The interview section of the Newswire was supposed to be updated more often, but due to some computer problems and taking on new responsibilities at CoC.........and of course procrastination, I am a bit behind. I will try to get more on the ball, but I think my earlier promise of 1 per week was a bit lofty. I will do them as quick as I can. I have a list of people I want to interview and Sgt Thundercok was on that list. Sgt Thundercok ( Jim Kaufman) the creator of the Well, and the Rock, is an excellent map maker. Now with the recent release of spazball, I felt it was time to do his interview. Jim was more than helpful and was painless for both of us. So without any delay, I give you Jim Kaufman (Sgt Thundercok).
HURT:
Thanks for doing the interview...
First off, tell me bit about yourself, age, education...family.
Sgt. Thundercok:
Alright, lets get this personal stuff out of the way. Married, Two
kids, 35, Formerly in the Air Force. Shot my Commander with a Rocket Launcher.
We have a few in the our family 'clan' playing. My son is Captain
Lazer, and my brother the Real Life Engineer is The_Toecutter, brother The
Podiatrist is Captain Action and bro at EDS is Billy_Blastoff. So there are some
of us old boners taking out our anxieties on you(usually the other way
around).
HURT:
Where do you live?
Sgt. Thundercok:
Denver, Colorado.
HURT:
How did you first get into Team Fortress?
Sgt. Thundercok:
I quickly grew tired of deathmatch, and moved to CTF. At that time,
there was probably 2 or 3 servers running 2 forts and they were usually
down. The keys(flags) were always disabled and it was a big sniper fest
and I would ask "whats the point". Well, my son loved it from the start
and slowly I was drawn in. I played many hours guarding the basement in
2forts. Then Hedge, Dungeon Keeper, Havoc and Idaho.
HURT:
How long have you been making maps?
Sgt. Thundercok:
Hmm, probably since a year after Doom came out. I built 3 maps for Doom
that I thought were pretty good, but I never put them out anywhere.
HURT:
You are known for your maps The Rock, Well and now Spaz-ball. Are
there other TF maps that you have created?
Sgt. Thundercok:
No. What? Three's not enough?
HURT:
What is the most disappointing thing to you about the other maps out
now?
Sgt. Thundercok:
I just can't believe people are putting out maps, even betas, that are
not level 4 vised. We have enough lag folks, without the high polys.
Oh yeah, that too. Poly counts over 1000.
HURT:
What inspirations have you used to make the various maps?
Sgt. Thundercok:
Most of the inspiration came from the beautiful textures quake, and
other games, have had.
The Well was definitely the castle textures in
Quake.
The Rock started as a Mountain valley with 2 Dams that were going to
flood the others base, but alas, Quake does not allow water solids to
move. Supposedly quake2 will. Then it became a prison theme because I
had used a guys combo locks on the front doors with bars. Alas again,
way too many ents. A lot of people say it reminds them of the movie,
but I don't know how(nerve gas I suppose). I just called it the Rock
because of Alcatraz.
Spaz-Ball was just a different idea I wanted to try from early on. I
just meant it to be a fun little spaz out intermission between other
levels. Take a break, don't get too serious. So what if you lose and
get locked in the observation rooms, go take a leak or something.
HURT:
What is your editor/editors of choice and why?
Sgt. Thundercok:
Worldcraft, and only because I started with it, and it works. When I
decided to tackle quake maps, I looked at a lot of other map text
files(sometimes good to read folks) to see what editor they used. The
editors were pretty evenly divided between 3 main ones, and I downloaded
all 3, started with Worldcraft, and never left.
HURT:
Can you give us an idea of the time it took to make Well, Rock and
Spazz..
Sgt. Thundercok:
The Well was my first map, and took the least amount of time(one month?)
because I did not build any original entities, except the exploding
grates, but those were easy. Flag/goal ents were taken from 2forts and backpacks from Raistlans Hedge5. The tower in Well was originally a
humongous spiral staircase and you capture at the top, but the vis time
on just the stairs was 3 hours.
The Rock took 3 months because of entity bugs, waiting for fixes, and
frustration leading to dropping it at times. Looking back, there is not
much to it, but it was a pain.
The Rock probably has the most things I wanted to implement, or
structures I wanted to build, but could not/did not because of entity
constraints and file size.
Spaz-Ball has taken about 3 months also, but mostly because I decided
not to obsess on it and just to try and have fun. A lot of the time was
spent on the textures, and on some original obstacles that I had to
strip because of Quakeworld.
HURT:
What are your most and least liked things about Team Fortress?
Sgt. Thundercok:
Most Liked- The TF code. The server ops.
Least Liked- The TF code in Quakeworld
Also, Scouts speed is way too fast in QW. And the sentry guns are a
joke. I am on the internet to play humans. Not server based killing
machines. The last few times I have played The Rock, it has been an
assault of Scouts and opposition of deadly sentries. You can always tell
the unbalanced classes in TF, because the LPB's take them. When I
started it was the medic, then the demoman when they gave him blast
armor. Now it's the Scout. The problem is, when they over-do a class,
it can effect the whole game. When they under-do a class, it will just
not be played, but does not hurt the levels play.
HURT:
Can you tell us of any other projects you are working on, whether in
your head or actual construction at this time ?
Sgt. Thundercok:
Rest! Spaz was there for a long time so I wanted to get it done. The
next idea I would like to try is where the 2 teams have to fight there
way through different barriers until the final goal ends the map. The
game would be in the slow penetration (down wood) of the fortresses.
HURT:
Initially it was stated that Spaz-ball would be released to TFS
donators first. What did you see that caused you to release it for public beta?
And how hard of a decision was that?
Sgt. Thundercok:
I first said I would wait for 200 donators. Since I did not want to
wait 2 years, I then decided on a 2 week 'beta' for donators. But, like
TF veterans, the logistics just aren't there to get enough of an already
limited group on at once. I was really just trying to spur a few
donations.
HURT:
How did you come-up with the spaz-ball idea? Explain some of the
difficulties you had in making this map.
Sgt. Thundercok:
I had the idea since I made The Well. The largest difficulties are
always getting what you build in TF code, that runs fine in LAN mode, to
work the same in Quakeworld.
Right now, the goals do not restore models properly, which is why I had
to rip out my flame traps and lightning trap I had built. Also, you may
notice scores missing from the intro scoreboard sometimes.
HURT:
From what you have heard about Quake 2, Are you excited about doing
maps for TF 2?
Sgt. Thundercok:
Sure. Just hope the learning curve is not to steep.
HURT:
I had heard a rumor that you were gonna quit making maps because
people didn't appreciate the detail and time that that goes into your maps, is
or was this true?
Sgt. Thundercok:
It couldn't be further from the truth...
The only reason I would quit would be time constraints. I make maps for
me first, and there will always be the doorknob that says, "this map
sucks, lets play 2forts". No offense to 2fort fans, btw.
I mainly hope people enjoy the maps.
HURT:
We thank you for your time answering this interview. Are there any
comments you would like to add in closing?
Sgt. Thundercok:
1- Discard your backpacks
2- I have decided, for Spaz3, to get rid of not only the Engineer, but
the Scout, Spy, and Sniper also. Unless I hear compelling arguments
from players I respect.
Thanks,
Sgt.Thundercok
