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John Romero has released a new level for the ground-breaking FPS Doom, one of the veteran developer’s most famous creations.
Using DoomBuilder, Romero has created his own version of E1M8 – the boss level of the first episode in the shareware iteration of Doom. It is his first creation for the game since 1995.
He tweeted a dropbox link to enable both gamers and devs alike to download the level and see what they can glean about the developer’s design techniques.
It's been 21 years since I made a DOOM level. Here's my version of E1M8 using DOOM1.WAD. https://t.co/ueKM7gBbXd pic.twitter.com/NlmA9aIALN
— John Romero 🤘🏽 (@romero) January 15, 2016
Speaking to GamesBeat, Romero said the project was part of his preparation routine before embarking on his next project.
“Whenever I start a new game, I usually warm up, so to speak, by creating levels in something I’m familiar with,” he said. “That way, the focus is on the creation and not the tools.
“In this case, I decided to start out with Doom as the levels are relatively easy to create, especially with today’s modern tools. I used DoomBuilder, and it was just a total delight to use. I absolutely loved making a level using it.
“As for the level, E1M8 was an obvious choice for me. Out of the shareware episode of Doom, E1M8, the boss level, was the only level I didn’t make. Sandy Petersen did an amazing job with the original one with the very memorable Barons of Hell right in your face at the end, of course.”
We interviewed Romero back in 2014 about how he plans to reinvent the first-person shooter.
