Romero Makes New Map, World Rejoices

2016 has not been a banner year so far, so John Romero decided to cheer everyone up in the best way possible: making his first Doom level since 1995(!). The level, entitled "Tech Gone Bad", functions as a sort of alternate-universe E1M8: it shows his take on designing a final level for Knee-Deep In The Dead, versus the "Phobos Anomaly" we are all familiar with which was authored by Sandy Petersen. The level is compatible with any limit-removing source port, and screenshots and a perma-download link can be found in this forum thread.

Freaking epic!

Yay! Nice to see that John still has the doom mapping chops. I thought the map was rather challenging, pretty much non-stop 'Action'. Looks great too. Now to go secret hunting.

Awesome job John!

Crap, there's already a server specifically for it ;O

We've got a survival game going on Zandronum.. Feel free to join!

I love the classic feel of this level. Similar to what I am making.

However I noticed that there are a lot of textures that are not lined up! JK

Well, I could do without Sandy Petersen. His output wasn't the greatest, in sometimes bordering on hideous...

That was relentless. 10/10.

Alternate E1 ending? How cool!

Now E1 is entiredly made by Romero!

joe-ilya said:

Now E1 is entiredly made by Romero!

Well, except E1M4.

A new and original map by none other than Doom's own papa? I got to try this! :D

God-damn, what an awesome level!!!! At no point was I bored, the level of detail evoked 'classic' DooM while still having MORE, and I love Romero's use of non-right or 45 degree angles (something missing from many modern shooters, to boot).

The beginning was a bit tough with the abundance of what I call the 'Cracks of DooM' but overall, I found the balance to be reasonable, even on Ultraviolence. The level was long enough but not TOO long, a just-right reinterpretation of the original E1M8 and vastly superior.

Romero states this as a 'warm-up;' for future DooM levels or a future GAME I am not certain, but by the looks of things - promising. :)

better than DTWID

ShadesMaster said:

Romero states this as a 'warm-up;' for future DooM levels or a future GAME I am not certain, but by the looks of things - promising. :)

Could it be possible that he might plan to do a megawad? That would be dreamy!

By the way, I played through the map, and I got to say that it's really awesome. Felt like original Doom, but still has that freshness to remind us that it is a recent map.

A new map made by Romero; naturally, that is awesome.

However, ignoring that it was made by Romero himself, the map was good if a little random and perhaps leant on an overly large number of bad guys (i.e it seemed like the map would be more suited to less bad guys and ammo etc).

But most notably, it didn't feel like a boss map in any way. However, I may be skewed by that I didn't think it fit with E1M8's music.

Hopefully he decides to make more maps soon.

I just finished playing it in my old Doomsday Engine in a very old, updated Windows XP Pro SP3 with enhancement mods. Wow, it was so fun for a hour. Even though Doomsday crashed thrice due to shotgun models, it was still fun. Hard too! Lots of traps and tricks. :O Romero, more please.

Has anyone tried multiplayer like co-op?

Now I want to see a doom 2 map from this guy.

joe-ilya said:

Now I want to see a doom 2 map from this guy.

You're in luck, I can name at least 6!

Now I want to see a Plutonia map from this guy.

Played through it on Ultra Violence (but is there really any other way to play it? Come on.)

I loved it. I always thought Phobos Anomaly was boring and incredibly disappointing for a boss level.

I loved how he remade the Bruiser Brothers chamber. That was so much cooler than two simple monster closets.

The monster count was incredibly high, and I died a couple of times on my first playthrough. I only found two of the ten secrets, but that's mostly due in part to me not looking for them.

This map, from beginning to end, is full of surprises. As soon as the map starts, you...

...and I loved it.

If that wasn't enough, you need to watch your footing because the Cracks of Hell that are all over the floor will fuck you up.

All in all, phenomenal. I really hope he makes more!

Linguica said:

You're in luck, I can name at least 6!

ROFLMAO!

There's very few times I've laughed that hard at facetious replies. Good job.

Anyone think this is a Cacoward candidate?

Necros20 said:

Anyone think this is a Cacoward candidate?

Dude, it's john Romero. He practically is a cacoward.

I'd say he has claim to at least a chunk of every cacoward ever.

I already proposed it for Cacoward, go and look in the thread if you don't belive!

Does that mean Romero is the new Ribbiks, where anything he makes wins an award? :)

TimeOfDeath said:

Does that mean Romero is the new Ribbiks, where anything he makes wins an award? :)

Probably not a Mapper of the Year Award, but definitely among the top 10 wads of 2016. I wonder if he might get an Espi Award. I mean, sure, he departed from Doom when the id team moved on to develop Quake, but he has made quite a legacy that stays strong to this day, like with the late Ty Halderman.

Mapper of the Year 1993 Award!

Linguica said:

You're in luck, I can name at least 6!

I know right?