10 Times Creators Sneakily Inserted Themselves Into Video Games

The cameo from Doom 2 is an all-time classic, and can be credited as one of the earliest examples of game developers putting themselves inside their own projects.

In Doom 2, there is a secret room with the severed head of John Romero, the creator of the Doom series and co-founder of id Software. The room appears in the final map of the game, the Icon of Sin, and cannot be accessed through normal means. The player needs to use a cheat code to clip through the level or get launched from a specific location after getting hit by an Arch-vile enemy.

According to an interview with John Romero, the cameo was actually an inside joke made by the game's artists. Romero wasn't aware of its existence until he accidentally stumbled upon it while programming sound effects for the final level. To let the artists know that he was onto their prank, he recorded a secret message in the final boss's voice lines. When played in reverse, the boss says, "To win the game, you must kill me, John Romero."

Now, that's one hell of a way to handle office communication.