Legendary FPS level designer Richard "Levelord" Gray dies at 68

Gray also made a brief pivot late in his career to casual games such as the Luxor series after FPS maker Ritual Entertainment was acquired by new parent company MumboJumbo. “It does seem sort of a shock at first, from the outside, for sure,” he said of the surprise move in a 2007 interview. “Remember, though, making games is making games, a dream job come true! … To be honest? …we’re enjoying the hell out of doing something different than hardcore shooters, and the variations within the casual game market makes us even more enthusiastic!”

Gone but not forgotten

Tributes from friends and colleagues have poured in across the Internet since Gray’s death was announced. 3D Realms founder Scott Miller called Gray “a stellar talent” and “a relentless hard worker, a fun teammate, and an overall great human. His levels in Duke Nukem 3D and Sin will live on forever.”

Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski praised the “sense of place” Gray’s levels could create in a game like Duke Nukem 3D. “Few 3D shooters up to that point had it,” he wrote. “Instead of a generic hallway you were in an identifiable location. To pull that off with such early/simple tech was a miracle.”

Id Software’s John Romero remembered Gray as a “great guy” who “was full of life, a gentle soul, and an excellent level designer. He was called ‘Levelord’ for a reason.”

“Richard was, without a doubt, one of the kindest people I’ve ever met in the games industry,” Slipgate Ironworks CEO Frederik Schreiber wrote. “Incredibly humble, remarkably intelligent, endlessly creative, and always a pleasure to be around. Despite everything he had accomplished and the enormous influence his work had on my generation of game developers, he never carried himself as anything other than a genuinely good human being.”