Russell Meakim (TheCastle)

From DoomWiki.org

Russel Meakim a.k.a. The Castle (with variations) is a level designer and former Ritual Entertainment and Nerve Software employee who designed the No Rest for the Living episode for the Xbox 360 port of Doom II along with Arya Iwakura (Squibbons). His most well-known previous work included four maps in Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes.

The Castle designed most of the first half (excluding Level 2) of No Rest for the Living up to the secret level, where all maps take place on Earth (the secret level ending with a spider mastermind), while Squibbons designed Level 2, and the entire second half of the episode which takes place in Hell (ending with a cyberdemon).

Seven years after the initial release of No Rest for the Living, The Castle created an ambitious non-official level for Doom II called Redemption of the Slain as an independent developer. The level requires GZDoom, as many of its features are required, including jumping, crouching, and scripted sequences between mini levels and a secret level. The level is optimized for use with Brutal Doom, but other than a cacodemon swarm early on, it is also compatible with unmodified GZDoom game play. The Castle announced it was his last Doom II project, as he now focuses on his new game called Revulsion.

Biography[edit]

Russell Meakim began designing levels for Doom II at the age of 14.[1] Afterward, he became involved with the Artemis Software and WireHead Studios modding groups for games in the Quake series.[2]

He has worked for Ritual Entertainment,[3] Nerve Software, Unknown Worlds Entertainment,[4] and Digital Extremes.

Levels[edit]

No Rest for the Living[edit]

Other[edit]

Commercial games[edit]

Title Year
Star Trek: Elite Force II 2003
Counter-Strike (Xbox) 2003
Delta Force: Black Hawk Down – Team Sabre 2004
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero 2004
SiN Episodes: Emergence 2006
25 to Life 2006
The Office 2007
Medal of Honor: Airborne 2007
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars 2008
007: Quantum of Solace 2008
Wolfenstein 3D (Xbox 360) 2009
BurnStar 2010
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2010
Doom II (Xbox 360) 2010
Aliens: Colonial Marines 2013
Subnautica 2014

Trivia[edit]

  • All missions made by him in any games will have a small Easter egg box that reads "The Castle Was HERE". In No Rest for the Living it can be found on Level 1 for the first 30 seconds, while in Redemption of the Slain it can be found in the secret spectre sublevel.

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Meakim, Russell (23 August 2009). "Change Revisions." MobyGames. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  2. Meakim, Russell (28 January 2001). "Résumé." Planet Quake (archived 🏛). Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  3. Meakim, Russell (8 December 2001). "Interview." CGM Labs (archived 🏛). Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  4. Meakim, Russell. "Castle Does - About." carbonmade.com (archived 🏛). Retrieved 3 November 2022.