Quake Map Magazine - Carson Utz

| Perhaps the most prolific author editing for Quake today Neil consistently turns out great quality level add-ons. We finally drag Neil away from his editor for a full length interview as well as exclusive insights on his latest "Saving Pvt. Monkey."

I live with my wife and four cats! We all live in Kamloops, B.C., Canada.

I don't have any levels I consider my best work nor do I ever expect to. There are aspects to all my maps that I like and conversely much I dislike.

SLAUGHTERSHIP BY NEIL MANKE

I really have no specific source of inspiration other than plain old silly ideas and I have lots of those:] In the rare event I run out of silly ideas I know certain people [I won't mention your name Paul T.] who have lots. I don't try to formulate complex ideas, plans or plots for levels. Besides, a complex plot in Q2 is shutting down 3 generators and a simple one is shutting down 1, and even an idiot like myself doesn't need to plan stuff that basic.

I like to have a starting idea that intrigues me which can usually be summed up in a few words and then I do a few textures and try to create a starting look in a map. Then the start map and it's feel give me ideas and I just go from there with little deep thought. Sometimes I will think of cool scenarios beforehand and note them down but I don't expect that or force it. For me there is no surer way to kill creativity than to think about something too much, inspiration and creativity simply do not lend themselves to planning... that is logical/rational/objective thinking, bankers think that way:] Of course there is a necessity for all that in mapping, but I do not believe it is the part that makes for the essence of the better stuff.

I have played less than a handfull of Q2 add-ons....so it would be rather unfair of me to answer this question. I had wanted and planned on playing a selection just to see what the other guys are doing but I doubt now that I will have the time, or the will.

I really liked Q1 & Q2 and have no complaints of any consequence about either, obviously they are both exceptional games. I don't continue playing them, or add-ons that are done in the traditional id style, simply because I am not that type of gamer. I like to play [or rather I used to] several different types of games, strategy and adventure along with action games being my favorites. I used to play a game for short while and then move on. Only my keen interest in editing has held me in one game for so long.

I was saddened by the news id was going strictly multiplayer for Q3 [I'm sorry but anyone who thinks DM with bots is SP doesn't understand what SP is about!]. I believe it is a supremely smart move on id's part and bodes well for MP gamers, but it is no good from my minuscule perspective. So I must be saying goodbye to Quake*..it's a cruel world...sniff:[

1/2 Life has me the most interested! It sounds as if it will have a big following, lots of goodies and enhancements for SP mapping, and it's based on my editor of choice. Unreal had me real interested too but the editor lacks a few features my patience just can't do without. Maybe in future they will add them? Course by that time it would probably be editing add-ons for one of the many games that have licensed the unreal engine.

I've played the SIN demo and thought it was very well done except a few things about it bothered me a wee bit. Some aspects felt too contrived, like every time I entered a room with skylights was exactly when the skylights broke and the bad guys entered. I think they overdid a very cool thing... and the doors looked too damn friggin small! I bumped my head every time LOL. But those are nitpics, all else was super cool except one level just didn't give me any sense of the real scope of the game, I would need that to fork over cash on it. I'll watch the reviews and ....maybe?

I use Worldcraft, always have, and I have a P2 300 with 64 megs ram and a Canopus Pure 3D voodoo. Next step will be an advanced video card and some more ram and I should be good until the century turns. After that maybe none of us will have need for comps?...we'll probably be too busy searching under rocks for bugs to eat! hahaha.

NEIL MANKE'S DRY GULCH

Banging head on wall and pulling hair out! I also like to beg on the corner once in awhile so I can get enough money for a good bottle of after shave... mmm:]

When doing levels I will search the net for any information I may need. Other than that I frequently check out many of the old SP review sites and there are several cool new ones too. And, for some reason, I've started watching the Quake news sites? I also like going to the general game sites like Gamespot and Adrenaline Vault, etc. and on occasion I will visit assorted game companies' sites to see what they are up to.

I have just sent Coconut Monkey 3 to PC Gamer . No doubt it will be out by the time this interview is. And I have just started a simple, single map tentatively called "Bear Hunter" for SOF, ... and that will most likely be my last Q2 map. After that?... I don't know for sure but I have been discussing a 1/2 Life add-on with Bill Harms at PC Gamer. I won't say what it is but it is 'not' a Coconut Monkey adventure... something a bit scarier we hope:]

I have been editing Quake1 & 2 almost 2 years now and I must say near all the people I dealt with over that time have been a real pleasure to know. And without many of them my mapping would be near impossible. So I'd like to thank all the guys who have directly helped me with the levels, all who tested levels for me, all the guys who selflessly run the review sites and editing sites [not a trivial feat], the guys who do the programs and mods that make editing so much easier and give us mappers the means for enriching our levels, the gamers who are always writing in with words of encouragement, and perhaps most of all, Rysher Entertainment and PC Gamer who by giving me some interesting work have at least given me the means to survive and continue editing.

NEIL MANKE ON "SAVING PVT. MONKEY"

What's the new cm3 level "Saving Private Monkey" all about?
It's a 3 level pak with a WW2 theme. It remotely mimics the 'sidelines' of the Allied assault on German defenses on the beaches of Normandy. Thus it is a rather dangerous place to be:] Andrew Eglington did his usual good work on the new Pierre and a couple other surprises, Magnus Jansen did many cool new sounds and Josh Rhode did the smart german skins.
How did you come up with the idea for a WWII level?
I have always wanted to do a war themed level and the time seemed right as I needed some sort of setting for CM3, and with Coconut Monkey's time-machine any place is possible. More decidedly though was the fact that some of the Q2 monsters suit the theme with merely new skins and sounds.
How hard was it to get the look and feel right for such a well known period
piece?
I hope I did get it? I picked up several books from a used military book store and looked through them to get the feel. But I was only trying to get the feel as to try and reproduce anything even slightly authentic is madness with the engines we have now. Everything I do is simplified and designed with r_speeds in mind, in fact it really is as if r-speeds draws much of the maps and I just go along with the possibilities
The landing craft that appears later was a very cool idea! Are those
difficult to add in?
The landing craft was very easy..it is only a door entity. But sometimes those scenarios I add in my maps take a long time to get right.. .some are very finicky and much more complex than they appear... others aren't and yet appear so, like the Starship blowing up at the end of Starship [if anyone recalls that?], it took me 1/2 an hour:] Whereas the helicopter entrance in SOFm1 took eight grueling days [off and on] to get working properly:[
What was the most difficult part of the new cm3 map to make?
The sky/enviro... it took me a very long time and yet is barely acceptable:[ I hate those damn things yet someone has to do them. So far I have found no sucke...err compadres who would do.
Did you have to do any research on WWII to make the cm3 map?
Nothing other than some familiarization with the subject.
What do you think of it?
I'd rather not, but I am confident many gamers will like it:]
What's with that Quake Map Mag cover?
What!... you don't like my suit?

~Neil Manke - November 7, 1998

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