Disk 1 - Vintage:

Online manual (basically just contains the various readme files in a nice formatted interface).

'Vintage' Softdisk, Id, Apogee games all with some input from the 'core' Id team:

Catacomb Abyss, Catacomb 3d, Dangerous Dave, Hover Tank 3D, Commander Keen episodes 1-3, Commander Keen episode 4, Commander Keen episode 5, Commander Keen Aliens ate my babysitter (note only CGA version supplied), Keen Dreams, Rescue Rover, Rescue Rover 2, Shadow Warrior - Note this is a 2D platform type game and nothing to do with the 3DRealms game of the same name (though presumably an 'inspiration' given the interlinked histories of the two firms). Slordax, Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny

Disk 2: DOOM

Second copy of online manuals. Ultimate DOOM - Looks like the standard Ultimate DOOM (i.e. 4 episodes) including win95 interface + dwango95. DOOM2 - Again contains win95 + Dwango. Final - contains the two Final DOOM WADs, presumably as originally packaged (i.e. with the DOOM95.EXE). Master - contains a standard install.bat with the master.1 master.2 files - this installs the DOOM-IT utility and the 20 standard WAD files, each with their .TXT file.

Disk 3: Quake

Standard Quake install (quake v1.06) - no extras.

Disk 4: Mac

As I don't have a Mac I can't read this, but the box says: Ultimate DOOM, DOOM II, Final DOOM, Wolfenstein 3D

Extras:

Just to complete the list you also get: Two metal Dogtags (!), 3.5" Pewter Cyberdemon (Cool!), T-shirt (nice understated design), DOOM Comic book (naff), Poster, History of Id book (pretty good).

There are two Catacomb games on the CD, the one of interest to us is Catacomb 3D, this is credited to the same team as the 2D game.

I just dloaded Catacomb Abyss (shareware) and this seem a more developed version of Catacomb 3D (artwork and engine clearly the same as are some of the cheat codes!).  Credits are different, with no mention of John Carmack, but Adrian Carmack still *one* of the artists and the QA team the same, however the Catacomb 3D engine is credited to Id Software.

I'm going to guess that Catacomb 3D was a work in progress when the core Id team left Softdisk to set up by themselves, and was developed into a fuller game by what was left of Softdisk.

At the start of the mission, you'll appear at the western side of the map, in a walled-in outdoor courtyard. You'll be facing east towards a large black tower. To the northeast of your starting position, about halfway along the north wall, is a stairway which dips below ground, leading to the exit chamber, which is guarded by locked doors and barriers.

Here's how to get the keys to open the exit:

YELLOW KEY

From the western courtyard, proceed east to the black tower and enter it through the demon-faced door on the tower's west side.

This tower is basically a tall, hollow, 8-sided tube (or "cylinder"), and there are four doors at the base: one each on the north, south, east and west sides of the tower. You just came in through the west door.

Turn left and go out of the tower through its north-side door. This door leads out to another outdoor courtyard surrounded by low walls. Turn northeast, and look for an opening in the wall in northeast corner of the courtyard. Enter the opening and follow the short tunnel to a skull switch on the left-hand wall at the back of the tunnel. Activate it, and go back to the tower.

Enter the tower through its north-side door, and once inside, exit the tower again through its east-side door. Again this door leads out to a courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard wall ahead of you to the east is a switch. Activate it and go back and re-enter the tower. As you go back into the tower through its eastern door, look left (southwest) for a skull-switch sticking out of the floor on a flattened vertical post. Activate this switch on the post, and a spiral staircase will emerge, running along the curved wall of the tower.

The base of the stairs begins at the eastern door. Go up the stairs, and follow them all the way to the top. At the top, look to your right for a catwalk that starts near the top of the stairs and runs southwest to the top of the huge, pillar-structure that occupies the center of the tower. Start down this catwalk. Ahead of you is a teleporter in the center of the platform that the catwalk leads to. Step into the teleport area and you will appear inside a chamber within small structure, facing south towards a door. This structure is at the center of a closed-in 8-sided room, or octagon.

This room is one of five separated, individual octagonal areas, which are clustered near each other on the east side of the map. This first octagonal area is referred to as "Octagon 1". Step out of the chamber and turn right, walking clockwise along the outside of the central structure, until you come to a chainsaw on your right. Grab the chainsaw and activate the face-like switch you'll see on the wall behind it. Now walk around to the opposite side (east side) of this structure, and look for another face-like switch on the wall, and activate that. To the left of this face-switch, some bars will rise up, allowing access to a skull switch, high up on the east wall of the structure. Activate this skull switch to open a "cage" at the north side of the structure. Go around to the north side, and note that a single, central bar of the cage is raised, allowing access to a lion's-head switch on the back wall of the cage. Note that as you step up to this switch, this bar becomes a crushing device, like a pile-driver, and will repeatedly rise up and push down again in a cycle. Be careful not to get caught under it.

Activate the lion switch, and the wall section that this switch is on will drop, revealing a skull switch behind. When you activate this skull switch, the outer northwest corner of the central structure drops down temporarily, allowing access to a teleporter booth, just outside the cage and to the right of the skull switch. Activate the switch, then run backwards, out of the cage, then run for the nearby northwest corner of the structure. When you step into the teleport area, you'll re-appear in "Octagon 2", another octagonal area, which is divided up into many rooms and chambers. You'll be facing west, down a short hallway. Behind you is a secret door. Around you is a corrosive floor; don't stand on it too long.

Go west down the short hallway. It leads out to a passage that runs all the way around the outer edge of Octagon 2. Turn right and follow the passage clockwise around to the east side of the octagon. Look for a single brown door with a face on it, to your right. Go through the door and you'll enter into a rectangular room with 4 red pedestals rising from the floor, and 2 more brown doors on the north wall. In front of each door is an explosive barrel. Destroy the one in front of the farthest door (in the northwest corner of the room), and then go through that door. Turn left and head west into a smaller, narrow room with a teleporter at the far end.

Step into the teleporter, and you'll appear on the west side of "Octagon 3". In the center of this octagon is a square pillar that stretches floor to ceiling. On the south face of this pillar is a skull switch. As you step up to this switch, four walls will rise around you, boxing you into the middle of the room. Activate the skull switch.

To drop the walls that now contain you, look for a switch in the southwest corner, where two of the four walls meet, and activate it, dropping the walls back into the ground. Now head for the yellow key on the north side of the octagon. (The skull switch on the central pillar dropped a pedestal that the yellow key was resting on.)

BLUE KEY

When you grab the yellow key near the north wall of Octagon 3, turn west and look for a green torch close by, in the northwest corner of the room. To the immediate left of this torch is a slightly discolored wall texture. This is a secret door. Open it, and step into the triangular room beyond. Turn left and walk to the far-southwest point of the room. As you approach, a wall panel opens, to reveal a small, dark, squarish chamber to the south.

An explosive barrel blocks entry to this chamber. Step back and destroy the barrel from a safe distance to gain access to the chamber. Step inside and look for a switch on the south wall, and activate it. Now go back out to the main room, and back to the tall pillar at the center of the octagon. The north side of the pillar has opened to reveal a teleport booth. Step in. You'll appear in "Octagon 4", facing north. Centered along the north wall of this octagon is a box-like structure. Walk up to the west side of this box, and open the hidden door there. In the northeast corner of this box is a teleporter pad. Step on.

You'll appear at the center of "Octagon 5", inside a box. This box is at the center of a 5-box cluster, arranged in a plus-shaped pattern: There's one box each to the north, south, east and west of the box you're in. At your feet is an Invulnerability Sphere. You won't be able to move without picking it up. The wall you're facing (to the north) will drop if you activate it like a switch or a door. Open this wall and step out. Turn left and go to the west box. Move to the south face of the west box and open it. On the inside of the box, on the far (north) wall, is a switch, disguised as a body, hanging upside-down behind some bars. Step up to this switch (across a corrosive floor) and activate it. (Note that this box, and all the others except the center one, have corrosive floors.)

Now head to the northern box. On the western face of the north box is an opening. Step in, and on the back wall (east wall) is another switch. Activate it and head for the east-side box. The northern face of the east box has lowered to reveal some armor. When you step up to grab the armor, the south box opens.

When you approach the south box, you'll see that its north face is open, allowing access to the blue key, which sits on the corrosive floor of this box.

RED KEY

There is a skull switch on the back wall of the south box (in Octagon 5) where you got the blue key. When you grab the blue key, activate this switch. Now run for the center box in the area. (The switch you just activated opens the northern face of the center box.) Run into the center box, and on to the teleporter inside. You'll re-appear in "Octagon 4" (see "YELLOW KEY" and "BLUE KEY" for information on the "Octagon rooms").

You'll be in a small chamber at the north side of this octagon. There is a skull switch in the middle of the south wall of the octagon. Activate this switch to reveal a teleporter booth in the center of the room. (When the skull switch is activated, the north face of the room's central pillar drops down, allowing access to the teleporter.) You'll appear in a teleporter booth at the center of "Octagon 3". Step out and note that you're surrounded by a four-walled box. Walk to the southwest corner of this box, and look for a face-like switch. It will be just visible behind a pillar. Although the pillar blocks you from standing in front of the switch, you can still Activate the switch from an angle. Doing so will drop the walls that surround you. Walk to the middle of the north wall of the octagon, and turn left (west). Look for a nearby green torch. To the left of the torch is an opening to a triangular room. Enter this room and look for a small square chamber to the southwest. Enter this chamber and look for the red key on your right. (There is also a Computer Area Map item here.)

THE EXIT

To exit the level, you will need all three keys. When you grab the red key, head to the middle of the west wall of the octagon ("Octagon 3", where you found the red key). Once at the west wall, turn right (north) and look for a glowing, bluish-red teleporter pit. Step into the teleporter and you'll appear at one end of a small, narrow room on the west side of "Octagon 2".

Walk east out of this room, turn right and go out the brown door. You'll enter a rectangular room with 4 red pedestals on the floor. Turn left and leave this room through the brown door on the east side. You'll be in a passage that runs all the way around the outer edge of Octagon 2. Turn left and follow the passage counterclockwise around to the west side of the octagon, and look for a short open hallway on your left, leading to a small room with several bodies hanging upside-down from the ceiling. Enter this room, and head for the back wall where you'll find a teleporter pit.

Step on the teleporter and you'll appear in "Octagon 1", on top of a raised teleporter at the northwest corner of a small, central structure. Step down off this structure and look for an opening into the structure. The opening is at the structure's south side. Enter the structure and step into the glowing teleporter pit at its center. You'll appear on top of a high platform in the center of the black tower, facing northeast. Turn to face southwest, and walk forward off the platform. When you land on the ground, look for a nearby switch on a flattened vertical post sticking out of the ground. This should be a skull switch with black eyes. Activate this switch, and leave the black tower through its east-side door.

Turn left (north) and walk around the outside of the tower until you come to its west side. Walk west into the middle of the western-most courtyard. Turn north and walk to the middle of the north wall of the courtyard. Look for a stairway that dips down below ground level, to a passage running north.

Walk north down the stairs and to the end of the passage, and open the 2 doors there, one behind the other. This allows access to an open, lava-walled, vertical shaft. The bottom of the shaft is far below, and its floor is corrosive. (Warning: The corrosive will even overcome an Invincibility cheat code.) The inner-left (west) wall of the shaft is a barrier-door, which blocks access to the exit chamber, which is a small room just to the west of the vertical lava shaft. The red key is needed to open this barrier. Once open, run west into the exit area, and the mission is complete.

In MANOR.WAD, you'll need all three keys to get into the exit chamber. Here's how to get those keys:

YELLOW KEY

Note: You'll need to get this key before you can access the other keys.

At the start of the mission, you'll appear on the east side of the map, in an octagonal area. You'll be facing west, towards a distant door in a large structure ahead of you. Go through the door into the large room beyond. This is a somewhat-squarish room, with 4 main doors: One each in the center of the north, south, east and west walls. Turn right and go through the north-side door. You'll enter into another squarish room, with two large pillars running floor to ceiling.

Go to the northwest corner of this room (there's a flashing arrow on the floor pointing to this corner). Step into the corner, facing northwest, and activate the wall (like a switch). The corner section of the wall lifts up to reveal a metallic elevator ahead, in the raised position. Activate the elevator to lower it, and get on. When it rises, look left (south) for an opening in the west wall. This opening leads to a long, raised catwalk, which runs west, past a tall wooden structure to the south. Walk west to the far end of the catwalk, until your face is against the wall. Turn 90 degrees to face south, and walk (or run) forward, stepping off the south edge of the catwalk. You should land on a ledge which runs along the outside of a window to your right. (If you miss the ledge and fall into the small courtyard below, go to the southeast corner of the courtyard, and go up the stairs you'll find there. The stairs lead back to the square room with the elevator in the northwest corner. Go get back on the catwalk and try again.)

Once you're on the ledge, turn west and step through the window. You'll be standing on some boxes which line the east wall of a narrow rectangular room. Walk west, stepping down off the boxes. Turn left and walk south, towards a door at the far end of the room. As you walk up to this door, you'll trigger an invisible "tripwire" on the floor. This causes part of the room's west wall to rise up, revealing a skull switch at the north end of a wide, shallow opening in the wall. Activate this switch, and some boxes to your right (to the east side of the switch) drop down. On top of these boxes sits a yellow skull key. Grab it before the boxes rise up again.

BLUE KEY

Note: Before you get this key, you'll need the yellow key.

When you pick up the yellow key, turn and head southwest to the south end of the room. Drop down off the wooden platform you're on, and look for a tall, narrow wooden door in the southeast corner of the room. Open this door, and take one step through it, east. You'll step into a square room, and you'll be standing on a ledge that runs all the way around the room. In the center of the room are some huge slabs or blocks, stacked up in a rough "pyramid" configuration. Around the blocks is a trench, and around the trench is the ledge you're on. Turn left (north) and look for a skull switch on the wall. It will be just to the north of the door you just stepped through. Activate it. This will cause stair steps to rise up the sides of the pyramid in the center of the room. Now turn and walk east on the ledge along the north side of the room. About halfway along the ledge, turn right (south) to face the pyramid. Run across the trench, and up the steps on the pyramid. (If you accidentally fall into the trench, walk up to the pyramid and activate it like a switch. The outer layer of the bottom slab of the pyramid will drop down, allowing you to get on and ride up.)

At the top of the pyramid is a pillar, and on the west side of the pillar is a "Baron face". Activate this like a switch. It causes a bridge to rise on the east side of the pyramid. Go around to the east side of the central pillar, then turn east and walk down the pyramid steps to the yellow-rimmed door on the east side of the room. Go through this door, into the squarish room near where you started the level. Now turn and go right, out the south-side door. You'll enter into a room that has three large bookshelf-structures in the middle. Look for a stairway to the southeast and go up it. Ahead (east) and to the left you'll find a fireplace. Step in to the right-side (east) half of the fireplace (warning: the fireplace floor is harmful), and open the secret panel on the back wall of the fireplace. Walk into the short secret passage that curves right and south. Look for a skull switch on the back wall of this passage, and activate it. Walk back out through the secret panel, and out of the fireplace.

The wall immediately to the northwest of the fireplace has dropped down. Go north, stepping through this new opening. You'll drop down into a narrow area that has a large window across from the opening you dropped down through a moment ago. Turn right and look east-southeast for a skull switch on the wall. This switch causes a tall, narrow, rounded pillar to drop. This pillar is in the center of the squarish room behind you to the northeast. (You may want to go look for this pillar before you activate this switch.) Activate the switch, and run for the pillar, which has now dropped to floor level. When you step on the top of this lowered pillar, the blue key (on top of the pyramid in the next room) becomes accessible: Run west, through the open, yellow-rimmed door, into the "pyramid" room. At the top of the pyramid, a pillar has dropped, allowing access to the blue key which rests on top.

RED KEY

Note: Before you get this key, you'll need the yellow key and the blue key.

As you pick up the blue key at the top of the pyramid (see "BLUE KEY", above), look to the northwest corner of the room for a tall, narrow, blue-rimmed door. (It will be just to the left of a skull switch on the wall.) Go through this door, and look right. A nearby stack of boxes is actually an elevator/lift. Activate this lift and it drops to the floor. Get on and ride it up. When you get to the top, Run southwest to land on the wooden floor in front of a blue-lined door in the southwest corner of the room (be careful not to accidentally jump out the nearby window in the southeast corner of the room). Go through this door, and you'll see a dark room ahead. To your right, running along the west side of the room, is a raised ledge. Follow this ledge south to the far end of the room, where you'll find a red switch on the wall. (If you fall off the ledge, head to the northeast corner of the room, and look for a tall, narrow wooden panel in the east wall. Open it and go through. Turn left (north) and go back through the other blue-rimmed door, in the northwest corner of the room. Continue on until you're all the way back to the red switch.)

When you Activate this switch, it drops an elevator, which is located behind you (north) near the opposite end of the room. Activate the switch, and run to go get on this elevator. When it rises back up, turn to face southeast. Now, from the middle of the elevator platform, run southeast to land on the highest elevated ledge, which runs along the east side of the room. Follow this ledge to an east-side window. When you get to the window, turn east to find a teleporter pad you'll see just on the other side of the window. Step through the window and onto this pad. You'll materialize facing west, looking at a brown wall. Turn right and look for a passage to the northeast of where you appeared. Follow the narrow, winding passage around until you come out into a "bedroom", with a large blue bed ahead and to the right.

Look west out of the bedroom window, to the darkened room beyond. Through the window you'll see the top half of a pillar that stretches up to the ceiling. The base of the pillar is wider than the top half, and so forms a ledge running around the middle of the pillar. In the bedroom, back up to get a running start, and run west, out the window, heading straight for the pillar. You should hit the east face of the pillar, and drop onto the ledge that circles it. Follow this ledge around to the west side of the pillar, where you'll find a skull switch. (If you fall off this ledge, go out the door in the south wall of the room, then go through the west side door in the next room. From here, follow the directions from the start of the "RED KEY" section.)

Note: When you activate this skull switch, be prepared to run to the other pillar in the room, to the southwest. Activate the switch, and a protective barrier drops from around the other pillar. Run to that pillar, and activate the skull switch you'll see on its north face. This causes a door to open in the southeast corner of the room. Go through this door, and follow the passage east-northeast to the red key, which sits on the floor, ahead.

THE EXIT

As you pick up the red key, look for a nearby window, and jump (south) out of it. When you hit the ground, run west to a large wooden door, and go through it to a squarish room beyond. Continue west to a yellow-rimmed door, and go through it to enter the next room.

Look in the northwest corner of the room for a tall, narrow, blue-rimmed door. (It will be just to the left of a skull switch on the wall.) Go through this door, and look right. A nearby stack of boxes is actually an elevator/lift. Activate this lift and it drops to the floor. Get on and ride it up. When you get to the top, run southwest to land on the wooden floor in front of a blue-lined door in the southwest corner of the room (be careful not to accidentally jump out the nearby window in the southeast corner of the room). Take one step through this door, and turn left (east). Carefully take a step or two along the ledge that runs along the narrow north side of the room. Look on your left for a bank of "monitor screens" on the wall. This vertical panel of screens will be slightly recessed into the wall, just to the east of the door you came through a second ago. Step up to this panel and activate it like a switch. It opens, revealing a small chamber.

Step into the chamber, and turn left to find a skull switch on the west wall. Activate it. (This drops a barrier in the exit chamber.) Turn left, and go take one step back out through the secret panel you just came through (it may have closed, so you may have to activate the wall again to open it). Once you've stepped through, turn right (west), and look for a tall, narrow, red-rimmed door nearby in the west wall of the room. Go through this door into the exit chamber. Walk around to the right, and look for panel in the east wall of the exit chamber. Open the panel to find a skull switch. When you activate this switch, another section opens to your left, in the north end of the chamber. When this section opens, another skull switch is revealed in the middle of the north wall. Activate this switch to exit the level.

To finish this level (without cheating), do not use the "-nomonsters" command-line parameter when starting the game; Monsters must be present. To exit this level, you'll need a red skull key and a blue skull key, and then you must destroy a "Boss" monster at the end of the mission.

You begin the mission in the northeast corner of a large walled-in courtyard.  You'll be facing southwest towards a large squarish building, which is located near the center of the courtyard. Watch out for Revenants patrolling the courtyard. In front of you is a backpack, and just beyond that is a shotgun; grab them.  Shotgun shells can be found on the ground nearby to the east.  There is a chaingun, boxes of bullets, and a Berserk Pack in the northwest corner of the courtyard.  You can also find a few Medikits located around the level.

In various places along the outer edges of the courtyard you can find boxes of rockets.  Grab them now, if possible. There are other boxes of rockets, as well as backpacks and some individual rockets scattered around the level.

WARNING: You'll want to have a minimum of 10 rockets in your inventory once you approach the end of this mission; Be sure not to fire all of them off before you confront the Boss monster.

RED KEY

Note: You'll need the red key before you can access the blue key.

The courtyard grounds are dotted with trees, tree stumps, and four-sided, flat-topped columns, or "obelisks". Look for a large wooden door in the middle of the west side of the large central building. Once you're at this door, look west for a nearby obelisk. It will be a slightly different color than all the others. Step up to this obelisk and activate it like a switch.  The obelisk will telescope down into itself, revealing a red teleporter pad on a base (and another Revenant, waiting on top of the teleporter).

When you step up onto the teleporter, you'll appear in the center of the main building, facing north. Surrounding you are four huge "demon-faced" walls: one each to the north, south, east and west. You'll be standing on a wide, raised pedestal in the center of the building.  Four bridges lead away from the pedestal, forming a "plus"-shaped pattern, with the pedestal at the center.  Each individual bridge leads to a wide platform running along the base of each of the four demon-faced walls around you.  All of these platforms are also linked at their corners by diagonal bridges. Watch out for Revenants on these bridges and platforms. (Note: On skill levels 1 and 2, there is an Invulnerability Artifact located on the south bridge.)

If you fall off of a bridge or platform, look for a nearby teleporter pad on the ground (which will return you to one of the platforms or the central pedestal), or look for one of the diagonal bridges, which can be lowered by activating it like a switch (however this will only work on "interior" sides of the diagonal bridges; the sides which face towards the central pedestal). Raised up high in the center of each "demon wall" is a rectangular, barred window.  Behind each window is a small chamber, and in each chamber is a Mancubus monster. Each Mancubus must be killed before you can exit this building, or gain access to either of the keys. (You can find various weapons on each of the platforms beneath the "demon walls", including a rocket launcher on the north platform.) When the last Mancubus is killed, the four corners of the building will open up at ground level, releasing Hell Knights and Arachnotrons.

Once these monsters begin moving, they may be teleported: Hell Knights tend to be teleported to positions up on the bridges and platforms; Arachnotrons tend to be teleported up into the chambers behind the "demon walls", where the Mancubus monsters were. A red skull key is now accessible.  It's at ground level, resting on a corrosive floor in the northwest corner of the building.  (You'll also find 2 boxes of rockets near the key.) In the southeast corner of the building, at ground level, is a door that can be opened with the red key.  Exit the building through this door.

BLUE KEY

Note: You'll need the red key before you can access the blue key.

Once you have the red key and have exited the large main building, look for a small, separate building in the northwest corner of the courtyard. Watch out for Revenants teleporting into the courtyard. As you approach the small square building in the northwest, use the red key to gain access through a door in its southeast corner.

Inside is one dark, squarish room, with a coffin-like object in the middle of the floor. Look for a switch in the northwest corner of the room, and activate it. Warning: In the center of the room, another Revenant will be rising up out of the "coffin". Head back out to the courtyard, and go to the outer southwest corner of the large central building. You'll see some blue Mega-Armor behind a post at the corner of the building. Step behind the post and pick up the armor.  When you do this, some stair steps will emerge from the ground, just outside of the south side of the building. Follow these stairs all the way up to a door at the top. Go through the door and take a few steps forward.  This will cause a box-shaped part of the wall to open up, just ahead of you and to the right, revealing a box of rockets. At higher skill levels, a Revenant will also be waiting inside this box.

Look to your right (north) for a doorway.  This leads into the back of the chamber behind the south-side "demon wall". You'll probably find a dead Mancubus here, and, possibly a live monster as well.  Step into this chamber. (Note: Walking across the middle of the floor in this south-side chamber triggers an event in the small building at the northwest corner of the courtyard: A "stair step" now rises and falls repeatedly around the outer edge of the "coffin" in that building.  This allows you to climb up on the coffin.  Once on top, you can turn north, and run to get into a small hole in the north wall.  Once inside, look look for a panel in the west wall of the hole, which, when opened, allows access to an Invulnerability Artifact.)

In the chamber behind the south-side "demon wall" is a tall rectangular window.  From here you can look north, out and down upon the interior of the main building. In the northwest quadrant of the building, you'll see a tall pillar, located in the middle of the "pit" which is formed by the bridges that surround the pillar on all sides.  On top of this pillar rests the blue skull key. You can walk out through this window ahead of you, and drop into the main building, or simply walk to the very edge of the window, without stepping all the way through.  When you do this, an invisible "tripwire" is triggered.  This causes that tall pillar in the northwest quadrant of the building to drop down to ground level. Get down into that "pit" in the northwest quadrant to get the blue key.

TO EXIT THIS LEVEL

Once you have both keys, get back out to the courtyard. (You can exit the main building from an open door at ground level in the building's southeast corner.) Go to the west side of the courtyard, and look for a door between two blue torches on the west side of the main building. Open the door to reveal a small chamber.  Inside are a pair of Baron-Of-Hell monsters, and a Megasphere.

At the center of the back wall (east wall) of this chamber is an elevator in the raised position. Before you activate this elevator, be sure you've collected as many rockets as possible.  You'll want a minimum of 10 or so.  You may also want to acquire the Invulnerability Artifact in the small building in the northwest corner of the courtyard, if you didn't use it already.

Activate the elevator to cause it to drop down, then get on and ride it up. The elevator comes up in the back of a wide chamber which is behind the west-side "demon wall".  There is probably one or more live monsters here. In the east wall of this chamber is a tall rectangular window.  From here you can look out upon the now-darkened interior of the main building.  In the distance you'll see the east-side "demon wall".  Behind that distant wall is a chamber similar to the one you now stand in. When you step off the top of the elevator you rode up on, the back wall opens up in that distant chamber on the opposite side of the building.  Behind that wall is a crowd of immobile Spectre-Demons, and behind them is the level's "Boss" monster.

When the Boss monster detects you, it will begin launching small, brown, skull-faced cubes through the air towards the west side of the building.  These cubes will travel through air and solid objects with equal ease, until they reach one of three possible destinations: 1) the north side of the chamber you're in, 2) the south side of the chamber you're in, or 3) an outdoor spot in the courtyard, to the west. When a cube reaches its destination, it spontaneously transforms into a monster.  The monster may be of any type, excluding Cyberdemons, Spider Masterminds, Arch-Viles, Lost Souls and humanoids.

To win the level you must kill the Boss monster.  The faster you do this, the better, as the map will quickly begin filling with monsters. From where you stand in the chamber behind the west-side "demon wall", use your rocket launcher to fire rockets across the open interior of the main building, through the window in the east-side "demon wall" and to the back of the chamber where the Boss monster is. You'll need to use enough rockets to penetrate through the cluster of Spectre Demons, to the Boss.  10 or so rockets should do the trick. When the Boss monster is killed, the mission ends.

How to get to the keys and the exits in map 31 ("The Express Elevator To Hell") in TEETH.WAD:

There are two exits in this level: a normal exit (which leads to map 16 in the local DOOM II Wad file), and a "secret" exit (which leads to map 32 in TEETH.WAD).

To get into the normal exit, you won't need any keys. To get into the secret exit, you'll need all three keycards (red, yellow, blue), and you'll also need the assistance of an enemy monster. Note: To access the secret exit in this level (without cheating), do not use the "-nomonsters" command-line parameter when starting the game; Monsters must be present.

You begin the mission on top of a wide, cylindrical elevator in the raised position. Surrounding the elevator are 8 passages, leading off in each of the 8 common compass directions (north, northeast, east, southeast, etc.).

On the Automap (and sometimes in first-person view) you may notice some stylized numerals that mark the floor and ceiling of each of these 8 passages. Passage "1" leads north, and its entrance is located at the bottom of the elevator shaft. Passage "2" leads northeast, and its entrance is somewhat higher in the elevator shaft. Subsequent passages are higher up the walls of the elevator shaft at regular intervals, with passage "8" at the top of the elevator shaft. Part of the way down passages 2 through 8 are vertical bars that prevent further progress in those directions. You will need to start the mission in passage 1. To the left of the entrance to passage 8 is a red switch on the wall, which will cause the elevator to drop slowly to its lowest position, where you'll find the entrance to passage 1.

Enter into passage 1 and head north towards the far end. As you head north, vertical bars may drop down in the passage, preventing further progress north. The bars in passage 1 will automatically rise up again about 30 seconds later.

Continue down the twisting halls of passage 1 until you get to a metal door. Go through the door to small square room. Look on the east wall of this room for a switch, and activate it. The wall section where the switch is mounted will drop down, revealing a small "closet", with another switch on the back wall. Activate this switch. (This will raise the vertical bars in passage 2.) Head back to the elevator shaft. Note that as you walk up to the cylindrical elevator from any passage, the elevator will automatically drop down to its lowest position. If you step up to the elevator and it does not lower, wait a moment, then back up a couple of paces, away from the elevator, and then step up to it again.

Get on the elevator and, when it starts rising again, get off at the entrance to passage 2. (If you miss this entrance, ride the elevator to the top, and hit the switch near passage 8 to lower the elevator again.) Walk to the end of passage 2 and look for a dark open doorway on your left. Step through into a darkened chamber and you'll notice three teleporter booths. Step into the middle (red) one. You'll be teleported into an area just south of passage 5. You'll be at the north end of a narrow, raised pathway. This pathway is intersected in the middle by a similar raised pathway, and these two pathways form a plus-shaped structure. There is a rocket launcher and other useful items nearby.

Look for a red switch where the pathways cross (it will be at the northeast corner of the intersection), and activate it. (This will raise the vertical bars in passage 3.) Go back to the north end of the plus-shaped structure and step on the teleporter pad there. You'll be teleported back to the dark chamber with the three teleport booths.

RED KEY

As you step off the red teleporter pad, look for a secret panel ahead on your right. It will be a diagonal panel in the dark room, at the doorway right before you step back into passage 2. When you activate the hidden panel, the wall rises up, revealing a small chamber to the west with a red teleport pad. Step on. You'll appear back in the area just south of passage 5. You'll be in a dark chamber, raised up a bit from floor level, with a window that looks north upon the plus-shaped structure mentioned above. The red keycard is here in this dark chamber; grab it.

Step down through the window. You'll be near the south end of the plus-shaped structure. Look on the east side of this southern end of the "plus" for a vertical strip that runs floor to ceiling. This tall panel is a different color and texture than that of anything else in the room. Activate this strip like a switch, and it rises up, revealing a switch underneath. Activate it. (This will remove one barrier which blocks access to the blue key, which you can get later on.) Now go to the northeast wall of this room, and look for a pair of recessed "steps" built into the wall: one wide step near floor level, and, above and behind it, a narrower one. On the narrow step is a rocket, and behind that rocket is a switch on the wall.

Walk up to the wide step at ground level and activate it to cause it to drop down. Get on before it rises again. Then activate the smaller step and it also drops. Get on that one and ride it up; then activate the switch on the wall. (This will raise the vertical bars in passage 6.) Now walk back down the "steps" to ground level.

YELLOW KEY

Note that on the northwest wall of the room (see "RED KEY", above) there are recessed "steps" identical to those on the northeast wall. Whenever you activate one of the steps in the northeast wall, the counterpart of that step drops down in the northwest wall.

What you want to do now is activate both steps on the northeast wall, and then immediately run for the steps in the northwest wall, and get on the narrow northwest step before it rises up again. (Remember that run mode is typically enabled by holding down a shift key.) This maneuver may take several tries to accomplish successfully.

Once you're on the narrow top step in the northwest wall, turn northwest and activate the wall panel in front of you. It opens, revealing a small rectangular chamber. Enter the chamber and walk around the corner to your right, where you'll find the yellow keycard on the other side of a narrow partition. Exit this chamber through the same wall panel you entered from. Walk down the "steps" to ground level, and head for the door at the north end of the room. Go through the door into passage 5. If you find vertical bars here blocking your way, simply activate them, and they will rise permanently into the ceiling. Go back to the elevator and get on.

BLUE KEY

Once you've activated all switches mentioned above, take the elevator and get off at the entrance to passage 3. Walk to the end of the passage and walk east through the door there. You'll enter into a small circular room with a short square pedestal in the center, and a pair of switches on some "steps" on the east side of the room. Walk up to the lowest of these steps and activate the switch there. This will cause the pedestal in the center of the room to drop down. Get on it before it rises again. When the pedestal has risen up, Run east to land on top of the step where the first switch was. This allows you access to the second switch on the next step up. Activate it. (This will raise the vertical bars in passage 4.) Go back out of this room, and head west, back down passage 3 to the elevator.

Ride the elevator and get off at the entrance to passage 4. Walk down the passage, past a door on your left, to an open doorway at the end of passage 4. You'll enter into a chamber where there's a window ahead of you, a closed door on your left, and a large glowing panel in the wall to your right. (Behind this glowing panel is the blue keycard, but it is not yet accessible.) Go through the door on your left. You'll enter into a tiny chamber with three doors: the one you just came through, another closed door ahead of you, and an open doorway to your left. Go north through the open doorway.

When you step all the way through this doorway, the glowing panel (back in the chamber at the end of passage 4) opens, allowing access to the blue keycard. Grab it.

(There is a switch nearby that will open the bars blocking passage 5, if you did not already open these bars manually from the room just south of passage 5. To get to this switch, go back to the small chamber with the three doors, and again step north through the doorway that triggered the opening of the glowing panel which concealed the blue key. Now head right, northeast, to a closed silver door. Go through and turn right/east into a darkened rectangular room with "candles" on the floor. Step into this room and follow the candles to a switch in the middle of the south wall of this room. Activate it to raise the vertical bars in passage 5.) Head northwest back up passage 4 to the elevator, and get on it.

If you have not already been inside the room which is south of passage 5, go there now, and activate the switch in the northeast wall of that room (see the last paragraph under "RED KEY" for details) before proceeding to passage 6.

Get on the elevator and ride it up to the entrance to passage 6. Head southwest down passage 6 to a room at the far end which contains five tall, narrow cages. At the back of this room you'll find a switch in the middle of the southwest wall. Activate it. (This will raise the vertical bars in passage 7.) Head back to the elevator, get on, and ride it up to the entrance to passage 7.

Head west down passage 7, past a door on your left, to another door at the far west end of the passage. Go through this door and you'll see a tall, rounded metal pillar in front of you. This is an elevator. Step up and activate it to cause it to sink down into the floor. Get on and ride it all the way up. When the elevator has risen to the top, turn to face north. You may see an Imp or chaingunner in front of you, in a small niche in the wall. Kill it. (This will help allow you to run across the top of the niche in a few moments.) From on the top of the elevator, turn to face west and you'll see some shallow steps in front of you, across a gap of open space. Run west off the elevator to get onto the steps. Go up the steps and turn right. Walk east along the platform which spans the north half of this room. You'll see a gap (where the Imp/chaingunner was) in the floor ahead of you as you walk east. Run east to jump over this gap, and look for a switch on the east wall of this room, near a cluster of armor helmets on the floor. Walk up to this switch and activate it. (This will raise the vertical bars in passage 8.) Jump back down to ground level, and, with the metal pillar to your back, look for a door on the east side of the room. Go through this door, and head east, back down passage 7 to the map's main elevator. Get on the elevator, and ride it up to the entrance to passage 8.

Head northwest down passage 8 to a door at the far end. Go through and you'll notice a staircase ahead of you. Walk up to the "door" at the top of the stairs. When you activate this door, it will not open. Instead, two panels open up in the northwest wall of the room: one panel each to the left and right sides of the staircase. Go back down the stairs, then turn and go to the northeast side of the staircase. Look for the opening ahead to the right on the northwest wall. Walk into this narrow passage, and activate the panel at the far end (northwest end) of the passage. A piece of the wall drops down to reveal a green sphere: an Invulnerability Artifact. Grab it, and immediately save your game if you haven't done so recently.

Now run around to the other side (southwest side) of the staircase, and look for a passage off to the left side of the staircase in the northwest wall. This passage leads northwest, and at the end of it is an Arch-Vile monster. Do not kill the Arch-Vile yet if you wish to use the level's "secret" exit.

At this point you can choose to leave the level through one of its two exits. See "SECRET EXIT" or "NORMAL EXIT", below.

SECRET EXIT

Before proceeding, make sure that: A) you have all three keycards, B) you've picked up the Invulnerability Sphere you found to the right of the staircase in the chamber at the end of passage 8, and C) you've saved your game at this point.

What you want to do now is provoke an attack by the Arch-Vile monster: Walk right up to it. When an Arch-Vile begins to attack you, some flames will appear around and above you for a few moments. Then, as it completes its attack, your body is jolted upwards into the air. A moment after the flames engulf you, begin to walk (or run) southwest, away from the Arch-Vile, and towards the raised open space in the wall in the southwest corner of the room. As the Arch-Vile completes its attack on you, you'll be jolted into the air. If you're moving towards the ledge in the southwest corner of the room, the Arch-Vile's attack may propel you up into this opening. If you don't make it onto the ledge, go back and try again. If necessary, you may wish to reload your saved game. (If the Arch-Vile attacks you when you're not invulnerable, you may take significant damage.)

Once you're up inside this space in the southwest corner of the room, move west/northwest to interpose the corner of the wall between you and the Arch-Vile to prevent further attacks. Now look for a semi-camouflaged door in the northwest corner of this small "cubbyhole" you're in. It will open when Activated if you have the yellow key. Behind this door is another door, requiring a red key. Open that door to find another door ahead and to the right. With the blue key you can open this door, which reveals the blood-red "secret exit" chamber. Stepping into this chamber ends the mission and then takes you to level 32 in TEETH.WAD. (Note that crossing the threshold of this chamber door counts as 25% of the Secrets attainable on this level.)

NORMAL EXIT

Kill the Arch-Vile monster (and the Imp hovering in the air above it), and then look for a switch at the end of the passage (on the northwest wall, behind where the Arch-Vile was). Activate this switch, and an elevator-like section of the wall to your right will drop down momentarily. Get on before it rises up again. When it rises to the top, turn right to face a switch next to you on the southeast wall. (This opens the regular-exit door at the top of the staircase.) Now turn and walk northwest into a tiny square chamber. On the southwest wall is a switch. Activate it, and the floor just outside this chamber will drop down again, allowing you out and back down into the room with the staircase. Follow the stairs up to the now-open door at the top. The regular-exit chamber lies ahead. Step in to end the mission and resume the game on the next map: level 16 in your local DOOM II Wad file.

At the start of the mission, you'll appear in a small chamber at the center of the map, facing north towards a switch. Slightly ahead and to your left and right are a pair of narrow lifts in the raised position. This small starting chamber will be the universal starting point for finding each of the keys.

BLUE KEY

Note: The blue key is not needed to gain access to the other keys, or the exit.

From the level's starting point, turn to the left-hand elevator (in the northwest corner of the room). Hit spacebar to lower it (if it doesn't automatically lower), and get on. When you get to the top, follow the passage northwest till you come to a large, hexagonal well, or pit, with a huge pillar rising up from the center. Surrounding the pit is a ledge, which in turn is surrounded by six high walls, which enclose the area.

Jump into the pit and look for a switch on the west wall, and activate it. This will lower the entire pillar, except for its narrow central core. Ride the elevator/pillar up to the top where a Megasphere awaits. Grab the Megasphere and a series of 5 windows will open up in the walls around you: A high window on the north-east wall, and four more windows in other walls, each window lower than the next in counter-clockwise order in the walls around the room. From the top of the pillar, you can run and jump through any of these windows, except the highest one. Each accessible window leads into one of 4 narrow rooms, connected together at the ends, forming a path from the highest room down to the lowest. In the lowest room is a switch. Activate this switch, then follow the path back up to the highest room you can get to (it will be to the north-west of the hexagonal area). Turn to the windowsill in this room, walk up to it and press spacebar. This will cause part of the sill to drop, then rise again a second later. Get on and ride up. Just outside the window, and a bit to the left, you'll see a series of tall, very narrow structures (somewhat like flagpoles) sticking up from the ledge surrounding the pit. These are all mini-elevators, loosely arranged in a stair-step pattern. Walk up, across the tops of these poles, to the next highest window on your left. (If you fall off a "flagpole", simply walk up to the eastern-most pole and press spacebar to drop it down; get on and ride back up.) The highest window leads into the one room you couldn't get into a minute ago. Walk into this room. As you enter, some walls will drop, revealing the blue skull key to the northeast. It will be on a raised half-wall. Walk up to this structure and press spacebar to lower it, allowing you access to the key. You can leave this area and get back to the level's starting point through a passage in the southeast corner of the hexagonal area, accessible from the ledge surrounding the pit.

RED KEY

From the level's starting point, turn to the right-hand elevator (in the northeast corner of the room). Hit spacebar to lower it (if it doesn't automatically lower), and get on. When you get to the top, follow the passage east till you come to a large chamber. In the south-east corner of the chamber, look for a recessed door with blue-triangle markings. Go through the door and follow the path around to another door. Go through and jump down into the large square pit ahead of you. In the center of the pit is a square, spiral-staircase structure. From the bottom of this pit, follow the stairs up and around to the top of the structure. At the top is a single square block or slab you can stand on. Center yourself within this square, and then look at your Automap to get yourself oriented.

Running EAST off the top slab of the spiral stairs will cause the large square structure to the east to lower to ground level. (On top of that structure are some goodies you can get.)

Running SOUTH off the top slab of the spiral stairs will cause a wall to drop down from in front of a rocket launcher that sits nearby on a square pedestal to the south of the spiral stairs.

Run south off the top of the spiral stairs, and get on the lowered wall. In a moment it rises again. Grab the rocket launcher, and continue south, stepping off the pedestal that the launcher sits on. As you step off, a passage in the wall ahead of you to the south opens up. Walk through and look for a blue-rimmed doorway ahead of you to the south. Open the door (you'll need the blue key) and activate the switch you see there if desired, but this is not necessary to get the red key.

Proceed south-east, passing to the left of the blue-doored booth ahead of you, and jump down into the water. You'll be in a circular area. Head south to cross an invisible trigger line that opens a ground-level door in the east wall of this circular area. Head east through the door, and it closes behind you. You'll be in a large room, containing some large, square, pillar-like elevators, running floor to ceiling. As you approach close to these pillars, they drop down automatically.

Head for the middle pillar in the eastern-most row of three pillars. The red key sits on top of this pillar/elevator. When it drops down, get on the pillar, grab the red key, and ride up. When you get to the top, you'll be in a tiny enclosed chamber. Look for a red button on the east wall and activate it. Turn and walk to the west wall and hit spacebar to cause the pillar you're on to drop back down. The red button you hit re-opens the door that let you into this area.

To get back out of this area, head for the door you came through, in the west wall. If you've picked up the blue Mega-armor in the west side of the chamber, the chamber's floor may have dropped, making the west door too high for you to reach. In this case, head for the middle pillar in the western-most row of three pillars. When it drops down, get on and ride it back up. You can Run and jump to the west-side door from the pillar when the pillar is about halfway along its travel up or down. (If you're still on this pillar when it gets to the top, you'll be in a tiny enclosed chamber. Walk to the west wall of this chamber and hit spacebar to make the pillar drop, then immediately run west to jump back through the west door.)

Once you're back in the circular area (with the blue-water floor) you can get back to the level's starting point by heading up the stairs around the corner to the north. Go through the open door in the north wall and turn west. Head down this short tunnel to the level's starting point.

YELLOW KEY

To get the yellow key you first need the red key (see "RED KEY", above). From the level's starting point, turn south and walk forward. The floor will drop down. Continue south and the floor will drop down again, letting you into a tiny square chamber to the south, with a red-rimmed door to the west. Open the door and follow the path west to a circular room with a rounded black pillar in the center. Walk up to the pillar and press Spacebar to make it drop down, revealing a plasma rifle. When you grab the plasma gun, it causes two chambers to open up in the room; one to the north-northeast, one to the east-southeast. On the back wall of each chamber is a switch. The northeast switch opens a door leading southwest to a balcony. The other switch causes a step to rise in front of a window, on the northwest side of the circular room. Run up this step, through the window, and onto the "eye structure" which sits on a short pedestal out on the balcony. Standing on this eye structure allows you to step over the railing of the balcony and drop down to a large open area to the southwest. If you fall off the eye structure before you can jump over the railing, walk along the balcony to a door in the wall on your left. This door lets you back into the circular room. Jump off the balcony, and head for a nearby metallic-grey building, which is directly southwest of the middle of the balcony. Go around back, to the west side of the building, and look for a door recessed into the middle of the wall. Go through the door and turn right, and look for a lift in the raised position. Activate the lift so it drops, then ride it up. Turn left (south), and open the door ahead.

With the door open, back up and then Run, jumping to the other building ahead of you to the south. With some luck, you'll land on the wide ledge that runs along the north side of this building. Once you're on this ledge, turn left (east) and head for a raised area marked with twin blue triangles. Walk up to this surface and press Spacebar. A raised pathway will drop down momentarily, forming a "channel" which leads east and then south. When this channel-pathway is open, run all the way to its end around the corner. At the end of the channel is a lift on your right. Activate it, get on and ride up. You'll be at the east end of a long room. In the middle of the room is a switch on a post, sticking up out of the floor. Go activate the switch, then leave this building (either through a window, or back along the path you came from).

Now run for the northern-most building in the area. Go around to the west side of this building, and look for an outer door. To the right of this door is a short, dead-end alley. There will probably be a barrel in this alley. If so, destroy it. (Otherwise the barrel will block a jump that you'll make in a minute.) Go to the door, open it and go up the stairs (east). At the top of the stairs turn right (south). You'll see a switch at the far end of the hallway ahead of you; go activate it. When you come back from the switch, you'll see some more stairs to your left (west). Go up, and get the Megasphere you see there, if desired. Now go to the window that will be near by. The window opens to the north. Go to the edge of the window and look out of it, north. You'll see that ahead of you and below, and through a few more windows, is the yellow key, sitting on a pedestal. (If the key is not plainly visible, your weapon may be blocking your view of it.) Now step back to get a running start, and run north, through the series of windows, and grab the yellow key.

THE EXIT

To exit this map, you will first need to use the yellow key. As you pick up the yellow key, exit the building and get back outside, to ground level. Now head to the building which is the western-most building in the area (it will be south south-west of the building where you got the yellow key).

Head for the northwest corner of the building, and you'll see a silvery lift there, in the raised position. On top of the lift should be a barrel. If it's there, destroy it. Activate the lift to drop it, then get on and ride up. At the top is a yellow door. Open it. This will cause the four outer walls of this building to rise up. Get back to ground level, and go around to the opposite side of the lift, and look for a switch there. Activating it will open a barrier which otherwise blocks a path to the exit. To get to the exit, head back towards the level's starting position: Head for the wooden balcony wall to the east. Walk up to it and press spacebar to lower it. Get on and ride up. When you get to the top, go through the door between the two windows, then head for the hallway to the east. Go through the yellow-skull door, then through the next door, and turn left (north). Follow the lifts up and north until you get to the level's start. You'll see a skull switch in front of you to the north. Activate it to drop a central lift down. If you see barrels here, destroy them from a distance to get them out of your way. Then get on the lift and ride it up.

To the north is a large, complex area. The exit is on the west side of this area, and to the north. From stepping off the lift, following the left-hand wall clockwise around the area will eventually lead you to the exit switch.

The yellow key is in the large circular room on the west-side of the Automap. Go to the entrance of this room, and the vertical bars blocking your way into the room will rise. Go past the bars and look left. If you've been playing around in this level for a while, you should see a long, horizontal, cave-like opening in the south side of the circular wall, up above the slime-covered floor. (If this area is not already open, step across the first pillar in front of you as you pass the bars; then head for the red teleporter pad in the slime. Crossing the first pillar triggers the opening of the cave in the wall.)

Anyway, if you see the cave in the circular wall, you can WALK to it by following a very narrow, barely discernible ledge that runs along the circular wall from the room's entryway to the cave. Hugging the wall helps in navigating this ledge. Once you get into the cave, look for a face-like switch on the back wall. Activate it and the switch-panel rises up revealing the yellow key. Simply grab it.

In order to get the red key, you'll need the yellow key, so get that first if you don't have it already.

The red key's in a smaller circular room in the north-west corner of the Automap. It's in a high chamber on the west-side of the room, and the chamber is initially hidden, but will be revealed as you walk around the room. When you're standing in this room, go out the east-side door and look for the floor to drop out from under you as you walk down the corridor away from the room.

When you drop down, you'll find small chambers to your left and right. On the back wall of one of the chambers (the South one on your Automap) is a face-like switch. Activate it, and it will lower the red key down from its perch.

I first heard about it from Shawn Green, who evidently was perusing the PWAD's in the Action Games forum of CompuServe and noticed my Enigma collection, and Oracle wad. Dr Sleep and I both joined as a result of this search. Others, like Sverre Kvernmo, were found in other ways.

Those 2,000 levels are pretty spotty. I've noticed that 8 of my DOOM I levels were converted to DOOM II (very poorly, BTW) and included in that section without accreditation (thankfully! <g>), so I don't think much filtering went on there. None of us knew that more levels than the 20 would be included until the CD was released.

Id never told the authors on the project who the other authors were, but we found each other thru various means <g>. So maybe that explains why we weren't cooperating to produce an episode - the idea was more to showcase what different authors had done with the DOOM engine perhaps.

Of all the DOOM levels I've seen, E1M1 thru E1M9 have a free-wheeling, organic feel. As I understand it, all nine were designed by John Romero, and you could tell he was excited by his own creation - it shows up in the gameplay, and the architecture is the most artful and memorable anyone has seen, I think.

I was privileged to contribute to Id's "DOOM2: Master Levels," and in each of my levels I attempted - note: keyword "attempted" - to re-capture the feeling I had when I first played DOOM. First off, I tried not to "over-reach" with the architecture (there's nothing more discouraging than having DOOM slow down to 10 fps just because a WAD author insists on 70 snipe holes and as many caco's). And second, I went for fairly straight-forward gameplay (even though s/w DOOM was scary, it didn't exactly leave me feeling "beat up").

Whether I succeeded in re-capturing some of that feeling is up to the end user, but I tried all the same.

I'm pleased to say: Work on The Master Levels led to a level-design position at LucasArts.  I'm privileged to have served as lead level designer on Outlaws, and as a contributing level designer on Mysteries of the Sith.

Bio stuff:  I'm 33 years old; a single (divorced) dad raising 2 kids, ages 5 and 7.  Born in Rome, New York; raised in Pittsburgh and then Erie, Pennsylvania.  Favorite PC games (in no particular order):  Dark Forces; Jedi Knight; Mysteries of the Sith; Outlaws; X-Wing; Tie Fighter; Full Throttle; Sam & Max Hit the Road (funniest, most overlooked adventure game of all time); the entire Id Software first-person library; Duke Nukem; Rise of the Triad; also, I have a soft spot for the "golden age of shareware" stuff like Jill of the Jungle; Jazz Jackrabbit; Epic Pinball.

Favorite console games: Super Mario World; Mario 64; Mario Kart (for both the SNES and N64); Sonic the Hedgehog series; AH-13 Thunderstrike; and for the TurboDuo: Lords of Thunder and Gate of Thunder.