How layers upon layers of hacky abstractions turned Doom II into the best kart racer!! by Kimberly Wilber How does one build a “modern” kart racing game on top of the 1994 Doom engine? The answer: layers upon layers of terrible hacks! Like enumerating the rings of an ancient fossilized tree, I’ll be giving you a lovingly detailed look at the 25-year creative history of my favorite racing game (SRB2Kart). Passed from designer to designer over the span of multiple decades, an iconically bloody shooter game became a Sonic the Hedgehog fangame, a third-person skateboarding sim, and then an incredibly underrated open-source kart racer! We’ll look at the clever hacks, the egregious workarounds, and the wonderful community that makes it all possible. Kimmy is a trans engineer in New York City. She likes to read books, sip tea, and work on doom mods. She has been a part of the SRB2 community off and on since 2003.