KoolBear's Descent - Tyranny's Descent Level Designer Interview

So, Tyranny tell us a little something about yourself.

Well, my name is Steve Chamberlain, I'm 23 and I live in "The sun is friggin hot! state" of Arizona, more specifically Mesa, Arizona. I was originally born in Missoula, Montana where I lived until 1987 which is when we moved down to AZ.

My motto has usually been "No Rest for the Wicked", interpret that however you like ;). Shoe size is a big phat size 14! er..j/k

LOL, there is a few ways to take that

What nickname have you flown under from the earliest days (those you care to share)

Mostly Tyranny. I've flown under Tyr, Ty, Vampyro, Outsider, Raziel & Reaper at times as well.
Sometimes I use HeHateMe, but mostly that has been just in D3 when I play it.I never really got into the D3 thing as much as some others I know

Are you married, do you have any children? I can't see how with all the time you must spend on the DescentBB and developing new toys for us Descent'rs!

That would be an emphatic no to being married! nah, someday I hope to be, but at this time in my life it isn't a realistic possibility.
Maybe If I find someone who loves Descent as much as I have! Those kind of girls don't come around often though...d'oh!

What are your Other Hobbies?

Well, I've really enjoyed being a graphic designer. Web-design I enjoy, but some of it is a little over my head. I'd like to make graphic design more of a profession then a hobby, but at this time a hobby will have to do :P Other then that I enjoy illustrating, listening to music, video games of course ;), computers etc. Little bit of Baseball and Basketball every now and then if the opportunity presents itself. :) Following Baseball has really become a hobby you could say

oh, and level building of course!

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.

Well thank you! If it wasn't for a lot of the positive feedback I got from Kali Descent'rs while I was building a lot of them, it wouldn't have been possible. If anything I should be thanking the great community we have for giving my levels a chance.

How did you start playing Descent, Descent 2, and D3?

I started playing Descent II about 7 years ago when my buddy Mark ({DMC}B00MER on Kali) introduced me to it. We had just brought home our first PC and after all the stories he had been telling me about the {DMC} Dark Mavericks Collegiate as well as other clans on kali playing this game called Descent, he wanted to get me started as soon as possible. It wasn't until later when I'd finally gotten an ISP and started using Kali that EgaD got me setup with the original Descent. I got D3 as soon as it came out, even though I was still running the archaic Pentium Classic 166mhz with a Voodoo2 that we had. There was so much anticipation for D3 within the community at the time and I wasn't able to enjoy it from the very beginning. So, I stayed behind and developed a reputation for myself on Kali building levels and playing competitively on ladders. D3 wasn't really an option for me until about four years ago. Course, by that time my interest really wasn't there and the game just didn't do it for me like the first two have. I still drop by every now and then to sling some tri-fusion around

What has playing Descent done for you?

It has provided me with a wealth of friends to associate with and great memories of my time spent online. It has also given me the chance to start my own Descent gaming league (|W|olfpack) on Kali for D1/D2 (Started before the D3 Wolfpack). This community offers so many different personalities that, although some may be conflicting, it really has shown me that there are a whole lot of people out there with the same interests as myself. There is no other game that exists today that has such a diverse group of people to represent it IMO. How many games can say they have very few a-holes in the community. Well, atleast compared to like....Quake? Depends on who you ask of course, but Descent has to be right up there.

Why do you continue to play Descent?

Descent was my first love as far as online games are concerned. What other games are there?

Besides, no matter how many times you move on to play more modern games, something about Descent keeps pulling you back for another tour of duty in the mines. That and I can't really stay away from the people that I really consider my second family for too long. As long as there continues to be a large enough body of people willing to continue making Descent better for all parties involved, I'll be here to try and assist any way I can. Ok, enough of the mush

Ok, well let's get this party on the road! Speakin' of road/mines how many levels have you developed?

I'd like to think a lot, but those that I've looked up to for so long still aren't in any danger of being caught up to . I've made about 50 "Unique" multiplayer levels between D1 & D2 over the years.

Depending on how busy I was, some years were more productive then others . Designing for D1 and D2 has always been something that gave me a lot pride. It wasn't very hard and it still allowed you to express a creative freedom that you seldom see anymore. Each time the urge to build struck I tried to follow the same format that worked for some of the more popular level builders of the time. Levels with a simple design format that had gameplay in mind dominated the playing time on Ladders and for FFA games. So, this was the medium I tried to target when designing my levels. Nobody said that your levels couldn't have a familiar feel and rhythm to them and still be different and fun to play each time you build one....

Mission Name	Version	Mission Name	Version
Actaurus	D1/D2	A Dreamer's Duel	D1/D2
Arkadium	D1/D2	Awakened	D1
Biohazard	D1/D2	Biohazard: Meltdown	D1/D2
Bitch Slapped	D1/D2	BlueRoom	D1
Chrysalis	D1/D2	Dawn's Demise	D1/D2
DeadZone	D1	Diadem	D1/D2
Doomesque	D1/D2	Dance with the Dead	D1/D2
Endgames	D1	Faith No More	D1/D2
FusionRoom	D1	Goddess	D2
GreenRoom	D1	Grimlock	D1/D2
Hallowed	D1/D2	HardKore	D1/D2
Hell's Gauntlet 2.0	D1/D2	Lanfusion Pro	D1
Last Conflict	D1/D2	LavaWorks	D2
Martyr	D1/D2	Martyr Prime	D1/D2
Minstrel	D1/D2	Monolith	D1/D2
Nekuda	D1/D2	Nekuda 2	D1/D2
Nevermore	D1/D2	Nozgoul	D1/D2
Prizmatic	D1	Prophecy	D1/D2
r34p3r!	D1/D2	Raziel	D1/D2
Resident Evil	D1/D2	Shogun Tournament '99	D1
ShrapnelRoom	D2	Spellbinder	D2
Spread Whore	D1/D2	Stormrider	D1/D2
Tainted Bliss	D1/D2	The Force	D1/D2
The Return	D1/D2	Up From Nothing	D1/D2
\|W\|olfpack's Den	D1/D2	Xabadu v1.1	D1/D2

I was also involved in the development process of Vamped II by bulldog along with Vlider, Nirvana, Ferno, Sfuzzi & Breadman.

The "Rooms" levels that I designed were a request and design idea by
Esp, who also was the creative force behind Min69. I just fleshed out
the level idea in DMB™ and did the texturing and lighting in them based
on what the level names were. He also decided the weapon balance and
had
the final say in overall appearance before they were released."

It's a shame that I can't remember all the projects I was either asked to help on or give my opinions on at this time. All the people over the years deserve a lot of recognition for their work as well. Also, LanFusion Pro, just on a side note, is only a modified version of a level done by Yelohead for improvement purposes. Holy jeebus! I'm done, requesting permission to move on?

Haha, ok permission granted! What/Who influenced you to try Descent and when was that?

What!... is your favorite color? er...oh it was definitely B00MER in the {DMC} in 1997. Had I not known him offline and been real good friends with him, the chances of me getting started with Descent weren't very great at all. My favorite color is blue btw.....no wait! *KERCHUNK* "aaaahh!"

LOL, what a silly man

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

My first level was called "Goddess" which I revisited later and improved GREATLY. Was it good? That would be a no. That thing was an abomination to DMBII™ and Descent players everywhere. Be thankful I have no copies of it laying around to haunt us all!

Why do you spend countless hours developing Descent Levels?

Hrm...well, to be honest I find it very relaxing. Not very often have I started building a level and found myself frustrated when trying to accomplish something. It happens sometimes, but few and far between. Also there is great satisfaction in knowing that some people really enjoy or enjoyed playing the levels I've built. As long as that continues there really isn't a reason to stop building even though Kali has seen better days then they're having right now. There are still people playing though, which means I'll still build.

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?

Hallowed and Martyr would have to top my list with Hell's Gauntlet v2.0, Nekuda II, Stormrider and The Return coming in close behind. Hallowed and Martyr for the obvious reason that they were by far the most popular of all the ones I have made and were battle proven on the IDL (Invitational Descent Ladder). Hell's Gauntlet v2.0 for the texture work I put into it. Nekuda II had a lot of subtle design features that I felt enhanced the gaming experience a great deal. Stormrider for the same reasons as Nekuda II at the time it was built. The Return, because it was the last one that I designed for the moment and probably is the most indicative that all the things I've learned over the years can come together in such a compact design structure and still be very popular. Of course there are more that I've designed that I am very proud of, some that I would gladly exchange with the ones I've mentioned here, but at this time these levels probably represent my body of work the best.

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's really so many. Spaz and Nirvana of course, those two guys have really had the most influence in the way I go about building my own levels. I can't think of anybody who wouldn't atleast give these two guys props when it comes to successful Descent and Descent II level design. Vander & Grax are also two designers that I've had a lot of respect for. There really is a slew of great designers that I've tried to learn from over the years. Great level concepts and design work by Christ, MORG (When he wasn't an ass

), bulldog, Mesmerist (Kegparty! w00t!), B00MER, Sirian, Karash, Groshbar, Sparhawk, Delirium. Awesome custom texturing and level designs by Picasso, Midgard, RETRO & Hellfire. There are so many that it really isn't fair to some of them that I've forgotten to mention them. To those I didn't list though, GREAT JOB!

Tell us a little something about your current Descent related project(s).

At the moment I'm involved in the beta testing process of DLE-XP, which for those that don't know, is the LONG awaited upgrade for DMBII™v2.6. I've also done some graphic design work for it. As far as level building goes, inspiration has been running on empty the last 8 months, but just recently I had an idea and started working on a level called Embryotica™. There has also been something involving my website that probably will get underway very shortly regarding a levels feature section for old D1 / D2 levels in my collection if anyone is interested. I'd like people to start registering on my BB and give me some feedback on things more often, but hey :). The best way to stay tuned in regards to my net habits though is at http://missions.dyndns.org/ - Descent Mission Designs. :) Also you can find me on the DBB offering any descent related assistance if my experience allows for those that are having problems with D1x, D2x and maybe even some D3.

What do you want to say to the Descent'rs that use your levels?

Thank You very much. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to play them. Just pay attention and don't get owned too badly

Where do you see Descent headin in the future?

I would like to see Descent enter another renaissance period as it did a few years ago. In some ways there seems to be a renewed attitude towards the classic descents as well as D3. Perhaps a feeling of optimism? I can't really say for sure, but as long as there are people who genuinely show a desire to build upon what has already been given to us, there really isn't any limits as to where Descent could be headed in the future. We just need people to remember that the best thing about Descent is to just go out and have fun!...ahem.....hey buddy, this means you!!!

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

Basically I'd like to thank you for giving me this opportunity KoolBear. It is great to see you return to the community and still have the passion to contribute via your website and on the DBB again. I think just about everyone is as thrilled as I am that you're back. *sob* See, these types of things are the reason I stick around a bit longer *sob* .

Thanks again!

*Salutes*

In closing, Descent RULEZ because of people like you that are reading this and people like Tyranny for keeping new and exciting things coming our way!

Thank you for reading this and Tyranny for taking the time to share some of himself with us!