Oswald: Thanks for taking some time out of you daily schedule, so the Action Community can get to know you. Introduce yourself and give the Action players a general bio and what you are all about.
Scuzzy: Okay, well my name is Gene Beaumont (alas, I'm stuck with it) and I'm from the "Land Down Under," Brisbane in fact. I guess I first got into mapping from the early days of Wolfenstein and Doom, I spent a good few years on Doom, but most of my work has been for personal enjoyment rather than public release.
Oswald: So, another Aussie who is into Action. There seems to be a thriving community down there, recently providing the AQMD and everyone who plays with some great looking maps.
Scuzzy: Yep, we may be located far away from the rest of humanity, but we have a strong and talented gaming community. After all, it was Australians who made Team Fortress and Quake Rally. It's quite odd really, after a long break from map making and gaming (a good six months), I have gotten back into the swing of making maps and I've been staying up until all hours of the morning playing Action Quake on the local servers, few might say I suck at the gaming part, but I like to think I'm good at the mapping side if things, I have always been bad at playing games :)
Oswald: I guess starting with Wolfenstein and moving to Doom, the logical step was to go out buy Quake I, followed by Quake 2. How long have you been into PC gaming and what lured you to Action Quake 2 scene?
Scuzzy: Well mapping for Wolfenstein speaks for itself, I've been computing since the 286 days from a early age. I enjoy being creative, I'm not a good drawer, painter, nor builder, but I like to think I'm pretty mean around a map editor. It's a good way to veg out for a few hours. Well it was that first encounter with Action Quake that lured me into it. The creative maps that people come up with, it's a lot better to see a shopping mall, for instance than the big gun from planet Stroggos. And after seeing such maps as, City by Mats "Ruskprick" Holm and Urban by John "Gerbil" Parish, I just had to try my hand at making something for Action Quake.
Oswald: After seeing what Ruskprick and Gerbil created, you decided to give it go. How did you go about creating some of your early maps and learning a map editor? Did you spend time learning the ropes so to speak before you got involved with creating Tokyo?
Scuzzy: My first Quake levels were a mess, the sort of maps you would see on the "Cranky Steves" web site. But after a few good months I slowly got the hang of things. Well actually, since I have made a few maps for Quake 1 then onto Quake 2, I already had a good grip of my editor by the neck, by the time it came to making maps for Action Quake. The challenge was to make a map that looked good, had good game play, and was a blast. That was what I hoped to achieve in my first map "Tokyo".Yes, a lot of work was done before attempting "Tokyo", I made lots of samples of what i could use in my level, spent a day prefab hunting, which resulted with the Truck you see in the street. I had about 10 different versions of "Tokyo" on my Hard drive. And I still have no Idea why I called it "Little Tokyo Showdown"
Oswald: That brings us to your map which was released by the AQMD earlier this year, Tokyo. How did you go about creating Tokyo?
Scuzzy: With the ideas from City and Urban, I attempted a level. The brilliance of my level making is that I have absolutely no plans on how i want the map to turn out, i just toss stuff in, if if looks good, ill keep it :) Tokyo was a bit like that, I started off in the area that has the big "bill board" think and worked around the center block. I still had no plans for the box lay out that came from it, but I think the Idea worked. It was a bit of a hit and miss affair. But I'm surprised it came out so well. And people seam to like it too which is always a added bonus.
Oswald: I am sure I speak for most of the players who saw your picture of High Voltage posted at the AQMD, when I say it looks quite impressive. You made mention that you are trying to create a "realistic" environment. How do you expect to accomplish this and what can we look forward to in your upcoming map?
Scuzzy: Well, there is one thing I have noticed about some levels, and this is the box effect, where levels look quite a lot like cardboard boxes placed on top of each other. What I'm planning on is making a map that has a bit of detail, both in a map sense and in a texture sense. Hopefully, I have someone who can help me with a few textures here and there, making anything that isn't already made in the Action Quake community. The usual Ruskprick textures will be appearing, but not as common as Tokyo relied on them. Also, my map hopes to combine nature in there too. Things like trees, plants, grass will all be a nice touch added to the environment. Not all cities are dank and dirty ;) There will be the usual city based stuff, but I'm also planning to have different areas around the map. Things like a dock/ocean area (suggestion taken from the Forum), nightclubs, apartment blocks, sewers and a subway. And I was even thinking of putting a few parked cars around the place just to add that small touch. This map will take me a while to build, but I'm hoping for a good result to come out of it.
Oswald: It sounds like the only problem you could run into will be keeping it to a playable size. What are you going to do to remedy this? I bring this up because Ruskprick created Teacher, which is a beautiful map, but very extensive in overall size.
Scuzzy: Yes, that will be a problem, but I'm trying to make the level in smaller "areas" which the player can move to and from via tunnels, sewers and the subway. It's going to large, but not compact like the City was, more spaced out. So you don't have to spend ages finding the enemy, because everything is basic in layout.
Oswald: I can think of a few maps that have included some of the areas you talk about. City by Ruskprick has a great layout (albeit a bit large), Riot2 has the best looking subway to date and your map Tokyo along, Teamdepo by Strag and Murder by FiReWaLKeR, introduced some of those environmental extras, such as sounds which spawn life in a rather lifeless city.
Scuzzy: I'm hoping to make this map stand out, I know the ideas have been done before, but the way I do them should be the turning point of this map. Even down to the detail of working signal lights in the subway will be included. Sounds are are also a vital point of the map, a map might look the part, but it not just your eyes that get the candy. Sounds can also effect the way the map feels, from insects, to cars, to the sounds that doors make. I have plans for a sound rich environment in High Voltage.
Oswald: Since the AQMD gets many questions related to mapping, such as, "I want to create a map." or "I have this great idea for a map, how can I make it?" Talk a little about how you go about creating your maps and what information would you pass along to the next would be mapper?
Scuzzy: My ICQ list is all ways flooded with questions like that, in particular, FiReWaLKeR asking to use bits of maps I have made (the brick building from passin is a prime example of that). Well I'm a bit of a careless mapper, I take too long to make things, but I guess that's because I want to get everything correct. I start of with the shell of the map, place a few things here and there, but I chop up my map and develop each section on individual files. That way you can compile just the section you are working on, rather than the whole map, saving time! Okay as far as help for other mappers...- Try to keep things basic when placing brushes in your map editor, you will notice things can get very cluttered with all those white lines running everywhere, especially on the side on views of your map. - Try to use as many polygon reduction methods as possible, try to keep those r_speeds low by employing some simple techniques. I won't go into these, but Rust has perfect examples of how to do it, I read that tutorial three times before starting on High Voltage. - Don't give up, I get board easily and I have around 15 unfinished maps lying around on my HDD. Turn on the radio, and don't use CD's, because its the variety in what you do that keeps you going. I use the radio a lot when making maps. I'm just lucky that Brisbane has a radio station dedicated to Dance and Techno music :) - Always think of something fresh, can't think of something new, improve on what is already there, that's what I'm doing :) That should do for the moment, I don't want to bore you all :)
Oswald: AQMD says no illegal textures can be used in an Action map. While we try to enforce this, there are maps which slip through simply because there are many games out there in which to rip textures from. What is your stand on the use of textures from other games? More specifically Unreal and Kingpin, since these have been used quite extensively in recent maps.
Scuzzy: Yes, that is a problem, but quite frankly I'm all for it. I know now to use them, that's it, but the way that the gaming community is structured it can't be helped. I would love to see game developers and distributors allow the use of their textures in other user created mods, because they are not for sale, I honestly can't see the harm done. I know Kingpin is a big hit with the AQ community, because of the style and quality of textures. It is a far cry from some of the 'Neon' or 'Plain Coloured' walls that currently inhabit AQ. If I had my way, I would be stealing textures from Kingpin and Half Life, left, right and center.
Oswald: Along with the texture issues, map standards and the desire for "quality" maps has been all the talk. AQMDs first map contest was our hope to spawn some new and unique maps. Regardless of the results, I enjoyed seeing the maps that were created from a multitude of different authors. How would you go about trying to get authors to create unique and quality maps?
Scuzzy: It's really the mappers own style that plays the key here, you can really see Gerbil and Ruskpricks style. You just need to play off your own attributes. I'm often depressed at some of the maps made, not mentioning names, but most of the maps could have some more effort put into them, I know its a bit cynical of me because I have only made the one Action Quake map, and mainly because High Voltage has been in production for ages (and still hasn't got very). I started on this map about 7 months ago, I quickly got involved with school and didn't have time for it. One think that mappers need to look at is creating a consistency. Levels that are just a mish mash of things put in with out any thought can be a bit disappointing, I guess its up to the mapper to make what they can. Textures are the best way to make detail, because you don't have to rely on brushes for detail. but then again, it's hard to make maps. By creating a feel to the map, you give it uniqueness, you can tell a good map, by the number of servers running it. And using other people textures can be good, but add some original ones, even just whack out Paintbrush and see what you can come up with.
Oswald: In an attempt to get maps tested and possibly get feedback to the author, what do you feel is a fair testing procedure? Should all maps be "officially" released or only those which stand out above the rest?
Scuzzy: They should all be released, because if people are willing to put the time in to make something for this massive Action Quake community they should at least get some recognition.Yes, even the bad maps, that's what makes AQ so fun, looking at maps and saying "Hey, I think I could do better than that" and hopefully from that we will see people all ways trying to "out do" the other mappers, well that's what I'm planing on anyway :)
Oswald: So you have seen the new testing procedures and the forum in the Staging Area, which people can comment on how a map is doing in general categories (ie: r_speeds, textures, DM, TP, etc)? This gives players the chance to download some of the test maps and decide for themselves how well made a map is. Or, do you think the AQMD should go back to the secret testing, making nothing available to the Action Community until it is officially released?
Scuzzy: I love it, its good that people can see what's in production before its released, I just hope that people remember to download the "official" version before attempting to join servers running maps. It also give the community a chance to be really picky about maps, so that the author can go back and change things before it is officially released, so we can get the possible best out of a map.
Oswald: Do you think those mappers who have created maps in the past that have "officially" been released have an advantage over new, unheard of mappers?
Scuzzy: No, not really. If a new mapper can make a map that's better than previously released maps, then that is excellent. The only thing is where it comes down to publicity and the server map rotation. Where as authors to release map after map may find their maps on servers, the new to the field might be a bit bewildered, trying to get people to play their map on the servers. I guess I'm a bit like that, only recently have I showed my ugly mug around the AQMD scene, after the long break between Tokyo. But I hope to be a regular soon :) I just hope I haven't stirred up people with the taunting screen shot of my work in progress :)
Oswald: That concludes my questions. Anything you would like to add or p1mp that I may have not touched on or just forgotten?
Scuzzy: Oh, no p1mpage from me at this time, but I will have to whack some images up everywhere of my map. Who knows, I might even finish this map within a month or so :) I just wish Gamespy would stop p1mping everything p1mpable.
Oswald: Scuzzy, thanks for the time you gave me and all the insight into your life, maps and everything Action. I look for ward to seeing your new map. Thanks again for the interview.
Scuzzy: Thanks for the shameless plug :)
It was good talking to you. If only ALL action quake players got this chance, keep up the good work at the depot. Now to take the screen shots :) hehe
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