WARNING: The map is this interview is NOT in the official release of NS 3.2 yet. This series of map previews is maps currently being playtested for inclusion in NS 3.2. There is no assurance that this map will make it into 3.2 or not. We are just giving a taste of what some of the mappers have been working on. Also, since these maps are in testing, changes WILL be made before final release of the map!

NS_Lucid created by PS_Mouse

Readyroom: The toughest (and most boring, but mandatory question of all time): Tell me about you, and how you got into the wonderful world of self-torture called mapping?

PS_Mouse: Hi, I'm Mathieu Halley, I got into HL mapping when I was 12-13 because at the time I saw it as the easiest way into the games industry. In the years before that I 'designed' generic sidescroller levels on paper(!)

Readyroom: Ah yes, the naiveness at age 12, thinking mapping was easy. I did that too. Is NS_Lucid you're first forray into mapping for the NS game?

PS_Mouse: No actually, I've completed 3 other maps for NS ns_frigid, ns_hydrosity and co_dante. Now let us never speak of ns_frigid again. :D

Readyroom: I'll save ns_frigid for a seperate interview, we wouldn't want to miss any details.

Readyroom: Did you do any sketeches ahead of time of NS_Lucid (allowing you to devise those nasty pits) or has the map been made mostly on the fly?

PS_Mouse: I first did a vague sketch showing how the hives, nodes and marine start all connected to eachother. I then did a floorplan of the map in hammer and mapped over the top of it. The visuals however were pretty much done on the fly. I was actually a decent way into the building it before I thought to give the map its distinctive curves.

Readyroom: Ah yes, the distinctive curves. We'll let the screenshots save you and me 1000 words. (haf haf haf)

 Readyroom: What brain cells (glad someone around here has them still) fired to come up with the style in NS_Lucid (driving the map name into your skull!)?

PS_Mouse: It was really one of those "oh hey, that looks cool" moments. I was working on this one part of the map (the top of the ladder at crossroads) and I had the wall sort of 'fanning out' around a corner. I thought it looked cool and adapted the rest of the map to incorporate it. The lighting was mainly a result of me being tired of ns maps having 'XTREEM LITING', so I lit the map with soft blues and greens. 

Readyroom: And don't forget the falling purple particles!

PS_Mouse: Oh yeah, the cool particle thingies. The backstory explaination of them is that they're like nano air-con units; slowly pumping nanites into the map, keeping it all nice and sanitary (some are even leaking). But in reality, I just thought it was a cool looking effect.

Readyroom: What kind of problems did you run into making this beauty, or has your previous experience made you the most prolific mapper of our time?

PS_Mouse: Umm, I actually haven't run into that many problems. The biggest problem was probably trying to stamp out some fps issues in one of the hives. All in all, lucid has been a fun map to work on. 

Readyroom: Now that the map has been in the playtest cycle for a while, what has been the biggest fixes/changes you have had to make?

PS_Mouse: Probably removing the deceptively shallow pits of death from the hives. For some reason the fades didn't like being instagibbed.

Readyroom: Now the 5 second drill:
1. Is it pop or soda?
PS_Mouse: soda
2. Canadians are awesome or amazing?
PS_Mouse: they're not bad eh
3. Good enough. End drill.
PS_Mouse: :D

Readyroom: Any final comments for your adoring fans?

PS_Mouse: I have fans? I must have missed that memo. Well to all 3 of you out there; *waves*

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Download Here. This map is still in testing, so bugs may be found.