Catacomb is programmed by John Carmack, who would later work on successful games such as Wolfenstein 3D and Doom.

[6][1] In the game, the player assumes the role of the magician Petton Everhail, who is contacted by Terexin, High Wizard of the Kieralon.

The player has the ability to strafe, which is a feature that programmer John Carmack would also include in later games such as Wolfenstein 3D and Doom.

There he worked together with game developer John Romero, who initiated a bi-monthly disk magazine called Gamer's Edge.

Customers could subscribe to Gamer's Edge to receive one or more PC games from Softdisk at a two-month interval.

In July 1990, Softdisk CEO Al Vekovius told Carmack and Romero that in order to attract subscribers, the Gamer's Edge sampler disk should contain two games.

Carmack rewrote his game Catacomb for PC, while Romero ported Dangerous Dave.

[4] According to the book Masters of Doom, Carmack and Romero became aware of each others strengths and weaknesses while working on the ports of Catacomb and Dangerous Dave.

[3] According to the autobiography of John Romero, "Catacomb 2" was developed by id Software and sold to Softdisk in 1991.

[6] Catacomb 3-D is a first-person shooter for DOS, developed by Id Software and published by Softdisk in November 1991.

The game renders the levels with a 3D perspective and introduced the concept of showing the player's hand in the three-dimensional viewpoint.

There are two new features compared to the previous games: an armor that offers extra protection and the possibility to freeze time such that enemies are unable to move or attack.