Sierra Studios sends word that none other than Ritual's Famed Levelord™ has joined an "all-star" team of level designers contributing maps on a contract basis for Gearbox Software's upcoming official Half-Life add-on Opposing force. Here is a good chunk of the press release:

BELLEVUE, WA (June 14, 1999) -- Sierra Studios™ and Gearbox Software announced today that famed level designer Richard Gray, also known as "Levelord™", has agreed to create a multiplayer map for Half-Life: Opposing Force. Half-Life: Opposing Force is the first official game expansion for Half-Life, the thrilling PC CD-ROM created by Valve Software and named "Game of the Year" by over 40 publications around the world.

Levelord, best known for his work on Ritual's SiN, 3dRealms' Duke Nukem 3D, and id Software's Quake: Scourge of Armagon, is the first announced member of an elite group of "all-star" designers who have joined Gearbox Software on a contract basis to create new multiplayer content for Half-Life: Opposing Force.

"Gearbox is very excited to have Levelord contributing to this project," noted Randy Pitchford, co-founder and lead game designer at Gearbox. "His always clever and unique designs are sure to bring a whole new level to the Half-Life multiplayer experience with Opposing Force."

"We've been great friends since the days of Duke Nukem," said Levelord, "We have a mutual respect for each other's work, and I'm very honored to work with Gearbox as well as with Valve."

In addition to his groundbreaking single player creations for some of the most acclaimed 3d action titles of our time, Levelord has designed many of the most popular and creative multiplayer maps of the genre. These include Duke3d's Tierdrops (where players exist in the same space but in different dimensions), Hipdm1 for Quake: Scourge of Armagon (the level that started a new genre of 'suspended in space' multiplayer platforms) and Spry for SiN (where players are the size of mice in a huge living room).

Half-Life: Opposing Force (a.k.a. OpFor) will feature a dozen new multiplayer levels created by 3d action industry All-Stars like Levelord. OpFor also features an expansive new single player episode were players return to the Black Mesa Research Facility from the exciting new perspective of a soldier to eliminate a new breed of fierce aliens. The title, which is being developed by Gearbox Software, is scheduled to be released this October.