Master Levels for Doom II

Development

According to one of the contributors, Christen Klie:

1. id accepted as many maps as an author could submit - provided id had time to review them, and provided the maps met quality standards. I seem to recall id wanting to publish 20 maps in total, but that might not have been a hard figure.

2. We were all paid a flat-rate fee for each map. Same fee across the board.

3. It wasn't clear until the end of development whether the Master Levels would be presented as a mega-wad or as stand-alone levels. I personally was hoping they'd be combined into a mega-wad.

4. Apologies, as I don't recall what the other authors' intentions were regarding map order. I'm pretty sure Sleep had an order in mind for his levels, and I know I had an order in mind for Subspace and Subterra - which were to have been followed by a map called Subderma, which I didn't get time to make.

(Source: Doomworld forums, 2008)

DOOM-IT

Master Levels for DOOM II contains a shell program named "DOOM-IT" from which the various new level .wads are loaded. It also features networking/modem setups, automatic recording of level plays ("demo" recordings), and other useful features. It was written by Chris Badger for id Software, and does not appear to be available outside of the Master Levels for DOOM II release.

Rejected level

Tom Mustaine's first submission to the Master Levels was a map inspired heavily by Doom II's MAP14 ("The Inmost Dens"). However, id's American McGee (the original author of MAP14) rejected Mustaine's map, claiming that it wasn't original enough ("go make some of your own geometry!", McGee supposedly said). Mustaine promptly created the map "Paradox" instead, which got successfully accepted.

Secret level

Master Levels for DOOM II actually contains 21 maps - "teeth.wad" by Sverre Andre Kvernmo contains a secret level titled "Bad Dream."