An Interview with ORL

• Search for ORL's Singleplayer maps at Quaddicted.

Could you briefly introduce yourself (age, location…) and tell us since when you are active in the Q1 community?

My name is Orlando Crispaldi, 18 years old living in New Jersey U.S.A. I have been active in the Quake 1 community for about 10 years, which also introduced me to online gaming.

How did you get involved in the community?

I got involved in the Quake mapping community when I saw a custom Airquake map made by an old friend of mine named Loop. I was curious to learn about it, and Loop showed me what needed to be done to make a map. The first editor I used was Qoole which wasn't the best editor to start with. But even as bad as it was I made some things with it, big blocky rooms with huge clipping problems and no lighting. Another friend of mine by the name of WastedYouth (who now is involved on a zdoom mapping team I believe) showed me Worldcraft and it's inner workings. It was much better than Qoole in every way and from then on I started learning little by little, and creating larger and more detailed maps. It took about 3 years of fiddling with Worldcraft before I made my first public release.

What Q1 contributions are you best-known for? Which of your works is your personal favorite?

I guess that depends on who you ask. But I would think most people know me for trying to create weird and different themes for Quake maps. And while they may not always work, I try to give Quake players something new and interesting to see. My personal favorite work is a map that has not been released yet, and will be included with another map (or maps) of mine in the near future. It is a large open map with two castles on each side surrounded by cliffs and trees. I think it is my personal favorite because it? gives players a sense of freedom when they are in it. It's not very linear with many different paths to take, all leading up to the big finish. My other favorite would be the only deathmatch map I made, omdm1. And while many didn't seem to like it to much due to it being heavy on framerate and lousy lighting, I don't think its far from terrible. Sure, it could have been better if I put more time into it. But then again every map could be better with some tweaking.

What was your very own motivation to work for Quake?

I suppose after playing Quake for a long time I wanted to give back to it, and mapping seemed like a great way.

Do you have a website/links where we could check out your stuff?

My website URL is http://orl.fvfonline.com

What are your best memories about this community?

I have many, but its mostly meeting new people, and still talking with friends I have met through Quake over the years.

Are you regularly playing Quake? Are you trying out mods, maps and engines?

I do regularly play Quake online, currently at the european netquake servers. I do try out new mods, maps and engine releases, because without them Quake probably wouldn't still be alive. I always try to leave feedback for new releases when I can.

Have there been other games you have been playing a lot?

The only other games I play frequently are Quake, the original Doom and more recently, Half-Life 2. And while I have played many games in the past, they don't stick with me as long as Quake, Doom and Half-Life 2 probably will.

How would you describe the Q1 community right now? Is there any contribution that really impressed you in the last couple of years?

I have noticed that there are some people in the Q1 community that purposely ruin the game for other people. I am sure there are people like that in other game communities as well, but it seems to be becoming a problem in Q1. But I think Quake 1 is still doing well. We have new people come into the community every so often, and I think thats a sign that Quake is not quite dead yet. I am always happy to see new contributions to Quake, but I think the one that has impressed me the most by far is the Warpspasm map pack by Ijed. It's truly awesome.

How do you picture the future of the community? Do you (objectively) think that people will still be modding/mapping for it in, say, 10 years from now?

I don't honestly know. I hope Quake 1 is still seeing new content in the next 10 years. I know Doom still has a pretty active fanbase with new content delivered every once in awhile, and Doom is older than Quake. But I think that since Quake is such a classic and an important title in the gaming world, that it won't ever be forgotten in the future.

Your #1 secret special ingredient to a good map (imagine a newbie asking for your advice)?

I actually don't have any special ingredients, as I am still trying to figure out what makes a Quake map great that everyone can enjoy. My only advice would be is to take your time.? Your first maps are gonna be bland, that's with everyone. Work your way up and? pretty soon you'll have some amazing creations to share with the community. Don't rush? it either. If it takes a few weeks longer to polish up a map or fix a few bugs that might affect gameplay, it will be very worth it.

What is the question you would have like to be asked (but weren't), how would you have answered it and how pissed are you for me not thinking about it?** I'll ask a question to myself. What is my favorite custom Quake map that I wouldn't mind playing again and again? The answer to that would be the Masque of the Red Death by Tronyn. It's a fantastic map filled with great gameplay. The size of the map is certainly worth mentioning, its enormous, one of the reasons I really enjoy it.

Lastly, my upcoming map pack won't be finished until well after qexpo is done. But hopefully I'll have it ready sometime within the next few months, so be on the lookout for it!

Have a great time at qexpo.