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Tim Willits Interview: Lead Doom3 Designer
Joe writes: "PlanetQuake3.net has a interview with id Software's Tim Willits who is the lead designer and project manager of Doom 3. Tim talks about the new generation of level editing in Doom3, his favorite maps of all time, how designers and coders work together, and many other subjects. One of the most interesting parts of the interview was this question: 'PlanetQuake3: Will it be possible to adjust the speed of the game for between single player and multiplayer play?' 'Tim Willits: Yes, most of the game logic is outside the main executable, this gives us great flexibility in changing basic game parameters between single and multiplayer.'"
I *refuse* to play new online games like Q3. I hate the way lag "feels". No longer do I actually seem like I am moving slower. In fact you feel as if nothing has changed yet to other players you are in fact standing still.
It is VERY annoying to have sudden lag and see players hopping around on the screen. Explain to me how the hell you are supposed to compensate for that?
We need to go back to the way Q1 felt as far as lag was concerned. At least that way you could at least learn to adjust to the speed of your connection and change your aim accordingly.
PlanetQuake3: How much does it help you to be able to edit the game in real time? Did you request that feature be added?
Tim Willits: It is great for aligning textures and working with the lighting. Yes, we requested that feature be added, it is an example of the designers working with the programmers to make the best possible editing environment for the game.
This sounds surprisingly like the Build engine, which was used to create levels for Duke Nukem 3D and a few other 3DRealms games. The editor had a complete instance of the engine so that a level designer could go in and build levels around himself, aligning textures and specifying shading levels all the while. It was surprisingly intuitive once you figured out which keyboard key was responsible for which editor action.
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Funny, I've always been the exact opposite. Although Quake (particularly 1) had potential, it was always "gee, another level, it's kinda weird, but what's the point? Why am I playing this?" Although Q1 felt something like Doom, which was nice to start out with, it wasn't carried through.
Quake 2 was infinitely worse in my book. "Another factory on another alien planet with... aliens to kill. *yawn*" It was all the same, all the way.
We won't discuss the lacking of Quake 3.
Oddly enough, I've been playing Doom 1 again lately, and it's been great. I really, really miss Doom's automap in new games (like everything after Doom), and even the quick story they have, coupled with the wonderful level design, makes it a much more interesting game in my book.
(I picked up Doom 2 recently too, and unfortunately it seems to suffer from some of the same problems as Quake did; nicer technology, less reason for me to play the game. And no, just shooting demons/aliens/whatever is not enough motivation for me to play something, particularly in things like Halflife where even if you turn things up to the hardest mode there are very few things to shoot. Red Faction was kinda fun though, decent if slightly bland story, but good level variety and lots to shoot at.)
Descent 3 also had a story coupled with gameplay that let you actually feel like you were part of the mission, at least for me. (Plus, it had lots to shoot at, and even an automap, woo hoo. Although I liked Descent 1's map better.)
Anyway, hopefully Doom 3 will bring back the old days of Doom 1, and it sounds like they're trying to flesh out the story, which will be cool. "Ultimate single-player FPS experience" someone said, and that'll be a nice break in a long line of bland deathmatch clones.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
There was so many things that players could hide behind.
That has more to do with the level designer than the game though.. I really do like CS, but here in Australia CS servers are populated by 14 year olds who keep calling me "ghey" everytime i frag them.. Aparently ghey men are better at the game..
As for Stunt Car Racor, R0XZOR!
I spent hours playing that game, i'll have to hunt around for an emulated version of that.. If only there was a remake of it.. That was honestly the most original car racing game of the time, and sadly never got ported to any other systems (that i know of)..