Why are the walls in Doom fully 3D, but enemies can only be rendered as 8-directional sprites?

Question

I’ve read that enemies in Doom are rendered as sprites because of hardware limitations. But why is it that walls, stairs, etc. appear fully 3d by contrast?

[example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDmf9dgso84)

​

In: Technology

Answer 1

Think of it this way. Why are IRL chess pieces 3 dimensional, when you can only move the pieces in 2d? You could just as easily print the icons on flat poker chips and the game would be the same, but would only be viewable from a “top-down” perspective.

Its all about the artistic choice of the game creators. The visual representation doesn’t change the rules of the game at all.