Resume of John W. Anderson

John W. Anderson
554 East Main St
Uniontown, PA 15401
(724) 437-5247 voice
[email protected]

Dr Sleep's DOOM Apothecary
http://drsleep.newdoom.com

The WebLife of John W. Anderson
http://home.earthlink.net/~johnw.anderson

Level Designer - Game Designer - Writer

Portfolio - Click here for screenshots and downloads

Related Experience and Projects

KINGPIN

August 1998 to May 1999

Xatrix Entertainment
2038 Armacost Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 91025

Level Designer – Finished five assigned levels for Kingpin. I designed the last episode, “Crystal Palace,” where the final showdown with the Kingpin was to take place. Responsible for design of architecture, lighting, texture mapping, entity placement, and scripting scenarios.

Product shipped June 1999.

DAIKATANA

February 1997 to August 1998

Ion Storm
2200 Ross Avenue
Suite 54
Dallas, Texas 75201

Level Designer - I was the second level designer hired by Ion Storm for Daikatana, and was in charge of design for the entire Greek Episode. I helped design al four episodes of Daikatana, including monsters, weapons, and artifacts, and contributed to the scenario for each individual level in our initial design document meetings.

I worked closely with artists to provide a realistic look to ancient Greece as it would have looked around 1200 to 600BCE. I was responsible for design of architecture, lighting, texture mapping, and entity placement.

Product shipped July 2000.


		My Greek levels were featured prominently in WIRED Magazine (March 1998), along with a feature article about my and Sverre Kvernmo’s rise in the game industry through our level design. Click photo for entire article.
		One of my Greek levels formed the backdrop for a TIME Magazine (June 23 1997) photo and inside story on John Romero. Click photo for inside pic.

UNREAL

October 1995 to February 1997

Epic MegaGames
3204 Towers Oak Boulevard
Rockville, Maryland 20852

Level Designer - Contracted to design levels for the hit 3D action game, Unreal. I was in charge of the set of levels known as the “Crypt” set, and I oversaw other designers’ levels to make sure they remained consistent with the style I’d set for this series of levels.

Technology Coordinator – I worked with licensees of the Unreal technology. This involved visits to licensee’s offices to instruct them in the use of UnrealEd, which was the primary development tool for the Unreal engine; how to construct production-quality game levels; plus demonstrating and providing instruction in various other aspects of the Unreal development tools. I was also responsible for trouble-shooting and other questions arising during licensee’s use of the Unreal development tools and was the main point of contact for ongoing support. I worked with DMA Games (later becase Devils Thumbs) in Boulder, Colorado for two weeks to develop a two level game demo of game in development for a prospective publisher. Demo completed.

Product shipped November 1998.

THE ULTIMATE DOOM

March 1995 to July 1995

id Software, Inc
8601 LBJ Freeway
Suite 666
Mesquite, Texas 75150

Level Designer — Contracted to design levels for The Ultimate DOOM: Thy Flesh Consumed. Designed Episode 4, Level 7, “And Hell Followed.” This project represented the first retail release of DOOM (the original three episodes), plus an all new episode constructed specifically for this release. Along with Tim Willits, I was the only person outside of id Software to have ever been contracted to work for them, and to have shared level design credit for one of their games.

Product Shipped July 1995.

MASTER LEVELS FOR
DOOM II

March 1995 to July 1995

id Software, Inc
8601 LBJ Freeway
Suite 666
Mesquite, Texas 75150

Level Designer - Contracted to design levels for Master Levels for DOOM II. Designed five levels:

Virgil’s Lead
Minos’ Judgment
Nessus
Geryon
Vesperas

Designed additional sky textures using Adobe Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro.

Product shipped in September 1995.

BLOOD

August 1994 to August 1995

Q Studios Corporation
17120 NE 92nd Street
Redmond, Washington 98052

Level and Game Designer — Contracted for game and level design for 3D action game, BLOOD. I worked with the producer, programmer, and other level designers in building ideas for the implementation of this game. At the beginning, few graphics and game monsters had yet to be designed, and I was involved in nearly every aspect of the game’s look and special effects, which were then created to suite the level designers’ needs. My main designing tool was Apogee/3D Realm’s Build engine editor, which toggles between 2D Grid Map Mode and real-time 3D mode (for actual editing inside the level).

Non Game-Related Experience

Event Horizon Books June 1999 to present
John W. Anderson, Bookseller
554 East Main Street
Uniontown, PA 15401

Bookseller – Currently the owner/proprietor of an online bookstore, selling first editions and specializing in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, British First Editions, J. R. R. Tolkien, and contemporary rare and signed books. Site located at:

http://eventhorizonbooks.tripod.com

Teletech, Inc. August 2001 to November 2001
Netbank
Uniontown Mall, Route 40
Uniontown, PA 15401

Customer Bank Associate - My responsibilities involved telephone suppport for Netbank customers: relaying account information on checking, savings, CDs, and IRAs, activating ATM cards, and any other customer-related account information.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania October 1985 to May 1995

Fayette County Department of Public Welfare
41 West Church Street
Uniontown, PA 15401

Income Maintenance Caseworker – I managed 400 families for ongoing eligibility for food stamps, cash, and medical assistance. This involved maintaining of individual case records for each family. The records were updated on a regular six-month basis, but usually more often as per the needs of the family and based on changing household status. Changes were noted through carefully detailed hand-written case notes, based on telephone or personal interviews and/or home visits.

I was also the PSSU Union Shop Steward from 1993 to 1995. I represented over 120 employees, acting as go between in disputes or grievances between employees and management. Conflict resolution between many parties was an ongoing – and sometimes daily – occurrence. I also managed other union officials within the office, delegating their duties to attend to various other issues, all of which pointed to maintaining diplomatic relations between the employees and management.

Other Experience

Independent Level Design

Dante's Gate - one of the first original PWADs (add-on levels) for DOOM I, released May 1994 and revised several times, including conversion for DOOM II. This level is widely recognized as one of the classic DOOM add-on levels, and is available on Internet FTP sites, CompuServe, and America Online. Screenshots of this level were widely used for the popular “how’to” book Tricks of the DOOM Gurus, SAMS Publishing 1995.

Crossing Acheron - Single player level designed for DOOM I, released June 1994, and revised for DOOM II. This is the level that caught the eyes of id Software and Apogee Software, and which lead to their contacting me to design levels for their games. Also widely recognized and available on Internet FTP sites, CompuServe, and America Online.

Recant - Single player level designed for Raven Software's HERETIC, released March 11, 1995, revised once.

Web Site

Dr Sleep's DOOM Apothecary - I currently host a popular DOOM website which features tips on level design, tutorials I've written for several DOOM editors, and one of the most comprehensive download sections of various DOOM utilities and Add On Levels. I first started this page in 1994.

Publications and Recognition

March 1998

WIRED Magazine

I was the subject (along with fellow designer Sverre Kvernmo, and Tim Willitts of id Software) in a feature article written by David McCandless, titled “Legion of Doom.”

PC Gamer Magazine December 1994
December 1994, Vol. 1, Number 7

Dante’s Gate and Crossing Acheron were the first DOOM levels included on PC Gamer's CD-ROM Premiere Edition, the very first CD-ROM the magazine produced and which now comes with every issue. Included on the CD were demos of Wing Commander III, Quarantine, and Rise of the Robots.

Dante’s Gate and Crossing Acheron are both a main feature of PC GAMER Online’s DOOM level download section, a section of their Internet web site.

DoomWorld December 2003
www.doomworld.com
December 10, 2003

My DOOM level Crossing Acheron was recently named as on the 100 Best PWADs of All Time (10 Best for 1994).

	March 1995 and May 1996 Tricks of the DOOM Gurus SAMS Publishing	Dante's Gate and Crossing Acheron were included on the CD-ROM in Tricks of the DOOM Gurus, 1^st and 2^nd editions 1995, SAMS Publishing; plus, screen shots of Dante’s Gate are featured as examples in the book as well.
	May 1996 3D Game Alchemy SAMS Publishing	Dante's Gate and Crossing Acheron were included on the CD-ROM in 3D Game Alchemy, 1996, SAMS Publishing.

Personal Skills

Software/OS

I’m experienced with Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP and the Microsoft applications Word, Excel, and Outlook. I’m familiar with Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop, and Illustrator. I’ve used most of these on a daily basis since 1995 (and earlier Windows versions since 1993). I'm also familiar with web design programs like Microsoft's FrontPage and Macromedia's Dreamweaver MX.

Game Editing Utilities

UnrealEd – Having worked on Unreal for Epic MegaGames and Pterodactyl, I have a great deal of experience with this editor. As mentioned in my work experience above, I was the technology coordinator for Epic MegaGames, which involved my teaching UnrealEd to other game companies who were licensing the Unreal technology.

QERadiant – I worked with different version of Radiant for Daikatana and for KingPin. While at Ion Storm, I was the beta-tester for the updates Robert Duffy (author of Radiant) to the Daikatana team before distributing them to the rest of the level designers and coders.

Build – I worked with this early Duke Nukem editor on the game Blood for Apogee/Q Studios.

DEU, WinDEU, DETH, and Doom Builder – Of these DOOM level editors (written by various members of the DOOM community) I used DETH and DEU for my work on The Ultimate DOOM and The Master Levels for DOOM II for id Software, and the others for my independent levels. I’ve been using some of them for over ten years, and have written lengthy instruction manuals for two of them (see Writing Skills).

Writing Skills

Software Manuals

Doom Builder: An Illustrated Guide – This is a 131-page manual, written for the popular Windows-based level editor Doom Builder by Pascal vd Heiden. The manual is illustrated with over 100 color screenshots of various interface features of the editor, such as the toolbar, dialog boxes, and menus. The manual is divided into three sections: Section One covers the interface, Section Two is a systematic walk-through of building a level with the editor, and Section Three describes advanced functions of the editor. Screenshots accompany the step-by-step guide to building a level, as well.

Both manuals were written with Microsoft Office Professional Word 2003 11.0. Graphics were created with JASC Software Paint Shop Pro 8.0. The PDF was created with Adobe Acrobat Professional 6.0. The HTML (web) version was created with Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 7.0. The manual can be viewed online or downloaded through the following table.

File Format	View Online	File Size	Download
HTML (online web page)	HTML	5.4MB	dbguideh.exe
Adobe Acrobat PDF	PDF	2.2MB	dbguidep.exe
Microsoft Word		4.5MB	dbguide.exe

WinDEU for Beginners: A Pictorial Guide – I’ve written a 77-page How-To manual for the DOOM editor WinDEU (by Renaud Paquays, a Windows version of Raphael Quinet’s DEU). The manual is profusely illustrated with step-by-step instructions on the WinDEU interface and building a simple DOOM level. The manual can be viewed or downloaded through the following table:

File Format	View Online	File Size	Download
HTML (online web page)	HTML	880K	wdeuguideh.exe
Adobe Acrobat PDF	PDF	843K	wdeuguidep.exe
Microsoft Word		1.3MB	wdeuguide.exe

Website/Articles

Dr Sleep’s DOOM Apothecary – I maintain a DOOM resource website for members of the gaming community, hosted by NewDoom.com. The page includes lessons and tips on level design, tutorials, and other resources for editing levels and advanced manipulation of graphics for PWADs. The site is composed of over 32 pages that are updated frequently. The address is http://drsleep.newdoom.com/.

Spice Up Your Level: Optimizing the REJECT Resource – I write a series of articles (usually on a bi-weekly basis) for the Editing Clinic page. The most recent is an article about using certain DOOM utilities that allow manipulation of the REJECT table in DOOM PWADs for special effects (keeping monsters from seeing the player, optimizing a PWAD’s speed by reducing line-of-site calculations by the DOOM engine, etc.).

You’ll Never DeathMatch in this Town Again – This is a short account of how I came to discover DOOM, and how it lead to my getting professional work in the games industry. It can be viewed online at http://drsleep.newdoom.com/about.shtml.

John Crowley: A Pictorial Bibliography – I maintain a website devoted to the works of John Crowley, author of the 1982 World Fantasy Award-winning novel Little, Big. My site features pictures of all of the different editions of his books, along with publication information. The address is http://webpages.charter.net/jsa1/jcrowley/index.html.

H. P. Lovecraft: A Pictorial Bibliography – Much like the Crowley website, but still in progress. The address is http://home.earthlink.net/~lilanderson/hplovecraft.htm.

Game Design Documents

Inferno – This is a 40-page game design document based on Dante’s Inferno.

Fiction

I’ve written many short stories and several novels, and had several short stories published in the college newspaper.

High School – Non Fiction

I was editor of my high school newspaper during my senior year, and wrote book reviews as well. I was also editor/photographer for the high school yearbook during my junior and senior years.

College – Film Reviews

The Moviegoer – I wrote film reviews on a weekly basis for the California State University student newspaper for two years. The column was called The Moviegoer (after Percy Walker’s novel of the same name). Clippings can be provided on request.

Typing Speed: 85+ wpm

Most of the above content can be viewed online at the links given. Others can be provided upon request in Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

Education

California University of Pennsylvania 1974 to 1978
California, Pennsylvania

Major: English Literature

Downloads

This resume in Microsoft Word format or Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

Dante's Gate for DOOM or DOOM II.

Crossing Acheron for DOOM or DOOM II.

Recant for HERETIC.

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