XWAU: Well, since the exam period is over or nearly over, let's have another interview, shall we?
Okay, but hurry up. My private jet is leaving in twenty-five minutes.
XWAU: Once again we'd like to know how you got started on XWA editing. Did you just want to edit as many games as you could, or did Star Wars inspire you to work on XWA?
Editing games always interested me, but I never really tried it until I got X-Wing. I always wanted to change stuff in X-Wing from day one. Then I got TIE Fighter and after that I got connected to the Internet for the first time. After a few months of doing nothing productive online, I finally started searching for information on game editing. I found an editor for X-Wing that let you change the ship statistics. Then I started looking into ship slicing, but I didn't get past the introduction so I gave that up in less than a week. hehe I did figure out how to put some sliced ships into X-Wing and TIE Fighter and that was fun, but it wasn't enough.
XvT came out. I found Datamaster's and got the original E-Wing from Lt. Hag because I couldn't download it for some reason. I thought that ship was really something. Once those first ancient tools came out I did a few things. Something called the TIE Explorer which was really bad, and the Vampire Assault Shuttle which was even worst, and a few other things I can't quit remember. Textured the E-Wing by Hag and Andy, although it looked like it was a "dirtless" brand new fighter.
XWA finally came out and after looking at JM's Calamaris for the game, I tried to make my own Mon Cal. It was a flop (maybe I should try again, now), but I must say it did help me figure out how to make the dxfs in Rhino because MJT was a big help there with telling me how 3D faces worked. And here I am now. So blame him for my existence here.
XWAU: Have you ever thought of editing another game with a larger fan base than XWA, like Unreal Tournament, Half-Life and the like?
I'm already tinkering with Unreal Tournament maps and looking at making a bot, but that will be a long time yet. Did some work with Wheel of Time maps too. I also did some conceptual sketches and the dxf work for a guy for a rather large factory unit for the RTS game, Total Annihilation--VERY evil looking unit with some AWESOME animation coding. Made a few units for the sequel TA: Kingdoms (dumb game). Tinkered with Wing Commander: SO a bit and also with Baldur's Gate 1&2 and IceWind Dale. That's about it though.
XWAU: Do you think that the custom made editing tools for OPT editing can compete with any of the editors that come out of the box for other games?
Well, a lot depends on the producer and how well they make the package. Like with the Unreal line of products, UnrealED 1 and 2 are very good, but then the producers themselves used it (I think) and they wanted the level designers to have everything they needed at their fingertips and this all got passed on to the fan community. Other games are another story altogether.
But as for OPT editing, I think we have a pretty good mix of products made by fans. And since we'll probably never see an "official" Opting pack we can't exactly compare our stuff to the producers. Plus (and I think others have mentioned this), since other fans made our tools, we've got what we need without a lot of useless options very few people would actually use or even need. Some people might say that our programs are crap because they are full of bugs. Well guess what buster!?! So would the programs from the producer! You don't think they would be 100% bug free do you?
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?
Nice and small. The larger you get, the less personal it all gets I think. Plus, I can get to all the major sites without going too far out of my way to keep track of all of them. The UT community is a bit big and too widespread for my tastes, so I have a hard time finding anything useful very fast, plus it is literally crawling with illiterate elementry kids(or at least they act like it) in that community. I do think though that the X-Wing community has a very good future ahead of it even though we are small. We still have new people coming in on a regular basis and new talent on occasion, and even though we do lose people, most of us are still around and playing or even just editing the game. We don't really need support from LucasArts since they mostly ignore us. It would be nice though if they acted like some other game companies and acknowledged our existence without a massive army of lawyers. Heck, if they did like some places, we'd be seeing the XWAU someday on store shelves as a fan made update marketed by the game's owners. That will never happen though.
XWAU: Having worked on the IFP dxfs, do you find that modeling work is easier than texturing and OPTing? Why?
The modeling work is definitely the easiest part of an opt. Texturing very hard I think. I haven't done a whole lot of it, but on average I take about two hours minimum for a normal sized texture. Opting itself is usually easy, but the hard part is that much of it can be very repetitive and that really gets to me after awhile.
XWAU: Could you please tell us how do you start a new project; does it take a lot of research? Is it more difficult when there is little information?
Personally, I look for every scrap of info on the project I can find. Photographs of original props, video, conceptual sketches/paintings, text, fan made models, basically anything will do for me. It has to be accurate though, so a large portion of fan made models get tossed out after the first look. There are a few guys around on the net that I trust most of the time though.
The more information the better. When you have something that is mentioned once in a book or only portrayed in a game it can be hard because you only have a small amount of details to go by. But then of course, this is where I start to merge my own ideas within the project. Some people don't like outside ideas getting into a project, but that's their problem. To me, I'm doing the same thing that the concept artists were doing when they were brainstorming for the craft the first time. The major difference is that a lot of times, instead of a blank piece of paper like they had, I have a rough shape to go by and only need to fill it in with greeblies and junk.
XWAU: What kind of program do you use to make your models and why do you use it?
I exclusively use Rhino 1.1 for all of my dxf work. I find it very easy to use and the learning curve was not very hard for me. Plus, it does what I want without fussing about this and that. It could do more, but I'm not going to quibble about it for now.
XWAU: Did you ever try any other modeling program and if so why did you ditch it?
I used to use Ray Dream 4/5 for regular modeling and scene rendering. Don't bother buying it people unless you are desperate.
Tried Lightwave 6. I passed out when I saw all the options.
Then I tried 3DS Max 3. Very hard and I haven't done much with it, but I can made a few weird shapes and cubes and spheres. Oh, and I know how to add LOTS of lights with ugly lens flares.
I am also a big time Bryce 4 fan and love fiddling in there to make weird landscapes for use as my desktop backgrounds.
XWAU: Are you pleased with the XWA game engine and the OPT format and if you could put one thing in the engine and one more function into the OPT format what would those be?
The engine is so-so. It was okay at the time of release, but it still was just an upgraded upgrade to an older engine in my opinion. Newer games on the market have better bells and whistles, but the XWA engine still can hold its own I think, which is good. It can really hold its own with the XWAU's help, especially..
As for that one more thing in the engine that I need, it definitely would have to be a realistic damage engine for a start.
And the function in the OPT format would be. Sheesh, this is hard since I don't know anything about it really. Hmmm. . .
XWAU: We've traditionally used ACE DxF but now there is also OPTTech. What do you think of the program?
I use both. ACE Dxf is great because it is very fast. OPTech is nice to have when ACE won't do something I want done. It actually came in handy recently on a project I have because ACE had a limit on the number of faces I could stitch my texture over, and OPTech handled it easily.
They are both full of bugs. ACE works usually for me and OPTech is touch and go. But then of course OPTech is not even done, so it has an excuse. But it is very promising so far.
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 the next 5 years?
The future does not look to bright for X-Wing style game fans. I know Starfighter is coming for the PC, but it's just not the same as the X-Wing series. I'm not sure about playing XWA in the next five years, but it is possible.
XWAU: Could you tell us a bit about your future plans can we expect anything from you beside XWAU work?
You can actually. If anybody remembers the original TIE Lancer I released, a seriously upgraded version is coming this summer sometime after the XWAU Imperial fighters are released. It's currently undergoing texture work and opting. I can safely say that is actually looked like the original model I got the design from, instead of that piece of junk I released last June.
This next one is really big, no kidding, maybe too big for me, but if I keep chugging away at it, it should get done, eventually (I hope). Not totally sure if I should mention it, but I have kept it under wraps for awhile and I'm getting tired of that. hehe Okay.......I've been working on a Death Star 1 surface.
It's coming along nicely. It is very hard to work with though. I have to maintain a close balance between detail and face count. It will also have a lot of textures and I must make them big enough so they do not lose too much detail as I stretch them over large chunks of surface pieces. So that will take more computer power. Plus, I have to figure out how to contain the player in the designated area without it being overly obvious. I'll be previewing some of it this summer on a website I'm working on, for those interested in attacking the ultimate Imperial war machine.
So keep an eye peeled out for that folks. If it ever gets done, the second Death Star "might" get made. Sergione was helping me on that with the dxfing. We've got a few things, but all of it is on the back burner for now since we have enough to do at the moment.
Sorry, I just realized that all looked like a large advertisement for myself. hehe
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?
Because I cannot stand the original ship graphics in the game. They make me sick to my stomach.
2. Do you enjoy working in a team, or would you prefer to be able to concentrate more on your own projects alone?
I prefer do most of my work alone as then I don't have mess with other people who think they have the best idea in the world and my idea is crap. . .but I don't mind input and help from others when I ask for it.
3. What's the best thing going around in the XWA community right now?
The flu? Oh...the BEST thing. Um...probably the work that Defiant and that other guy who were figuring out the specs for the XWA cutscenes were doing.
4. Who do you think is the biggest upcoming talent in OPT editing?
Me? Okay, joking aside, I think I would have to say...*drum roll please*
Admiral Andy. He learned so fast I thought I was standing still.
5. What is the most important part of a good OPT, just one please?
That's a tough one. I would guess textures. Although you can have great textures and a crappy model and vice versa.
6. Chinese takeaway or real Chinese food?
Eh, you lost me on that one. What's the difference? They're both "real" unless you are into eating that fake plastic food they use in displays. My favorite though is something called General Tso chicken (I bet I just offended 1 billion Chinese because I probably spelled that wrong...) and it came from some snobby restaurant. You know, the kind where they charge you $4.95 for the water? :-)
7. Will PC-games be abandoned by LEC?
No way! Just look at their website. But they did seem to abandon me and my Mac. *sniffle*
8. What's the best OPT (made by some one else) you have seen so far?
I'm going to get chewed up for this I bet, but I just like Matt's Missile Boat the best. I can't help it. It's just such great model and a wonderful texture job! Strange this is that I don't like the idea of the Missile Boat. I just like his OPT of it. Weird eh?
9. Will the XWAU ever be finished?
Who are you trying to kid? I highly doubt it will. But you never know...
10. How did you like the interview?
It was okay. But can you send a younger, college age, female reporter to do it next time though?
Okay, thanks for your time! Hope that you'll keep turning out these great dxfs for us!
Oh I will. Did you wanted them textured and opted though???