It's been four long years in the making, but Chris Lutz finally sent word that the long-awaited project Caverns of Darkness has been released. With no less than 12 ultra-detailed maps filled to the brim with eyecandy and gameplay, this is one Doom 2 partial conversion that you do not want to miss.
Originally started by since-departed team leader G.B. Jackson, Caverns of Darkness features ten standard and two secret levels which push the Doom engine to the limits of its capabilities. Architecture, texturing, special effects, lighting -- everything in Caverns of Darkness is detailed to a level seldom seen before.
Besides Chris Lutz, who contributed 9 levels to the WAD, other members of the team include "Nokturnus," who made two levels for the project; Emil Brundage, with one level; Justus Johnson, who composed original music; and Joel Murdoch, who created a custom engine specifically for the project. That's right, besides twelve massive levels to play, the partial conversion also utilizes a brand-new engine, based off the Eternity codebase.
"I'm not one for marketing," said Chris Lutz, "but I must say that I think Caverns of Darkness is really damn cool. There really is a massive amount of gameplay crammed into these 12 levels, not to mention some awesome looking architecture and pretty freaky surprises. Joel's work on the engine was amazing, too -- as a level designer, I was able to reap tremendous benefits from Joel's additions.
"But...well, everyone knows that this project took 4+ years to finish, which begs the question: 'Was it worth the wait?' Granted, the Crew ran into the hurdles that most teams do -- our leader had to quit the project, level designers vanished, hard-drives failed, etc. -- but even so, four years is a L-O-N-G time. Anyway, I don't suppose *I* am in any position to judge -- that's why I hope to hear from those few or many who do play through CoD.
"Regardless: four years after it's conception, Caverns of Darkness has been released. And we hope it's fun as all Hell."
Has your appetite been whetted yet? Well, if so, head over to one of the following URLS:
- http://archives.3dgamers.com/pub/idgames/newstuff/cc-cod.zip
- ftp://despayre.org/pub/games/doom/wads/cc-cod.zip
- ftp://3darchives.in-span.net/pub/idgames/newstuff/ (not yet mirrored, should be soon)
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