The following is an interview I did for Spirit for
Qexpo 2008.
Could you briefly introduce yourself
(age, location...) and tell us when you were most
active in the Q1 community?
27 years old, from New Zealand.
Love music, movies, games. Just like every other guy!
These days don't have time for game playing unfortunately,
and instead put all my time into website design running
my own little web design company.
How did you get involved in the community?
Started out playing Doom2 &
Wolfenstein 3D. Eventually got hooked on Duke 3D blasted
pigs and spending a lot of time telling strippers
to "shake it baby". The Hexen and Heretic
titles were also great. Then my cousin gave me a copy
of Quake in early 1997, and I absolutely loved it!
I'd never seen a game like it before - it was pure
fantasy horror - and more of an 'experience' than
any other game. The atmosphere was just perfect, with
gameplay that was straight-forward, pure action-oriented
fun. After playing through the game I started downloading
custom levels on the library computers at high school.
I didn't have any editing software then, but I did
manage to get some for Doom2, so made a couple Doom2
levels in the meantime - just to get used to level
editing for Quake.
By mid-1998 I finally got Worldcraft
and there began my mapping obsession. Funny enough,
after making a crappy short episode for Quake in 1998,
I found a new love - Quake2, and moved on to mapping
for that and Half-Life for all of 1999. Q2 releases
from guys like J F Gustafsson, Jonas NP Lindstrom
(both great Q1 mappers aswell), SPOG and The Powersphere
Quest were more inspiring than any of the Quake levels
at the time. Then in 2000 I finished school and went
crazy making maps for various games - a dozen deathmatch
levels for Quake3, which is funny because I hardly
ever played deathmatch. A bit of a waste of time all
those were. Then in 2001 returned to Quake and released
around 12 or so levels (most level packs, even) between
2001-2002. By 2003 I had decided I was spending way
too much time in Quake and decided to leave the community
with Carved In Flesh and Autumn Haunting to leave
my mark - probably my best and final releases. I think
I once went back into Worldcraft a year or so later
and couldn't even remember how to use it.
What Q1 contributions are you best-known
for? Which of your works is your personal favorite?
Best known for, I have no idea.
Maybe Rapture with Tronyn was the most downloaded.
And Grindmill, a Quake3 map I made. My personal favourites
are between Necrobrood and Carved In Flesh. Necrobrood
because I loved the metal theme and large scale architecture.
But Carved In Flesh was my most detailed and best
looking work. I also loved Autumn Haunting, but it
was too short. Permutations Of The Rotten (for Nehahra)
I also really loved for gameplay, but the design was
a little more repetitive. I also liked all my Quake2
releases, although they wouldn't have worked in Quake.
What was your initial motivation
to work for Quake?
I just loved creatings "worlds".
Running through that fantasy-horror environment that
Quake had and admiring the design. Which is interesting,
because I hated other 3D programs like 3DSMax, Maya,
Lightwave. Which is why I won't ever map for any modern
games.
Are you still playing Quake? Are
you still trying out mods, maps and engines?
The sound in Quake won't work on
my computer, so I can't play Q1/Q2/Q3 anymore. No
idea why - I have all the latest drivers. If I fix
it one day then I can return to all the custom levels
I've missed.
Have there been other games you have
been playing a lot since you left the community?
I've got a huge amount of FPS games
downloaded ready to play, almost 100gb worth - but
really don't have time anymore. I bought a new computer
so I could play Crysis, but don't think I'll ever
get around to playing it! Doom3 was the most recent
game I enjoyed - but even that has too many custom
releases to get through (1gb worth)! The last few
games I actually played were Undying (great!), Wheel
Of Time (nice but some of it was rather amateur and
bland) and Soldier of Fortune 2 (much better than
I was expecting).
How would you describe the Q1 community
right now? Is there any contribution that really impressed
you in the last couple of years?
Most of the recent stuff I haven't
been able to play. I loved Contract Revoked, Warp
Spawn by Ijed. Haven't kept up with the community
for a while though. I download all the latest releases
but don't play them. I WILL one day :D
How do you
picture the future of the community? Do you (objectively)
think that people will still be modding/mapping for
it in, say, 10 years from now?
People are stilling modding/mapping
for Doom2 - so I see no reason why not. Games of today
seem to be much harder to map for. Quake and Worldcraft
was brilliant in it's simplicity. It's the kind of
game that will last the test of time. It has such
great replayability and a dedicated community.
Your #1 secret special ingredient
to a good map (imagine a newbie asking for your advice)?
Having a second monitor with porn
constantly playing ;) No lesbian porn though.
Seriously, there is no secret ingredient. You've got
to put in the time, don't rush it. Paint the design
and architecture with passion and detail. When it
comes to gameplay, make it a hectic challenge full
of action - something which is lacking in recent games.
What are your favourite maps?
Okay, my memory is pretty poor so
I'll miss tonnes of brilliant work, and anything from
the last year or two I haven't played. Firstly, anything
by Tronyn, Mexx, CZG, Than, Damaul, Necro, Kell...
Best ever release was Nehahra. Full stop. I also enjoyed
Bestial Devastation, Insomnia, OUM, Numb Nimbus, Penumbra
of Domination, Contract Revoked & The Lost Chapters,
Day of the Lords, Warp Spasm, The Marcher Fortress...
I always thought Prodigy, Beyond Belief, Zerstorer
were great in terms of gameplay, but the level design
was a little plain for me.
Alright thanks for the interview!
Happy to know people still remember and enjoy my contribution
to Quake. My memories if sitting in my dark bedroom
mapping away for hours and hours with music playing,
sure were friggin enjoyable (as sad as it sounds).
