KoolBear's Descent - Interview - Lawrence "DwnUndr" Britt

So, DwnUndr tell us a little something about yourself. You know BIO
type
stuff the usual age, location, motto and shoe size. No wait forget the
shoe size ;)

I am 44 and live in the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.
My favorite motto is: "If you are too old to play games, you are too
old".

Are you married? I can't see how with all the time you must spend on the DescentBB and designing levels

Married? No way! I spend my own money, heh. Besides, no one else
could keep my hours.

What are your Other Hobbies, oop's, do you have any I mean?

Caving, four wheeling, getting another vehicle (I think I have owned
17 so far?), woodworking, fixing up my shop.

I think I probably speak for most Descent'rs on the NET when I say
THANKS FOR your time spent to create the levels we enjoy.

Thanks very much! I still have folks tell me in-game that they
loved this or that level from years past. I get great satisfaction
from that kind of feedback.

How did you start playing Descent 1, 2 or 3?

Descent caught my eye about 10 years ago and I played the heck out
of it. Then I stopped online play until a gamers magazine had an article
about the Descent3 $50k Tourney. I came on the scene in the second
round of the Tourney in 1999. During the time in between, my friends
and I played D1 and D2 on my in-house lan (as well as a dozen other
games).

What has playing Descent done for you?

It has built life-long friendships. I enjoy the RIP lans, our 4th
is coming up this summer. I have also met many people from other
countries. I play about two hours a night and spend another two hours
designing levels.

Why do you continue to play Descent?

Why? Because every night is hilarious fun! RIP is the best team
that I can imagine and voice comms make playing a blast. If Descent
ever died, RIP would go on (in fact we already play three other games).
But I was here at the beginning and I will be here at the end, should
it ever come. I try to design fresh levels to keep everyones interest up.

Ok, well let's get this party on the road!

Speakin' of road/mines how many levels have you developed? (do you have a complete list we can insert here?)

I always try something that no one else has attempted. When I came
to the D3 scene I looked at what was being built, and it was almost
always small 6 player anarchy levels. I decided my niche would be
large 16 player levels. One of the often mistaken ideas is that I build
"missile boating" levels. Here is the truth, heh. I designed weapon
loads to match the three most popular large levels of the time,
Polaris, Apparition and Steel Vapor. The total secondaries of those levels
follow: In #1 spot is Polaris with a whopping 54 missiles. In distant
2nd place is Steel Vapor with 40. Tied for 3rd is Apparition and
Canyon Siege with 35. In distant 5th is Worlds Apart 2 with 29 (about half
that of Polaris).
....

Doom	Description
Murder Hole	(designed after the cave I was surveying at the time).
Alcatraz	(the prison island. First 2d level to have simulated fog sky and walls).

Descent	Description
Mad Decorator	(unique bot-attracting tunnel, heh).
Boot Hill	(first level with safe spawn rooms).

Descent 3	Description
Canyon Siege	(first level to have simulated sky, before the editor supported terrain).
Wet Spot	(first level to have believable underwater play).
Worlds Apart	(two worlds with pinch entrances, for cadets and aces to each have advantages)
Gauntlet	(with Shark, this has viewing rooms so you can safely watch 2 pilots duke it out).
Tora Bora	(a faster version of Veins with safe spawn rooms).
Field of Sorrow	(with Shark and Hydra, part of "Reap This" designed for the Instareap mod).
Creep Out	(with Roadrunner, Fischlein and Thunderbunny, creepy holiday fun with music).
Halloween	(with Roadrunner and Thunderbunny, this level and Creep out have custom ships!).
Varicose Veins	(faster gameplay, safe spawn rooms and better weapons than Veins).
Bankshot	(with Akuma, a unique twisting and curving monsterball level).
Fellowship (Lord of the Rings!)	Massive cast, see http://www.descentforum.de/fellowship/ ).

Waltz'n Matilda	(built for Bess for her birthday).

I also helped fix / rebuild several levels for other designers like
Abend2, Egg 1.1, Green hell 2, Forgotten Outpost 1.1, Skull, Brain
Salad, Orbit and Black Fair 1.1, as well as helping maybe two dozen
level designers with their levels including beta testing and hosting.

What/Who influenced you to try Descent and when was that?

Scorpia was the moderator of the games section of the GEnie BB about
ten years ago. She very actively pulled in new games for us to try and
even arranged a real-time text chat question and answer interview
between the senior designers of Descent and us beta testers.

When did you create your first level, what was it, and was it "good"?

For D3 it was Canyon Siege and was my Xmas present to PXO in 1999.
I trashed and rebuilt the main canyon and gate section at least 6 times
until I was happy with the number of faces and the gameflow. Then I
added tunnels underneath for the cadets to feel safe in. This level
was so popular that I was asked to expand it less than a year later (Canyon
Aftermath).

Why do you spend countless hours developing Descent Levels?

I really enjoy creating levels. I have about seven half-finished
levels on my hard drive right now. When I get a new idea, I just have
to jump on it, heh. Maybe I can find the time to go back and finish
those someday, but my newest ideas rock! Even more fun is bringing
other designers in, their unique styles add great touches.

Of all your levels can you say hey this is my favorite level in each of Descent, D2 and D3, come on I know you have a few, so give me a few then?

The Fellowship is hands down the most fun I have had. The scope of
this project still staggers me a bit. Ten people from two continents
over nine months. What a blast!

What have you got going on, that might be of interest to the Descent Community at Large?

Standby for two new mind blowing concepts that will forever change
D3 level design! You should hear more in about a month. :)

Ok, I really want to know what level designer style sticks out in your mind, you know every time you get a level from him/her, you have to stop/unzip/load/look at his/her levels?

There are too many good designers to name just one. Whenever
Fischlein, Roadrunner, DigiJo and Diti or Atan put one out, it is a must to download and see. Otherone has a unique style and Scottris has made several great ones.

What do you want to say to the Descenter's that use your levels?

Have fun! Quit whining if cadets can find a foothold and take you
out, I design to give everyone an advantage. Oh, and have fun!

Where do you see Descent headin in the future?

I see a dozen fresh cadets almost every single week for the last two
years. I also see many old pilots returning to the game. Years ago we
suffered with about 25 servers up, now there is an average of more than
60 and a lot of those are T1's and DSL. New levels are coming out all
the time to keep the game fresh. As long as PXO stays up, there is no
end in sight.

WHEW, long winded huh!
Is there anything you would like to add?

Thanks for the interview Koolbear! It is great to see you come back
to the community. Awesome!