Ramblings From the Journals of the Very Same Madman

[Rex Claussen]

Well, greetings, folks. And the best wishes for good health and an ample measure of fulfillment in 2026.

From a DooM-editing standpoint, 2025 ended on a reasonable note. I jumped back on development for Zero Dark: Theta, including the enemies. I may have mentioned this, but ZD: T, The Darkest Hour, and Dawn: A Prelude (which I am packaging with ZD: T) implement not just the sprites from Star Wars Dark Forces enemies and weapons, but also their behavior. Credit for this goes entirely to Ryan Cordell, Lex Safonov, and Tim 'Xim' R; I have merely tweaked some of the actor definitions to suit gameplay in ZD: T. Despite the tweaking, a significant amount of gameplay refinements are required to properly balance what are, essentially, new enemies.

The game also incorporates models, primarily of spacecraft. While some of these are decorations, at least two of the craft are integral to the story that drives ZD: T. They are also being used retroactively on TDH and D: AP, where they were mostly props. Still, I believe they help to bring the two old games into the 21st century.

I'm not sure how long my momentum will last, but for now I have recaptured some of the enthusiasm that prompted me to begin Zero Dark: Theta.