A few weeks ago |NV|S of Section 8 Studios posted on the NS:CO forums that he was considering porting Section 8 Studios level designs to NS:CO. To those familiar with S8S, this was some very exciting news as the S8S team is an affiliation of Level Designers of commercial grade talent with some of the same professional development paradigms and goals observed and pursued by Team Mirage

S8S work is arguably some of the best level design seen on the the Q3A Urban Terror mod, and as my conversation with |NV|S offers; some very promising and exciting work for NS:CO.

Hoak: Most of the NS:CO fans have seen your work, as I took the liberty of showing some on the news page; can you give us a little background; how long have you been been doing level design and how did you get into it?

|NV|S: I first started tweaking games at the tender age of fifteen. I received my first real (non-Commodore) computer in 1981 (Tandy TRS-80) and my friend and I quickly began coding games for it. My first FPS game level (or map as you now know them), was for a very awesome yet underplayed FPS title called Rise Of The Triad or ROTT.

I then went on to do Quake levels using Virtus Deathmatchmaker. I made these maps just for LAN parties back in the mid 90's. I made my own modest Quake mod called the MMP (Mauke Mission Pack), just to play with my buddies on our LAN, big props to Mr.X, Arias, and my brother Prince Pharoh for testing and playing my early and rather ugly creations. Little did I know how popular they would become or how they would be traded from one player LAN party to another.

I have to admit that I skipped mapping for Quake II, I just wasn’t that impressed enough with the game to mess with it. But I did keep up on designing by reading about the newest mapping techniques. When Quake III finally came out I got back into mapping again...I made about thirty or so maps that I was too embarrassed to release to the public, it was just technique polishing for later work.

Hoak: Wow, I remember ROTT, that's some history! So, has your work been primarily in FPS Realism Level Design?

|NV|S: No, I have made a few maps for vanilla titles; including Excessive-Overkill, and vanilla Q-Q3, and I am also releasing a few Proball mod maps.

Hoak: Is Realism Level Design the kind of work you prefer?

|NV|S: Without a doubt, realism level design is where it's at: no where else can your showcase your true talent. If you don’t do it right, everyone can tell. Unlike other games where it's up to your discretion as far as what looks good for scale, texturing, lighting, etc. Realism separates the men from the boys, as far as I'm concerned because real world lighting, texturing and brush laying is very hard to do with this engine and not come off as 'Cartoony' or 'Disneylandish', and reality is your standard.

"Realism level design is where it's at: no where else can your showcase your true talent. If you don’t do it right, everyone can tell."

Hoak: What exactly is Section 8 Studios?

|NV|S: That’s a good question, and its one I get asked quite a bit. We first started out as a six to eight man mapping team. Our goal was to help map for all of the Q3 based realism mods. When we first started we were called the PK3RATS, but when we were contracted to make the maps for a future realism mod called PointBlank, we just joined the Section 8 Studios mod team and gave up on the other mods (big mistake). Well needless to say the actual coders and team from S8S fell apart, so we decided to keep the name for ourselves, and go back to our original goal of mapping for all the realism mods again.

Hoak: Are any of the other members of S8S interested in Level Design for NS:CO?

|NV|S: Good question, S8S right now consists of me, Nodeth, and Thnom. I think that Thnom will more than likely stick with the Urban Terror maps that we are working on for beta3 like ut_airport. Nodeth however will more than likely be joining me for NS:CO mapping after the Final Release of ut_poinblank. It's possible that a founding member of our team, FreaX, will return and help us with both NS:CO and True Combat mapping when he is finished with his boot camp. He left us and joined the U.S. Navy a few months back to be a Radar man for submarine hunters, and assured us that he will return soon to pick up his real duties as an S8S Level Designer... and maybe he can squeeze in some Navy stuff when he has time... :)

Hoak: How did you find out about NS:CO and what attracted you to the mod?

|NV|S: Actually I think FreaX and Puffdaddy (no relation to Sean Combs) told me about the mod when it was still yet unreleased, and when it first became available we tried it. Some of the things I liked were missions. I am a big proponent for missions in FPS games, CTF, TS, TDM, etc. get old really fast. I have to admit that NS:CO is a very high learning curve, and that seems to scare a lot of players away, but the ones that stay seem to like it.

Hoak: In your email you mention that you've decided not to port from your current bevy of work and work in progress to NS:CO, and that you want instead to do original title work for the mod. I have to say I'm both disappointing because you have some stunning maps and works in progress that I'd personally love to see on NS:CO, exciting that you consider NS:CO worth the initiative to bring the mod new and original work. What was involved in this decision?

|NV|S: Truth is, A lot of map ideas we had would be great for the faster paced mod of Urban Terror, but after playing NS:CO and getting a feel for its speed of play, I don’t think those maps would fit. I also believe the themes won't fit either. NS:CO maps should fit missions and locales that the real U.S. Navy SEAL teams would encounter. Therefore because of that we are going to go with some more realistic based missions and maps to befit that theme.

Hoak: So is there any hope that at some future date you still might attempt a port of some of your current work?

|NV|S: I'm not sure, the more I thought about it, the more it concerned me that some of our current work just wouldn’t fit NS:CO.

"We at S8S are very excited about CSGR, this means that we can use models that were previously unusable..."

Hoak: You may or may not know that NS:CO has a suite of features aimed at both attracting new Level Design talent, and at making their work shine, a few of the things are full support for all the features in ydnar's Q3Map2, CSGR (client side geometry render), complex mission design, a custom lighting and custom particle engine that offer a slew of effects just to name a few, with a rigorous schedule of still more in the works and more planned.

Which of these do you find the most compelling and is there anything not in the NS:CO top and map support code that you would really like to see offered?

|NV|S: ydnar and I had a chance to meet at Quakecon and gave a small conference together. I have to say that he is a Freakin Genius; he has taken Q3 mapping to a whole new level that id Software never envisioned. In the short time I was able to talk to people like him and TTIMO, I learned quite a lot that gave me a new and better perspective on what I want to do with future maps.

I also had a short talk with Robert Duffy From id Software and expressed my concern that almost every map I have in the oven right now has at least 2000+ shaders over the 1024 hard-coded shader limit. He has assured me that the newest point release will be coded for a 8000+ shader limit. So now I can truly take the gloves off and kick the bejesus out of the Q3 engine. I'm going to smoke your video cards now with some pretty amazing eye-candy as well as the rock solid real world game-play.

Also we at S8S are very excited about CSGR, this means that we can use models that were previously unusable. Hopefully now we can get a full time modeler to join the team to help me with map objects.

From a Level Designer's standpoint, I think that the particle system has a lot of possibilities for smoke, fire, and maybe realistic water. I'd also like to see a Sun corona like Q3F, and some more realistic glass entities that use real world physics.

Hoak: You've played NS:CO 1.1 and seen what the game has to offer and perhaps read about some of the exciting new play-features in 1.3; what sort of in-game/game-play features would you like to see get more attention in NS:CO?

|NV|S: Actually, the experience point system is rather confusing IMHO, not from a design viewpoint, but from someone coming in as a N00b gamer. I think maybe just try and simplify it a little so that morons like me can play without upsetting some of the veterans.

"Consider this a call to any NS:CO Community Mappers that want to get involved with an experienced team..."

Hoak: Well new player friendly features have been the focus of the 1.3 release, and we're confident that we'll have NS:CO and TASS at a level that is accessible to everyone interested in FPS Realism when 1.3 goes gold. The inevitable question that all our fans are wondering: "How soon might we see an |NV|S level design on NS:CO?"

|NV|S: Hehe, man that is a good question. Well, actually, as in every game we map for we usually try and recruit Community Mappers to join or consult with us, especially someone that has a really good feel for the game and the community. Even if your a Novice, that’s fine, because I don’t mind training people to use our system, and methods. So if you think you can't join us because your not the ubermapper... think again.

Consider this a call to any NS:CO Community Mappers that want to get involved with an experienced team, and be involved with some pretty cool stuff. I think you won't be disappointed with what we can do, and how we work as a team. Not to mention that I think were going to raise the bar for this mod, and you will have a hand in that. If we get a good response and some much needed help with NS:CO specific mapping (i.e.: a few recruits to help us) you could possibly see a map from us within a month...or possibly even for beta 1.3 depending upon its release date.

Hoak: That's a very generous and compelling offer Joe, present company included! One I'm sure a lot of NS:CO Free-Lance Mappers, and aspiring Level Designers that would enjoy being part of a team will want to consider! Thank you for taking the time I know our fans appreciate it and I know we are all looking forward to seeing what you're going to surprise them with!

|NV|S: No problem Hoak, as I have said, we are very excited here at S8S to give you guys some awesome maps.

So there you have it folks, Section 8 Studios is certain to bring some pleasant surprises to NS:CO! Anyone serious about being a member of a committed Level Design Team should drop by the Section 8 Studios site and drop |NV|S a line.