SOOOOO DOUBLE INTERVIEW!!!!! crazyness!
So uoz surprised us all with this really cool well thought out mod called Riot Act recently. The mod is all around great and I found myself playing it a 2nd time through. <---- I never do that. The mod had so man nice features in it and great "holy shit" moments that i just have to give it a 4.5/5 ! why not 5 you ask? only because i had to noclip 4 times but anyways! So yeah mods great and everyone should check it out.

download it from here :(copy the link and paste it into your browser) http://uoz.multiplayer.it/ra/index.php?content=download

ALRIGHTY!! now onto the interview!!!!!!!!!!

Whats your Name?
My name is Germano Guerrini.

How old are you?
31

Where do you live?
Rome, Italy

What made you decide to start mapping?
It was quite a natural step. Passion for games plus passion for creating things

When did you start mapping?
My first map is dated back to 1998 I think.

What engine did you start with?
A modified version of Quake 2 engine for Heretic 2 from Raven Software.

What do you like/dislike about mapping?
Like every other human activity, the best part is when you have just your empty canvas and infinite possibilities on it.
Then, you have to pick up one and made it. Take off and landing. That’s it.

What maps / environments have you made so far?
I have made over 20 levels for Half-Life, Quake III and Half-Life 2.
Gameplay wise, I made single player maps, deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag and so on.

What are you most well known for?
Not sure about that. “The Long Night”, my first singleplayer map pack for Half-Life was very successful, but even “Up & Down” for Quake III and “Backbone” for Half-Life 2 are well known.

Which was your favorite to work on?
Oh that’s impossible to say. I loved to work on every single brush I made.

Where do you get inspiration from to map?
Well, inspiration is a perspective on the world around you, the way you make it shape your mind. I’m just curious about everything and try to be as permeable as possible to new stimulation.

How many times a week would you say you open an editor?
Impossible to say. Over the past 9 years I’ve been endless hours with an editor open, but I need a vacation from time to time. Beside, I have a real life too

Do you provide your own custom content?
Whenever possible. For Riot Act, for example, I created a few texture, the bridge model and skin, and other things.

What modeling program do you use?
I’ve used Maya and, recently XSI

What do you use to make your textures?
Photoshop

Do you find custom content very helpful when mapping? Especially if you make it yourself?
Generally speaking: yes. But it all depends from the quality you can achieve.

Do you want to be in the game industry?
Skipped

If you could choose a game company to work for which would it be?
Skipped

Who’s your favorite mapper?
Well, when we talk about quality, I think it’s pretty hard (and maybe useless) to try a possible ascending or descending sort.
As a mapper myself, I’d say that a better map is generally the result of the effort of a team more than a single person today.

Whats your favorite game?
Oh, what a long list here
Ok, if I absolutely need to choose one, I’d say Double Dragon 2

Where do you see yourself in 5 or so odd years?
With a child and a lighter mortgage

What inspired you to make this mod?
It was a natural impulse. I can’t imagine me not doing that.

Are there any elements that make this mod stand out from any other mods?
- A complete sound track
- First SP mod featuring HDR
- First SP mod featuring custom hands model (not only skin)
- First SP mod featuring Phong shading (even if only on the model above)
- First SP mod featuring bugbait again
- Short but rather sweet voice acting
- Infinite passion behind it
That said, you’re perfectly allowed to dislike it, of course

what was the hardest part of making this mod?
The hardest part was to cut feature after feature because I wasn’t able to find people to make them.
I had much higher expectations for Riot Act (like being three times longer, a custom vehicle, much larger custom environments), and it was really frustrating to cut them out.

wat was the easiest part of making this mod?
To decide to make it

how long did it take you to make this?
Almost two years I think.

What is your favorite part about this mod?
The bridge scene for sure.

can we expect anything like this from you in the future?
Hard to say. From Half-Life to Half-Life 2 the complexity increased of an order of magnitude at least, and I’m not a kid anymore.
Probably I’ll go for much smaller projects. But, hey, you’ll never know

Well thanks for you time Uoz! It’s great to see good mappers like yourself in the community. The mods great and it obviously took you a good deal of time! Thanks for sticking with it to bring the community such a great mod!

-vivi

Ok so this week I got to sit down and talk with KillerWorm and interview him. He just recently released a new map called cs_meridian. A very nice map thats setting is on a boat. It looks very stylized and cool. A definite must check out map for all you guys looking for cool custom stuff.
Lets get this interview started!!

Whats your Name?
David (online KillerWorm)

How old are you?
19

Where do you live?
USA - California

What made you decide to start mapping?
I always liked to create things, so when I got a copy of Duke Nukem 3D and saw that it had a “world” editor I decided to try my hand at it. To give myself some “extended play” lol

I always liked making maps for Half-Life games so when I bought CS:S I started mapping for it so my clan’s server could get some new maps!

When did you start mapping?
I started mapping about 5-6 years ago. (for CS:S about 2 - almost 3 years)

What engine did you start with?
Build Engine

What do you like/dislike about mapping?
I like seeing the map come along and my idea grow. I like making a fictional place come real in a map that people can play in. I also like to hear everyone have a great time when they play the map. The only thing I dislike (about CS:S mapping) is that the compile takes so long and I have to wait sometimes up to a couple hours or so to preview my work. haha

What maps / environments have you made so far?
cs_meridian (a Yacht) (newest),
cs_topsoil (a underground old mining facility),
aim_amwoods (a pretty river map in the northern California forest),
de_coldfire (a zombie infested city) ,
bethlehem (… just as it sounds lol),
de_rotterdam_css (a fictional place in Rotterdam),
cs_maimi_css (a bank)

What are you most well known for?
Well, as far as mapping goes, I am known for having unique environments and also having unique features in my maps. (such as the fade-to-black in de_coldfire. Or the landslide in cs_topsoil). Also a lot of secret (or really good) hiding places.

Which was your favorite to work on?
de_coldfire. Even though it took me a year or so to make it (due to tons of errors).. I think this was my most fun map to make due to the theme. A zombie infested city. Its a huge download but is really fun!

Where do you get inspiration from to map?
Everything.. from a cool looking building that makes me think it would make a good map, to movies, to other people’s maps.

How many times a week would you say you open an editor?
I open it very often. But when I am in-between work.. not too much.

Do you provide your own custom content?
Yes, a lot of it.

What modeling program do you use?
I don’t know how to model =/ Wish I did.

What do you use to make your textures?
Paint Shop Pro / Photoshop

Do you find custom content very helpful when mapping? Especially if you make
it yourself?
Ohh yeah. I can find a texture or picture of something specific that I want and be able to use it.. instead of being stuck with default textures.

Do you want to be in the game industry?
I have always wanted to be. But I want to keep it as something I can do for fun and keep it fun and not have it just be “Work”

If you could choose a game company to work for which would it be?
Hmm… that is tough. One that pays well? Haha… but no, really I am not sure. I would have to look into it.

Who’s your favorite mapper?
Hmm… I don’t really have a favorite mapper. To tell ya the truth I know most of the people by maps not names. But I guess the Dimension Studios team and Alex Royce have really good maps.

Whats your favorite game?
Hmm… CS:S (but tied close with any game that is extremely fast-paced like Unreal 2004).

Where do you see yourself in 5 or so odd years?
Still making maps! But whether for free or getting paid for it… lol

Thanks for the enlightening there Killah! It’s always great to learn about mappers and how they think and stuff! Once again thanks for filling out the interview and ill see you next map!

-vivi

Click picture

- A video which basically explains why its good to use sketchup for level design

So somewhere it was announced recently that Middleton, Wi was America’s best place to live! and thats where Raven Software is!! wooters! we are smack dab in the middle of Middleton :P. Id like to think we are the reason why its so great but i highly doubt that but still! its pretty cool ^^ and its a great place to work

-vivi

Hurray! I had a bit of time today to take a break and play around with some ideas for my rooftop fight scene for conspiracy (my mini sp mod for hl2) It actually came out pretty good and i’ve already started mapping it out. Basic idea is that the player goes from one roof to the next. I do have some cool points with some neet interaction with the player. Well anyways here are the sketchup pictures!

Hope you enjoyed!

-Vivi

Yeah so I wanted to get into the Game-Artist comp and do something cool but yeah……
Work picked up and i ended up doing the texture really half assed and the design was never finished XD!
Sucks that I have to submit this piece of crap but I guess its better then nothing? right?…….

-vivi

So this week I was browsing forums and I came across this new rats map called De_Sunstroked. The map looks really nice and well thought out. I thought Id give a lil ring to catfood and see if he would be so kind to answer some questions so we could get into his head a bit more on what he likes about mapping and how he maps and stuff. Here is the interview *anticipation*

Whats your Name?
Rick, online known as catfood

How old are you?
20 years young

Thanks again for the interview and keep making those maps!

Where do you live?
the Netherlands

What made you decide to start mapping?
i wanted to do more with the models that i made then just… building them and putting e’m away
so i thought it would be a cool thing to make models for maps, something like that hehe

When did you start mapping?
about 3 years ago

What engine did you start with?
i was building deathcookin in the 1.6 engine and during the building progress hl2 came out,so i converted it to the source engine,

What do you like/dislike about mapping?
i like the progress thing.. you start with an idea and you see it grow step by step
and when it’s done it’s fun to see other people wandering around in the map
what i dislike?.. i guess when something doesnt turn out the way i wanted

What maps / environments have you made so far?
well my real first map is deathcookin before that it was just playing around a bit after that crimson, that was a speedmap made it within a month or so forsome kind of contest… ended first but never got my reward..thanks to pcgamer… then boskoop a little bit of an overkill if you ask me hehe but it was a good learning progress
and now ive just released de_sunstroked new rats map and soon cs_bourbon will be released got a little problems with the little bugger hehe

What are you most well known for?
my most popular map is deathcookin,

Which was your favorite to work on?
boskoop was fun to build taking pictures etc, and i walk around in the city everyday and now i can wreck the place hehe

Where do you get inspiration from to map?
about everywere, movies, music surroundings etc

How many times a week would you say you open an editor?
a lot, when im working on a new map but ill take my breaks hehe

Do you provide your own custom content?
all of it

What modeling program do you use?
3dstudio max

What do you use to make your textures?
photoshop

Do you find custom content very helpful when mapping? Especially if you make it yourself?
yes there no limits, and it gives your map a special touch

Do you want to be in the game industry?
yes, i almost got a intern in Triumph studios

If you could choose a game company to work for which would it be?
i guess Thriump Studios, because there not to big “yet”, and there growing fast

Who’s your favorite mapper?
i dont know many mappers, but i saw heyo’s work and i must say, very very nice,

Whats your favorite game?
at the moment, doom3

Where do you see yourself in 5 or so odd years?
the gutter or behind the computer in a gamestudio

Well that’s pretty cool! Thanks for taking the time to interview with me and all that. Your map is really awesome and it just goes to show what you can do when you can make your own custom content. I’ve been trying to push people towards this for some time and it just makes me smile to see other mappers making their own stuff. ^_^

Ill try and fill you guys in with stuff ive done and junk while i was on vacation sometime during the week! Things are getting pretty busy so we shall see!

Going to be taking a vacation for the next couple of days! . If i get time (chances are i will) ill write up some reviews on things i go see / do . I plan on going to see transformers ! so we shall see. ill write about my adventures when i get back! To bad i had to go on vacation tho just as insurgency came out!XD

be thinking of you!

-vivi