How can John Romero convince prospective Kickstarter backers that he’s still got it, that he’s ready to make a new circle-strafing gibfest? The Doom and Quake level designer is currently trying to crowdfund a new ‘classic’ FPS with his fellow former id Software pal Adrian Carmack (no, John Carmack was id’s tech guy; no, no relation), but so far they’ve only shown artwork and ideas from Blackroom – not much when you’re trying to get $700,000. So, as a warm-up and to work the crowd, Romero has released a new Doom map, a replacement for E1M4 – Command Control. Download it here.

As the readme file (always read the readme, and respect readme formatting) explains:

Tom Hall originally created the framework for E1M4.

It makes sense that if I was creating an entire E1 of

just my work, this would be the level I would remake.

Romero made most of the Knee-Deep in the Dead episode’s levels, see, but some are based on levels made by Tom Hall before id Software fired him. This is his crack at making the level his own. This return to Doom mapping is a recent one. Earlier this year, he released his first level since 1995, an E1M8 of his own.

If you want to play, you’ll want a copy of Doom and an updated engine like GZDoom.

With one day down, Romero and Carmack’s Kickstarter for Blackroom has over $100,000 in pledges towards its $700,000 goal. That’s not a bad start! It would be nice to see even a rough prototype.