAP16: Protean Cybex by Marc Pullen
MAP17: Dune City by Cybdmn and Chris Kaplan
MAP18: River of Blood by Marc 'Fanatic' Pullen
MAP19: Valley of the Dead by Chris Kaplan
MAP20: Artificial Annihilation by unknown

Washington D.C.

MAP21: Cryozine by Icytux
MAP22: Pentagon Syndrome by unknown
MAP23: Capitol Punishment by unknown
MAP24: The War Rooms by Adam Williamson
MAP25: Intruder Alert! by unknown

Warped Reality:

MAP26: The Darkness by Xaser Acheron
MAP27: 'Trode Wars by Andrew Gate and Darkhaven3
MAP28: Bizarro by Anthony Czerwonka
MAP29: Reality Bytes by unknown
MAP30: Twitch n' Kill by unknown

Secret levels:

MAP31: Subspace Arcadum by unknown
MAP32: Desiccant Room by Stephen Watson
MAP33: Future Perfect by unknown

Cheat codes

The cheat codes for Hacx are different from the ones in the original Doom.

wuss - toggles God mode
blast - keys, all weapons, full armor and ammo
zap - taser
seeit - power-up menu
superman - toggle temporary invincibility
whacko - berserk
ghost - toggle temporary partial invisibility
boots - toggles boots
bright - toggles light amplifiers
walk - toggles clipping
warpme## - jump to level ##
wheream - shows coordinates
show - toggle map detail
tunes## - change music to level ##

External links

Official Hacx pages on the website of Rich Johnston (Nostromo).
- Hacx pages mirror hosted at the Doom Wad Station.
[idgames|id=16216|title=Hacx 1.2 IWAD]
[idgames|id=14030|title=Hacx 1.1 (original installer package)]
[idgames|id=14031|title=Hacx 1.1 (unpacked files package)]
AtomicGamer/Doomworld directory containing the original Hacx files delivered by Nostromo.
Hacx Classic (for iPhone)
Hacx Classic HD (for iPad)
[dwforums|52855|Hacx 1.2 release thread]
[dwforums|52781|Hacx now available for iPhone and iPad (news thread)]