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RawShark's one-off Quake3Stuff staff interview
Name: GedByrne, founder and webmaster of this site.
RawShark: Okay Ged, feel the spotlight in your face! What prompted you to start Quake3Stuff.com?
GedByrne: I first designed a clan site when Quake was released. It was probably the ugliest site I have ever seen. I used to visit Stomped and Bluesnews, and I got thinking... I could do that! I played hour after hour of QuakeWorld and then Quake 2 and got to know the games through and through. Being in I.T. I thought it was about time I got into web design. Since then, I haven't looked back.
RawShark: What do you get out of running a site like Quake3Stuff.com?
GedByrne: I'd like to say that I get tonnes of money and positive feedback, but sadly neither are true. Banners are a good money spinner (providing people click 'em). As for feedback, I do get positive feedback from a few people from time to time and occasionally people with gripes about the site. Any and all feedback is welcomed, because I want the site to be useful. On a more personal level, it gives me the satisfaction of knowing that I am doing something that people appreciate.
RawShark: Do you intend to expand Quake3Stuff.com to anything like the scale of PlanetQuake? Will you be requiring more staff?
GedByrne: Of course! I'd love to expand Quake3Stuff.com to the size and popularity of PlanetQuake, Stomped, BlueNews etc... I have a couple of ideas that *Should* help the growth of Quake3Stuff.com I am always on the lookout for more staff. In particular, I would like to fill the following positions, News Reporter, Hardware Reviewer and Model/Skin reviewer. If you are reading this and you think you could do a good job in any of these areas, gimme a shout.
RawShark: Where did you learn how to do the excellent ASP programming that is used to give Quake3Stuff.com it's unique look and feel?
GedByrne: Believe it or not, but I only heard about ASP about six months ago, prior to that I was using standard HTML coding. Once I had discovered ASP and the capabilities of it, I took to it like a duck to water. I have programming experience in GW Basic, Cobol and Visual Basic. The first two being the languages used at college, Visual Basic however is something I have picked up along the way. Back to the point, ASP has allowed me much more freedom with a rapidly growing site, I can drop files into certain directories and the site builds it's own links - this saves loads of time (and potential mistakes).
RawShark: What is your favourite mod for Quake3? Why?
GedByrne: I think it has got to be Head Hunters. It is a fairly simple mod, but it really gets the heart pounding when you are carrying a couple of hundred points and you are miles away from the Altar. To be fair to some of the other mod authors, I haven't played them all and there may well be other mods out there that I would prefer. I don't get too much time to play any games at the moment due to personal problems (with the house) and updating this site and one or two more that you'll see soon.
RawShark: What is your favourite gameplay mode?
GedByrne: I'd have to say DeathMatch... CTF is pretty cool, but only if the other players play as a team, with units defending and units attacking the oppositions base.
RawShark: What model/skin do you use when playing?
GedByrne: I'm a Doom/Default kinda guy, nothing fancy!
RawShark: Do you play much online? If so, what servers could Quake3Stuff fans go to to play against you?
GedByrne: hehe... a well timed question! We are about to announce a Quake 3 Arena server in the next couple of weeks. Further details will be posted SOON. To be honest, as previously stated, I don't play very often at all - never mind online. Hopefully I'll get some more time soon.
RawShark: And will you be playing on the new Quake3Stuff.com server?
GedByrne: Hopefully!
RawShark: What can Quake3Stuff.com fans expect to happen when Quake3 is no longer the big multiplayer game - when ID release they're next title? Will the site stay a true Quake3 site or will it cover the new release too?
GedByrne: Quake3Stuff.com will remain as ever - related to Quake 3 Arena. I'll more than likely open up a new site (in addition to Quake3Stuff.com).Watch this space (damn - there goes more spare time).
RawShark: What ever happened to the model viewer you were putting together for the site? Is that idea dead? It would have ruled!
GedByrne: The problem I have is that the VRML viewer only supports GIFs or JPGs, most of the skins these days use TGAs because of the alpha channel capabilities. I need to find a FREE command driven program that runs under Windows NT that can convert TGA files to JPGs. I had a source for such a utility a while ago, but it turned out that the programmer got sued by... err SUN (I think it was) and he had to destroy his code and binaries. I still live in the hope that I'll find a way of doing the VRML model viewer. It WILL ROCK!
RawShark: Message for the readers?
GedByrne: Don't be an anonymous visitor that never leaves a comment! The feature was added for your benefit. Click the banners, it makes me happy! Oh, and one last thing look forward to a whole load of new features that are coming your way.
RawShark: Nice1 - thanks for the interview Ged.
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