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.'"

Comments

Hmm... Sounds a lot like Build.

[Bonker]

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.

Re:Hmm... Sounds a lot like Build.

[Pyrosz]

Take a look at Tribes/2/Torque (engine) for how an in game editor can work. The Torque in game editing is really good right now and allows tons of control without wasting your time by starting and stopping the game for every little change.