[by Patrick (twisted) Hardy]

Recently, I talked with Dan Kramer, Assistant Lead Programmer on SoF. This Raven Software employee was kind enough to answer some common questions many SoF gamers have been wondering.

twisted: Now that you have completed work on Soldier of Fortune, aside from the patches, have you still been paying attention to the SoF community's growth such as the formation of mods, etc.? Dan Kramer: I am a regular on our official forums. I also visit the fan sites pretty much every day, so I'm at least aware of what's going on out there. Honestly, though, I spend the most time just playing SoF. I play during lunch or right after quite often. Yesterday I finally got around to getting a cable modem at home, so I spent a few (well, 4...) hours playing from home. I'm kind of an addict. I'd love to actually work on a MOD idea or two, but I don't think I can delude myself enough into believing that I'll have the time to do it. twisted: Many people have still been frustrated in their efforts to play the game online, even after the release of the beta patch, does Raven intend to clear up any bugs in the multiplayer area in the next patch. With the next patch in mind, when is it expected to be released? Dan Kramer: I don't know if I'd say "many." Given the number of different systems, components, drivers, etc., I'd say we've done a pretty good job making joining multiplayer pretty flawless. When people do have problems, they tend, especially on the internet, to become a rather vocal crowd. Nearly ALL of the tech support posts and emails we get eventually come down to driver issues which are the fault of the hardware manufacturers. That said, there are people who have had legitimate problems with multiplayer, and if I were one of them, I'd be ticked too. I am not one of the programmers working on the patch, so I can't really give you any information on the specifics involved. twisted: Another hardship a few fans have encountered is the SDK. Will there be another version of it available to the public soon that corrects the problems such as not being able to run the sofradient.exe? Dan Kramer: I believe we will be releasing another version of the SDK. twisted: There has been a ton of buzz that Soldier of Fortune 2 may be the next project for Raven Software. Can you give us any information to tease our appetite for more Mullins? Dan Kramer: I wish I could. At this point, it's still dependent on continued strong sales of SoF. We've already had meetings on cool stuff we plan on putting into SoF 2 if we get to do it. If we end up doing it, I assure you, there will be much coolness. twisted: As we all know, you can't always include everything each staff member wants in a game, with that in mind, what was one feature you would have liked to see in Soldier of Fortune that didn't make the cut? Dan Kramer: I was a big fan of Action Quake 2. Anyone who plays realistic DM should be able to see that. I would like to have played around with a few other ideas I had for that game type. Since at some point I might get to do them, I don't actually want to go into them just now. If I had more time, there are actually quite a few features I would have added to other existing game types as well. For example, I think we could have done a lot more with team deathmatch in SoF. Again, since I might actually get to do this, I don't want to show my cards too early. twisted: How do you deal with game failures/successes? Dan Kramer: SoF is the first project on which I was part of the core team from the beginning (I pretty much just did some tools work on Heretic II and the Hexen II mission pack). I think it's safe to call it a success. The best part of it is hearing friends and family tell me how much they enjoyed the game. Of course, it's also pretty cool to jump on a deathmatch server and be recognized as a Raven employee. I mean, I'll never be the centerfold in the SoF strategy guide, so it's as close to rock-stardom as I get ;) Dealing with the criticisms of SoF can be trying at times. Oddly enough, it's the well-written criticisms that are easiest to deal with. There is no way we can make a game to please everyone, and I can handle people who say, "I can see why some people like it, but it's just not for me." That's cool. It's the wild, flaming idiots who seem to think that they know everything and anybody who disagrees with them is a *insert vulgarity here* that get me. Of course, even worse than that are people who would rather push their own political agenda to advance their journalistic careers. There is a special circle in hell for them. Luckily, they seem to be relatively rare. twisted: How did you become interested in your area of work? Dan Kramer: Ever since I was a kid, I've loved video games. I've still got somewhere around 150 Atari 2600/Sears Telegames cartridges, and the old TRS-80 Model I at my parents' house still runs. Whenever we'd have those class projects where you had to answer what you wanted to be when you grew up, I'd answer "video game tester." Of course, at the time, that really wasn't a career option. Those were the days when people could still write games in their spare time, when they weren't at their real jobs. So, I went to college, majored in physics and math. Then, I went to grad school in astronomy. I was in the midst of the miserable realization that copious amount of homework coupled with an overburdening teaching load all for a career-path that would likely see me working in a "related field" anyway was NOT how I wanted to spend the next decade, I began just browsing the web for jobs. I know this'll come as a huge surprise, but there wasn't a single job in Wisconsin where "astronomy background a plus" was listed in the description. However, there were something like 300 computer-related jobs in Dane County alone. I typed in "video games" in the little search engine thing, and it actually came up with a job at a local company called "Raven Software." The rest, as they say, is history. twisted: That's it! Thanks a bunch for your time! Dan Kramer: Sure! Glad to be of service. [Back to the top]