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Tango

mapper interviews

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imo it would be worthwhile for the community to setup some interviews between some of the community's highly regarded mappers. and not just written ones; i mean *audio* interviews, perhaps conducted via skype or something similar. i'm sure a good handful of people would be really interested to hear from people like Dutch Devil, Mech, Vader, essel, etc

i suppose even doing it with players/demogods would be great too, though i'm personally more interested in the creation aspect of things.

off the top of my head, people i'd really like to hear interviewed:
essel
Dutch Devil
Mechadon
Vader
Erik Alm
Afterglow
Dittohead
Huy
Gusta
Skillsaw
Frederik
Hobomaster
any of ye olde AV mappers (Anders, Lee, etc)
LordAntVoltlock1992900498 (HAHA just kidding)
SNAKES

having a sort of interview between *two* experienced mappers would be especially interesting, as both people would really know their shit. so, for instance, hearing Skillsaw interview Erik Alm would be pretty damn great

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No Snakes not interested

Spoiler

But seriously, though, this is a pretty awesome idea

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Snakes said:

No Snakes not interested

Spoiler

But seriously, though, this is a pretty awesome idea


lawl. i was going to put you down but then i was thinking, "well i may as well just list the entire btsx team... err, or not" so i didn't

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Khorus said:

what about that tango fella, I want to hear what he has to say


fuck that guy

but also i'd like to hear from you and kristus as well. i was thinking if there was enough interest in this we could do it like this:

in the thread we announce that the next interview will be of ___, and give the community like a week or so to generate a bunch of questions they want to hear that mapper answer, and then we use a combo of those questions and some of our own on-the-fly questions

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Excellent idea, Tango! I was actually dwelling for some time on the possibility of creating a panel of Doomers who discuss in depth the collective works of a mapper along with a host of other issues. Doom has evolved a rich enough history in design and map making that the topics of Doom's future or community expectation etc. can be explored with interest.

I would, however, take issue with the suggestion that such an interview take place between two experienced mappers alone. I think the presence of a less experienced "layman" of the Doom community could work wonders in promoting not only the mapper's material but also the image of Doom to a newer, if not casual, generation.

I may or may not be pleading for involvement, here. :p

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i'd love to see this because people don't tend to talk about what goes into their maps, creatively. it would be especially cool to see interviews with some of the former doom mappers who are working in the industry now (Iikka Keranen and Mattias Worch are two that come to mind), but anyone would be neat.

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Tango said:

i mean *audio* interviews, perhaps conducted via skype or something similar. i'm sure a good handful of people would be really interested to hear from people like Dutch Devil, Mech, Vader, essel, etc

Yeah, indeed, it will be fun listening to their accents :P

Tango said:

lawl. i was going to put you down but then i was thinking, "well i may as well just list the entire btsx team... err, or not" so i didn't

I wonder if Back to Saturn X is 75% of Doomworld, including port developers and powerful players.

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Along similar lines, I'd like to see post mortems done on classic, or cacoward winning megawads. Trivia, design notes and evaluation from not just mappers but all contibutors (especially the project leader) would be really insightful and could flesh out the wiki pages.

AV would be first up of course!

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Nice idea. Been a while since something like that was last done. BigD from DoomCenter had a wadster interview series once that I pitched to him. But I think this format suggested here (by st.alfonzo in particular) would be a lot more interesting as it would allow for a lot more in depth discussions.

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and not just written ones; i mean *audio* interviews


Can't say I understand that. Text is superior.

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I'm up for this too. :P

Phml said:

Can't say I understand that. Text is superior.

Someone could always type up a summated transcript of the interviews. :)

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I think this is a pretty good idea. Though I prefer reading the interview, not listening to it, but it's up to you. This will be probably good for us mappers that are looking for better instructions from long-time mappers, in a better way rather than threads.

Spoiler

WHY AM I NO IN DA LIST?!! :P Just kidding. ;)

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Echoing what everyone is saying, it will be quite interesting to see how similar and different the responses are. It'll just show how complex doom mapping and approaches to it can be.

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i'm not too attached to the idea of a two-mapper conversation versus just one; as long as we've got one really experienced mapper then i'm satisfied heh.

so if we do go alfonzo's route, how would we go about picking said layman?

Phml said:

Can't say I understand that. Text is superior.


then you can read the transcript afterwards :p

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Don't get me wrong, I don't mind audio interviews - and if you plan to do text transcripts, that's great.

I just find the text format to be superior on many aspects for this kind of thing, and was reacting to the implied (?) idea audio is somehow better or more interesting.

With text:

As the interviewer, you can make your interview more structured.

As the interviewee, especially foreigners, it's easier to understand and think about the questions as well as your answers.

As the reader, the entire interview becomes much more convenient to parse through for information. Reading is also much faster than speaking/listening.

What are the advantages of doing this audio instead of text? I can't think of a single one, which is what prompted my comment.

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i certainly see what you mean and in no way think audio is *superior* per se, but in cases like these i do prefer it.

1) a lot more of the personality comes out (from both sides) when you actually get to hear someone's voice
2) to me it feels more *authentic* because you're getting raw questions and answers as they're thought up. sometimes this is a bad thing (when one of the parties is really inarticulate/unwilling to talk), but personally i like being able to hear someone's thoughts as they develop them
3) you can listen and do other shit at the same time (a few weeks ago for instance i was listening to interviews on my ipod at work; couldn't have done that if i was reading)

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I personally prefer the naturalistic flow of an audio interview. It feels more personal and certain follow-up questions can be put forward. What's more, it brings someone who is otherwise a character (forum member, etc.) to life and helps better understand where he/she is coming from. Conversation bleeds with personality.

Also, I think more can be discussed vocally with a greatly reduced effort, which makes everything more accessible.

Granted, accents and language barriers are going to be an issue, but if questions are prepared ahead of time and structured, this can be overcome quite easily - via a transcript as mentioned by Tango. The only real issue, in some cases, would be finding a common time to meet (especially for people half-a-world from each other).

I read a forum all of the time. We discuss a lot of things time and time again - an interview via text just sounds redundant.

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Phml said:

Fair points, guys. I now understand the choice better. Thanks :)


damn it man why do you have to be so cool about everything


so, if we were to do this... volunteers on first interview? :p

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I'd love to hear from Anders Johnsen as he masterminded my all-time favourite megawad. The AV text file is like a bible for me.

I read Anders' farewell to Doom on an archived copy of his blog. I am not sure he would want to kick all the old crap up once again but a lot of time has gone by. Essentially I'd be hoping for an AV-specific interview though I respect he did other work too.

Also Brad Spencer since he contributed some of the most aggressive maps.

Has anyone ever spoken to the bloke who did the Egyptian Slaughter map? I want to know what mad genius possessed him while he built that insane level.

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MajorRawne said:

Has anyone ever spoken to the bloke who did the Egyptian Slaughter map? I want to know what mad genius possessed him while he built that insane level.

Kim Malde passed away, sadly. Anders pops in on occasion (he's made a few posts in the demos forums, and I know Brad Spencer is still around.

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MajorRawne said:

Has anyone ever spoken to the bloke who did the Egyptian Slaughter map? I want to know what mad genius possessed him while he built that insane level.


er... you mean map20? that was Kim Malde, who recently passed away :\

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*twirls mustache*

I hAvE kIdNaPpEd YoUr MaGiCaL pEt CoW, cHeLsEa. YoU wIlL nOt SeE hEr AlIvE aGaIn UnLeSs YoU iNtErViEw ThE cLaSsIc EpIsOdE / dArKeNiNg CrEw. YoU hAvE 6 wEeKs To CoMpLy.
BeSt Of LuCk,
Mr. X

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I'm glad I'm not being interviewed, you'll just get a bunch of depressing self-hating rants and moaning about how difficult modding Doom is.

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Bad news about Kim Malde


Oh, I'm gutted :(

Shows how in touch with the Doom Community I am. Goodbye Mutator, your contribution to the Community will never be forgotten. Thanks for your mind-boggling work on Alien Vendetta. AV was part of a very happy time in my younger days and while the people I used to play it with aren't part of my life any more, the excitement, adventure and inspiration of Alien Vendetta will stay with me until my last day.

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kmxexii said:

Rex Claussen has been posting interviews with current mappers at his website, The Doom Nexus. Granted, his focus has been on the ZDoom community.


Somebody should tell him to fix his Doom wiki link (here).


Torm also had interviews, but he stopped after the third (way back in 2009).

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