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Ged Byrne's Quake3Stuff.com staff interviews #1
Author's name: RawShark aka Paul Scollon
Website: Q2Maps
Ged Byrne: You currently have a site dedicated to reviewing Quake 2 Maps over at http://www.dnagames.net/q2maps. Now that you have been reviewing Quake 3 Arena maps for Quake3Stuff, where does your preference lie?
RawShark: That's a very sneaky question! I'm trying my best to stay loyal to Quake2, but I'm having serious fun with all this Quake3 stuff (a pun?). I will keep my Q2 maps site going, no fear. I have over 2 gigs of Quake2 maps that I really want to share with other players. I simply have the best of both Quakeworlds (another pun?!).
Ged Byrne: What do you think are the key differences between good maps for Quake 2 and Quake 3 Arena?
RawShark: Christ Ged, these are tough questions! Good maps for Quake2 have to look good and a lot must be put into the construction. Making maps for Quake3 seems to be easy enough (thanks to excellent tools) so you must be careful to ensure that the map plays well - else guys like me will slate you on popular websites - and you don't want that, do you?! Also - good bot files are important in Quake3 'cos not everyone can afford to play online all the time.
Ged Byrne: Obviously the Quake 2 maps were almost completely Tech maps, what is your favourite style of map for Quake 3 Arena, and why?
RawShark: Because I enjoyed Quake2 so much, and still do, I seem to prefer the Tech maps in Quake3 - but I try not to be bias against gothic maps when reviewing them. In fact, some of the best maps I've seen for Quake3 are Gothic, like ztn3dm1 and Quartzdm1. There are been some neat remakes of classic Quake and Quake2 maps too - I really enjoy a good conversion.
Ged Byrne: What is your favourite gameplay type?
RawShark: I'm a Free-for-Aller, I always have been. You can't beat the feeling of winning over 8 or 9 other players and quickly typing "I rule!" at the console at the end of the match :)
I also play CTF offline with bots if I'm at home during the day.
Ged Byrne: What is your favourite mod for Quake 3 Arena?
RawShark: The simple mods are sometimes the best - Alchemy is pretty neat and I often play RailWars. I play a lot of BattleArena too, which is based on Quake 1 Clan Arena. Good team mod. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of Team mods ID have come up with for the Team Arena addon.
Ged Byrne: I know that you have made some Quake2 maps... Have you ever gotten around to making a Quake 3 Arena map?
RawShark: Not yet, but I have some awesome ideas.
Ged Byrne: If not, is it because you are scared people would give it a bad review? Or is it because a certain webmaster is keeping you busy with too much other stuff?
RawShark: No, I'm not scared of a bad review - jeez, I give enough of them out myself! No, the problem is that no matter what I do, I can't get Q3Radiant to run on my system. I've heard that the next release of Qoole will cover Quake3, so I'm waiting for that. I use Qoole for my Quake2 maps. It rules!
Ged Byrne: You have agreed to help out with the Habitat mod by doing some of the coding. What do you think will be the key factor in making Habitat a success?
RawShark: Getting a bloody good programmer in! I only offered to help in a minimum capacity, with some of the ideas and a bit of code, but at the mo I'm the only programmer onboard. I don't want that pressure - I'm pretty busy at the mo. Also, we need to get public interest - there's no point in releasing a mod nobody wants to play. If we pull it off, this will be one of the greatest mods ever - the idea is simply superb.
Ged Byrne: Have you got a message that you would like to pass on to the readers?
RawShark: Yeah - get cracking on a map for the upcoming Quake3Stuff map competition - even if you don't win you could get a neat runner-up prize. So all levels of skill are encouraged. Most of the good entries will make it into the maps section anyway - you've really got nothing to lose. We really want to seem them fingers!
Ged Byrne: Thanks for talking to us RawShark.
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