The History Interviews

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

Kevin "Scape Goat" Buscemi

Q: What was the first level you ever made?

Beyond Glory. I started putting it together with Wedit, and learned as I went along. The original start point was the entrance to the Imperial base and everything else was added later.

A smaller first level might have been wiser, but that's just not the way I do things.

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

I believe it was released in the fall of 1998. DF editing was really not going strong at the time, so a level the size of BG coming out of nowhere was a surprise. It's gotten decent ratings over the years (4 stars at DF-21). More importantly, the mostly positive response I got helped me decide to start Dark Forces: 1999 (the website which grew into DF-21.net).

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

Though I'm sure I could do a better job now, my personal favorite is the first half of Beyond Glory 2. The gardens, the dirt-floored tunnels, the weed filled pond... It's just one of those things that just came together exactly as planned. I've wanted to make something similar ever since...

Q: Are you working on any other projects?

As of right now, my main focus (a far as Dark Forces goes) is the reborn "DF2000" project. For those who don't know, it's a multilevel pack similar to DF96. Two of the 5 or 6 levels are mine to make (one of which is pretty close to done).

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

I can't say it's a night and day difference between my earlier work and the stuff I'm doing now. It's improved certainly, but most of that can be attributed to my using WDFUSE and it's texture stitching abilities. Architecturally speaking, it's all relatively simplistic compared to what some others are putting together these days.

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

It's safe to say that I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan at DF-21. I loved it when I was younger, but I've never read any of the books or anything like that. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd have to go with the Han Solo character.

Q: Favorite DF level?

I've always been fond of Operation Archangel 2. The DF-21 Hall of Fame won't be complete without it.