[by Patrick (twisted) Hardy]

I had a chance to interview Quarantine, a talented young level designer on the SoF: Team Fortress team. We discussed his role as a map maker and the daily tasks he faces.

twisted: For the folks who don't know, what is SoF: Team Fortress? Quarantine: It's basically a reincarnation of Team Fortress for Soldier of Fortune. That's the core of the project, but many things stray from the typical Team Fortress. As our site says, "This isn't your typical Team Fortress." twisted: What was the inspiration for creating this rendition of a classic tried-and-true modification? Quarantine: I feel that Team Fortress offers something for everyone, there's the sneaky sniper or the crazy run-amok pyromaniac. Team Fortress is THE most balanced game/mod I have ever played. twisted: What is the team's mission statement or aim in creating this modification? Quarantine: Above all is fun. Our second aim for the mod is to create a very polished feel for the mod, we accomplish this by setting up levels as scenarios rather than random maps with two bases facing each other. [*cough* 2fort *cough*]. Third of all, I think we're aiming for refinement to the classic TF formula. twisted: For those who aren't familiar with your work, give us a brief biography of yourself, including your past projects and your current job on the team. Quarantine: I programmed the ODQ3 mod for Quake 3 and was working on a VERY extensive Half-Life single player mod. One tragic day, my HDD crashed and alas, I lost all work. I began working with a small group of developers on a pending title named "Possum: The Adventures of Skitch". The game is still in development, in fact, I'm discussing the netcode right now. My position for SoF is "Scenario Designer" which is my fancy way of saying "Level p1mp". =) twisted: What new features do you hope to implement in your maps? Quarantine: For example, I plan to have in area in my Train Crash level where you use a plank to go up a mountain, and from there get to a sniping spot. Another example would be jumping on top of a shack, jumping from the shack to a tree, and jumping from the tree over the river you normally have to swim through. twisted: When designing levels such as the Train Crash level, what elements of creating a successful level do you hold dear? Quarantine: I want to make the person feel as though they're there, so I pay a lot of attention to "the little things". Things such as scattered debris and texture variation really make the map that much more fun. I'm also a sucker for ambience so I like to use lighting effects to illuminate things (wait till you see the river). Also very important is flowability, especially in a map such as the Train map. (It's an escape with civilians map) twisted: As far as SoF Radiant goes, how easy do you consider creating maps with the tool? Quarantine: My answer would be kind of biased, since QeRadiant is basically the only tool I've used (QeRadiant with HL support, and Q3Radiant). I will say, however, that QeRadiant is probably one of the best map tools once you learn the hotkeys. The rate you can work at is amazing. twisted: What's the hardest part of map construction? Quarantine: Beginning the map, it's hard to get started and you're constantly thinking, "This isn't good enough, darnit!", but if you keep at it you'll eventually have a beautiful little area to build onto. It's at that moment you realize, "Wow, I never knew I was capable of this". twisted: How did you arrive at working for this modification team? Quarantine: I was looking around at the SoF mod scene (or lack thereof), and SoF Fortress caught my attention. The team seemed like professionals, I became interested very quickly and contacted MudBoy. After some talking/showing, he let me in and I soon began work on Train Crash. I don't think I'm considered "the new guy" on the team anymore. In fact, I think I'm a little too hard on the webmaster Slay, and he's been around longer than me. twisted: In terms of progress, how far along is the modification? Quarantine: Our map work is going great. I'm not sure about skins or models, and nothing will be definite until Raven puts out the source. I definitely think we have progress though. twisted: How do you plan out your maps, and what is the typical process from start to finish? Quarantine: Half the time, I'll be sitting in school in class and an idea will pop into my head. I take graph paper with me every day. So, I'll draw some design drawings of it and when I get home, I'll do that. Most of the time, about every 2 or 3 days, I'll really sit down with my map. Get some food, some drink, and just edit for a couple of hours straight. The next few days I'll take a break, and then the process repeats. twisted: Any closing remarks you would like to make? Quarantine: Eat more Chicken, Stuff is good, Ooof!Monkeys, Thunkin' ain't my bag of tea.... seriously though, did you expect that cliche'd "OOOOH THANK YOU FOR THE INTERVIEW" thing? Oh fine... thanks for the interview! (seriously) [Back to the top]