Could you first provide us with a little background on yourself, such as age, occupation, how long you've been mapping, etc.?

I'm 19 years old and a college student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I'm pursuing an English major with minors in Psychology and Political Science, but my love is in level and game design. I started mapping for Quake about 5, probably now close to 6, years ago, but spent all but about the last 2 1/2 years in on-again/off-again work for Quake, Quake 2, and Half-Life. My biggest regret now is wasting those first few years like that -- But then, I never knew how seriously I would come to take my work.

Could you briefly describe what Half-Life: Nightwatch is, and the story behind it?

Nightwatch is a large-scale single player add-on to Half-Life. The player will assume the role of Black Mesa Military Security officer William Archer and will travel through a visually revamped Black Mesa (and other environments) over the course of approximately 65-70 maps. Archer has just ended his night shift at the time of the disaster and must return to his unit to re-arm and defend the facility against the new alien threat. Of course, once he arrives, he'll find the outlook a bit less than promising...

I think it's fair to say that the Black Mesa story and setting have been done. Are there any aspects of Nightwatch's story or setting that will keep it from becoming "just one of the heap?"

Well, we'd sure like to think so. :) One of the things that's very important to us in Nightwatch development is to not stay too close to the Half-Life base. Yes, we're creating a new Half-Life episode, and yes it's the same setting, but there's no reason we should tell the exact same story that's been done so many times before. We're spending a lot of time in expanding on a lot of the story bits from Half-Life, Opposing Force, and Blue Shift, and also adding our own twists wherever possible. The actual plot line through which the player will progress shares at most 2 landmark points with the original series, and these are general events rather than something the player actually experienced. We're completely re-designing a number of concepts from the original game, and dramatically expanding on a few others.

Half-Life is now 4 years old, and the engine underneath is older than that. What improvements or additions are planned by your team to enhance the Nightwatch experience and make it stand out from the crowd?

Well, there's only so much we can do without a full engine source code release, but we're trying to do what we can. :) We've upped poly limits on maps and models slightly, which will give a much more detailed visual appearance. We're also in the process of re-creating a sizable chunk of the HL textures to match or beat the quality of those textures seen now in Counter-Strike or Natural Selection. Deathwish has coded us a phenomenal particle system, and a number of the features included are taken from the behaviors available to particle systems in the more recent Unreal engine builds (i.e. UT2K3). We've implemented a number of smaller features, as well: VGUI message displays and particle fires that can actually be extinguished via fire extinguishers. These smaller features are by no means selling points, but are just little extra tidbits that should, when combined, all greatly add to the overall experience.

Let's talk about your experience particularly as a mapper for a bit. With the variety of maps you've created, it seems tough to pigeonhole you into a certain type or style. Do you think you tend to follow any patterns or themes when you map?

Well, generally speaking, if something has worked for me recently in a level, I'll try to reproduce it and then enhance it in my next. A lot of the basic ideas I started with in my first couple released maps have evolved over the last 2 years or so into what you see in my more current work.

Which map or part of a map are you particularly proud of?

This is a tough one -- but I'd have to say the "Keyhole" area in ns_eclipse [from Natural Selection]. It's a very simple area... low poly, low detail, but everything came together there just how I was hoping. Textures, lighting, geometry... all dead on. I've gotten quite a few compliments on that area as well, so it seems to also be a bit of a favorite with players.

Are there any particular sources of inspiration that you use for your maps? Movies? Books? Games?

Only very loosely. Most of my ideas just come from a little thought I have and then saying, "Oh, hey, that'd be cool," but a lot of my inspiration comes from seeing what other level designers are doing in their work. I also love looking at Craig Mullins and Feng Zhu concept art, and a couple areas later on in Nightwatch are likely going to be loosely inspired by some of their works.

All of your previous Half-Life maps have been for deathmatch, or other multiplayer mods like