I was able to catch up with some of the team members from Twisted Matrix is Aspen where they were taking a slight break after releasing a beta version of Rob the Strogg for Q2. After about an hour of mingling with adoring fans I was able to pry them away for a fireside chat, Barbara Walters style. A few hot chocolates later and they were ready to tell all…

Slade: How long have you guys been together?

MangledMan: The core members have been around for a little longer than ayear, withour new (and incredible) coder having joined the team during the past couplemonths.

mnemonik: unfortunately some talented members left for different reasons.

Slade: A lot of mod teams never seem to release anything, what advice canyou give to aspiring mod authors out there?

MangledMan: Keep at it. We just kept plugging away and forcing ourselves to doSOMETHING every week. Eventually, it’ll get to the point where you havesomething you’re happy with…and then you can release it for everyone elseto enjoy 🙂

mnemonik: the most difficult things are motivation, how busy you are in reallife and of course the concept you have. To be honest, the motivationoften lacks, sometimes you need to force yourself to get started again.Also it is very important what kind of people you work with. Myexperience has showed me that it is impossible to work with 13 years oldkiddies; no offence, but most of them are not very serious about itIMHO.

Slade: How long have you been working on Rob The Strogg?

MangledMan: Almost 4 months. It was mostly done around a month ago, but it has beenin closed beta for a while to get most of the bugs ironed out.

mnemonik: it was not continous work. we have had low downs and some membersof the team (like me for example) were in the USA for several weeks orsomewhere else. Heh, if I would have done my map sooner everybody couldalready have been playing it for nearly a month or so. 😉

Slade: I myself can’t believe this is only a beta, what are some otherfeatures you guys have planned?

MangledMan: Heh thanks. The beta really is most of the mod, save for a few goodies,and probably another map or two we’ll include in the final release.There will also probably be a frontend for launching RTS as the mod is quiteversatile and there are several options to choose from when starting agame.

mnemonik: <g> well, that’s a good sign. most important issue beneath thefeatures Jason mentioned (and the ones he didn’t 😉 is simply tweaking.See, we have tested it with a small group of people over some weeks, butwhat we need is a response from the “masses”. We are quite sure that itis pretty balanced but of course it’s always nice to listen tocomplaining and bitching people. At least it is fun to me :]

Slade: Elvis or the Beatles

MangledMan: The Beatles. Of course. (my girlfriend would kill me if I said otherwise🙂

mnemonik: The King.

Slade: No doubt there have been a lot of late nights working on the mod,what is you favorite food or beverage when you are pounding away late atnight?

MangledMan: Uh…Safeway makes these really good little mint cups; kinda likeResees, but mint. Very tasty 🙂

mnemonik: You get your best inspiration by smoking some weed, drinking greentea and eating Yoghurt – trust me, it’s the combination 😉

Haxu: I prefer dark ale.

Slade: Any other mods in the works? Or ideas being thrown around?

MangledMan: Just some stuff bouncing around in my head, but nothing concrete yet. Weplan on seeing the development of RTS mature until it reaches a verystable and complete level, so we aren’t delving into another project justyet.

mnemonik: We have several other ideas in mind or written down. We don’t wantto do quantity, but quality. See, there are tons of mods out there inthe meanwhile. Some of them are pretty fun to play, but suck in visualquality or have bad errors in their design. We try to cover everything:a solid concept and a professional appearance. Some of my teammatesthink that I’m exaggerating now and then, but I’m aware of the fact thatall of our members (currently five) belong to the most talented ppl inthe community.

Three out of five members are on the Quake2: Extremities cd. Doyoon with the“Kick” mod, me as one of the main mappers for “Jailbreak”and of course Trebz with his DM map series. That ain’t bad. 🙂 If the CDwould have a soundtrack, Haxu would have done it 😉

Slade: Rob the Strogg has some really unique gameplay that is very fun, howdid you come up with the basic idea or concept for Rob the Strogg?

MangledMan: We were all kinda brainstorming about what we want kind of mod we wantedto do when mnemonik suggested a treasure hunt mod. I developed the ideainto its basic state and our sfx guy Sami refined story. Then we all addedideas and suggestions as we worked on the actual development.

mnemonik: Actually I always wanted to have a 3 team mod and some treasurehunting. Nowadays there are some other 3 team mods like this CTF one andGangwars as far as I know. The secret is that everybody has the optionto suggest something; we have lots of discussions about things. Some“teams” are formed by someone with an idea and then he hires ppl. Idoubt that this can work as good – at least in the community.

Haxu: I met Jason in SF during my summer holiday and we chatted about allkinds ofideas. Some of them you see in action in RTS.

Slade: What mods or games are you playing right now?

mnemonik: Mostly I’m a Q2 addicted bastard, playing DM, duels and of courseall the mods I have put work in. Do not ask me about Shogo, Sin orBlood2… I have no idea why that games are hyped that much.

Haxu: CTF and Weapons Factory. Get some caps! Get some caps! Get some caps!Getsome caps!

Slade: Any additional comments or things you would like to throw in?

MangledMan: There needs to be an extra 6 hours a day just for sleeping…30 hourdays would rock!

mnemonik: I would like to thank my mate Reschky who set up the first RTSserver. Send us in as much feedback as possible about what you wouldlike to see and what you do not like that much. Also I want to complainabout the german Q2 scene: they do not play anything else then Lithiumand RA2. This sucks. And needs to be said.

Haxu: I need to quit my day job. Its taking too much time off from gamemaking.