– John Romero talks about creating new content for a game that released decades ago<\/em><\/p>\n Shacknews has shared a lengthy writeup on the creation of John Romero\u2019s spiritual Doom<\/em> successor Sigil<\/em><\/a> that explores everything from the design of the levels in the \u201cmegawad\u201d mod pack to the process of creating Sigil<\/em>\u2019s unique merch. <\/p>\n It\u2019s an interesting rundown of a very unusual project. Romero, one of the minds behind id Software\u2019s original Doom<\/em>, announced the <\/a>megawad<\/a> last year<\/a> as an unofficial follow-up to Doom<\/em> that, while free, requires a copy of that original 1993 game to run. As he explains in the Shacknews story, Romero wanted Sigil<\/em> to feel less like a mod and more like the fifth and final chapter of a game that had released decades prior, both in terms of story and difficulty. <\/p>\n He found ways to connect the stories of Doom<\/em>\u2019s Episode 4 to Sigil<\/em> in a way that both felt natural and would link the core game to the events of Doom 2<\/em>. And, as far as level design goes, Romero says that end-game difficulty was the goal.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to make sure the pressure was always on,\u201d he said, explaining that Doom<\/em> fans had decades to build up their skill with the game. \u201cMy design choice was, \u2018I need it to be really hard for me to finish a level.\u2019 That meant it had to be really tough.\u201d<\/p>\n Both Sigil<\/em> and the premium collectors kits Romero partnered with Limited Run to create are able to exist without infringing on id Software\u2019s rights as well. For Sigil’<\/em>s collector’s box, that means that, in Romero\u2019s words, \u201cwhat you’re buying in the box is CDs of Buckethead’s music, cool books we’ve made, my head on a stake, that kind of stuff. It’s all things I made.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a big plus for me: I wasn’t doing anything that anyone could be upset about. I wasn’t going, \u2018I have new levels, and I was just teasing you with [the level] E1M8b because you have to buy these!\u2019\u201d Romero tells Shacknews. \u201cNo, I’m giving that stuff away, but I have some cool premium content that you might want to pay for\u2014not only Doom<\/em> collectors, but people who like Buckethead’s stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n