An interview with Xsniper!

[Xsniper]

If I had the foresight to actually "log in" to the forums this would have been posted sooner. But I was just surfing them in guest mode so I didn't see this from CocoT. And now:

1. Could you, for the new members here, briefly introduce yourself (age, location...) and tell us when you were most active in the Q1 community?

My name is Michael Rogers but you can just call me Mike or Xsniper. I'm 26 years old and live in Virginia, USA. I was most active in the community between 2002 and 2004 probably. Though I've been interested in and working with quake in various ways since it came out in 96.

2. How did you get involved in the community?

I remember I was working on a lot of personal projects, particularly trying to make my own bots by following Coffee's Ai Tutorials when I came upon a team request of sorts in these forums for a project called Eternal War. I signed on to that project as a qc coder along with Koolio. Later I became the lead on that project and spent a lot of time involved in the community as I learned my way around qc. Over the development time of that project I learned a whole lot and worked on other personal projects too.

3. What Q1 contributions are you best-known for?

Probably Eternal War as mentioned above. EW contained the bot project that I had been working on and expanded upon for EW called Xsniper Bot. Some may also remember me for the project GCV (Ground Combat Vehicle) which was a mech simulation style mod originally inspired by something Wazat had worked on which I forget the name of. Maybe Battlemech?

4. Do you still have a website/links where we could check out/rediscover your stuff?

I still have my old site: (www.xsniper.net) which right now has some old screenshots of a project I was messing around with for an engine called FPSC X10. I haven't done much else on that sadly and the website has been really neglected but I plan on doing some major overhaul of it soon with a ColdFusion content management system that I've been working on.

5. Is there any unfinished (secret?) Q1 project in which you were involved and which you now wish you had completed? Describe it to us and tell us why!

This would probably be GCV and I've been thinking about and working with it a lot lately trying to get something substantial ready for the next QExpo. I think there is a lot of potential for single player content with this mod as well as multiplayer fun if I can ever get around to digging in the engine code again to fix what has effectively broken that option.

6. What are you best memories about this community?

I remember reading FrikaC's posts enthusiastically, especially the ones on the inner workings of the FrikBots. I also enjoyed postings by Wazat, CheapAlert, Dr. Shadowborg, CocoT, and many others. It seemed like I was always able to get help if I needed it and I tried to return the favor by helping others with their questions whenever possible.

7. When and why did you decide to slow down your contribution to the community (if you did)?

This happened when I transitioned from life at home with relatively few friends while attending community college to life on the campus of Radford University with new found friends and less free time than before. Also after I finished work on Eternal War I was a little burned out on qc and the world of quake modding.

8. How has Real Life © treated you so far?

Real Life has been good. I graduated from Radford in 2007 with a B.S. in Information Science and Systems and got a job with a major company doing web development work.

9. Are you still playing Quake? Are you still trying out mods, maps and engines?

I do still play quake from time to time. Every few months if I get really frustrated and just want some intense fragging I'll fire up EW in Flood multiplayer mode with bots on nightmare difficulty and just have a good time. I haven't tried out too many new mods lately. The only one I can really think of was Stealth Quake which I liked.

10. Has there been other games you have been playing a lot since you left the community (if you did)?

I've played a lot of WoW and Neverwinter Nights (1, 2, and all the expansions), various xbox 360 games like Gears of War.

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

I'm glad to see the Q1 community is going strong. It's easily as strong as it was when I was last on the scene, maybe even stronger. I see a lot of new enthusiastic names on the boards which I like a lot. I'm very happy that the engine community has continued to advance, especially how far Darkplaces has come and how it has set a lot of community standards.

12. 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 think the community will certainly still exist in 10 years. With Quake you have a freely available tool to create 3d games. And because of the GPL source this tool continues to advance as new technology appears around it. I don't see any reason why the Quake engine cannot be modified to include all of the cutting edge technology of today and many days to come.

13. Is there the slightest chance you would consider be an active part of the community again? Or/and put up a booth for the next QExpo?

Working on a booth for QExpo 08 and may continue work on GCV after that point but I'm not completely sure right now. With working full-time and balancing free time between my gf / family / and friends I don't have as much time as I'd like to devote to projects.

14. Are you excited about QExpo 2008? Are there features (of any kind) that haven’t been part of former QExpo’s and which you would like to see in this one?

I'm definitely excited. I haven't participated in QExpo since 03 or 04, I forget which it was..

15. 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 actually think you covered everything pretty well. Thanks for interviewing me! Sorry it took me so long to get up a response.

Oh and one last thing:

Wall of text crits you for 10000.

[CocoT]

Very interesting read, XSniper!
I'm also glad you opened a booth over at QExpo! Can't wait to see more of GCV