Jim Ahara Interview

Jim is the creator of one of the deadliest levels available, Devil's Decree. Let's pull him away from watching Glasgow Rangers and pick his brains... :)

Tell us a bit about yourself (like how old you are, where you live, what you do in the 'real' world :)

Well, my cover is blown now. I'm a bit of a "Quake Senior" in that I'm 37 years old (probably even older than Romero... ) As you can hear from my accent, I'm from Glasgow, Scotland. In "real" life I'm an I.T. Manager running a department that develops and supports systems on everything from DEC VAX's to Windows NT and Novell Netware.

Did you edit Doom levels before Quake? If so, which levels did you design?

Nope, never got into Doom editing at all. Would have liked to but like many people in the UK I wasn't "on the net" at the time (we don't have free local calls here in the UK and until the last couple of years Compuserve was the only affordable ISP) so never had the chance to get involved with the Doom editing community. Sounds lame but there you go.

How difficult did you find it to learn Quake editing?

Easier than I thought to be honest. Once you get the basic theory of brushes, textures and triggers you're off and running.

What was the most difficult aspect of it?

Leaks and gray planes - every map designers best friend. In my early attempts at maps I spent more time looking for leaks than I did actually creating the map. That and not knowing how to optimize for VIS and trying to create large rooms where walls flickered in and out of existence. My keyboard has teeth marks as a momento of my frustration ;)

Which Quake editor do you use?

Yahn Bernier's BSP.

What do you think are its best features?

It was never hyped. It is pretty solid and does what it says it will. It was one of the first editors with textured previews. It goes from strength to strength and now even has a "leak check and rectify" feature.

What features do you think would improve it?

Tough one. I've seen Yahn's "to do" list and all I can say is he'll have everything covered by he time he hits version 1.0. The big one will definitely be multiple Undo.

How do you come up with ideas for your levels? Do you plan or sketch them in advance?

The best ideas always seem to come just as I'm about to fall asleep at night ! More than once I've jumped out of bed and scribbled something down. If I didn't it would be gone by morning. I tried sketching things out (I know it's the "right" way to do it) but how do you sketch in 3D? I find it easier to plan the basics and then sit in front of the screen and let it happen. Very scientific huh?

What do you think are the ingredients to make a great Single Player level?

Atmosphere. Suspense. Good architecture, lighting and continuity (i.e good blending of textures). Trying to generate something that sucks the player in and makes them want to press on and finish the level.

What is your favourite id map (or maps) in registered Quake?

My favourite is "Azure Agony". A great level with all the ingredients I mentioned. It was also pretty tough.

What is your favourite user created map (or maps)?

There are now a lot of cool levels out there so it's difficult to choose. If I'm pushed I would have to say Jim Lowells "Critters" - not as a single play level. As a DM level or with ReaperBots I'd say its the best I've seen. Very original.

What is your favourite monster :) ?

The Tar Baby. Sneaky, fast, hard to see and dangerous to kill close up.

What is your least favourite monster :) ?

The Scrag. What the hell is it supposed to be anyway?

What advice would you give to people wanting to build their own Quake levels?

Start small. Try out your ideas small scale first and build up experience. Visit places like The QuakLab for help. Most of all don't give up if you hit problems. You get a great feeling of satisfaction if even one person mails you to say they enjoyed your map. Oh, read the Quake Map specs too!

What are the worst and/or most common errors you have come across while playing user created maps?

Some of the early user maps I saw were poor. Bad texture alignment seems common. Not doing a full VIS spoils some maps by producing the dreaded gray planes.

Who is your favourite id level designer (hint: you can choose people who have left the company :)?

One of the less "famous" ones - Sandy Petersen. He did most of the episode 4 maps.

Where do you go on the internet for Quake editing help and information and Quake news in general?

The QuakeLab, Blue's News, Only The Best Quake Levels and of course Matt's Place.

How did you publicise the release of your last level?

I didn't. I just put it onto Walnut Creek (CD Rom) after 2 friends had play tested it and thought it was cool.

Did you get a lot of e-mail response?

For the first 2 weeks or so ... nothing. Then it appeared on "Only The Best Quake Levels" and *bang* mail from lots of people saying they enjoyed it. I thought I was being set up when PC Zone contacted me to ask permission to put it on their magazine cover CD, but it seems to be genuine.

Finally, what features would you like to see in Quake 2?

Most of all I'd like to have seen Steve Polge taken onboard at Id to do bot or creature AI programming. Look at the ReaperBot and you can see the guy is a genius. No surprise he was snapped up by Epic to work on Unreal. Crouch, fly, map, improved QBSP/VIS and some sort of background storyline would be nice.

Jim, thanks for your time!

Interview © Matt Sefton and Jim Ahara, 1997.