Texturing

interview with Forceflow

Original Idea and Script by Decoy, addendum by Forceflow.

XWAU:	Surprise! Let's get started with this interview, no?
Forceflow:	Damn, I knew Dec would make sure he got me back for interviewing him... oh well, let's go.
XWAU:	Okay, once again we'd like to know how you got involved with the X-Wing series?
Forceflow:	Mhm, that's been quite a while ago actually. I can hardly remember those times :) That was back when I didn't even had my own computer. But my neighbor had an old 386 (with no soundcard in it!!!) One day I came over and he told me he had this new game, called X-Wing. I wasn't into Star wars at that time, so I basically had no clue what it was, but he showed me how to fly the game and I got into it. A while later I finally got myself a computer, and first thing I bought was X-Wing complete with both missions packs. B-Wing and Imperial Pursuit. I loved both! I really don't know how many hours I spent playing it, but it must've been a hell of a lot. The day Tie Fighter came out I got that one, too. I also bought the CD-ROM version of it. X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter and BoP was next, and Alliance was the last one I got. All in all I must've played thousands of missions. I tried many space sims, but I must say I never found one I liked as much as the X-Wing series...
XWAU:	Have you ever thought of making a fan site for a more popular game, like Half-Life or Unreal Tournament?
Forceflow:	Well, thought about it, yes. Done one, no. As it is for now the XWAU takes most of my time anyways. If the possibility arises I might make one, but I doubt I am going to administer it...
XWAU:	What is your opinion about today's XWA community?" Since it is a small community compared to for example the UT community you should have a good overview of what is happening in it. What kind of future does the community have, with the apparent lack of support from LucasArts?
Forceflow:	Well, the community might be small, but it is fairly strong! I like the fact that everybody knows more or less everybody. I am not sure, but I think the lack of support from LA wont hurt the community as it is right now any more. Everybody who was only interested in a new expansion pack or game most likely already left. So right now most of the community are the die hard fans anyways. And those wont leave the community because of lack of support. I guess a bigger danger that the community has to face is real life. The community is growing up, and with no new games there will be no more fresh blood coming in. Sooner or later most of the people will grow out of computer games. From what I see the XWA is already above the average age for other games. RL is going to catch up with most of us sooner or later. I know there'll still be some left, but a community can only survive so much... But then, there's always hope... and the XWAU ;)
XWAU:	How do you feel about the XWAU web-page itself? Is it up to your standards? How do you think it might be better?
Forceflow:	Well, I like the site as it is right now. There's still some things I'd really like to get done, but most of that is secondary. I am planning to give the members more access to it. Let them register crafts and stuff. As for the standard, heck, I MADE the thing, it better is up to my standards ;) Well, seriously though, I think this is one of my best sites done. I put a lot of work into it, and i think it really paid off! But I think it needs a new skin sooner or later ;) (Hey Dec, I am gonna need your help for that again ;)
XWAU:	What program do you like to code WebPages with? Notepad? Dreamweaver? Or something else?
Forceflow:	Well, I have to admit I am lazy... I amusing FrontPage 2000 to do my pages. I do go over the code by hand from time to time, but most of the stuff is actually done with FP. I do the CSS files and the perl scripts by hand in UltraEdit (nice program if you wanna code JavaScript, Perl, or other programming languages btw!)
XWAU:	What kind of utilities do you think the XWA community is lacking?
Forceflow:	A 3D and texturing program that makes it possible for a modeling illiterate like me to do opts like the ones DS and Dec are doing ;) Hehe, not that THAT'S ever gonna happen. Seriously, I dunno, it seems people are quite happy with what they have right now. Of course, the ability to edit the exe would be nice. I mean put in S-Foils, SLAM and other things like that... but that's not really my thing...
XWAU:	What is the next project on your list?
Forceflow:	Well, as i mentioned before, making the page more interactive for our members...
XWAU:	How do you see the future for Star Wars space sims and do you expect LEC to come with any thing new soon or will we still be playing XWA for the next few years?
Forceflow:	Dark, I doubt there's gonna be any good space sims coming from LA anytime soon, if at all. I guess we'll be stuck with playing XWAU for the next few years, but hey, that's not too bad, is it ;)
XWAU:	What do you think is the future for a XWA fansites and Mods? Will we still be at XWL and the XWAU in 5 years? What do you think?
Forceflow:	Five years is a LONG time. I think the community will still be around for a while, but five years? I doubt it. If LA comes up with something new, maybe. I guess it's gonna be another two years or so, but if there really wont be anything new coming from LA it's going to get pretty slim. Who knows, maybe some other company is going to put out a great space sim which we can then convert to Star Wars. That would surely help. I guess we'll have to see...
XWAU:	For those of us who want to go into making and managing web-pages, would you happen to have some advice for us?
Forceflow:	Hehe... that's a hard one. There's a lot to take into consideration... I guess it comes down to two things though. a) a webpage is about CONTENT, graphics are nice, but if you don't have anything actually on your page it's pretty much worthless! b) a webpage takes time. I usually try through about three of four designs before I put up anything onto the net! And that's needed! i mean think about XWAU. The first layout I put onto the net was pretty bad. (Thinking back to that one still makes me shudder, how could I do that?) Really try it out, make it easy to navigate! People don't like to get lost. Don't use too many frames (three is the max I'd say) and ALWAYS take into consideration just because you have this kickass monitor and run it at 1600 doesn't mean the average user actually runs with that resolution! 30% of the visitors of the XWAU page still run at 800x600, so make sure those people can enjoy your page, too!
XWAU:	Last but not least we have some short questions we would like you to answer short and firm
1. Why are you working on the XWAU project. I dunno, Dec works on it, so it was a must for me ;) 2. Do you enjoy working in a team, or would you prefer to be able to concentrate more on your own projects alone? Well, making webpage is a lonely job... hehe, no, not really. I enjoy working in a team. I couldn't have done the page without dec. He did most of the graphics for it. 3. What's the best thing going around in the XWA community right now. Mhm... XWAU I'd say. That's the biggest project right now, but there are a lot more that also deserve a lot of praise! just go out and hunt 'em down! 4. Who is the biggest upcoming talent in OPT editing? Well, hard for me to pick. There are just too many. Flavid did some great stuff, but so did Sergione and especially Admiral Andy with the Supa... dunno, cannot pick one... 5. What is the most important part of a good OPT, just one please? Mhm, textures. I would say textures, they make or break a model. Yes, the model is important, too, but in the end it comes down to what you put on top of that! 6. Do you have a girlfriend (right now, of course)? Nope, XWAU takes so much time I can't leave the house anymore ;) 7. Will PC-games be abandoned by LEC? I don't think so, sooner or later they'll figure it out. PCs can do MUCH more than consoles... they'll come back... 8. What's the best OPT you have seen so far? Mhm, I dunno... there are so many awesome ones... but I must say the Missile Boat is the one I like the best right now. 9. What's the best utility (made by some one else) you have seen so far? Uh, wrong person to ask. Since I am not really working on modeling. I guess ACE is one of the best... 10. Will the XWAU ever be finished? Dunno, there's a chance, but I doubt we'll be able to get ALL of the opts done... 11. How did you like the interview? Hehe... never realized how stupid that question actually is ;) How did I like it... well, it was work to do, but heck, it was okay :)

Okay, thanks a lot for you time! Thanks for putting this up too!

Hehe, true. I am the admin... I could just hide it... but nah, that wouldn't be fair *sigh*