The History Interviews

Authors
Barry Brien | Kevin Buscemi | Death_Blood_Fire | Paul Fenney
Matthew Hallaron | Intjacob (Stryker One) | Jeff Walters

Intjacob (a.k.a. "Stryker One")

Q: What was the first level you ever made?

Escape from a Miscellanious Imperial Outpost. Never released it, though. It was more of a massive extension the WDFuse tutorial. Was pretty linear and had the newbie feel to it, but it was fun. The player pretty much started in a secured area and fought passed imperial officers into some grassy outdoors and to a spaceport. Cool idea, though it was poorly implemented.

Q: Was it ever released? And if so, what did it rate as?

Though I learned a lot from it, I never released it. Though maybe I should have; it would have made a better first impression than "Bounty On Solo", which some of the DF-21 members insisted was worse than even Mines! Though I don't blame them , gives me goosebumps thinking about it.

Q: What would you say was your finest work (level wise)?

Probably Omega Red 3, which unfortunately was lost before I could complete it (Virus and Format). It was looking very nice too. The player infiltrated a prototype cruiser to settle a debt with a certain imperial admiral. While searching for the officer, the player had to blow out the ship's engines and drain the coolant from the reactor core. Soon after the admiral would escape to an Imperial Star Destroyer, where the player chased him down. After finding and killing him onboard the Imperial Craft, the Star Destroyer is hit by a rebel attack and it starts falling apart. The player then ran through exploding corridors to a parked lambda shuttle. Was a blast to make and play, it really angers me that I lost it.

Q: Are you working on any other projects?

Trying to get Mercenary: Prologue done, though its going a lot slower than I'd like. Oh well, summer's here and maybe I'll get some more time to work on it. I have roughly 500 sectors right now, and its looking nice. I'm trying to add a certain feel of horror to the level, and I even scared the crap out of my brother when he played it. With alien creatures running this way and that, able to kill the player in two or three swipes, and the murdered bodies of the bases former owners strung up all around, the level is as much a challenge as a treat to the eye. And the end level boss is truly going to be something amazing. It'll freak a few people out, I'll tell you that.

Q: How far along in your editing skills have you come since then? (Improvements, group projects, better plots, etc. etc.)

I'd say I've improved greatly since my first level (I think I was 11 or 12 at the time I released it, 15 now) and I can grasp much of what DF is capable of and push it to its limits. Architecturally, my latest stuff blows anything I've previously released right out of the water. My last stuff didnt have much to the INF either, and that's also fixed in my newer projects.

Q: Favorite SW character? (Can be anyone from the movies or books)

Boba Fett, without a doubt. I've always considered most of the Star Wars characters to be kinda hokey, but Boba Fett is just plain cool. Covered in weapons of all sorts, wicked nice armor, and near invincible in combat. Heck, even his ship is Godlike.

Q: Favorite DF level?

Beyond Glory 2 without a doubt. This level has always and will always be my favorite. The amazing music draws me in right from the loading screen, and the level never strays from perfection once throughout the entire experience. 10 years from now I'll have DF installed on my PC, but only so I can play Beyond Glory 2, it's just that good.