Draft:MediEvil EU site: Difference between revisions

'''What is a Level Mapper?'''

It's quite a vague title but it means that I position all the enemies, energy pickups, money pickups etc. I also set up quite a lot of the spy cameras, chase cameras. . . various different types of cameras. I also place collision perimeters which govern where the player is allowed to walk and also keeps enemies out of places they're not supposed to go. . .

'''So it kind of moulds the level together?''' 

Yes, the artist's actually responsible for building the level models and I place the things that go in it, under guidance from Jason who actually designed the individual levels. I get input from everyone in the team about where characters and items in the game should actually go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

'''Was it difficult for you to be only a level mapper, between teams of artists and teams of programmers? '''

 

Actually I am part of both teams. I have to work a lot with the artists because I do model texturing. I must also collaborate with the programmers when placing the items they have programmed. I am a kind of bridge between the two.

'''So what is your background? Artist? Programmer? Marketing? '''

Well, actually I have an artistic background. It started off at school where art was my strongest, then I went on to do an art foundation course and I started off doing an art degree at Cardiff but left halfway through. And then I just kind of fell into the games industry.

'''What did you start working on? '''

 

 

Well, at the beginning, I was working on some projects from home, and I worked internally on ''Deadline'', ''Silverload'' and ''Scroll''.

 

 

For ''Scroll'', I was working on the script. It was a role playing game where the graphics were very important. I did basic programming: "the player goes here and here's what happens". I was a "development assistant", which meant I had to do many different things. On ''Deadline'' I was setting up, on ''Silverload'' I was ''helping'' one of the programmers, Gary Richards, in the basic installation of the different elements. That meant using C, but I did not know it very well. . . It was just about cutting and pasting, and installing the animations and the rooms in the game.

'''What do you do when you aren't level mapping? '''

 

Play games. At the moment I'm playing ''Alundra''. I can't wait for the next one. Another favourite is ''Castlevania''.

 

 

 

We used to have a lot of 2-player games so it wasn't too bad. My brothers were younger then me so it wasn't too bad! I didn't get into games as early as a lot of other people seem to have done though.

'''So, if you stopped level mapping what would you do for a job?''' 

Maybe something on the Internet, web page stuff, I like that. I like things that have got a slightly artistic bent but have also got quite a lot of technical knowledge as well, so you can combine the two. This is why games are perfect for me. Anything else has got to be something that is quite changeable so I'm not doing the same thing over and over again. When I was little I used to want to be a farmer.

'''Did you look at someone on a tractor and think 'that could be me'? '''

 

 

'''Are you a country girl? '''

 

 

I grew up in Chesterfield, England, which is an industrial city, but I spent my holidays on the farm, where my parents rented a little house.

'''So it's pretty good then?'''

I've done so many little bits and pieces so on the whole I'm really quite proud of the game. One of my favourite parts of the game is actually the last level coz I think we've got some really cool looking enemies and it's really fun to play and funny too. . . it's really, really funny.

 

 

 

 

Oh, they beat me up a lot. People always arrive and say "Oh, Katie, you can do this, you can do the other." My monitor is always covered with sticky notes.

'''Do you sometimes refuse to do something? '''

Only when it's too late, I'm dead from sleep and want to go home.

'''How long does it take you to map a level in ''MediEvil''? '''

Initially, it takes about a week to install the cameras, create the collisions and position the enemies but it gets redone so often that it is difficult to say.

'''So are you still working on it? '''

 

 

 

 

'''But it seems to be worth it.'''

 

The comments were good. We hope critics will like it. We can never be sure of that, either they like a game, or they hate it.

'''Somebody was telling us about Matt doing weird stuff?''' 

You mean the cross dressing? He only does it for a laugh - he doesn't do it every time he goes out somewhere.

'''What is it, a stockings thing?''' 

 

Well he's got striped stockings, he's got various skirts and dresses. He recently bought a long silver dress. You can imagine how he looks with his hair as he's not a petite boy is he?

'''What's your favourite genre?'''

I like a lot of different types of games - probably some kind of action game, but I like platform-type things and puzzle games. My favourite game of late has been ''Resident Evil 2''. Really cool. I am a big horror fan.

 

 

Oh yeah. I love horror films. ''Hellraiser'' is my all-time favourite film.

'''I've never seen that.'''