So that's not the most glorious job description, but it's true -- the Chaos Crew needs (at minimum) another member for our upcoming project (a single-player gothic/horror adventure using ZDoom(?) Doom II), and the new guy is going to be doing a lot of grunt work. To be more specific, stuff like graphic and sprite replacing, scripting, beta-testing, port-related question research, and other things more technical than straight-up level creation. Of course, should you want to create a couple levels, that would be awesome as well.

I am well aware that this doesn't necessarily sound like a sexy position, but quite frankly, it isn't; I just want to let people know what they might be getting into (and also scare away some folks who might not see things through). Anyway, if you:

• Know a lot about ZDoom;
• Know a lot about scripting;
• Don't mind spending an afternoon ripping out and replacing sprites;
• Are not afraid to share/critique ideas;
• Are willing to find answers to all of my dumb questions;
• And are willing to actually stick around...

Of course, there are some awesome benefits to being a part of the Chaos Crew, even in addition to just simply knowning you are working with some awesome people: for instance, you get your own listing on the Crew page! And that's just one! The list goes on and on!

- Lutz

January 17, 2003

So, the obvious question (again): what now?

For those of you living under rocks or in caves, that refers to the fact that all the Chaos Crew projects have been completed: Caverns of Darkness has been released, and I've finally finished Phobos: Anomaly Reborn. Barring some initial trouble with a bloated .WAD file, P:AR got some very good reviews -- if you haven't played it yet, you can grab it here:
ftp://3darchives.in-span.net/pub/idgames/levels/doom/Ports/p-r/par-lutz.zip
Prepare for nine enormous, challenging levels, which, if I may say so, look pretty damn incredible. If you are still not convinced, check out the review at GG Inc.; it's potentially biased, I suppose, but it sure made my day.

Getting back to my original query: what's next? At this point, it's pretty much up to me -- I am the Director, dammit. Also, besides my brash display of power, Nokturnus hasn't surfaced for about a year, and while Joel is still alive, and kicking, he's very much engaged in some other projects. Of course, Joel, if you have any suggestions, please send them my way.

As a result of playing around with Undying, I think I'm in the mood to create something a little more gothic than the P:AR maps; CoD had some reasonably cool ruined church structures, and man, I do love making ruins. With that in mind, I'm going to toss out some half-formed thoughts, and I would love to get some feedback by way of the Doomworld.com forums:

• Something with the ZDoom engine: Mmmm...colored lighting...slopes... All sorts of cool new toys.
• A Heretic episode, perhaps; as far as I know, ZDoom supports Heretic, and is capable of augmenting the experience with all the features available for Doom/Doom II. This would save quite a bit of time, since I wouldn't have to create or import nearly as many textures and flats, but I don't know...the weapons and enemies in Heretic aren't nearly as cool as those in Doom, and the whole thing often feels like one big cartoon.
• Some sort of hub thing. Again, this is inspired by Undying, which, although it isn't really one giant space carved into many levels, successfully conveys that impression. Now, I am well aware that many Hub-based add-ons have a tendancy to turn into giant "What the hell did that switch do? And which level did it do it on?" kind of drudge-fests (and besides, many of my single levels do that too), and that worries me. But at the same time, the hub idea can be used to create some really cool gameplay spaces (Half-life, anyone?).