Romero forges Slipgate Ironworks

In February, notorious game designer John Romero revealed that he was working on a massively multiplayer online role-playing game on this official blog, www.Rome.ro. "Many people already knew I was making an MMO for about the past 4-5 months but evidently there are a lot more who didn't know," wrote the self-confident Daikatana creator. "The torrent of diarrhea from people's posts on the Net about it confirms just how out-of-date most people's knowledge of my history is after the id or Ion era."

Now, the famous--or infamous, depending on one's opinion--game designer has revealed the name of his new company. Without fanfare, this week the Web site for Slipgate Ironworks went live. Still in its early stages, the site consists primarily of job listings, including solicitations for a senior 3D artist midlevel tools programmer, concept artist, and senior game designer. No platform or title for the game has yet been announced.

"My executive cabal and I are very excited to build an amazing development team," wrote the ever-effusive Romero on slipg8.com's one and only page. The site describes Slipgate as a "newly founded and funded MMO game company in the Bay Area," adding that it's working on "developing a Super Secret Mystery Project that will be revealed to only the most qualified candidates!" Those interested in applying for positions can e-mail Romero directly at john@slipg8.com.

Slipgate is the latest startup from Romero since he left id Software, which he cofounded. In 2001, he formed the mobile-focused developer Monkeystone Games with fellow id cofounder Tom Hall. In late 2003, Hall and Romero left the company for a brief stint at Midway Games' San Diego studio, where they helped develop Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows. However, both exited the studio months before the game was released in December 2005 to poor reviews.