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!

CO_Umbra created by Kalessin

Readyroom: Let's start off with the 5 W's then. Who are you? What are you, erm, what do you do? Where? When? Why?

Kalessin: My RL name is Peter Bennett, I'm a student studying electrical & electronic engineering but currently working at a company as an intern. I live in sheffield in the UK, and I'm 20 - my 21st is on feb 10th. Why? I have nothing better to do other than playing NS and making maps ;)

Readyroom: Is this your first NS map? Or did you make NS_fullbritekillbox?

Kalessin: It's my third map, I originally made an NS map called ns_tharsis which I dont think was too bad for a first attempt. I wasn't aware of an entity limit at the time so it performed horribly on anything but a lan game. Mmy second map was co_prime, which was a big improvement. it gets played a little but there are several problems with it that stop it from being more popular - namely, the metroid prime style doors :)

Readyroom: For co_umbra, was the catherdral-like style of high ceilings intended from the start, or did you make it up as you went along?

Kalessin: It sort of evolved from experiments I was making with hammer, I originally started work on it over a year ago and I have slowly been building it up since then. The first bit of geometry I made was for the screenshot thread in the mapping forum, and was never meant to be a playable map, but people liked it, so I made more and a year later this is the result.

Kalessin: I should add that I havent been working on it for a full year, but rather started it a year ago ;) I'm not THAT slow. I took a long break in between to concentrate on uni... and WOW im ashamed to say.

Readyroom: :D

Readyroom: And really, does the map have anything besides blue lights?

Kalessin: I snook a few red lights in there, but you have to look hard.

Readyroom: What has been the most fun part of this map, be it from making it, or playtests, or elsewhere?

Kalessin: The most fun I had was coming up with the various styles for the different rooms, I spent a long time on each room until it looked just the way I liked it. I was originally going to make it an NS map, so halfway through development I kept shuffling areas around and coming up with different layouts. Iin the end I deleted a lot of stuff and decided to make it a co map.

Readyroom: How good are you at your own map then?

Kalessin: Well, I have the obvious advantage of knowing all the hiding places :D Uunfortunately im not too good at NS anymore, I blame wow for that, so knowing the map is my only advantage.

Readyroom: Have you had any bugs that fall under 'potentially hilarious but sadly must be fixed' category during the process?

Kalessin: Sadly not, there have been a few design decisions that got removed for similar reasons though. The lift used to insta gib anyone getting trapped in it, but I decided that it probably wasnt much fun getting killed that way. You could also sit on the lift normally and get crushed on the roof, so that had to go. There are very few 'entity experiments' in the map for that simple reason, I respect someone like merkaba for trying but unfortunately half life handles entities horribly and generally they dont work too well.

Readyroom: No rotating doors, eh?

Kalessin: I avoided rotating doors like the plague :D

Readyroom: Any final words for the people who read all the way to the bottom of this interview?

Kalessin: I hope you enjoy the map when if you ever get to try it out. its a bit on the large side but it should hopefully make for some different gameplay than you're used to with co.

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