This text file contains some background information about the development of DTS-T, with a short description of the levels.

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		*** CONTAINS SPOILERS! IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THROUGH DTS-T YET, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND NOT READING FURTHER! ***
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1. The early years (1998 - 2004)
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I started designing DTS-T back in 1998. At the time, I had toyed around with the WADED map editor for two years and I felt I was ready to do something really big.
I got the idea of having the player travel through different dimensions, so I could design wholly different styles in my project. Originally, DTS-T was running
on Doom95 and Final Doom's TNT iwad, so I could make use of its music and textures. Back then, my skills didn't really go beyond just making levels, so
shifting music tracks or sky textures around wasn't something I was able to do. This is also how DTS-T came to have its classic chapter breakdown, where the later 
chapters have a lot more levels than the early ones. Later on, I would freely move assets around but to this day, DTS-T sticks close to the original chapter breakdown.

By the end of 2004, I had designed the first 20 levels of the game, plus one secret level. I designed the levels of DTS-T almost exactly in the order in which you play them,
so from level 2 on, you will first encounter my older work (re-edited of course) and then gradually experience the more recent levels. While I was designing the third chapter,
I more and more frequently ran into issues with WADED, which would at some point refuse to properly save and/or compile my levels. By the time I was designing the first secret
level, these problems had become so prevaling, that I made the decision to switch to a different map editor - Doom Builder. This was really a blessing for the project!
Around the same time, I discarded Doom95 and switched over to the ZDoom engine. I used some tentative ACS scripting in the secret level (we're talking about map31, by the way),
but even later, I would delve into the capabilities of the new engine more deeply.

I then started work on the second secret level, which was supposed to be a remake of a Quake map. I quickly ran into motivation issues, though. Back in 1998, doing a Quake remake
in Doom had seemed a cool idea, but as Quake itself grew old and ZDoom's community did some cool work with the Quake textures, I began to feel that the niche I had wanted to cover
with the level just didn't exist anymore. This issue was the start of a looong break from DTS-T.


2. The recent years (2010 - 2012)
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In 2010, I finally resumed work on the project. I had never abandoned it completely in my mind and the first decision I made in 2010, was to bury the Quake map idea for good.
I came up with a different idea for a secret level and started work on the final chapter of the project. Here, I gradually used more and more ACS scripting and by the time all
levels were completed in summer of 2012, it had become apparent that a "post-production phase" was in order, especially to bring the older levels up to speed with my more recent work.

I spent the last few months of the project tuning and polishing all the levels, adding some pieces of architecture here and a bit of ACS scripting there. I added weather effects, fog
and fixed bugs and - as I am writing this - DTS-T is finally in the state where I feel comfortable to release it. DTS-T has a long history and, as a consequence, some of its levels
are fairly old and demonstrate my earliest shots at doing well-polished and decent levels. Making them look like "Knee Deep In ZDoom" or things like that was never my intention and, 
frankly, it's not possible without just starting over. I feel that DTS-T is a good and solid thing, though, that will hopefully convey the atmosphere I had in mind for it.


3. The levels
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PROLOGUE

01 "Return to Phobos"

This level is fairly new and (together with the final level) the last one, that I designed. The reason for this is because the original "Return to Phobos" was an E1M1 ripoff. In 1998,
when I had no internet and was basically designing for me and some friends, this had seemed an awesome idea: Copying E1M1, doing some small changes and letting it be the starting point
of the player's journey. By 2012, it had become apparent, that this was not the right way to go anymore. My skills had reached a point where I trusted in myself to be able to create
a convincing level in the spirit of E1M1 and this was what I did. I looked at light levels and textures Romero had used for his level and tried to create something that could have been built
just next to his base. I borrowed some room ideas from Romero, to recreate the look and feel of E1M1, but added some nice touches of my own.


CHAPTER I - THE JOURNEY THROUGH BLACKSHIRE

02 "Blackshire fortress"

I wanted to have a medieval setting for the first chapter and invented the realm of Blackshire, of which the first level is Blackshire Fortress. This is the oldest level of DTS-T, and - 
with my E1M1 ripoff gone - the only remaining level from 1998. Over the years, I added several pieces of eye candy to the level, such as ceiling architecture. But other than that, the
level has remained mostly the same. The biggest change in terms of gameplay came during post-production, where I rearranged some switches and keys, to make the level "flow better".

03 "Graywood Village"

It's probably obvious that I was inspired by Hexen for the first episode and Graywood Village is no exception. Originally, I wanted to have a bell tower in the center of the village but
it didn't really work out for me so I just added a well and had the player explore some secret cave behind one of the houses. In this level, the player is first seeing Sir Enri's castle,
which he is going to explore in map05. This level was originally completed in January of 2000.

04 "Sir Enri's Dungeon"

I wanted to have a typical dungeon in the game, complete with a maze and a torture chamber. There is a funny secret area in this level but you have to find it on your own. ;-)
This level was originally completed in 2000.

05 "Sir Enri's Castle"

Sir Enri's castle is the most complex level of the first chapter and one of the two levels that I released as part of a demo about a decade ago. It was completed in 2000 and, to this
day, I find the gameplay and atmosphere here to be very enjoyable.

06 "The Rift"

This is the final level of the first chapter. Here, the player encounters a green "DTS rift" for the first time. I drew some inspiration for this level from an uncompleted level
called the "Baron's Passage", which I had worked on some years prior to The Rift. The Hell Knights and Barons of Hell in this level served as the chapter's "bosses" for a long time.
In the end, I added Sir Enri as a real boss, to make everything a bit more exciting. Sir Enri is the nickname of an old friend of mine, by the way, who "won" his name appearing
in the game by answering Doom trivia I would pester my friends with via Email. ;-) The Rift was originally completed in 2000.


CHAPTER II -  Dust And Bones

07 "The Temple of Edfu"

This is one of the few levels of DTS-T that actually exists in reality: The Temple of Edfu is inspired by the Horus Temple in Edfu, Egypt. I actually went to a library
and borrowed some books on Egyptian architecture back then. The level was originally completed in the summer of 2000.

08 "The Inner Sanctum of Edfu"

This is the first level that I did after leaving school, in case you are interested in these kinds of details. ;-) The Inner Sanctum draws some inspiration from Tomb Raider and
the Indiana Jones movies and sports several puzzles. It was completed in late 2000.
	
09 "The Devine Chasm"

This level was my problem child for a long time. I wanted to have a transition from Egyptian to Gothic style in the chapter but I just couldn't come up with a nice enough idea to
do it. The idea of the chasm was quickly made up but the individual rooms caused creativity problems and it took me almost two years to finish the level (2002). If I had to pick a least
favorite level, it would probably be The Devine Chasm - but then again: As a mapper, you love all of your children. ;-)

10 "Morbus' Death Cathedral"

"A big gothic cathedral" was the central idea of this level. This was the first level where I ran into massive performance issues with both, Doom95 and WADED. First, I had a massive open
entrance area, which would crash over and over again in Doom95, until I scraped it. Later on, WADED refused to accept any further lines, when I still had an entire cathedral wing to draw.
I confined myself to scraping the wing and replacing it with a very simple square room for the time being (2002). In 2012, I reedited the level and added the missing wing. The level now looks
almost like I originally had it in mind.

11 "Gehenna"

This was a quick level to do in the end of 2002. Gehenna is the final level of chapter two and was fun to design. I had finished map10 with the "if < 10% hp exit"-exit and in the beginning of
Gehenna the player has to fight some zombies while being on low health. I originally wanted to remove the player's weapons as well but in 2002 I wasn't able to do that. By the time I did
the reediting in 2012, I scraped this idea because there is a similar thing later on in the game already and I didn't want to repeat myself.


CHAPTER III - LOST IN SPACE

12 "Deck 1: Research/Cargo"

In 2003 I started work on the third chapter, which takes place aboard a space station. For map12, I wanted to have a moody atmosphere, devoid of any monsters at first, to unnerve the player.
There are a lot of rooms that don't really do anything but are supposed to create a credible space station and a sense of foreboding. I did some ventilation shafts here where the player 
"crouches" (with fake floors). Of course, I didn't know back then that I would add actual crouching to the game later on, but I still left the ventilation shafts in the way they were.

13 "Deck 0: Purification Plant"

In this level, which was originally completed in 2003, I toyed around with varying acid floors. It is one of the few levels in the game that contains toxic barrels and radiation suits. ACS scripting
later helped to make the acid floors mechanics more robust. I also added a new starting room later on, because originally the player started out inside an acid pit with a crushing ceiling above
him, which might have felt very "Death Star-ish" but would have been frustrating to a lot of players.

14 "Deck 5: Crew Quarters"

This level contains the crew quarters of the space station and is partly inspired by Doom3, which, at the time, was just one year away from release. This is why you find bloody bathrooms with
broken floor tiles in here. There is also some Star Trek reference, with a replicator in the cantina. This (together with map05) was one of the two demo levels I released in 2003. Since then, I
redesigned some of the level progression, because it felt a bit weird originally. I also experimented with mirrors in the bathrooms, here.

15 "Deck 4: Command Control"

There is a secret exit hidden inside this level, which I originally completed in 2003. Originally, the secret exit was very well hidden. During post-production, I made it a bit easier to find. 
Did you find it? ;-) Other than that, I drew a lot of inspiration from Star Trek for this level. You will find sickbay, OPS, arrest cells - and forcefields.

16 "Deck 3: Core Level"

The central idea of this level, which was originally completed in 2003, was to have a power core in the center of the level, which the player has to gain access to and destroy. Again, some inspiration from
Star Trek: Engine rooms and maintenance ("Jeffries") tubes, mostly.

17 "Deck 2: Shuttle Bay"

This is probably one of the more unique levels of DTS-T. It was the last level I completed in 2003 and it's the last one that plays out aboard the space station. The player has to quickly reach a shuttle
until the station explodes. Originally I used a voodoo doll with a crushing ceiling to add a time limit to the level, along with exploding barrels. I experimented with "low gravity" here as well. 
Originally, the "low gravity" was just some invisible steps, but during post-production I added actual low-grav effects on top of it. I also added quake effects and replaced the voodoo doll mechanism by 
ACS scripting, for a more robust experience. The combination lock wasn't always in either: Originally there was a different sort of combination puzzle, that involved raising and lowering floors and ceilings 
- but the optional jumping support made it necessary to replace it with something not involving jump heights.

18 "Tytios Surface"

The first level I did in 2004, Tytios Surface still belongs to chapter three but takes place on an asteroid. I think this level particularly gained atmosphere by the fog effects I was able to add during post-production.
There is a 3D bridge in here, which originally made use of classic Doom mechanics. I replaced it with ZDoom bridge objects later on, though.

19 "Tytios Ore Mine"

Yep, this is a mine! I like mines and enjoyed those found in Tomb Raider III, Heretic II or Dungeon Siege, for example. So I wanted to make one for DTS-T as well. As part of my philosophy to make both, linear and
non-linear level flows, this is a fairly non-linear level (after two very linear ones). This level was originally completed in 2004.

20 "The Ancient Ruins"

The story twist in the end of the third chapter is, that the player travels thousands of years into the future in the blink of an eye and - as a result - finds the crashed space station remains as ancient ruins.
This is the setting for the finale of chapter three. I am particularly proud of the Cyberdemon arena, which you will probably recognize from map15!


CHAPTER IV - THE APOSTRUCT

21 "The Fading Place"

This is the first of the levels I did after resuming the project in 2010 (apart from the small Apostruct level - see below). I was still relatively unfamiliar with ACS scripting by the time I did this level, so
there are less fancy ZDoom mechanisms in here than in the later levels of the chapter. I really like the level, though. It shaped up to be exactly the place I envisioned it to be in the beginning. Early versions
of this level were really difficult to play and I "nerfed" it several times before I was happy with its (still not easy) difficulty.

22 "The River Phlegethon"

This is arguably the largest and most difficult level of DTS-T. Like many other Doomers, I was inspired by Dante's Devine Comedy. Having enjoyed The River Styx in Final Doom or The Pit of Acheron in Diablo 2: LoD,
I wanted to pick one of the less used rivers of hell and thus, the River Phlegethon was born. This level is definitely one of my favorites, because it's so large and contains both, linear and non-linear parts.
A funny anecdote: During the entire design process of this level, one of my hands was bandaged because I had sprained my thumb. I think that's not visible in the level, though. ;-) The level was originally completed in 2010.

23 "Vivarium"

This is the "zoo level" of DTS-T. I liked the idea of not just having a classic zoo, but a bit of a hellish one, that an evil wizard would have created for himself or something like that. The zoo is already
decaying, as you can see by the increasing damage to the architecture of the hub rooms. There is a little twist in the end that involves Arch Viles. I hope I created a compelling experience, which doesn't come
natural when separating all monsters strictly by type. The level was originally completed in 2010.

24 "Of Blood & Steel"

This level is actually a blend of two different level ideas that I had, one being a "cyber factory" where all the cybernetic creatures of Doom would be produced, the other being a cathedral being made entirely of
blood and steel textures. I felt that blending the two ideas was the right way to go. This level has some very complex ACS scripts, that take care of producing and destroying monster ingredients and actual monsters,
all passing by before the player's eyes on conveyor belts. I also wanted to breathe fresh air into the door concept of Doom, by having only "movement sensor"-triggered ones in this level. 
The level was originally completed in 2010.

25 "The Jade Cube"

This is a bit of a weird level, the idea to which had been in the back of my mind for a long time. Some of the inspiration for this level comes from the "Cube" movies. Also, I wanted the color green to dominate here
and - similar to the infamous Plutonia level - I wanted to have nothing but Arch Viles in here. In the end, I added a second monster type - Barons of Hell - for a bit of diversity. This level is very puzzle-intensive.
It's the only level in which jumping is not allowed, because some puzzles rely on the player not being able to jump. The Jade Cube also houses the second secret exit of the game. This was the final level I completed in
2010.

26 "The Vault of Flesh"

This is the first level I did in 2011. The Vault of Flesh takes you inside a gigantic human body. As with the Jade Cube, I had had this idea for a long time - before seeing the body level in Unreal II, for example!
The Vault of Flesh turned out to be one of the most difficult ones of the game and was subject to several "nerfs" before I was satisfied with its difficulty.

27 "Geonosis"

With the player travelling to so many different dimensions, I figured I could as well feature some famous movies in DTS-T. In Geonosis, the player relives the epic battle of Star Wars: Episode II, where Anakin Skywalker
and his friends are captured by Geonosians and brought into the so-called "Petranaki Arena" for execution. It proved somewhat difficult to recreate such a massive place in Doom faithfully and I also had several ACS
issues because of all the different scripts running here. But in the end, I hope that the result is convincing. Created in 2011.

28 "Morannon"

Originally, this level was supposed to be called "Gate of Apocalypse" and would have been a more generic Doom level. I also had this envisioned as map29 for quite some time. With map27 being a Star Wars level, I figured
I could as well turn this into a Lord Of The Rings homage. I had some trouble with the fog effects here, because it just didn't look good at some spots but I wanted to have it in. There will probably still be people
saying that the fog looks out of place here and there but all in all, I am happy with how the level turned out, especially with the epic battle at the Morannon gate. Created in 2011.

29 "Seven"

This was the first level I did in 2012. This level is heavily inspired by the seven deadly sins, which I had become aware of when watching the famous David Fincher movie. It wasn't easy to create all the sins
using the gameplay of (Z)Doom but I hope I did a good job - supported by the voice acting. ;-) Originally, Seven was supposed to be on map28 but I figured this would be more fitting for the level preceding the final level.

30 "Final Destination"

I think the idea of not having the classic Icon of Sin mechanics in the final level came to me as soon as I got into ZDoom and ACS scripting in 2004. Over the years, the vision of the very first level being overrun
by demons and turning out to be the final level of the game, took shape. Just in case you did read this without playing through the game, I won't go into too much detail here. ;-) But I really hope you like it.
This was the final level I did for the project. Afterwards, DTS-T went into "post-production".

31 "Death Hostel"

This is the last level I completed in 2004 and in fact the last level I completed until the year of 2010! The first secret level gave rise to many technical problems with WADED, so I switched over to Doom Builder
in mid-development and also started with ACS scripting in this level. This level exists (or has existed) in reality: It's the youth hostel where I spent my communal service, which every young male had to do
until recently in Germany. I hated that time and thus, I saw it fitting to return there to slay some zombies. ;-) The level might not have the best gameplay but its primary goal was to make a faithful recreation
of the hostel. The luxury of a secret level.

32 "Scholomance"

The second secret level had been my main problem child of the entire project for a long time. Originally, I had wanted to do a remake of a Quake1 level but I abandoned the idea. After discarding several other ideas,
I came up with the notion that map32 should be a recreation of a World of Warcraft dungeon, which I had enjoyed playing for several years. My first shot was the Molten Core but I quickly scraped the idea again.
Big lava caves with a huge visibility range just don't work well in Doom. In the end, I decided to do the Scholomance, which had always been of of my favorite WoW dungeons. It's the pre-MoP version of Scholomance,
should you want to compare the level with it's WoW original. I'm really happy with how the level turned out, even if I had to apply some tricks here and there, where the original dungeon uses 3D architecture 
(3D floors is something I chose not to explore for DTS-T). This was the final level I completed in 2011.

33 "The Apostruct"

This was the first level I did when resuming work on the project in 2010. Other than the first three chapters (which technically are hubs as well but play linearly), the final chapter is a real hub, with the Apostruct
being the central, well, hub level. If you take a look at the automap, the level is shaped like an "A", a bit of an inside joke, as the level name begins with "A". Apostruct is a portmanteau of the two words
"apocalypse" and "construct". So, the level's meaning is "construct of apocalypse". In fact, the working title for the final chapter had been "realm of apocalypse" for a long time.
This level is of central importance to the game, as it is here where the climax of the story unfolds. The player also receives the BFG9000 here, after returning from the first sub-level.