Dan Koppel Interview
15 February 1999
on http://www.gamedesign.net/interviews/dan_k.shtml
A = Dan Koppel aka Daniel Koppel (Technical Lead and Senior Level Design)
Q = weasl
Q: Tell us a bit about yourself, and the company you work for.
A: Dan Koppel, Senior Level Designer and Technical Coordinator here at Xatrix Entertainment. One of those lucky few that gets to work on Kingpin.
Q: In what ways do you think that Kingpin map design will interest the mapping community?
A: First and foremost it's going to be a great game … The world of Kingpin will have plenty of possibilities, many of which will not be explored. This leaves a whole slew of things for amateur developers to build. Also the textures are great and they are true 24 bit, plus people can build cool real-world stuff.
Q: Are there plans to release the editor with Kingpin?
A: Yes. The current plan is to ship the editor with the game. We have been working closely with Robert Duffy from the beginning so many of the features we use are already in the public build of QERadiant. The version that should ship with the game will work just like the current version plus we have added some great Kingpin specific features.
Q: What do you think the learning curve on Kingpin level design will be?
A: Level design in it's essence is just like quake2 … We've worked long and hard at perfecting the look and feel of the game plus we have a number of added features that will truly excite the level design community such as coronas, ai scripting, lighting of models, etc. So I would say that anyone who has built a level for a current quake based game should have no problem making a level for kingpin … but mastering Kingpin level design will take plenty of effort.
Q: Does Xatrix have any plans to support the editing community?
A: Of course! We all started as amateurs and feel strongly about giving back to the community.
Q: What does Kingpin offer level designers that other Quake 2 engine-based games do not?
A: If I told you now they (everyone else here) would have to burn me to crispies with our flamethrower and jump on my ashes until they blow away in the wind. ;)
Q: Any new entities that you would like to introduce us to?
A: You will see all of our new stuff when the game ships until then enjoy the screenshots and save up your money. (Don't buy beer for a couple of weekends … It will be worth it. ;)
Of course, the demo will give everyone a look at some of the cool new stuff...
Q: In what ways does Kingpin level design differ from your previous work on Q2MP1: The Reckoning?
A: Let's see … Quake2: Sci-fi on a red planet. Kingpin: Altered reality "PC noir" in a gang-ruled urban city. (Sorta half Brazil - half Goodfellas) Do I need to say apples and oranges?
Q: Of the upcoming crop of 3D Shooter games, other then Kingpin, would you most be interested in doing a bit of editing with?
A: Duh … Quake3 of course. Any improvements that John Carmack does to the quake engine gives me fits. ;) I love those curved surfaces. (Oooh curved surfaces….)
Q: Are there any people in the community that you would like to thank?
A: There are plenty of people who helped me get to where I am today but the short list would include: Luke 'weasl' Whiteside, Matt Sefton, crash, and Alex 'aldawg' Mayberry
20 December 2005
on method.gamedesign.net
A = Dan Koppel aka Daniel Koppel (Technical Lead and Senior Level Design)
Q = Yan Ostretsov aka Method
Method: Please tell us about yourself and how you got into gaming business?
Dan Koppel: I love playing games and making games. Currently I'm the Design Lead at Gray Matter Studios. My first game I worked on was Quake 2: The Reckoning. I also worked on Kingpin and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Before all that I released a few of Quake 1 maps into the community, back then user made SP levels were much more common.
Meth: Was Kingpin level designing any different from other games you made?
Dan: In some ways yes, Kingpin was the last hub based game we at GMI made. I really enjoy the concept of hub based fps games. As far as level design goes hub based games take more planning and allow for some very interesting features. Metroid does this very well in modern games.
Meth: How long did it take you to make a good map?
Dan: Now that depends. Today's maps take a lot longer to build and script. But they also have a lot more going on in them and the newer engines allow for more poly's. Back for Kingpin we had no script based language that controlled the events in a map. In general I would say from start to finish it took me about 4 - 6 weeks of work to make a Kingpin map. That became about 8 - 10 weeks for building and scripting during the RtCW days and now it takes about 12 - 14 weeks on average to build and script CoD:UO maps. Also the amount of work animators and artists do for each map has increased considerably.
Meth: What sources did you use for inspiration in KP maps?
Dan: Hmm, Anything I could get my hands on. For my work on the steeltown section I actually ordered a promotional video from some steel companies. I also looked at many books we have here in our little library and as many movies as possible.
Meth: What's the most important part in level designing?
Dan: These days my answer would be planning. Planning helps you keep good framerate. Planning helps with gameplay and helps you find issues before they occur. When someone on my team starts to get an idea of what they want to make they always want to start in building right away. I have found making them take a step back and sketching things out helps a lot and gives better results in the end.
Meth: Do you sketch your maps on a paper?
Dan: Yes. I encourage everyone to do this. With 3d worlds, paper might not have all the details but you do get an idea of scale and you are able to look at the whole map before one brush is made.
Meth: Are you planning to work on Kingpin 2?
Dan: Nope. That's not being done by Gray Matter we are currently working on Call of Duty: United Offensive.
Meth: Do you have any tips or suggestions for a future level designers?
Dan: Learn many different tools. Work with different engines. Work on your lighting and keep the poly counts in acceptable ranges. Otherwise keep working on making better and better maps. I'm sure this is nothing new.