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Richard "Levelord" Gray, a legendary level designer on Duke Nukem 3D and the co-founder of Ritual Entertainment, has passed away, aged 68.
The news was shared yesterday online by Apogee Entertainment and triggered an outpouring of tributes from both his fellow game developers and members of the wider gaming community.
"We are deeply saddened by the passing of Richard “Levelord” Gray," Apogee Entertainment wrote. "From his legendary work on Duke Nukem 3D to the countless players and developers he inspired, Richard leaves behind a lasting legacy. Rest in peace, Levelord."
Gray, according to an interview with the Russian collaborative blog Habr.com, originally got his start in gaming after discovering the text adventure Colossal Cave Adventure while working at a company developing business applications.
Inspired by this discovery, he began creating simple games in COBOL and went to university to study computer engineering, believing it would set him on course for a career in the game industry, but ultimately set aside those aspirations to work at an aerospace company for a few years, believing he was not "smart enough" to work on his own games just yet. It was only after the release of games like Wolfenstein and DOOM, and discovering the DEU (DOOM Editing Utility), that he decided to pursue these dreams once again, learning about a rapidly emerging new discipline in games, which wouldn't require too much programming knowledge, called "level design."
Making and sharing his own levels on Compuserve, he caught the attention of Q Studios' founder Nick Newhard, who hired Gray as a contractor to begin working on the game that eventually became Blood, before being hired by Apogee itself to work on levels for Duke Nukem 3D, where he contributed the now iconic Easter Egg, "You're not supposed to be here. Levelord", hidden in the last level of L.A. Meltdown, The Abyss. In 1996, together with some other Apogee employees, he would form Hipnotic Interactive (later renamed to Ritual Entertainment), where he worked on a mission pack for id Software's Quake, called Scourge of Armagon, and the 1998 Activision-published shooter SiN (which was recently remastered by Nightdive and Atari).
In a tribute to Gray, Apogee Software co-founder Scott Miller wrote on social media, "A heartbreaking day. Richard was a stellar talent who joined the game industry in his 40s when Apogee hired him to join the Duke 3D team. He was a relentless hard worker, a fun teammate, and an overall great human. His levels in Duke Nukem 3D and SiN will live on forever."
George Broussard, Miller's former business partner, wrote his own tribute to the designer, calling Gray a "unique character" who was "well liked by everyone," and who was "big into secret areas and surprises for players."
In addition to Miller and Broussard, the former 3D Realms webmaster/community manager Joe Siegler also paid tribute to Gray, saying they stayed in touch with Gray "long after he left to found Ritual" and sending love to his family, while id legend John Romero labelled Gray "a gentle soul and an excellent level designer."
Our thoughts are with Gray's family and friends.